The Ringer-Verse - ‘Blue Beetle’ Instant Reactions | House of Midnight

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

Van, Joanna, and Jomi come together as a family to give their instant reactions to DC’s latest film, ‘Blue Beetle’ (08:51). They discuss the heartfelt story of the Reyes family at the core of the film (17:53), some of the aspects of the film that didn’t work for them—including the main antagonist (46:38)—and what the future of the character will look like in the new DCU (68:15). Hosts: Van Lathan, Joanna Robinson, and Jomi Adeniran Social: Jomi Adeniran Producer: Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades, the Vietnam War has been a Hollywood obsession. Apocalypse Now, platoon, full metal jacket, first blood. These were blockbuster films, embraced by audiences and critics alike. And for decades, they've helped us understand a painful war and understand each other. From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network, I'm Brian Raftery. And this is Do We Get to Win this time, how Hollywood made the Vietnam War. Listen on the big picture feed. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.

Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely, active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your

doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen.

Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Welcome into the ringerverse. This is, of course, the ringer's nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. And we're bringing you a very special House of Midnight episode, Pugh-Pew Working Title. Love it. On Blue Beetle with me today, Jomi the Explaner a dinner on, and Joanna Jomo Jenkins Robinson. I came up with a nickname for you, Joe.

Joe Mo Jenkins. I love it. Thank you so much. I feel like I'm fully a part of the House of Midnight now. This is the House of Midnight situation. Blue Beetle. Look, we got to get into some programming reminders, but programming reminders are special today because we got an announcement.

You guys, the House of Our working title is not the House of Our anymore. It's the Kingdom of Our. Because House of Our. is getting its own feed. It's getting its own feed. Woo! You put in like those little one of people clap right there. Joe, before we

get into it, you guys need to subscribe to the House of R and be able to look out for the first episode of Top Assoca moments on Monday. That's on Monday, Joe. How does it feel to have your own kingdom like your own fiefdom now? You're like the House Bolton. Wow.

Back to talking about Thrones with me. I love any occasion to talk about Thrones with you again. I'm thrilled. This is so exciting. I'm so happy we get to do this. And what I'm really happy about, to be honest with you, is that we are still part of the Ring of Verse family. We're still going to be doing House of Midnight episodes. We're still here. We're still family. We're just, you know, we just moved down the block a little bit, one street over. But yeah, it's really exciting. What did you and Mallory talk about? like what are you guys going to do? What are you guys going to do not that you have your own feed?

Are you guys just going to do like, like little five or ten minute podcast of like tape your phone calls and then upload them? You could do whatever you want. It's endless. Yeah. It's just five to ten minutes. Yeah.

Is it the funniest joke you've heard all year? Yeah. Five to ten minutes is let Mallory could let Joe cook on that podcast. You know what I'm saying? You add those up. You get, you know, you get two hours and 30 minutes. to just pure podcast bliss. That's what it is.

I think I don't want to, like famous last words, but we're going up to two episodes a week. I do think one of them is going to be a little shorter than the deep dive. Famous last words. Famous last words. But that's something of the intention. But yeah, we get to do more of the tropes course episodes or the drafts or a bunch of other stuff on top of the deep dives. So that's going to be really fun for us. But it's still all going to be ringerversy, genre-e content.

So, yeah. Look, I'm into it. I can't wait. I'm going to be on there. I'm going to be on there a lot. You guys ever seen a sitcom where somebody just comes into somebody else's house? It's like, hey, they walk in. He's going to be an Urkel.

And then like the whole crowd claps. Or actually it's going to be jazz because eventually got to throw it out. You got to like eight. Let me go. Monday on the traditional ring reverse feed, traditional. A button match Ring reverse classic Ring reverse classic

Justin Ben did a game swap Each picked a game they liked And the other had never played Very interesting Joe I don't know this about you Are you a video game person Not that's why they kicked me off the ringerverse feed Oh no I'm not

I'm not But I love listening to button mash Because I learned so much about the games That I don't play And I love that Justin Ben recorded in person for the first time because they're in Sweden. So, you know,

you get that in-person Stockholm energy from Jess and Ben this week. It's going to be great. They're in Sweden doing stuff. I'm not going. Everybody went to have a good time.

I'm not into Sweden. I don't want to go. Okay. For everyone that's like, they're not letting Van go to Sweden. That's true. But also, I don't want to. So how's it that?

How's that? that stuff. Asoka coverage begins next week. Midnight boys, instant reaction on Wednesday. House of our deep dives are happening over on their feed. Shout to social for their Asoka pre-show info on IG and TikTok. We got you guys all ready for Asoka. And for us older people, some great news came out about Asoka that we're going to be

getting it Tuesday at 6 Pacific, which is life-changing. Yeah, genuinely. DNA altering. It's life changing. I'm going to miss my midnight drops. They used to mean something. Used to mean some to me. You'd be like who's awake in the group chat?

Who's up? Who's up for these hot takes? But then you have to talk around it because you don't want to spoil the people who are actually like having a decent night's sleep. So that dance is over. Like I'm in bed by 930, 945. If I'm up till 10, you know to me. Midnight boys are at the crib. Because I'm, I'm sleep.

I'm going to be able to watch Asoka, get a whole document done, go to sleep. You're going to see some of the best potting you've ever seen before in your life. It's going to be nuts. Okay. We are in two Blue Beetle. Time to get back into the world of D.C. But before we do that, we have to make sure that, you know, nothing gets spoiled for you guys. So we want to give you guys a little warning.

Spoiler. Run that for me, Eduardo. I don't have the idea for that. God damn it. That's fine. My bad. Do you want to just do, why don't you just do your, like, when we're getting ready to spoil and then judge will go. You know what's crazy? I was so incredulous when I actually did that,

that I cannot recreate that. I was so upset with the idea of having to give us spoiler warning on an instant reaction podcast. It's still to me, doesn't make any fucking sense. I think spoilerness is just another fucking blight on

fandom community. I hate it. Oh, boy. But in the meantime, Jomi, can you do an impression of Van doing the spoiler warning and I'll do the Blue Beetle part? Get a shot. Yeah. We're ready to talk about Blue Beetle. it's an instant reaction so there will be spoilers and then do do do yeah perfect

they aased it nailed it incredible incredible um okay jo's gonna give you guys some general information right now on blue beetle all right this one's directed by an hell manuel soto who did the incredible charms at a king's um and written by gareth done at al coser and uh yeah first Latin superhero in a leading role for DC film and originally going straight to HBO Max but gets the full in theater release, not relegating to streaming only treatment. This is a real superhero movie. However, it's a real superhero movie being released in August, which is usually the month where they kind of dump things in the theater. And it's also coming out in the middle of the strike. So it's coming out sort of on the back foot without a lot of ability to.

promote it. So I'm going to be really curious to see how it does sort of with all of those things kind of working against it. But the buzz in general seems pretty you know, pretty positive. Yeah. Yeah, it absolutely does. I mean, the movie

it has some familiar faces in it. Stars Zolo Maridwainnu. How do you say it was name? Maritwina. Maritouena. Zolo Maraduina from of course Cobra Kai, I love that show.

Yeah. Love that show. He plays Jaime Reyes slash Blue Beetle, some other familiar faces you might know. George Lopez is Rudy Reyes. Susan Sarandon as a villain turn in this, which I loved seeing from her. And some new faces that I hadn't seen.

Bruno Marquenzine. Marquisine as Ginny Cord. Okay? The whole Reyes family. Love seeing them. I'm having some, I'm having trouble with some of the names. I,

I really enjoyed this movie. That's the first thing I'm going to say. Let me tell you guys something right now. People are going to be shocked with what a beetle I am. I'm a beetlehead. You're a beetlehead? I'm a beetlehead.

I really love this movie. Fucking Jomey last night when we were at Asoka, I was telling Jomey, I really loved Blue Beetle and Jomey was a hater. Jomey was like, Really, it was cool. But it was like,

it was cool then. But I really had a fun time with the movie. As a matter of fact, I think it's one of the better origin story superhero movies that I've seen in a while. I think the movie had a lot of heart. I thought the family was fantastic. I had a feeling of menacing.

It was a menacing feeling from what they were up against. And there were actually stakes. I'm sorry that we continued the trope where your dad has to die for you to become a superhero. But, you know, it happened again. I thought the movie was well made. I thought the CGI looked good. There's a lot of CGI in the film. I thought it looked good.

And, you know, I was blind. Zolo as Blue Beetle. Just instant reactions, first reactions from everyone. What did you guys think? I want Jomey to be able to set the record straight. I thought it was good. I thought it was like fine. Very, very enjoyable.

The family stuff was the pinnacle of it all. I loved every single second that Jaime was with his mom, dad, Nana, and sister, like all that. I loved the superhero stuff. Some of it works. Some of it doesn't. But at the end of the day, the family stuff carried. And so it makes for a pretty, like, enjoyable, you know, good time into the theater. Not complaining.

What of the superhero stuff didn't work for you, Joan? The villain. we'll get to it but she kind of felt like she would like kick puppies if she had to you know not even had to she just wanted to was it like the little wave goodbye

as his dad is dying of a heart attack on the ground just evil to be just mean to be mean like you gotta do all this stuff you know what I mean like you know but can I say something about this and I don't I don't mean to put Jomo in the cast her as referee here

but I don't like the idea of what Jomey just said. I'm against it. You guys want villains to get as much of an origin story as heroes so that you can understand

a reason why someone is doing something that they're doing when what they're doing is normally so terrible that there is no logical explanation. Okay? That's not as interesting. If someone just shows, well, but here's the thing. Wrong.

So my, of course, my culture is being represented by Susan Sarandon in this movie. So on behalf of all, like, terrible white women, I would like to speak out for her. I thought it was really interesting that they kind of tried to give her a backstory in like a very brief exchange where they're talking about how she got passed over for control of the company that she built. So that is kind of her motivation origin story. Is she Shiv? Is she evil Shiv? Evil Shiv, Roy. Yeah, this is your future Shiv.

But this movie is so interesting for what is trying to do what it does with her henchman and trying to, like, that didn't work very well for me. I feel like it's trying to, there's so much about this movie that did really work well for me. And I think we all agree that the family stuff is, like phenomenal top notch work inside of a superhero movie

an origin, a very paint by numbers origin story that would be very boring were it not for how charming the family stuff is. Because it's just like they mashed Spider-Man and Iron Man together and that's the story that we're watching. But it works. I was like really charmed by it

because I think Zolo is an incredible actor and really charming presence. And we all love Cobra Kai. So I was delighted to see him. I thought he was fantastic. But then it does some strange stuff. Like I thought it was kind of interesting what it was trying to do with with our with our like red suited henchmen by, you know, in the climax, pausing to kill him and going into his backstory. But all felt like very rushed and weird and like a really overlaught. sentimental moment in the middle of this big fight and then he just like pulls susan serrated away

to straight up murder her so you know it's it's uh there were some like confusing choices to me like of but we i think we all agree that i mean you guys have had this debate a million times in the midnight boys we like a villain with a point of view we like we like a killmonger right like i mean yeah it's it's nice right but what i do think though is I'm kind of old school with the villains. All right. So look, I could argue that there are villains that don't necessarily have a huge point of view. Like what's Lex Luthor's point of view other than just greed?

I don't know. Have you watched 90 seasons of Smallville? Maybe you would know what is. I've seen that. Different take on Lex Luthor where they had the center of the character. I'm talking about the classic interpretation of this character. I think the I think the I think the

I think the Joker in it of itself We understand that the Joker is an anarchist But sometimes it seems like he's just doing stuff to do it Like he's he's blowing stuff up just to blow stuff up I don't know have you seen the Joker by Todd Phillips Yeah but we get an insight into the Joker's search But here's the deal though That movie did that movie work for you?

Did that work for you? No because it's because there's because there's really nothing that they could do to make you understand why someone wants to blow up a whole American city. It's like, at the end of the day, at the end of the day,

Spider-Man 2, fucking, he's trying to save his wife. Good, brother, little something he's going to destroy the whole city. Like, it's not a good, so I like it with someone's just a greedy fucking heartless

villain because I think those people, exist in the world. We didn't really have that much time to learn about her. She was on go mode. She was a mutant Karen and I loved it. Okay. She was a mutant Karen and I loved it. She was on go mode from the beginning.

We got to just mean. Kill her niece. She's going to kill her niece for no reason. You know what I mean? Her niece is of a different race than her. It's interesting. The film spends a lot of time on the Reyes family. this really worked for me.

How did the family dynamic work here? Because what you essentially get is not just the origin of the Blue Beetle. You get the origin of the Reyes family because they actually kind of take this on as a unit. As a, they become like the many edge city Avengers here. And we learn that they all have specific things that they can add. It's not just about Jaime. What did you guys think about that?

I love. every second that they were on screen, to be honest with you. The, we, like, George Lake, we cast George Lopez, like, all right, we don't love George Lopez. We always, we always love George Lopez, you know what I mean? But from the mom to the sister, to the father when he's alive, and the Nana, like, every, everything that they add to the film in terms of just being there for Jaime at the beginning, like, as comic relief.

But then when, you know, shit is the fan being. there emotionally and then fighting in the third act with him. All that works so well. And so, you know, it's just like, it's just a great, great part of the film. And, you know, there's a lot of it in there. I can't say I wish for war, but that's far away the best part of the film was the Reyes family being together. Yeah. And the fact that they're not just there at the beginning, but like they get involved all the way

throughout the film. I think oftentimes, I mean, The film does such a good job of getting us to care about Jaime because we understand what he's trying to defend and protect and fight for. And so, you know, we get comments about gentrification and we get comments about, you know, what is going on in their community. And then we get comments about the, you know, there's an indictment of the American dream on here because this kid comes home from college. First kid and his family go to college. Yeah. He can't get a job, you know, like he can't get a high level job.

And he's like, what was this for? Like, I thought I was made. If I did, I followed all the rules. I did all the things. And now I got to go and some receptionist is going to call me Jamie instead of Jaime, like, what's going on. And so I thought all of that, you immediately love him. Because we are familiar with that actor, because we like him, because he has a ton of charisma, but also because he's surrounded by these relationships. And he has different relationships.

with all of them. They're not copy paste these characters in the family. I love when they're talking like they slip in and out of like Spanglish. It's like, you know, you're invited in, but it's also incredibly specific to a culture.

And that's what a lot of people have been calling out about the film is like there's ways to do representation that can sometimes feel, you know, borderline cartoonish. They don't care if you don't know the references that they're making. Exactly.

And I'm in an audience in Los Angeles with a lot of Latino people. And when they're calling out Maria DiLabario, a show that I had never seen before, everybody's like laughing. Everybody's in the joke. And that was really nourishing to me. That was so awesome. They don't care if you don't know what that is. I went home.

I'm looking it up and I'm seeing it. And the context matters. It's written in the right way. Um, it's written in a, excuse me, it's written in a way that you understand that it's a real show that, that the reference, you get it. You're there. It's not like it goes over your head. And so I thought that was dope. And they really went forward in a very nourishing and authentic way I felt like.

Yeah, and our producer, Eduardo just pointed us out like the Chaplin Colorado part of the end, no idea what that was. I had no idea what that was reference. But apparently like, that's something. from from the culture that they like really rock with the one thing i did get though all the pendejas bendez i got those i got that yeah i was locked in i've heard that on i've heard that on the basketball court out here baby oh bro that's the first man that i ever learned bro yeah you can't slip that one i know i i mean yeah to have to have to have to have our hero walk around the corner and say like bendejo stay away from my sister i'm like that i'm just like that's a that's a great

line for a for a hero and a suit to give yeah i i love i love all of that stuff. I thought it was phenomenal. Something else that I noticed about this film is, Joe, you said something that the movie was indicting the American dream. The movie was indicting a lot of things that have come to be known as, you know, distinctly American.

Gentrification. Indicted gentrification. It is indicted capitalism in a way. Government structures. Rudy continued to talk. about the deep state. It would be the entire time. When Rudy,

when Rudy says to Jenny court are like, are, you know, we like her, she's a hero, but she's also, um, you know, part of the 1% or whatever.

And he says, shouldn't you be pillaging cobalt from some third world country? That's such, he's like, he's spit. He was, it's like,

it's like, it's so, phenomenal. It's so funny. I'm like, you know, I was just reading about that.

a couple of days ago. It's like, go to Africa, strip some country for all in their cobalt so that you can make a cell phone. I'm like, Jesus Christ.

It's like the movie's pretty brave in that way. And I also want to point out one specific scene while we're talking about the family. The scene of the court industry war mongering soldiers, private army,

raiding this family's home and that family literally being separated, you literally see a scene of, two family members holding hands and then being pulled apart as they're being extracted away from their home. I could not help but think watching that, watching them come in, see them all huddled together in the dead of night. The flashlights on their faces, it felt like something that you would see when you're talking about the crisis at the border or about the way some

migrants are treated when they come over here and about the lack of humanity that we've seen in the last couple of years with actual human beings being used as political footballs by certain people in certain different places. And when I saw that,

the scene, it rang true to me. It looked like they were treating these people like things and not like actual human beings. like an INS raid of a house yeah like an INS raid of a house yeah it looked like it it looked exactly like that um and knowing that there was uh there was a cost there somebody died there because they weren't really treating them like people they were treated they were thingifying them

it just it it changed the stakes of the movie for me the movie felt like these this group of people had been chosen not to fight against susan Sarandon and who she is as a villain, but they had been chosen to fight against all of that stuff, against that corporate greed, against that ethnocentrism, against that gentrification, against all of that,

you know what I mean? And so, I don't know, maybe I looked too deep into it, but that's what I do. No, but I think even suddenly in the background, like in their neighborhood,

you just see a ton of like four sale signs or foreclosed storefronts. and stuff like that. So it's just like painted into the background of the story is like a community in crisis, a community that's being invaded and pushed out. And I thought that was really effective. And I also think, you know, when we're talking about this sort of paint by numbers superhero origin story, we've seen a million, especially having just watched across the Spider-Verse,

a million young heroes like crouched over the body of a dying relative and that being part of their origin. story. I don't know that we've seen them being snatched away from that moment and not even getting to have those last moments with that dying relative and to watch him like screaming and riving in the helicopter as they pull him away. Again, an incredible performance and like really, a really impactful twist on that. And then you bring out the old ghost dad trope, which is actually one of my least favorite tropes, but is very, very, very effective in this movie, very emotional. So, yeah. Hold on.

I don't know if we are allowed to talk about this movie, but Ghost Dad, have you seen that? Yeah, I wasn't talking about literally. Oh, I was about this. No. I don't know if you guys have ever seen. I do what you're talking about. I don't know if you guys have ever seen Ghost Dad before.

But Ghost Dad is so fucking dumb. But it's like a movie. Did you ever see Ghost Dad, Joanna? Yeah. Mm-mm. ghost dad Edith it's a girl's name um

it's it's a girl's it's it's a boy's name it's a boy's name's name's name's I think like in terms of the films of the film's word issues you know you guys spoke on it really well it goes even even deeper than that like it's supposed to be like a funny scene Nana showing up with the

the gun the big old gun and she's like yelling about imperialist things supposed to be funny but you think about it like she was out there in the in the streets, bro. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's a revolutionary.

This is revolutionary. You know what I mean? Like, this is something that's, like, the whole, the whole world feels real and lived in, you know, throughout, like, seeing all the, the struggles and all the things that these, these families had to go through to get to where they are. And so, like, yeah, like, the film really brings, like, a real realism to the world that I think is missing in some of these things that really make this world feel alive and feel real.

All right. Let's talk about him transforming it to Blue Beetle. So he meets It's an insanely attractive woman I'm sorry guys Why I apologize You know what I love about Jenny Ford That I didn't notice until the end

She's a little bit taller than he is She is taller She's taller, yeah I noticed that Kalika calls me toxic Because like we'll be We'll be somewhere And we'll see a couple

And then I'll be like The Khalik would be like what I'll be like She's taller than him. And she was just like, stop pointing that out. I'm just like, I wonder what happens. I wonder, I wonder, you know, I wonder what happens. I wonder, I wonder if he can deal with that.

Because it takes a real man. Takes a real Tom Holland. That sounds, that's fine by me, man. That's fine by me. It is, look, I'm just saying these guys, y'all don't know. See, here's the thing with me. Y'all don't know. People don't show you guys their toxic side.

No one would ever show their toxic side to Jomo or to Jomey. No one would ever show you guys, because you guys are too upstanding. See me? They'll show me. They'll say stuff like, damn, bro. What is it like to, you know, to be tall, bro. You know, sometimes my girl should be yelling at me. She points her finger at me.

And, you know, I kind of feel like I'm Dennis to Minnis or something like that. Somebody's over. I'm being like, nah, bro. It's like, put some lifting your shoes. are dudes like dudes get they really get in their head about their girls being taller than them i've heard this before let me ask joe me a question joe me who like knows the inner layers of the internet better than we do how what do you think is the cutoff height for short king designation oh uh oh i want to say like five seven okay so zolomar duenia is five eight according to the internet

which lies about heights all the time so i feel like he's not quite you know short king material But, like, as far as leading men go, he started as a child actor. You know what he mean? And so, like, they started him there, like, surely he will shoot up more than he has. What you're trying to say? It's not going to happen for. It's too late. It's done.

He missed that bus. But it's okay. He's got inches and inches of charisma despair. So it's fine. Speaking of inches, and we talked about this yesterday, man. Speaking of inches. Two erection jokes. Joe's going for it.

Two erection jokes in the movie. I feel like you can get away with one. I'll say something about the erection jokes in this movie is he's not a teenager. So you can do an erection joke in a movie if you're a lead character is like 16. This motherfucker's 22. So at the point that he's 22, it's just like sex comedy, Porky's bullshit. You don't need two erection jokes of a movie. Okay, it's like.

That's a name I haven't heard a long time. You don't need it. Okay, so he meets Jenny court. Wait, we didn't talk about the transformation, the body horror of his transformation. That's what I'm getting that. So he meets Jenny court. She hides the scarab with him because she is trying to steal the scarab. She knows its power.

And we get a transformation scene when his family who actually egg on the inciting incident in this movie, which is him taking the scarab out of the burger box. and then there's the transformation as the scarab like bonds with our main character. Hi-me. This is a thing that almost never works for me in films anymore.

The one thing that I don't dig in origin stories almost ever anymore is the character fucking around with their powers. I've just seen it too many times. You know what I mean? how did this work for you Joe and Jemey I mean I was surprised

by how like dark it felt yeah there was you know some like Venomy goop involved in in the takeover of his body and he's just like you know he's his family's horrified but he is horrified and he's screaming

and pain which I don't feel like is very usual for our I mean other than like the Hulk right usually when you get your powers. I don't know that it is necessarily as painful as it looks for him. And like, the origin of the Blue Beetle in the comics, my understanding is that, you know, there are ways in which the scarab is, I mean, an invasive, horrifying thing to have happen. And then there's this question of worthiness that we get in terms of like who it chooses to actually bond with and who it doesn't. But I was surprised. And I guess it's interesting. It's really interesting. It's really

interesting to think about Blue Beetle and how it might fit into the larger James Gunn led DCU because, you know, James Gunn has said, this is like the dying gasp of the previous administration. We've got Blue Beetle and then we've got Aquaman and then we're done with the movies that weren't shepherded from the beginning by James Gunn. But James Gunn, having seen this movie, said, Jaime is our first, like, he's, we're going to, we're going to keep him. Not you Galgadoon, not you Jason Momoa, but we're keeping you, Jaime, right? And watching this, I can understand why, because we already talked about the family element of the humor, you know, that's very gun to have, like, you know, your suicide squad family,

your Guardians of the Galaxy family, plus this, like, horror and specifically body horror, goop-y, and, like, Gunn loves his goop. So I, you know, I was like surprised by it, but then I was like, no, I think this is the tone that we can look forward to, which is humor, but there's a darkness. You said menacing van. I thought that was really interesting. But I think that is the gun special of combining warm-hearted, light-hearted relationships we care about family stuff with something quite goopy and dark alongside it. I don't know. What do you think, Joe?

So here's one thing about the suit A, it looked good You know, it's like they did a lot of like close action stuff with it I thought was pretty cool You know, we don't really see that You know, he was like really like Being these dudes, you know, hand to hand one on one Which was pretty cool

Turns of like the suit transformation He burns his clothes every time he transforms Impractical It just I don't like I don't know why they had to do that I don't know why they felt they need to do that outside of that though I felt like yeah the shoot the shoot works

I just think like it's weird that like all right cool he burns his he burns his clothes like how would you be like you know I'm saying they'll find some clothes that's an easy fix they'll find some clothes for him to wear yeah but is he like Spider-Man and clothes all over the place or will they make him some clothes out of like you know

oneptanium that they'll make him some clothes that that can that can stay on or something like that if the Hulk and Sheehold can like stretch their clothes when they transform and have them on when they restrink. I feel like they'll fit. But yeah, I mean, you're right. That's a, I always

had the same thought when Uncle Rudy's like, I've got a shirt in the backseat you can use. I was like, we need to have, we need to have more preparation for this. I thought he was going to be shirt cocking it. Like Winnie the Pooh? Yeah, because I... Donald Ducking.

Because in that next scene, he says I got a shirt for you. He never said I got some shorts for you. He turns up in some jean shorts. I thought he was going to be shirt cocking it for a couple of scenes before they got. Is that a phrase? Yeah. Okay.

Jomey is that a phrase? Sure. I don't know. I've heard Donald Ducking. I've never heard shirt cocking. Oh, no, shirt cocking is. Two Americas. Two Americans.

But no, so I liked the scene for what it was. The family made the scene. Yeah. Because normally when these superheroes go through these wild changes that make them these superpower beings, there's no one around to witness it. And you always wonder, like, what do you tell yourself when you're Spider-Man and you're swinging around and there's, you know, your little fucking hairs coming out of your? It's like you'd be freaking out, right? But he's shared in the very origin of the hero thing with the entire family. And then, of course, you know, we're flying around.

we go up to space, we come back, you get to kind of see everything that the suit can do. Interestingly enough, one thing that we learn the least amount about in this movie is the scareup and the suit. We don't learn very much about it.

We don't learn necessarily where it comes from. We just know that it's alien. We don't learn what the limits of it are, what the weaknesses of it are. we just kind of go with that. It's a scarab that she's been looking for for a long time to base technology around it. It's pretty much indestructible

and makes him indestructible as well and really, really formidable. Would you say that this is on an Ironman Mark 6 level of power or where would you rank his power set when he's in the suit since we saw him get it? Yeah, I mean, I would agree. It's like later stage Ironman levels, his lack of understanding of all the features. The fact that it can make anything that he dreams of as part of it is like a huge power up moment, right?

But I think that I guess my one, like I said, this is Iron Man plus Spider-Man, right? like um and the iron man aspect of it made me really wish we had a heads up display so that we could see his face inside this is like the big thing that marvel did when they put downy in the suit is they didn't want to have all these scenes where it's just you're looking at the suit and you're not looking at the person and since we all agree that like zolo is like a big part of like why this film works i would love to see his face more in these moments the counter argument is that You don't see Spider-Man's face when he's in action. You don't see, you know, Deadpool's.

Like, you know, you don't see Deadpool's face. So I guess you could argue the other way. But I don't know. I just, I don't think you lose because they're giving us like suit vision, right? Like T2 Terminator vision out of out of the suit. But why not show us his face in the suit? I think that would enhance it. Heads up display situation?

Yeah. Yeah. Good old HUD. good old HUD the HUD works iron man uh like pioneered the hood and now the hood is kind of like something that you got to do they didn't do the hood they gave the the alien view of it which was different which took us away from our character for a little while i get it i get what you're saying joey did you have a problem with that you want more hood not i mean y'all know i'm an ironman guy could always use some more hood but uh i think that uh i think that this this film like you know you

don't want you know you're already taking the origin story you're you're just taking the origin story a little bit from Iron Man, you know what I mean? Like, you don't want to, you don't want to, you know, dip too much into that chip bowl, you know what I mean? So it's fine that ain't used it. Um, I want to say something about Zolo's performance here. Because I think they did something smart with the character here. A lot of times in films,

it takes the actor a little while to find the character. I would say that. I would say that sometimes the actor. What's your example of that? Thor? Oh, yeah. I mean, and I'm not saying that he wasn't always good as Thor. That's the studio, I think,

taking its time to figure out what to do with Thor. But yeah, you're right. Six and one half dozen in the other, but you are right. It did have to do with kind of how they crafted the character and of itself, right? But I think sometimes it takes people like a little bit to find the character.

I'd even argue that Chadwick Bowesman's Black Panther in his movie is a different version of Black Panther than what we got in Captain America's Civil War. And that makes sense because he was on a bloodlust revenge tour in that movie. But then you had to see him a little bit more kingly and statesman-like. And he had to be, he was around his family in the other movies. This movie does something smart in that they actually give the protagonist less to do. They really do. They're giving him time to find this character

by really making this more of an ensemble than I thought that it was going to be. His performance in this movie, As Blue Beetle was good. It was good. He's got a ton of charisma, but they did not ask too much of this young actor in this movie.

Do you guys agree with that? I don't know if I agree, but I see the vision. right like hey you know this is your you know you did cobra kai you killed it we're going to put you on a big pedestal we're going to put you like we're going to make you the marquee the movie right we're not going to give you too much to do it's your first outing you know what I'm saying you'll get you a couple reps you know I'm going to get you a couple good throws in you know it's like not I want to say like a preseason game but it's like like uh Joe this is a sports reference

oh okay thank you thank you it's like it's like a in a college football game how the the the coach, the offensive coordinator will like script out the first 15 plays, right? Here's what we're doing the first 15. We're going to work out of some practice. We'll do it out in the game and like we'll see what happens. I think that's kind of what it is. Like they gave him great stuff to work with, executed on every level we needed to. Nothing crazy.

Nothing over his strut. He just did what he had to do and kept it pushing. I think that was successful. And so like hopefully in the next movie, you know, we'll see him cook, you know. But I think like, yeah, They just were like, hey, keep it simple, keep it were easy, and he exceeded what he needed to do there. They did a pretty good job.

Well, yeah, and they hugely sound, I mean, I really like this actor, and I'm really excited that he got plucked. I'm really excited that he got plucked out of Cobra Kai and given like a superhero. And I am kind of emotionally invested in this movie doing well because I want him to like get to continue to climb and climb and climb. I think he's so good. So I don't want him to have like a sort of mark on his record with a one. And, you know, if this movie doesn't go, it will not be his fault.

And I think smartly what they did is when we meet him, we're meeting him as a brother, we're meeting him as a son, we're meeting him as a boy who has an immediate crush or I'm sorry, a young man, a 22-year-old doesn't need to get an erection every time a bus passes who has a crush on like a really gorgeous woman that he meets. Like, I think that plays into his strengths of what we already know he can do well in Cobra Kai. So I thought that was really brilliant. They're like, you know, give us your Cobra Kai character with less of a streak of anger in him. But then that anger comes through later when he loses his dad and all that stuff. I think this is a fairly simple movie. It's a very simple movie.

And that's not an insult. because sometimes I think, you know, especially when we're coming off of all these DC movies we've gotten in the last, like the last four or five turns that have been needlessly overcomplicated and just crammed with all kinds of bullshit and lore. You were talking about how we don't learn a lot of this. I think it's smart to strip out, we don't need a full lore download on the scarab.

We don't need this, that, or the other thing. It's like what we need are human. And this is the thing that Marvel has almost always done well that D.C. has sometimes struggled to do, which is to give us humans that we recognize that we care about before we turn them into gods and superheroes, et cetera. And so you mentioned Thor. I think Thor is like a slight misfire in that regard. But we need to meet Skinny Steve Rogers. And we need to meet, you know, Tony Stark on a,

the back foot in a cave. Like we need, we need of these like frail, vulnerable moments in these characters to care about them when they then turn into people who can like punch people through walls. And I think this movie, there are things that I don't like about this movie. It has everything to do with just sort of like the punching part,

which is usually the part that I care about the least in a superhero movie. But I think it just absolutely crushed the emotional investment piece. And to your point, I don't think it's an indictment to call it an ensemble. I think it's brilliant to make it an ensemble situation, to give his sister so much to do, to give the love interest so much to do, and to make her not just the object of his affection, but someone who has her own motivations and drives and activity in the movie. I thought it was great. This episode is brought to by Boris Head.

What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local Deli. Well, Boar's Head just did that. Bursed head perfectly seasoned with that indulgent taste that usually means pointing your whole day around it. Presenting the Friars Turkey Breast only from Boar's Head. The backyard tradition now available behind the counter. Visit your local deli today. Discover the craftmanship behind every bite. Borershead committed to craft since 1905. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Cream. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it come. You deserve a break that actually satisfies. Sweet Green's new wraps have got you.

Real ingredients? Zero shortcuts. Everything you love in one hand. Think green goddess chicken. Garlic aoli. Crumbled bacon. Corn salsa. Forty grams of protein.

Made to keep up with whatever comes next. New sweet green wraps hit different. Order now at order. This episode is brought to by Nass Energy. Introducing new Nass Energy Grand Prix Guava. for those that want to be fueled up and fired up with a hundred-bound hour tropical tasting power. Ignite your taste, start your engine.

Shift your flavor to high gear with new Nass Energy Grand Prix Guava. Hit the street, grab a can, and get after it. So let's talk about that a little bit. Let's talk about, because we've been fairly positive on the film, and I enjoyed it, so that's to be expected. But let's talk about some of the things that maybe didn't work for us as much.

And since Jomi had such an ill thing, to say about the film yesterday in Asoka. It's very, very negative. Very negative on a bunch of things. It's being negative the whole night. It was negative about the Asoka fan of it. Oh, my God. Why would you try to lie to me when I have literal texts from you that I can read out on this podcast right now?

Who? You, you? What? What happened? What you mean? You're like, I wish I were home. I wish I weren't here. Remember that?

I mean, look, you know, it's Thursday night. It's a lot of people screaming. Why are you putting all this shit on Jomey? You know, it's, and then you get home and you see that you got screeners, it was like, I could have been with Bozeman. But it's fun. Maybe the L-Capt-10. Do you want me to read these texts out?

It's no. I don't need it to. Maybe the L Capitan could use a remodel. You know what I mean? It's a little small. That's all I'm saying. But, you know, Steve was worse than I was, by the way. Steve was in hell.

But the show was doing. We were, you know, we were up at ILM and the Bay Area and having a great time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. George Lucas personally invited us. I saw Luke Skywalker. Dave Filoni ushered us to our seats.

You saw the Yoda statue. Yeah. We was on Hollywood Boulevard, nigga. I would never want to go to the L-Cab for anything. Literally anything. All right. Reagan's never going to invite us anywhere ever again. Jomey.

Some things that didn't work for you in the movie. The villains. The villains did not work for me at all. I got the vision. did what was going on. She got passed up. She was like, I'm not letting that happen again. I'm going to develop the,

I'm going to get the scare up and develop these, these things so that out now people give me up money. And I was like, yeah. It's like, cool, man. I kind of, I don't care. Like, I don't care. And then you get to the scene with, uh,

Jaime and like his whole family. And, you know, she obviously like, just needs Jaime. And she gets to get family out. Instead of being like, you know, like a normal villain being like, hey, we're going to hold him hostage so that, you know, we can get Hyman. We can trade the scarem for his family.

She's like, killed him. I'm like, bro, whoa, chill. Why, you went from zero to 100, like real quick there, buddy. Slow down. What do you think is going to happen when he killed his family? And then like his dad's down in the street and she had him went like one of them waves. I was like, nah, bro. That's not even comical with evil.

That's like, that's like the evil, like you think about like in your, in your dreams, you know what I'm saying? Like that's, that's nightmarish evil, bro. Do you think about evil in your dreams, Johnny? No, not, well, it's not, well, like, you know, you had the dreams where like, it's real, is you real down bad, you know what I'm saying? Like, you lost everything. You know what I mean?

And it's like, they really got away with it, bro. Like, I know, hold on, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. And you got away, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's, let's, let's pull on this thread a little. Joe Joe

Me and Joe Me and Joe are thinking the same thing So what are these dreams you're having Jome? It's not look, it's not like you know, every night you know what I'm saying? But you know how like, you'd be like dang

bro, like it's really bad and like you know, like one person responsible. Like I know you did this. I don't know why you did this. I don't know why you had to come from my life like this. You didn't have to like, you took my down table need that to eat why would you do that what kind of what kind of sick person would do that you know what I mean is that person have like a face in your dreams is it is it is Susan Surandon is it a

mutant it's not it's not Susan Sarandon actually who is it who who's coming into your house and stealing your dining table in your drinks I don't mean to laugh this sounds very stressful I'm sure it is yeah like this is this is a rough night dog we just want to know it's no face got a V for Van Denda mask. I'm still trying to unmask the evil person. Oh my God. This is this is fucking crazy, Jomey. Jomey, you need to, bro. Jomey, stop keeping before you go to sleep, bro. Yeah, I had to learn how to do that. Write these dreams down, Jomey. Write these dreams down. This is good. Like, you can make your own comic book in the future. So be so funny, like, dude, one day the guy's going to pull off the V for VDenna mask and it's going to be Arjuna. You know, or something weird.

It's going to be charmed. It's like it's gonna be somebody. Who's Jomey's pop culture nemesis? Does he have one? Oh, I mean, not really pop culture, but like my actual nemesis is Elon Musk. Elon Musk. Oh, great. Yeah, under the view from it, I can totally see a scenario where you finally, and maybe that'll help.

Next time you dream, next time you have this horrifying dream and you're paralyzed with fear and anxiety, try ripping that mask off. And if it's just fucking Elon Musk, we can take care of it. We can take care of it. Yeah, we can do something. We'll get you a new table. Yeah. I appreciate it. We'll be in your next dream.

It'll be me, you, and Joanna, and we'll be setting up the food on the table and you'll think that it's a good dream. And then all of a sudden, it'll just be me and Joe eating and you'll be waiting for us to pass you something to eat,

and it'll never happen, and we'll just start smiling. Tough. As we eat an endless bowl of mashed potatoes, and you're just, starving, you and your whole family. And we're just sitting there. Joe, what didn't work

for you? Nanna with a machine gun. I like Nana with machine gun. That was one little step too far from me. Nana with machine guns. More Nana should have machine guns

to me. I don't know why it worked for me, but it did. It did. It worked for me, man. I don't know. everything like if you want to like try to gadget superpower almost anyone else in his family I'm kind of like I see it I see it his sister shows up she can like hologram punch people you know like whatever but I was like Nana with a machine gun not for me one one fucking with it I think the the stuff that really didn't work for me is kind of the superhero stuff

yeah oh to that too yeah yeah the superhero stuff. Like the major suit-based stuff. Like sawing the bus in half or... I hate it. Let me tell you something about stuff like that, bro. I'll tell you how I'm getting old. I'll tell you about something else that this movie

delved into that I've been a major, major, major opponent of on All Ring of Verse podcasts when he was in the suit. You guys know what I don't like. Talk about it in a second. Every time I see a scene like him splitting the bus in half,

I think practically there's no way somebody doesn't die. It's impossible. It's impossible for him to split that bus in half and everybody survives it. And I wonder why they do stuff like that in movies. I'm like, it bothered me so much when that bus got split half.

That bus is going to blow up. Somebody's going to be in the middle of the bluffs with their hand up. It's going to be an arm. an appendage. It's going to be like an A-Train-Robbins situation. The aisles are never clear. Never clear. In the middle of the bus, no.

Somebody's going to get their kneecap burned off or something. I don't like that. And just also... And like, are the two halves of the bus really going to stand on their own? Or are they falling over and everyone's going to get crushed and die? And first of all, the bus is going to fall not on that. It's going to fall on the side where the people are. Then it's molten lava.

From where he cut it? Burning steel, somebody's going to get burned like a kid. You're like, listen. Scarabs from outer space can symbiotically bond with your mind. Fine.

But this bust scene impractical. A step too far. Okay. See? And this is what we just talked about this. What does George Clooney say? The great George Clooney,

who is the, I don't know if you guys know, he's the proprietor of Casamigos. My, the only tequila I drink. That's not a free ad. Casamigos send me tequila. There you go. Joe Mo likes a little Casamigo. Okay, send it to her.

Here's a deal. George Clooney said, when you sit down in the movie theater, you make a deal with the audience. The audience is saying, I'm going to believe what's on the screen. And you're saying, I'm going to make you believe it.

And the moment you do something to make the audience, think that what they're seeing is it legit, the deal is off. And he says that could be a performance, that can be a bad director, that could be something that shouldn't happen. It's like the deal is off.

And once you break the deal, you can't really get it back. I'm not saying that the bus was a broken deal. It's okay. If for you, it's a bus, and me, it's a Nana with a machine gun. And for Jomi, it's Susan Sarandon, then that's where we are, you know?

These could be the deals, okay? So the superhero stuff didn't work. And also, there was some pluck guys. I knew it. I knew this was coming. I knew this was coming. On him? This is coming.

There was, there was. You thought he was too plucky? There was some pluck. I dealt with the little, you guys know I don't, I don't, I don't. There was some pluck here, man. I've seen when he was, particularly when he was in the suit, there was some pluck. There was some. Okay.

Hey, let's see what we can do. Ooh, I got it. I love to make a big sword. And it was most of the time. This is why we need a goddamn heads-up display. Because when you're doing your voice acting a suit, you have to like go into freaking Avatar the Last Airbender animated series mode where like those line reads work for a cartoon,

but don't work as well if you're trying to like, if you think an actual human saying it. And so like, and you don't have to have him voice it. if you can see his face. You know what I mean? Like if you can see him in his terror or his excitement or whatever, then you don't have to have those like kind of cheesy, over-explanning, this is how I'm reacting kind of way.

Give me the HUD. Give me the heads up display. I mean, it's a little different because like the relationship between Ironman and Jarvis is, you know, Iron Man created Jarvis. There's not like, there's a little back and forth there for comedy. But in terms of there's somebody else's, it's almost like one-on-one. Like they work together. the scarab behind me however

like it takes a second for them to get in sync and we see it in the movie you see it in pretty much any run uh you know if you're in a young justice you all know if I'm about season two baby but it takes them a while to like find a rhythm and find a thing so when he does that that's where you get the plug

it's like I'm figuring it out let's go you know what I mean like it's it's a little it's a little different than than Iron Man so like I can understand why you know, I mean, not the HUD, but I understand why, like, his conversations are a little, are a little different. Well, he's figuring out, like, the whole thing, like, with somebody else in his ear telling, like, like, we should kill these people.

He's like, hold on. We don't do that. You know, it's a little, it's a little back and forth. I did like that she. I did like that she switched into speaking to him in Spanish, like, when they, like, fully bond. And, but I do think, I think, I think. as a, in general, as like a concept was a slightly bit of a wasted opportunity for like more

comedy, more friction, more back and forth, you know, like to make that, to give us more of like a venom struggle for control situation or to give us, um, you know, Peter Parker getting a suit talking to him and there's just dry humor and what Jennifer Connolly is saying, like how she delivered her lines voicing that suit. And so I think. think that like there there were some opportunities for a voice in your head to be a bit i mean i guess towards the end when she makes our second and final erection joke that like you know we're we're on the road to that but i think they could if they if we get a second blue beetle movie or if we see him again in a team up of some kind i would love for them to like bump up the kaji like

content personality something like that you know i'm with that i'm with that um movie was funny. Yeah. Movie was funny. George Lopez was funny in the movie. Going into this film, I was like, you know, why are they putting George Lopez in this? You know what I mean? It's not that I don't like George Lopez.

I actually happen to think George Lopez is very funny. But I was thinking to myself, when they put these comedians in these roles, is it a good track record of it working. What are your other examples? I don't want to call anybody out. But there's some points where it didn't work. And, you know, I don't, I don't want to, you know, call anybody up. Let's call someone out who is already, the internet has already canceled him, so you don't have to worry about it. Like, are you talking about, like, T.J. Miller and a Deadpool, something like that.

That worked. What doesn't work? that was one that was one that was one talk to me about it later yeah tell me later talk about it yeah um but sometimes what are you gonna say well i was just gonna say you run the i think i don't know maybe it was the point you're about to make but you run you run the risk of that person just like completely overpowering overpowering the movie and i think i read i read this one review that uh i think it was david fear in the rolling in rolling stone had this great line that i loved where he was like uh george lopez is like gracious and

to like continuously steal the movie and then give it back. And I just thought that was like a really good description of what we're seeing here, which is like, yeah, he's he's taking it. He's taking it, but he's not keeping it. And I thought it worked really well. I thought it worked really well. It worked really well because it was, there was some levity there from a character who took himself very seriously.

And in superhero movies, I think it worked. best like that. Like there was levity from a character that really, really took himself very seriously. Now look, movies ask us for a lot of things. His guy's a tech wizard. He's a tech wizard. He's a, he's a, he's a wizard of tech. He knows how to build something that will shut down the surveillance system of a company that I'm assuming is a sort of stark industry's type of situation. I don't know much about the backstory of Blue Beetle. Actually, we'll let Jamie. I'm going to let Jomey tell us a little bit about that in a second

because he knows him from Young Justice. And, you know, he goes to Chords layer, the Blue Beetle's layer, and then he's able to figure out his somewhat antiquated computer technology there, too. So it's what it is. But I thought that it worked. I thought that he

was very funny. I thought the stuff with the truck was extremely funny. Okay. I thought all all of that stuff was working. Okay, Jomey, tell us a little bit about the Blue Beetle that you know, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle,

and give people a little bit of a little bit. Just go a little Blue Beetle and give them something. So Blue Beetle is not the first Blue Beetle. Even the movie will tell you. This Blue Beetle is Tommy Reyes and he gets his powers from the Scarab. In Young Justice,

he got his he was skating outside of cord industries when an explosion exploded and he a scarem showed up and he was like this is weird and then attached himself uh to his back in the comics it's like almost it's like almost you know quite similar like he gets the scarab even though like ted cord who is the original blue beetle uh sacrifices himself to save uh to save the day And so what's interesting in both of these incarnations is that we're kind of left asking who the fuck is Ted Cord. We're like, cool. He's there. Like he was the first Blue Beetle, but what is at all?

I mean, they don't really go into it in Young Justice. But I assume with the end credits scene we got in this movie, we're going to find out a little bit more in the future about who Ted Cord was. What's this relationship with the Scarab? What's the relationship with the name Blue Beetle? and all things about that going forward. Yeah, Ted Corte, the original Blue Beetle. Old character here, Captain Adam 83, 1963, created by Steve Ditko.

Wow, it's an old, old, old character that I know very, very, very little about. I'll be honest with you guys. There is in the comics lore. There's, like, Dan Garrett, which shows up, like, after Ted Cord was invented in the comics, but predates him in the lore. and there's like based on my I have not read the Blue Beetle comics but based on my limited research

there's this idea that like Dan Garrett bonded with the Blue Beetle but that Ted Cord never achieved that sort of symbiosis and decided to fight as the Blue Beetle anyway even though he didn't like actually connect with the Blue Beetle the same way that Dan Garrett did and then Jaime comes along and then High Make connects and so what that tells us to go back to something I said earlier is that there is this worthiness almost element or something about, you know, like to wield the hammer to, you know, whatever, you have to have some sort of quality in you that Tedcourt didn't have, but chose to fight anyway. And Dan Garrett and Jaime Reyes too. All right. Look, let's talk the future of the Bibbibh Beetle.

Can I just say one thing to zoom back to the comedy front? Sure. One thing that I think was a missed opportunity is Harvey Guillen, who's in what we do in the shadows and, you know, a bunch of other stuff is, I think one of the, you know, voices Nightwing on Harley Quinn is, I think, one of the funniest people to ever exist. I love him so much. And I feel like they did not use him at all. This one, no joke, the whole movie. Yeah. They did not use him at all in this movie.

So that's another critique. Well, it's really glad that he survived the movie and he'll be there in the sequel. What's that? You got stabbed in the chest. Oh. All right. Tough. Can I ask you guys a question real quick?

Is what we do in the shadows not the funniest show on television? Yeah, it is. It's so good. Show me, you don't care about what we're doing the shadows. It's honestly right now, it's either that or Harley Quinn. And guess who's in both? Not a coincidence. I'll throw another show in there real quick.

Nobody's going to agree with me. I think you should leave. That's funny. I love that show. It's so stupid. That shit is so stupid. That's perfect, a perfect show to sit around with your friends while you're enjoying some California legal herbal relaxation and just let it wash over you. Perfect show.

Breathe! Breathe, Mike. Why couldn't you breathe? So stupid. All right, real quick. You guys want to hear, before we get into our thoughts about the future of Blue Beetle and stuff, if you guys want to hear my Blue Beetle themes on that I made up, please. Always.

Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, he's a goddamn bug. Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, he's a god damn. Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, he's a god. Damn bug. Hunting. Thank you, Joe. I appreciate that. All right.

Blue Beetle is not going to make a lot of money. No. Tough. So, myriad reasons as to why. Okay. One is the state of D.C. Two is the

Barbenheimer phenomenon, which has not let go. of the Centiplexes. Our friend Otto over at Century City AMC was talking to Otto yesterday as I was seeing this movie.

Otto, Otto, Otto, shout out to Otto. And there are some screens, IMAX screens that are still being dominated by Oppenheimer. And Blue Beetle is not going to get those screens because Oppenheimer is still, selling out one o'clock shows

IMAX throughout the day. Wow, that's what I've been told. But this doesn't have to be an IMAX movie. It doesn't have to be an IMAX movie, but that tells you, I saw it in IMAX, but that tells you about the priorities and stuff here. Okay?

Also, the fact that if the DCEU or D.C. movies were humming and very healthy, this is a movie that people would take a flyer on, go see, really enjoy it. But if they are not, this is not the type of feeling that people are going to come out to go see. All right. I really hope that I'm wrong, but I don't think the movie is going to open big. I think the opening is going to be soft. I think it's going to have a soft opening, but it might be a

little legy, I think from word of mouth because I went into this. So Arjuna asked me if I want to do this podcast with you guys. And other than like my desire to always talk with you guys, I was like, I don't want to do it if I don't like the movie. And I thought I wasn't going to like the movie. because of DC's track record and because I think they did a really bad job cutting the trailers on this movie. Like I do not think they showed what the real charm of this movie is.

And so I'm worried that people will see it, we'll think about what DC films have been in the last few outings and say, no, thank you. But then they might hear from us, from their pals who did go to see it from film critics that is like, it's, it's, yeah, go see Blue Beetle. I go see it. So, yeah, soft opening for sure, but it might have, you know,

it might surprise us with its, yeah, it's legs. It's Lex. All right, let's talk about the future of the Beetle then. James Gunn seems to be a big fan of this character, with this family of this world. If the movie really does lose money, and it doesn't become the phenomenon, on. Also, I've neglected to mention that the writer's strike means that they couldn't really

promote it the way they should. It's just a perfect storm for the movie not to actually make a whole lot of money. It just, it's just the way that it goes. It's actually not a dissimilar fate that I felt like before the Ninja Turtles movie, which was fantastic, but it just needed more heat around it to make people go see it. Joe? You know something? Well, I feel like Ninja Turtle is going to hit when it hits streaming. I feel like a lot of people are going to discover Ninja Turtles on streaming and that might happen for Blue Beetle as well. But anyway, sorry, you were saying. What's the future for Blue Beetle?

Will we see Jaime again? Will we see his family again? Will we see them team up with Superman? He's in the world here. There's some talk about Superman. He's wearing a Gotham City law shirt. I guess he went to law school or he went to pre-law, of Gotham College, whatever.

So there's, There's some, there's connectivity there. There's a chance. There's a chance for the whole thing. What do you guys think? You know where I think he should show up? And where he has canonical, like, connections in the comics. Talk to him.

Peacemaker. Interesting. So why don't you put him in peacemaker? I think that would, he would fit the top. I mean, you wouldn't have as much room for his family. Like, you know, we don't get a blue beetle too. and if he becomes part of some other team up or whatever, then you don't have as much room for the family,

which we all think is the strength of the movie. But I could see him, his energy blending with the energy over on Peacemaker. What do you think? I agree. To be honest with you, I think the character is a blank slate right now and could fit into a lot of different worlds. I think that I'm interested to see how the character grows,

especially once he gets more confident with his powers and who he becomes in his community and all of that stuff. But I agree. I think peacemaker is actually a good idea to be a breeding ground for some of these different characters to see if they can blend into guns tone. You know how they throw you in the episode or the Justice League of the Avengers

and see if people like you? I think peacemaker is a good show for that because it's so out there that almost anything is possible in that in that world. You know what I mean? So I agree, Joan. What about you, bro? That's actually a really good answer. He's too old to be like a team titan, young justice, like, you know, type guy, like, 22. I mean.

So I think would be, I just, I don't know why I had this thought. But imagine if he was like the Nick Fury of the DCAU and he was going around. he was like guys dog Superman I'd just seen this dude in Gotham he's a bat we gotta link y'all up I think you guys would be great friends

and he's the guy going around the thing it'd be silly be really ridiculous but it'd be really funny for me man it'd be really dope it made me laugh

I'm sorry stupid idea not your not your best idea I'd be like I don't need to come in and like steal your dining table from you,

but I don't Jamie, I'm about to take your dining room table, bro. It's wholly it's serious. They got to let them

head to wall or somebody do that. Jomey, like popping up and it's just like blue beetle eating the bag of chips. I want to tell you

about the justice initiative. That's what you're talking about, we're going to get him an eye patch and just sort of let him go, leather duster.

It's real silly. Well, Van, what's your idea? My idea for Blue Beetle is I think it would work on television. I do. I think it would work on television. I think a low-stakes way to do it is that it's to bring it to HBO Max. And we know that this character, that this actor thrives in the television format.

I think it works on television. I think that's a place to where you can build out the lure a little bit, let the character work itself out a little bit. almost like they're doing for Loki and then bring that character to the bigger screen. I don't think that there's anything wrong with this in terms of a sequel to this movie. I would actually love to see everyone again. I just don't know how the economics are going to work because right now when you look at it, fantastic rundown done by Eduardo this week, by the way, when you look at it right now,

he is on track for around a $30 million opening weekend, 3.3 million and Thursday previews. You guys, that's like just a, that's a... It's not a bomb, but it's not great. You think it's a bomb? 30 mil.

What was the budget on this thing? What was the budget? We talked about this on the Midnight Boys. Yeah, it's like 104 to 125 mil. Like it's an HBO. Oh, 120 mil. It says it. Yeah. 120 million.

So you want to get 60 million. you want to make half your budget back in the first week. You want to you, you want to get $60 million. I mean, it really, the movie can't make any less. It would be difficult for a movie that costs that much money to make like $15 or $20 million.

Now it won't. So fucking Kevin Smith opening. You know what I mean? It's like you, that's not a diss to Kevin Smith. He makes smaller films. If Kevin Smith makes $15 fucking million, that's fucking crazy.

That's good for him. He makes smaller movies. I'm not dissing Kevin Smith. I fucking love Kevin Smith. It's one of my fucking heroes. I'm just saying it's like you make a smaller movie for like $7 million. 15 is like fucking crazy. If you make a movie for $50 million or $60 million, $15 is not great.

And if you make a movie for $120,000, $30,000, that's pushing it. But if there was any film that I would just give a Mulligan to, it's this one. It's just so much bad luck here. Okay. Birds of Prey was 33 million. That's a bomb. That's not great. That's a bomb.

The Suicide Squad was... Streaming, right? 26 a million. Yeah, but that also went to streaming like what? That was streaming, though. No, didn't he get a theatrical window during COVID? The Suicide Squad? Maybe it did.

I think you got a window. Yeah. It's not great. Black Adam made 60s. seven, this deserves to make more than Black Adam. Come on. Black Adam, one of the worst movies. This is so much better than Black Adam.

And it's not even, that's not even, shout out to everybody who was in Black Adam. This movie is a lot better than Black Adam. So this is the thing about this film is that, like, people are like, man, this is the best DC film in a minute, which is like true. But also. The bars on the floor. Black Adam,

Flash, Shazam Free of the Gods. We're working with nothing here. Working with, we're working with, We're working, don't even, don't even start VAM. Don't even start with the flag. Don't even start with that. Like it.

No. Oh, Fury of the Gods made $30 million. Come on. Let's beat Fury of the Gods. Everyone listening to this. Let's at least beat Fury of the Gods. Come on. Go out and see Blue Beetle, man.

Yeah. I want a cultural thing behind it too, man. Like, go out and see Blue Beetle. Eduardo, are you there? What did you think of the movie? I loved it. I was in the same boat as Joanna where the trailers did not sell me at all. I thought the trailers were quite bad, actually.

But I went last night with some buddies in mind. And I was laughing my ass off the entire time. Like, the emotional beats, like, really hit for me, especially just like the immigrant family tell. It's like not something that I expected at all. And it really hit close home to me. So I'm going to watch it again this weekend. I'm going to recommend it out to my friends. We got, it has to be fury of the gods, at least.

Like you said. It's got to be fear of the gods. Come on. Fear of the gods, man. Jesus Christ. All right. Anybody, final thoughts on the film

before we get, before we get out of here. Go see it. You know, take your friends, take your family, let them know. This movie needs to make

more than Suzanne Free of the Gods. It just has to. Guys, I believe in us. We can do this. Let's go to. Go see Blue Beetle.

It's not going to reinvent the wheel, but it rolls just fine. You know, go see the movie. it was a lot of fun. It's August. What else are you going to go see? Come on.

Right. Go to the theater. You've already seen Barbie like multiple times. It's okay. Go see it literally one other movie. And I say that as Barbie. Anti-feminist. I've seen Barbie four times in the theaters.

Four times. Hey, Joanna Andrew Tate Robinson. Tell them people. Not going to stick. I'm sorry. Is it time for me to read those texts you sent from the episode? Oh, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

All right, look, you guys, that does it for us, okay? Programming reminders, we got a brand new feed. A brand new feed. It is the kingdom of R. House of R has its own feed. Subscribe, be on the lookout for the first stuff they got coming on with Top of Soka moments. Button matches on Monday. You got to be listening to Button Mash.

You love video games. Button MASH is right there for you. Jess and Ben did a game swap. Each picked a game. They liked another had to cover the game or play the game. Button Mash, get into it. Covers for Assoca begins next week.

You guys, I know you want to know, Assoca's good, okay? From what I've seen, you're at a screening, it's good. I'm not gonna get into the whole, oh, you gotta watch the podcast for that. We're not gonna have any funerals. It doesn't look like for another show.

Star Wars doesn't really do like the precipitous drop off that Marvel does. Do you know? Jesus. I don't know if that's true, Joe. What are we talking about? Do we watch the beginning

in Book of a event? We're like, only you were like, yeah, for that band. And the rest of us were like, yeah, that's true. I still like the show. Well, Obi-Wan. Oh, I think Obi-Wan.

I thought, no, I, there are Star Wars shows I haven't liked, but I don't think I watched the first two episodes and we're like, we are cooking, and then all of a sudden it dropped off. That can happen with Marvel. I don't think it really happens with Star Wars. There have been some bad Star Wars shows.

Okay. Last one I'll throw out there. Third season Mandelorian, after episode two, are we going, hey, this is good, and then it kind of... Yeah, but that was two seasons before the drop off. Anyway. That's fine. And you know why Mando's season three wasn't very good?

Because Dave Faloni was busy making us so good. That's what I said. So good. You're, um, all right. So look, look, we already did a mini Asoka pod just then. That was a mini pod on Asoka. We liked it. We liked it.

It was fun. Guys, we're gonna, we're, I don't want to say that we're back, but we might be back. I'm not gonna lie. I was driving Mal back to our hotel last night. And I was like, what if, what if this is good? And then skeleton crew is good. And then the acolyte is good. And we get like, too much dip on the chip, Joe, don't.

Hold on. One on a time. One out of time. But you don't even like dips, Joey. But think about this. What if this is good? What if the Loki is good? What if we're back?

What if we're back, guys? What if the marvels is good? What if we're back? Are we back? Are we back? It's too early. We watch literally two episodes of television and we can't. We can't.

Blue Beetle was kind of. good. Blue Biddle is good. Are we, are we back? I don't know. We'll be asking this question. Will we exploring this? Are we back?

I love your, I love your, I love your swings, van, because you have, you have been the, like, leader of the, it's cooked, it's done, it's over, we're done parade for the last, like, three months. And now you're like, I've seen some Osaka and I think we're back. It takes very little. Excellent. Excellent. Um, okay. Midnight boys.

It's reactions Wednesday. House of our deep dives. Okay. Don't miss them. Uh, shout out to socials. Jomi. Thank you. Hey, man. I'm trying to our best.

I don't know if y'all are locked in on the socials, but we've got two videos up. Getting us ready for Asoka we did. Mow on Asoka, obviously. And Van on Ezra. And guess what? We're going to have more leading up to the Asoka premiere on Tuesday. So make sure you're locked in

and you're following us on TikTok and Instagram for all those explainer vids. What was the second video? I watched the first one. It was Van on Ezra. Hell yeah, Van on Ezra. And who do you have, Jomey? Coming later today. This is coming out on Friday, right?

Yeah. It's going on later today. The love of my life. Harris and Dula Means green ready to do something that rhymes with that. Okay, great. I'll tell you guys right now, you could watch the Asoka show for no other reason for Hara. Working. It's good stuff.

Okay, okay, okay. This show was produced by Adwater Ocampo, additional production from Arjuna Ram Gapal. We don't have Charles to take us out here, but what we do have is the triumphant of friends. Joe, thank you. Jomi. Thank you. No problem.

Hey, happy birthday to Arjuna. Shout out to the boy. We are all done. Feels like every product claims real protein these days. But real doesn't start on a label. It starts at the source. Like real California milk from California farm families. It's real dairy delivering high-quality, complete protein,

with all nine essential amino acids to help build muscle, give you energy, and keep you satisfied longer. So keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk.