The Ringer-Verse - "What If... ?" Predictions, Scarlett's Lawsuit, and the On-Screen Marvel Draft | The Midnight Boys

Episode Date: August 4, 2021

Charles and Van discuss the latest news in the world of fandom and give their take on Marvel's "What If ... ?" being canon (05:21) and discuss Scarlett Johansson's recent lawsuit with Disney over the release of 'Black Widow' (12:50). Then they are joined by Jomi to conduct the On-screen Marvel Draft (25:29). Host: Charles Holmes and Van Lathan Producer: Steve Ahlman Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production: TD St. Matthew-Daniel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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He is Charles Holmes, host of the Ringer music show. They are Sixth Steve and Jomey the Explaner, but we are the Midnight Boys. We are really anticipating the release of Marvel's What If. Charles, are you into this? Are you, are you, you have, you have your entire being turned up for what if next week.

Are you getting ready for it? No, not at all. I'm really worried. It's looking shaky out. It's looking shaky out in the streets, bro. I'm going to worry, bro. You know, like, when an artist got to put out like five singles, just none of them are going to catch it, I'm worried.

I'm worried. I know there are people are going to be hot at me. But I could be convinced. Well, so what are you worried about? You said this before. I wanted to get this on. What are you worried about with what if? All right.

So it just came out that AC Bradley, the head writer, he was basically like the events of what if are canon. and then I was doing some reading. And then our man Figey said, the first season of What If is, quote, everything you know about the 23 movies in the Infinity Saga and add one twist to them. And you're going to see how everything turns out different.

Now, that's just different than the what if that I grew up on. You know what I'm saying? And the what if I grew up on is a little bit wackier, is a little bit like, yo, like, what's the absolute stuff that will never happen in canon we're going to try to do it in this self-contained story. And it seems like the MCU version of what if is like, hey, you guys love our movies?

Well, we just did one little thing to make them a little, a little bit different, which is just comic book nerd me is like, okay, I got to see how it performs. I got to see how they land. Is that fair? Or am I wild? Yo, no, it's fair. It's fair.

It's a criticism that I think we're going to get into a little bit deeper in a second in the second Nerd News Minute. I just want to make sure that everyone knows real quick that the House of Mal is back on Friday. We have a lot to discuss this week. And we're about to bring you another contentious superhero draft on this particular show. The villain's draft was seriously.

The villains draft was really not a battle of villains. It was a battle of the Midnight Boys. It was me versus Charles. It was our perspectives. It was what we think. It was our entire superhero ethos that we threw onto this podcast for you guys It was a lot of fun.

We're going to do another one. Really quick. It was our own Civil War, though. Like the Midnight Boys pick sides. You know, Jomey, you know, picked team like Charles and Steve was rocking with a van. It was heated behind the scenes. You know, it was. It was.

Jomey, chicken tender Jomey right there. I bought this dude a meal that he ate and left and he couldn't even see fit to give me. That's all right. That's okay. C-TJ. Okay, well, let's go ahead and get into this. Oh, I won't let you guys know. Next week, we are going to be meeting again here on a Monday

where the entire Ringervor's family will be united. Ringerverse Unites is what we're going to call it to talk about the suicide squad. Suicide squad drops this week. We're going to all go see it. And then we're going to come back and report to you guys of how we thought Jane James Gunn executed, what is essentially a sequel and a reboot. It's a continuation and a brand new take. I'm really, really interested to see how this goes.

And it would be great having Mao with us on Monday to kind of contextualize what the movie was able to accomplish and maybe some of the places that it could have been a little bit better. Can I post a challenge to you guys since everybody else is in L.A.? Can you, Jomey, and Mao all go to see it? but I want to see who Jomey decides to sit next to. That'll really show which show he's really rocking with. That would be great because Jomey is something of a, see, Jomey is a midnight boy,

but he also has a guest room in the House of Mouth. Yeah. So Jomey is a midnight boy whose residence is in the House of Mouth. He's interesting right there. The rest of us, we're straight up midnight boys. It's dark over here. But Jomey is a little bit of a little bit of a little.

He's Spider-Man in our cap and Iron Man thing. He got to choose a side. side. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of like the Drake. You know how whatever team wins the championship, Drake is their biggest fan. So that's kind of joke.

It's kind of joke. All right, let's get to Neh News Minute. Now, since we already dipped a little bit into what you were talking about with What If, let's just stay there to start the conversation. I actually was a little bit, to your point, a little bit bummed out about some of the revelations that the happenings of What If would be canon as well. Just because it was the. singular one-shot nature of the what-ifs that, to your point,

made them so amazing when, like, you were growing up and watching. It was stuff that you knew, that you knew would not happen. And so that's why they were in a what-if. And it also makes me wonder just how they're going to be rolling these stories out. And what kind of, if they set something that's canon from a what-if universe, are they going to fundamentally change characters, backstories, futures, arcs, trajectories, and all of that, are some of the movies that are going to exist

coming out in the future, going to be actually offshoots of what-if episodes that we're going to get next week? Yeah, that's, I agree. And my whole thing with what-if that originally, I was like, all right, this could be dope. It's like, I actually think this would have been a great backdoor pilot thing

where they're just like, yo, let's do the craziest thing ever. Let's do stuff that we don't think we'll ever do in the movies. And if it really, really sticks, maybe one day, maybe one day we're like, oh, like, we're going to experiment, but it's not canon. You know what I'm saying? Because that's actually what the original what it did. They were just like, all right, we're going to make Jane Foster Thor. And then that originally became a, that then became a comic.

They're like, yo, what if Wolverine joins Shield? And then Wolverine joins Shield years later. I think that's actually how you should do it, where none of this is actually canon. It's just we're experimenting. And then maybe a writer years down the line, I'll be like, let's dust this off a little bit. And like, let's see if we can, how we would do this in the real universe. I understand what you're saying. You know what the only difference is? The only difference is is, is I think the comic books, for example, for a long time, what the Avengers book really

was, the Avengers comic book, the publication itself, was a mechanism just to try characters to see if people liked them. That's why the Avengers have so many members. The Avengers have so many members. They would put it a new character in an Avengers book. And then they would see if people like them and then they would decide whether or not to give the character more to do or just do away with the character completely. In this situation, Marvel doesn't really need to, the MCU doesn't really need to do anything like that anymore

because whatever they give us, we accept. Fair. So it's like, it's like what you're saying makes a whole lot of sense from the way that we read and consumed comic books growing up. Let's test this out a little bit. Let's do this. There's so many people that are going to be watching the what-if series that just have no idea about the what-if comic run.

They have no idea about what was going on in it. And so they're just going to be, oh, Black Panther is one of, Black Panther is going to be one of the ravagers. That seems awesome. Let's do it. You know, for me, for us, it has all makes sense in this huge globule of comic book facts and arcs. But I don't know.

I think the audience demands less from the MCU right now. Also, and I think that's, I think that's probably a bad thing. Yeah, I mean, like, it's just like the stories that we've heard about of like, what if DeChala was Star Lord? I'm like, that's not really what if. That to me isn't like the silliness and the grandness of like what if. Now, if you were going to tell me like one of the what ifs is like, yo, what if Scarlet Witch got rid of all the superheroes instead of saying no more muting, she said no more heroes. And she said no more heroes, but it was all in the MCU. Like, yeah, I want to see that.

I want to see that right away. If she was at the end of Civil War, she's like, no more heroes. everybody lost their fucking powers. Like, I would be like, yeah, that's like monumental idea. If you're just being like, oh, Bucky is going to fight a bunch of Marvel zombies. I'm just like, then why did you just give me a season episode of the real Marvel zombies? Like, you know what I'm saying?

Going forward with the Marvel zombies would be great. I would love. Going forward with the Marvel zombies would be fucking amazing. The original Marvel Zombies is amazing. It is. It's fantastic. It's fantastic. What would you like to see?

Give me your craziest what? if pitch right now. My craziest what if? Oh, man. Dog, this one's going to be bad. This isn't my craziest, but I just want to see your reaction. Okay. Let's go. Give it to me. What if all the heroes were black? Every single

hero was just black. That's the best fucking what if I've ever heard before my life. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's the best, what if I've ever heard in my life. You could do a whole different thing. You could do a whole story arc about the first white super

and what they have to endure. How crazy would that be? But you know what the funny thing is? Let's do a what if where all the superheroes are black, but they exist in the same world. Same world. So there's still white people around,

but like all of the superiors like Captain America, Iron Man are all black. They're still white people around, but also the same systems are still in place. So it's still the same thing, right? There's racism. There's white supremacy.

There's all of this stuff. But for some reason, only the black. can be heroes. And that's the name of the whole thing. Only the black. Only the black volume one. Why are we putting this out there? We should actually do something like this.

We should actually say, look, ever since I won the award, every time somebody throws out a crazy idea, then they go, no, let's actually make this. A world where all the same things happen, but only the black people have superpowers. What do you think would actually happen? I don't want to get radical.

You know what I'm saying? But man, let's say things would change. You know, things would change. And, you know, maybe it would be rough even for us at the beginning. I'm sorry, if I got Spider-Man's powers, bro. No, I'm fucking New York up. Shoot, I'm going to Nobu. I'm not paying for shit.

And then the cops are like, hey, and I'm like, this is reparations, bitch. And then I'm like... See, the thing is, though, if I got Spider-Man's powers, if I was 15 and I got Spider-Man's powers, I don't know that I would automatically think to like save people. I wouldn't. That's the thing you wouldn't. If I got Spider-Man's powers, I would be both fucking Jackson, Sanders, LeBron, James, Jordan, Jr.

I'd be, everyone. That's what that's exactly. I don't know. It would take something happening like a tragedy, like the Uncle Ben thing, to make me think I have to stop people. All right. So here's my radical thing. Actually, if I did get superpowers before we get off this, I actually think, like, I would, if I'm Spider-Man, like, only like a white 15-year-old would be like, yeah, I got to stop petty crime.

I got to stop, like, like, crime in the hood. I'd be like, hey, what if I get super famous and then I re-inject my capital back into where I fucking live? Like, no, well, like, I'm going to empower everybody. We're like, I'm going to inject this super soldier serum into all my boys. And when we, we, like, we're not doing all this shit. You think you would think that at 15? At 15, you think that? Let's, at 15, you think you-

If I was 15 right now, yes. Both this team you don't mean. Probably not. There's been a little too many marches where I'm just radicalized now, you know. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer

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Visit weathertech.com today. In other nerd news, there seems to be a very contentious situation over there at the house of the mouse. Scarlett Johansson is leaving the Disney family, not just as a character, but seemingly as a friend, She had sued Disney for breach of contract, claiming that Disney had no right or that Disney had no right, but that Disney played her by releasing Black Widow onto Disney Plus Premier Access,

thus costing her back-in dollars. Here's the way the thing goes. Or her claim goes. She says that part of the financial deal she had with Disney for her payment in the movie was that she would get back in. For you guys that don't know, Robert Downey Jr. was paid $20 million to be Iron Man, but then made another $55 million off Avengers in game because he had 8% of the world rock gross of the movie. So he made 50, he actually made more off his back-end deal than he did off the guaranteed salary.

She had a similar deal for Black Widow, but it was contingent upon the theater performance of the movie, according to Scarlett Johansson, and releasing it on Disney Plus Premier. access, her people claim, cut into her profits. Her brand, the movie made less money, she made less money, now she's suing for breach of contract. Disney has come back and gone directly at her headtop. Ooh, nuclear. Like, directly at her head top.

Disney came back and said, yo, man, not only is this not true, but how dare you bring this up while so many people are going through COVID and don't want to leave and go to the theaters? And they're, that's basically what they said. They called her a spoiled, pathetic, whiny little Hollywood star. Now, I ain't not trying to F up anything. You know, Disney want to give me a call.

If I, like, yo, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'll give you my number. But Comrade Lathen, can I go in real quick? Sure, go for it. I'm going to be real. I'm always on the side of the worker. Now, I don't agree with, like, Scarlett Johansson's politics, a lot of stuff she's done in the past.

But all I could say is, like, this, I think, is probably going to be one of the most momentous, things to happen in Hollywood? Because it really does ask a question. It's like, what are our stars worth? We're in the IP game now, where the characters mean more than the stars. But like, if Scarlett Johansson gets less, the directors get less, the writers get less. If everything's going to streaming, like, you're in Hollywood, you know, like, as popular

as streaming is. Streaming does not make you the same amount of money that a blockbuster does. It just doesn't. That's why we still have them. And I'm just like, I'm on the same. side of the worker where I'm just like, yo, like, Scarjo kind of has a point. She kind of has a point.

She actually does kind of have a point. And I think this is going to be the first of many of these sort of back and forth, schisms, disputes, disagreements, whatever you want to call them, that we're going to see as things transition to streaming. Number one, Hollywood stars are going to have to come to terms with being less important. See, it's a weird, it's a weird sort of dynamic. a lot of these people that are in these movies, these MCU movies, right?

When we look at their overall careers, take a guy like Chris Evans. Chris Evans was in a bunch of different films in the 2000s, right? He was Fantastic Four, The Losers, a lot of different movies, right? He did a lot of different things. His career took off by playing one character.

Now, outside of that one character, I think he's done, he did. He's done some movies, Snowpiercer, obviously, Knives Out, all of those things. Besides that one character, he made a living being Captain America. That was his thing. So a lot of the value in Chris Evans, maybe not so much Scarlett Johansson, is being Captain America. So that was kind of like a gravy train for a very, very long time. But now the people getting into this, they're stepping into shoes that were sort of made and minted by the actors before them.

And those shoes are a little tighter and a little less comfortable. because now the stories mean mean way more than they do. Who cares who the people are? Just give us episodes of the MCU. So, like Scarlett Johantin in a way is flying the plane while it's still in the air. She's reacting to something that's changing

while she's still in it. And she's also probably feeling a little fucked up that this happened when she got her first big chance to have her movie, right? because she didn't have a solo movie until after all of the other films were made. But do you think they would have done this to Robert Downey Jr? If we were going to get an Iron Man Ford, would they have done this to a man?

Well, you asked two different questions. You ask if they would have done this to Robert Downey Jr. And then you ask if they would have done this to a man. Would they have done this to a man who is like on the same level of like fame and importance to the MCU? What I mean by that, like I would say like even outside of the MCU, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr. are similar tiers of stars. They are like, if I say Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., everybody knows who they are.

You know what I'm saying? But that doesn't have anything to do what we're talking about. You don't think so? No, because Iron Man is just infinitely more important to the MCU than Black Widow is. Marble has to do a better job at making female characters, and they did a very poor job with that that are as important to the stories as the male characters are. They did not do a good job with that in the Infinity Saga. They didn't.

But the fact that they didn't do a good job of it is now coming back to bite them in the ass because everything that she's saying, she has a point. She's saying, yo, when my movies was released, this is the way you guys did it. The times they were living in notwithstanding and things that are going on, notwithstanding, black widow simply isn't as important to the MCU as Tony Stark is, as even Thor is. really, really, to be honest with you, she's sort of on the level of Hawkeye. And the reality is...

Her character, but not her place in Hollywood. Not her character, but not her place in Hollywood. No. I don't know if Scarlett Johans is that much bigger of a star than Jeremy Renner, though. I'm not sure. I think so. Like, Scarlet Johan, like, name me the last movie

that Jeremy Runner was a leader. They rebooted boring for him. And how'd that do? It didn't do great. But, like, the question would be, then she bombed with Ghost in the Shell. Fair, but she can still get a movie made. She, like Scarceohans, can still get a movie made.

Jeremy Renner, it's a harder battle for him. Well, I mean, Jeremy Renner wasn't the lead in the Mission Impossible movies, but, like, he is in the Mission Impossible movies. I think that their stardom is probably around equal. By the way, what we're talking about is difficult to discuss because Hollywood, in and of itself, has a female star problem. There are not enough roles out there for women and not enough roles in the same way that there are for men.

So she's probably feeling doubly screwed by Disney in the fact that when she gets to where she's at, it doesn't work out in the same way. And she definitely has a point. But if you compare it to Robert Donnie Jr. Or you compare it to Chris Evans or you compare it to any of these other people, they just didn't put the same emphasis

or the same importance into her character as they did. But similarly, this may be a better analogy is like, they tried to do this to Galgado and Patty Jenkins with Wonder Woman. That was like a big thing. That was actually the first time it happened where, like, HBO is like, yeah, we're putting our slate of movies on, like, on HBO Max. Part of it is like, you know, my conjecture is like they needed to help choose the HBO

Max numbers, get more subscribers. And Patty Jenkins and Galgado like pitch to fit. They were just like, what do you mean? And then they had to back up the Brinks truck to be like, hey, our bad, we want you to come back for a third movie. Like, we're going to make this financially worth your while. We get it. And that is something that happened to a similar, like, star in that, like, Gallagheros' biggest role is Wonder Woman.

And I think Wonder Woman is obviously more popular than Black Widow, but I do think it's a similar thing where it's just like, we're getting to a place right now where I do think the actors, we have to ask ourselves as fans, as a community, who are we rocking with? Are we rocking with the people that, like, are putting their blood, sweat, and tears in this, the people who have to make it? or are we rocking with the corporation? And I generally tend to take the side of the actors, the directors, the writers, the people, like the behind the scenes people who need to make a living versus the massive corporation

where this is like $25, $30 million to Disney is nothing. It's a tax right off. Right. So for me, I don't look at it as being that cut and dry. I'm always going to be on the side of people complaining against corporations. And this one is a little bit different. It's a little bit different.

Number one, because there is a worldwide pandemic. I don't think there's Scarlett Johansson and her claim. There's anything wrong with her claim. So there's a couple of things that are going on here. Yes, there's a worldwide pandemic. Yes, both Disney and Warner and other entities are using this opportunity to boost subscribers on their streaming platforms because they believe that that's going to be the future of movie going. They think one day we are going to run to our televisions on Friday and buy for $29.99 movies.

that come out on these different streaming platforms. I personally think that that's not going to be as big of a thing as they think it is. I personally think that some of these movies are such events that we're still a generation away from seeing them or people being satisfied. These movies aren't as good when you watch them at home. They're just not. It's a whole different type of thing. So I think that they may be ushering that in a little bit faster

and maybe a little bit prematurely. but still though you have to consider everything you have to consider that this is happening to a lot of films across the board that this this that they did this with Mulan they did this

with uh you know Warner is releasing their entire slate of movies on HBO Max and the industry is still mad at them like that's burned a lot of bridges has burned a lot of bridges a lot of people of course all the theater companies regal and and Cinnemark and all of those companies

they're pissed off but then Christopher Nolan-Claw and HBO Max the worst Jewish service. Like he was pissed, yo. He was mad. Right.

So I think this is interesting and I think the Scarlett Johansson situation is almost like, I don't know, it's like the Kurt Flood lawsuit from Major League Baseball. I mean,

she's a bigger fan than Kurt. She's a bigger name than Kurt Flood was at that time. But he was the first guy that, you know, struggled for free agency in Major League Baseball, brought free agency into Major League Baseball. But he shook up the business system of baseball. And she is right now

trying to drive an ice pick in the heart of people who are moving this stuff to streaming. And so we'll see how it goes. And she's also just saying, hey, I waited a long time for my solo movie debut.

I did all of the reps. I played, and does not to say Black Widow wasn't an important character, she was. I did everything. I did all my shit. And now y'all are trying

to rob me out my bag a little bit and I'm not having it. You think she's going to be successful? I think they're going to settle this. Yeah, I don't think. I think this is going to get settled because, like, it's going to get ugly if this goes to court. Like, there's no way. Like, it's just going to be too ugly.

Like, Disney ain't letting that happen. Yeah, it goes to court. It doesn't, it looks terrible that this is maybe their biggest female lead from the Infinity Saga that is going through this. It looks bad. The relationship looks sour. It's going to put the rest of the ladies and the rest of the cast that she's been working with. for a long time in a very precarious situation. There are already articles coming out about how Robert Downey Jr.

and Chris Evans are silent about this. So it's going to be a stink for everybody if they don't get it figured out. And I think they probably will out of court. I definitely think they'll probably get it figured out, out of court. Come on, Disney. Back up the Brinks truck. I believe in y'all, Michael Mouse. I know you got it.

It ain't nothing to you. Come on. Michael Mouse. Why do you call them Michael Mouse? Why are you call them Michael Mouse? I like that. What? Is this real name Michael Mouse?

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You were mad. All right, this is what I will say. This is what I like, people can get mad, but like I woke up today and I was like scrolling through verses. And this is what I don't like, everybody is like, yo, Jada kiss killed it. Jada kiss the King in New York. He could go against Jay Z and probably win. I'm like, all right. let's like y'all like we can hype up jaded kids without lying and i feel like with the draft

everybody's like all right how could you how could you do this blah blah blah blah and there are bunch of like darts fader ain't even a ain't even a ain't even a villain i'm like all right bro we're doing too much we're doing too much y'all doing too much i'll give you darth vader as a villain wolverine is not does not belong on a villain i don't call him a villain i called him an anti hero he doesn't believe i let's not change that we're not gonna we're not here to redo the draft i'm just saying like people was telling me darth vader wasn't a villain and that's where i'm like y'all can have this. Y'all, this is y'all.

This is y'all. All right. Jomini Explaner is our moderator. We are now doing an on-screen Marvel-only superhero-draft. Last week, it was about the villains. This week, it is about the heroes. We are talking about people who have been on-screen. That includes animated.

That includes MCU movies, television shows. They have had to have been on-screen. scream. Jomey and explainer, T-ed-up, tell them what we're doing. I am back. He Who Moderates, and we are doing, just like Van said, a superhero draft. Now, here are the rules. We can do anything pre-and-post MCU. That includes animated TV shows, Fox, Sony. If it was on a screen, and it is Marvel, it's fair game. And it cannot, and I repeat, cannot, consist of any comic iteration. They hate me here.

They hate the nerds here. They're trying to put the nerds back in the locker. Listen, it's based on... Words with TD, all right? It's based on on screen only. All right, fine, fine. Okay, and we're going to do a little different. Last week, we'd had, you know, DC, Marvel.

This week, you can pick from whoever you want, right? As long as they fit into leader, mutant cosmic hero non-powered super street level hero and a yet to appear plan or unplanned right but somebody in the MCU at least

okay so how are we how are we determining first pick this time we can't flip a coin this time no no that's no fun that's like 50 50 50 man come on now damn bro all right so this week the question that I will decide who goes first on

is who among you would play the best superhero. So, you know, give yourself a minute, you know, think about it, right? Van, you won last week. You had the majority lion's share of the votes. So I will allow you to go first. I have to choose a specific hero that I would play. I mean, yeah.

Like, do you think you would be the better hero than Charles, which would ever hero that you'd pick? Of course I would be the better hero than Charles. First of all, I have a hero's energy. I have a calming presence, somebody that comes in and makes sense of all chaos in the world, right? Charles has a villain's energy. What does Charles like to do?

Remember what Heath Ledger said in Joker? Or remember what Alfred said about guys? Some guys just like to watch the world burn. Remember Alfred said that about the guy that was in the, when they were in the jungle and he said that about the Joker? That is Charles. Charles just likes to watch the world burn. I'm the guy that comes in and says,

hey, Charles, gives him a hug and then puts the fire out so we can get the goddamn pot. out. So I definitely would be a better hero than Charles without a doubt. Okay. Charles, your rebuttal. All right. So for the people out there, you know, I feel like I embody a lot

of Peter Parker's energy because the world thinks Peter Parker is a menace. He wakes up one day. He tries to save people. He tries to do his best. And what does he do? He wakes up. He goes on Twitter. Jay Jonah Jameson is calling him a medice again. And all he wants to do is save his little, his little neighborhood. And all of the listeners here, guys, you're the neighborhood. I'm trying, I'm trying to do my best. Sometimes I fail.

Sometimes I can't save Gwen Stacy, okay? And that's fine. Sometimes the haters out there, the Jay Jonah Jamison's, they want to call me a menace. But my heart is in the right place. And with great hot takes come great responsibility. If I fail in that, sometimes that's fine, because Uncle Ben told me it's fine. That's all I have to say. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, there's actually a lot to think about. I'm going with Van on this one. Damn. Damn.

All right, fine. So, Van, you have first pick. Okay. The floor belongs to you. So break down the categories for him, tell me. These are the categories that we're that we're drafting from. Yes, sir. We've got the leader, the mutant, the cosmic hero,

the non-superpowered, the street level, the yet to appear. There's no, like last week we did, you know, DC in order, MC in order, you can pick whichever hero, as long as they belong in one of those six categories.

So we're making a little more strategic, you know what I'm saying? You got to use your brain piece a little more. Okay, so with my first pick, I'm choosing someone that was the subject of much, much, much discussion last week for where he was picked and the team that he was put on.

I am going to take a mutant. that mutant is going to be the Hugh Jackman, Wolverine, from the X-Men universe. Maybe the most important character in that entire saga. Wolverine, even in the comic universe, one of the most beloved and important characters in all of Marvel. Wolverine is my first choice from a mutant. All right, I like that. I like that. I like that.

So that's a solid pick. Solid pick. I get two choices now, right? Yes, you do. Yes, sir. My first step for the leader, I got to start with the leader, all right? I got to start with somebody that it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what decade it's from. It doesn't matter who he's leading.

It's his heart that makes us want to follow him. And my team, he's going to scream Avengers assemble. You already know who it is. I'm picking Chris Evans is Captain America as my leader. All right. Does anybody have a problem with that? All right? No.

No, not at all. I think that's an amazing choice. All right. And then, Jomey, I get one more pick. Yes, sir. All right. I'm going to do something. This is my first.

Ooh, I've been cooking this up. I've been cooking this up. In non-powered, okay? In the non-super powered round, I'm going to pick someone who obviously, if he didn't do his star turn, if he didn't make his star turn, we wouldn't be here.

The Midnight Boys wouldn't be here. You wouldn't have had any of this, okay? He turned to seedless character into one of the most important superheroes of the 21st century. I'm talking about Robert Downey Jr.'s, Ironman, In. No superpower. Interesting. Interesting. No, that's a very important character.

That's a good choice right there. No superpowers. I would argue that Iron Man does have superpowers while he's inside of the superpowers. That's okay. Oh, let's know. This is how he poisoned the community's minds last time. He is a human who is very, very, very smart, okay? That is not a superpower in and of itself.

He's non-powered. I get it. I understand. He can do all because he's non-powered. But don't poison. Don't poison everybody. I just want to get a little. See, see, I get, I understand.

You got to just plant the seed. You just got to plant the seed of dissension. We got to plant the seed of dissension. No, we ain't doing that this week, bro. We're doing that shit this week. Really, really, when we talk about superheroes that are nonpower, you know what we're really talking about? What we're really talking about is motherfuckers who know karate.

That's what we really talking about. No, come on. That's like when we're talking about superheroes that are non-powered, that's what the really thing is, hey, what does he do? He's the best martial artist in his clan in the whole world. He was taught by stick. He was like, you know what I mean? Like, that's what we're really talking about.

Or people that got a lot of guns. He shoots up people. That's what we're talking about, really. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about humans. Iron Man fight against Thanos and the suit keeps him alive. You know what I mean? But I get what you're saying.

Hey, hey, hey, Charles, I'm not disagreeing. I'm just saying. No, because already, already people like, everyone's going to be like, Iron Man's not a non-power. Non-power people. Iron Man's not power. That's fine. Non-power people.

Hawkeye. What does he do? Good with a bow and arrow. That's really what we're talking about. What we're talking about non-power people, but I get it. All right. wait, let's go to Jomey, let's go to Jomey. No, no, that's a good pick.

I'm just joking around. I'm just joking around. I'm very clear on the fact that, like, that's a okay pick by Charles. I think what Vavan is saying is that when you think about non-power, they think of people, you know, who are broke and just have, like, skills, you know, they're really skilled. I think Iron Man's true superpower is his bank account, right? Right.

Like, that's really what it is. Daddy, daddy. But also, but actually, not as true. It's the brain, because you can be rich and still. The brain. Like, it's the same thing. Like, what makes Batman a superhero? It's not necessarily the karate, okay?

It's the ingenuity. It's the mind. It's partly the karate, though. It's not partly the karate. By the way, do you know why I love this discussion? Because I love the era of calling all martial arts karate. Wait a minute. That era has passed, you know, because now we know too much.

We have too much information. It's like, what does it do? Moit Thai, Krav Maga, one-legged Taekwondo, Jikundo, Kung Fu, open hand, fist, slap, discipline, martial arts. Now, back in, in 92,

it was karate. Everything was karate. Everything was karate. Wait, real quick, real quick, before we go on to your next pick, who do you think martial arts-wise could be Batman, any comics? Well, I mean, it's a bunch of people.

I don't think so, not a bunch. Well, Shang-she could be Batman. Shang-she could not be Batman in martial arts. Let's-no. Are you nuts? Wow. Sean-C-C- couldn't be Batman in martial arts. Batman was trained by Lady Shiva.

What the fuck are we talking about? Are you nuts? Wait a second. Hold on. No, no, no. Jomi, we got to stay here for one second. We can't. Let's not get two off the rails.

We won't get two off the rails. Charles, that's his only thing. He could be Batman hand-to-hand. No, we couldn't. Let's not do that. Let's not do that. Okay. I'm excited for the Shang Chi movie, too.

Let's not do that. Batman is enough. This is what we're doing now. What will not do it? Right? Maybe, you know, we can talk about this at a later date. You can do this in midnight court is what we can do. Dun-ton.

Midnight court. I think ultimately what it boils down to is Charles probably thinks that, you know, Batman could have seen Thanos, you know, on Titan. If you had enough time to prepare, my man, Batman, getting rid of things. That's always, I love Batman, too. He's my favorite character. That's always the thing. Yo, could Batman be Jesus?

Depends on how much time he has to prepare. Depends on how much time he had to prepare. All right, Van. It's all you. I am going to go to the greatest. I'm going to go street level here. And I'm going to choose the greatest street level hero and not just the history of Marvel.

But the history of street level heroes, period. I think so. With the exception of the guy we just talked about Batman. Street level hero number two, I am drafting Spider-Man. Which one? Yeah, got to be specific. I'm going to go,

this is going to piece people off. I'm going to go Toby McGuire Spider-Man. Whoa. Oh, hell yeah. Wait, wait. Wait, hold on. Hold on. Why do you think that would make people upset, man?

Because I think that there's some Tom Holland lovers out there. He's so cute and plucky. But you know what? I don't like cute and plucky. Let me tell you what kind of Spider-Man I like. I like a Spider-Man that has endured the tragedy. that the Toby McGuire Spider-Man has endured. Now, there are things that we have to leave out here.

There's a dance scene. We all know it. We all dislike it. But what I'm telling you right now is the Spider-Man that I have to see is not a Spider-Man that is the apprentice or the acolyte of Iron Man. Love you, Tony. That's not the way I came into that character. It's somebody who has his own hero's journey, his own heroes are someone who is dealing

with issues. with Mary Jane, but also trying to figure out his way in the world. He has a real nemesis in Harry Osborne, an actual nemesis in Harry Osborne, both in life and, you know, overall here, we're talking about it in a superhero sense, and somebody who you can make an argument is a real nemesis in actual life, James Franco. So, great villains. Alfred Molina Green Goblin, perfect

silly suit, yes, but he actually looks like Green Goblin. It looks like God said, hey, you're going to play Green Goblin, Willem Defoe. Go do your thing. So I love that iteration of Spider-Man because I think it was closer to the actual soul of the character. And I think Toby McGuire, he cried a lot, but that's okay.

I think that he did a great job in being the portraying the innocence of Peter Parker, the genes of Peter Parker, and the heroic nature of Peter Parker. He seemed very brave, very capable, and I love that performance. And he still, to me, is a better Spider-Man to Tom Holland, although I like what Tom Holland does with the role. I will, I'm just going to have to push back on you. I get everything you're saying. My man Toby McGuire looked 30 in that movie. Like, we cannot, like, every high school

scene, I was just like, dog, these people are fucking 40. Like, there's no way they're in high school, bro. Different time. Different time. So how can you call him the better Peter Parker? I can see if you called him the better, maybe the better Spider-My. I don't agree. But if you've called him Better Spider-Man, whatever, he's not the better Peter Parker.

Well, to me, I judge these things in the, I don't know if you've ever seen the movie House Party. Have you ever seen the movie House Party? Wait, is that the one with Kid and Play? Damn.

Damn. Wait. Wait, did I fuck up really out? So you guys can't see this, but Van is physically sick on the Zoom. He's, he's distraught.

He's rethinking his entire life choices. I've never seen so upset. Wait, that's the one we couldn't play in it. What did I say that's wrong? Oh, man.

Oh, wow. Yeah, it's the one we can't play. I was going to say. I was just making sure. I was just going to say that in that movie, they had full force playing high schoolers.

It's just a thing that used to happen. Beverly Hills now, 2 and O, no, everybody was 35 years old. It's just something that used to happen. I'm glad that they're making them the more accurate now. And he does kind of grab, sort of puts his hands around, kind of how people, but I also think that the Peter Parker that exists in the comic books and exists in what I really love is a little bit more sure of himself than Tom Holland is in this Spider-Man.

I think it's a little too plucky sometimes. But that's my choice. my street level hero is going to be Spider-Man. I would just like to state for the record, you know, just the person who keeps this thing moving, that Van did not mention Venom and Sandman as great villains. So.

Because they weren't. Just wanted to make that clear. They're clear. Left them off the list. Right. Now, here is where it gets a little crazy for me. All right? Because now I got to go cosmic.

And I need some heavy hands. is Marvel has really not done a lot of cosmic heroes, right? Not a ton, okay? And the ones that they have done, looking at you, Silver Surfer, haven't been great. So I'm going to go with what I think is the most successful cosmic hero in the history of Marvel on-screen stuff. Thor is going to be my choice for the Marvel cosmic hero. Does he count as a cosmic hero, though?

Thor? Yes. I'm just making sure. Why? Why would Thor be a cosmic hero? I'm just making sure I could see the argument for it if we're going on screen. If this was the comic book draft, I would have to call you out. Why?

He's not a cosmic character in the comics. You're nuts. I'm not nuts. In the comics, he's more of a god. And in the MCU's like, he's kind of an alien, which I get. So you can pick that. No, he comes from another realm and he zips around space and fights people. It's not a cosmic hero in the comic book.

You're nuts. Well, this isn't the comic book draft. When people talk about like cosmic fucking heroes in the MCU, they're not like number one Thor. That's never happening. No, no, no. You wouldn't say that in the comics because there are, in the comics,

there are much better cosmic heroes than Thor. In the comic books, actually Thor would be a depowered version of like Thor, you'd have Hyperion, you'd have fucking, And Gladiator, you'd have Nova. You'd have all of these people. Yeah, so I'm going to let you cook. I'm going to let you cook. Right, right. So you'd have all of these people, which, by the way, I could have chosen Gladiator because they had Gladiator in the X-Men animated series.

I just didn't want to choose Gladiator because we haven't really seen Gladiator, which, by the way, if Gladiator ever comes on screen, and Bob would be great. But, you know, we don't have, we don't have the living tribunal yet. We don't have the one above all. We don't have all. We don't have all of these people with, we don't have, we don't have, some of the Fantastic Four people that are, that are cosmic. We have, they haven't really given us Galactus, who's a villain, but still. Here's the thing. If you were going to give me, if you were going to give me shit about choosing Ironman and non-powered, I got to give you shit for choosing Thor and Cosmic.

I get it. I get it. But I think that Thor is a cosmic hero. All right. Fair enough. He was, he was in space for half a fucking, what you would call it. If you were, yeah, I get it. Now, a point of clarification, Van, which Thor are you talking about?

You just, you know, just to cover all our bases. Oh, Chris is or Thor. Perfection. Right. All right. Where am I going to go? This, ooh, all right. You know what?

If we're going Cosmic, if we're stretching, if we are stretching what we call Cosmic. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. We're stretching what we call Cosmic. I'm going to go with Dr. Strange. I'm going to go with Dr. Strange because if I'm giving it to Thor for being in space for half of Infinity War, I've got to give it to Dr. Strange being the one who's going to.

going up with Thanos. He's the guy who's like in charge of the multiverse, multiverse of madness, doing all this stuff. He's more of a cosmic hero than he would be in the comics. Now, I get in the comic books, he would not be cosmic. But for what he's forced to do in the MCU, take care of Thanos, give him plans, make sure the multiverse in the timeline is not fucked up. Being in space, I'm going to choose Dr. Strange, but I could already tell you guys are going to come. All right. So here's the thing. We're going to have to go to VAR on this one. We're going to need to talk to, you know, the people up top because this is, um, this is an outlandish take. Outlandish, outlandish.

So we're going to need to go to. Yo, hey, hey, people at the, people at the ringer. People at the ringer. Make sure y'all take care of Jomey. Jomey asked to whatever podcast he's on. Make sure you take care of Jomey. Wait, let's be specific here. You're talking about Dr. Strange from the MCU.

Yes. Demitted a Cumberbatch, Cosmic. Yes. I don't think I can let that slide. You can't let that slide. We let Thor slide. We let Thor's slide. We literally travels around and the bifrost

going from place to place in space. All right. Whoa. Whoa. Doors out of the planet. Not in Infinity War taking care of fucking Thanos and aliens. Perhaps that fucking movie. Okay.

So was Iron Man. Wait, here's the thing. Is multiverse not cosmic? Bro, we haven't gotten there yet. No, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's protecting the timelines and all the different universes. Is the multiverse not cosmic? If it's not, then that's fine.

I'll take him off. Dr. Strange, ain't it. I don't think. You know what? I'm going to be honest with you. I can see an argument for Dr. Strange. I can see a cosmic here. This version of Dr. Strange.

To Van's point, to Van's point, I did agree with him that there just not has been as much cosmic work in the MCU as I would have liked. So who we got to pick is fun. No, no, no. That's fine. I see that my own people are against me. So I'll take it back. Here's the thing.

Here's the thing. Normally, you know, I'm here for the fun. I'm here for the games. But as he who moderates, I got to look at this. I got a rule set. You know, I got to follow. You know what I'm saying? I got to look at, you know, all the steps.

And for Van's pick, right, Thor originates in space. He's got a magical axe. You know what I'm saying? Dr. Strange is a dude who got his powers because he was texting while driving. You feel me? Like, it's just not, you know what I'm saying? Like, as a, like a cosmic hero, you know what I'm saying? Like, we haven't seen it yet. Do you know how many cosmic heroes in the history of all comics, all media, all moves and TV? Yes, I understand. That just went to fucking space, Joe. We're talking about, we're talking about

on screen. Let's not going to tell me Luke Skywalker isn't a cosmic hero. It's fine. You know what? I'm going to go somewhere else and I'll come back to Cosmic. Because, like, my own people are cheating. In street level. Okay. It's a street level. I'm going to go with a much. My favorite suit, Spider-Man. My favorite Spider-Man.

I would argue the one that has the best Spider-Man movie, the one that is closest to my heart. And that's going to be Miles Morales, Spider-Man. There you go. All right. From Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse. I'm back on the train, Chuck.

I'm back on the train. All right? The reason why I'm picking Miles Morales is like that to me, if we want to be like the truest essence of who Spider-Man is. Okay? The truest essence of that character, of being someone who gets powers

and has massive responsibility thrown at them at a young age and is working through it, you've got to go, Miles Morales. That movie makes me cry every single time I watch it. I think Miles Morales, like what Shameek Moore did, especially voice acting, I think it's a better portrayal than Toby McGuire or Tom Holland or Andrew Garfield.

Wow, shout out Andrew Garfield. That's a good pick. It's a great pick. That's a great pick. We love us, so Miles Morales here. All right. Wait. So now because my own team went against me, because my own team went against me, I got to choose. I got to make the call. I got to come. I got damn. They really, they kill me, bro. This isn't a lawless land, man. They don't want to see a, they don't want to see a young like man prosper.

Young black, black man prosper. It's fine. So Jomey, what do I get left? I got mutant. I got cosmic. You have mutant. You have cosmic. And I got yet. And then you have yet to appear. Get to appear. All right, you know what? In mute it, we're switching it up. I'm going to go with Deadpool. I'm going to go with Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. If we're just talking about character,

Ryan Reynolds was counted out. After Wolverine's Origins or whatever it was called, my man was counted out here. He was less than cold. And for him to resurrect that character and to do what he did, like I got to give it to him. Like those two movies,

like the second one, not as much, but those two movies still, at least Deadpool 1 is in the top five of those of those Mutant movies, those X-Men. Oh, Deadful 1 is a masterpiece. Yeah, it's up there. So I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, Depo. Deppo War. Okay. All right. Deadpool's great. Depple's great. Like, to me, in the mutant category for on-screen, it ended up being that the only people that you could really choose were Wolverine Deadpool or Gene Gray.

What's Gene Gray? Famke Jansen. The OG one. Yeah, Fabca. But my only thing about Gene Gray is like the third X movie, X3 is not good. I know. United We stand or whatever it's called. It's pretty bad.

United We said. United We stand. Wait, can I just say? The X-Men is the last stand. It's like, wait, the last thing. I don't even know what it was. I saw that movie like once in theaters and I was like, never.

The United We Stand, X-Men, the anti-Colin Kaepernick, X-Men. No, what are you going to say? Where are you going to say? Oh, I had such a crush on Gene Gray, for the first two movies, man. Did you? Yeah. Really? Yeah.

She looked good, but you know who I was with? I was with Rebecca Romaine-Stamos. Obviously, here's the thing. My Hallie-Berry crush goes back. That goes without saying. Of course. Hallie Berry is the number one draft pick in that situation. But you guys don't remember, and I'm friends with her husband now.

Shout out to Jerry O'Connell. I box with Jerry O'Connell. I'm friends with her husband. And there was a weird white girl phase. Cut that, Steve. Hey, Steve, just bring it back to right now. Now. Right.

By the way, to let you guys know, we just had to cut something out. We just had a tangent. And it's going to be on Midnight Boys' Lost Files one day. I'll be damned if I let that out. So it's my choice now, right? Yes, sir. You get two. I get two.

Okay. So I don't have a leader. And by the way, I got to let you guys know. Leaders are hard to come by. You already chose Iron Man. who I was in to choose for my list. Oh, he chose cap for his leader. I chose cap in the leader.

But he chose Iron Man's already on his team for non-powered. But here's the thing strategically, when you got to pick first, you took Wolverine off the board. Strategically, I was just like, I got to take Cap and Iron Man. Because once you're in leader, it's kind of like who the fuck do I pick then.

Right. So I'm going to pick, I just, I can't bring myself to choose. Here's the thing. I can't bring myself to choose in Grimfeld's, Reed Richards. I won't do it.

No, you can. I won't pick his reichers. I won't pick Miles Tillers, Reed Richards. I won't do it. I'm staying away from the Fantastic Four. Okay? I will not do it. All right. Those don't exist to me. Shout out to my man Josh, though. His movie could have been great.

They cut it up. So I have to pick the only leader left who is a king. And I am going to go with Black Panther. Oh! This is what I love. Because wait, wait, wait, wait, can we time out real quick? My man Van said on one of our inaugural midnight courts, okay, our second one, I believe,

that Black Panther isn't a top five MCU movie. Black Panther isn't that great. All you all, y'all, all you're black people whaling out here, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he had to pick him for his leader. That's called karma. That's called fucking karma. Let's run this up. Let's run this up.

The reality is he's a king. He commands his, he does what's best for Wakanda. Sometimes. But Black Panther as a leader, he's got, he's not just leading, here's the thing about Black Panther. He's not just leading Wakanda. Black Panther is the leader of the entire past of his people. He communes with other Black Panthers. He is a necromancer.

He talks to people all over the place. He is the leader of the entire spirit of the Wakandans. And that's what we saw him strong. with. And when they continue this character of Tachala, which they need to, we're going to see how that guy, the leader of that country, becomes, in my opinion, not only the leader of the Avengers, which I think he'll end up being, but also a leader in the world, which is what Wakanda is about to become. So I'd have to choose Black Panther as my leader. Van, your second pick. So non-powered heroes, you clearly got the best one when you got, when you got

when you got Iron Man Iron Man's a non-powered hero. But I am actually going to go to the Netflix Marvel Universe, which I loved. I'm really scared.

No, no, no. That takes stance. That takes stance. It depends who we takes. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Dairy devil. Alright, for sure. Okay, fine. Fine. Fair. Fair. It's the best it's the best portrayal of Daredevil, that that they're devil that we've ever had.

It was the best portrayal of Kingpin that we've ever had. My way, Kingpin should have gone in a villain draft. That Kingpin on screen should have gone in the villain draft. Like, I can't believe I forgot about Vincent Donofrio's Kingpin. Fantastic. This show was enthralling. This show touched on every single layer of who Matt Murdoch was, how Matt Murdoch hurt, how Matt Murdoch developed, who Matt Murdoch was.

everything. So to me personally, I still would like to see this character, Charlie Cox's Daredevil, arrive in the MCU. I thought it was an amazing. I thought he grounded the show in a way.

And really, if I wasn't going to choose him, I had chose John Berthals to Punisher because I thought he did a great job as well. These Punisher is not very represented in these drafts that we've been doing, but the Punisher was great. I love this show. It's still a show that I go back to, myself and Kalika goes back to when we're feeling down or when we just want something cool to watch. The show was amazing. The show rolled out in a crazy way. It gave you great peripheral characters. And I thought he just got into who Matt Murdoch was in a way that very few actors do in portrayal of their hero counterparts. I really love that show. I thought that it was really amazing. All right, so here's my thing.

Hot take time. Charlie Cox was amazing as Daredevil. You could pack those Daredevil seasons up. They were bad. They were bad. Whoa. The Daredevil seasons weren't great. They weren't great.

I'm like, I think he's a great, he's the best daredevil. I loved watching him to Daredevil seasons work. So what you're saying? You didn't like any of the Netflix shows then, like none of them. You're out in the cold on this one, Charles. This is an away game for you. This is, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You like the Netflix Marvel shows

is what we're getting at. Yeah. Yeah. You liked Iron Fist. On the whole yes. You liked Iron Fist and Luke Cage. Well, actually, this is a, you make a great point, Charles, because if you go to the ringer.com,

I have an article that ranks every single MCU show prior to Wanda Vision, Loki, and Falcon Winter Soldier. Daredevil is first because of all the shows that we got before Disney, like, actively took a role in those shows. The Daredevil was the best. Season 1, the first time of season 2 and season 3 are great television.

You're not going to read about it in, like, history books, but it's legitimately good television. But when it came out, it was, it took over Netflix. It did. It took over Netflix. I, like, I rocked with season 1. I think what they did with Bullseye was terrible. I think Vincent Donofrio's kingpin is, uh, weird. Uh, not, uh, kind of, the portrayal is a little uneven, a little, a little.

or uneven. And that third season, there was three seasons, right? Yes, sir. The third season was when he's out of the suit

for most of it. Season one of Luke Cage, I can rock with pretty good. Not as good as season one of Daredebel, but it's okay. Okay, yeah. Jessica Jones,

I didn't finish the first season. Mm. This is where you fucked up, Dan. Joe. No, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Iron fist was bad. It's like, no, there's nothing you can tell me

about Iron fist. Clear. Iron fist was bad. Clear. And then the defenders was damn near unwatchable. Well, here's the thing. I think that was very mid of nearing bad because of all the focus on iron fist. Like, we just didn't care about iron fist at that point for them to center a whole season of them around them.

But we, like, it seems like we're all in the greens. Like, at least 60% of the Netflix Marvel shit is out of here, is mid. Yes, but like your specific take on Daredevil is just off base, my man. I said I love Charlie Cox's Daredevil. You love Charlie, but the show. The show. The show was dope. Season one,

season one. Great. No, no, no. Season one great. No, no. No, no. Season two is great. Season two is great.

Season three was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was shaky. It was shaky. Now, I wouldn't say shaky. Shake you are there. I would. I wouldn't say shaky. I would say that. That's tough.

All right. So is it my turn yet? Is it my turn? You are back again. You have the last two categories. the pick are yet to appear and cosmic. So let's get it. Ooh, yet to appear, cosmic.

You know what I'm saying? For yet to appear, I'm stuck between two. I'm stuck between two. I'll be honest with you. I want to do a song for the ladies. You know, like my man Van said I didn't have any tracks for the ladies. You know what I'm saying? Shout out to Jada kiss.

So I want to give them something. But I also want to speak to my people out there, get a nice African-American of the night on here. So I don't know. I don't know. African-American. I want to say that, but by all means. It's like African-American is like a special commemorative flavor at Starbucks during Black History Month. Yeah, it's a coffee with a little chocolate inside.

You know what I'm saying? That's something Starbucks would do to this February. Come in and get the tasty chocolate African-American. Shout out to Martin Luther King Jr. Mine is a terrible thing in the West. I don't know if they do that at Starbucks, but you definitely get in that at Duncan. Duncan, African-Americanano.

All right. So you know what I'm going to do for yet to appear? Like, you can't have a superhero team without showing out for the women out there. So I'm going to pick Jane Foster Thor. I think what Jason Aaron did with his Thor run was, you know, one for the books. And I just think that like the Thor, like this might be a crazy take too,

but I actually don't. Like if they can land, if they can land Love and Thunder, I think we got to reorganize what are the most powerful franchises in the MCU. Right now, my pick would probably be Captain America is in the lead. But if we get anything

that's near Thor Ragnarok and with the new Thor and if Jane Foster really, really shows out, oh man, it's her wrap. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna pick her. Is that fair? Is anybody going to be? Yeah, you're great.

That's a great pick. That's a great pick. All right. It's a fantastic pick. Jane Foster, and then I get Thor. Now I get Thor on the board. All right. So now you're down to Cosmic. Be wise about what you choose next, Charles.

Y'all yelled at me. Y'all yelled at me for my last pick. So who am I going to pick now? You know what? I'm going to go with Rocket Raccoon. I think Star Lord would have been the easy choice, would have been the obvious choice. But my man, Star Lord fucked up too much. Like, end game, I can't.

He just... Rocket is better, bro. Rocket is better. He's about that action. Rocket is better. man. Rocky is just like, I think,

and I do think if we're just talking about character, especially what my man Bradley Cooper did with Rocket. Like that character is so hard to get right. It's like, that could have made that whole movie goofy as hell and he didn't.

He's the best character in that movie probably next to group. Wait, can I pick Rocket and Groot or I can only pick Rocket. You can only pick Rocket. They are two separate entities. But they're ones.

Okay, so. And, Joey, I hate you, bro. I hate you, bro. Last week, He was all love. I'm going to see him outside. You said this switch up on you.

You said they switch up on you, Van. Yeah, they do. Shout they switch up on you. All right, I'm doing Rocky Raccoon. Great. So six to me, I only have, is yet to appear, right? And these have to be characters that are, so just so I go do, these can be characters that are announced or characters that we know are coming.

It could be either. Either that we know they're coming. Like, they have to be like clear. Like, I know we know that we're going to see this person on screen. I wanted to go Franklin Richards, but we never know if we're going to see Franklin Richard. You don't do that, bro. Come on, man.

Come on, man. Well, then I have to go with Mahershala Ali's Blade. All right. There. This is going to be tough from Mahershala. All right, because Wesley Snipes is Blade. But I think integrating Blade, Blade is one of the characters that's going to benefit the most. And I really want to, I almost went Moon Knight, right?

But Moon Knight, I almost went Moon Night, I almost went Moon Night, but I think Moon Night's gonna have a lot of establishing to do. I think Myershala Ali's Blade, Blade is going to be the character that benefits the most for being a part of a shared universe. Because the Blade movies that we got before,

Sky out in L.A., fighting vampires, whole thing, the story was very grounded, and it was very sort of, it was almost intimate. Even like everything about it was intimate, the action was intimate. I'd still say Blade 2 is one of, the best superhero movies ever. I've never seen Blade.

I should watch this. Yeah, Blade, Blade and Blade 2 are amazing. Blade 3, they actually brought Count Dracula for him to fight, and they lost their way. But Blade and Blade 2 were both amazing. And I think seeing Blade with a much grander scale, they're going to start small from him, obviously, he's a, you know, but seeing Blade with a much grander scale and Blade with much grander interests and play with much grander sort of ambitions, should

I say, it's going to be good for the character. It's going to expand it out a little bit. Marshall is a huge star, an amazing actor. It's going to be important that you can handle the martial arts because obviously Wesley could. Wesley was kicking people in the fucking throat. It's going to be important that you can handle the martial arts,

but if you can get that down, which I'm pretty sure that he can, I think that that is going to be one of the biggest movies in the year that it comes out. I cannot wait for a new version of Blaine with all the advancements and the technology that we can put on screen with the expanded story. And with the marble brains behind it, I think it's going to be fantastic. So that is my

six. Wolverine, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther, Daredevil, and Blade. All right, and I got Captain America, Deadpool, Rocket Raccoon, Iron Man, Miles Morales, Spider-Man, and Jane Foster's Thor. But one thing before we get off Blade, the craziest thing, I don't think this ever made it to a Midnight Corps, but the crazy thing Van ever tried to convince me in the group chat is that Mahersha Ali's blade should be the leader of the Avengers. I'm like, get the fuck out of here. That's the worst thing you've ever said. It's the worst take. See, like, it's the worst thing you've ever said. I'm young.

I'm young and dumb. So all my takes, all my bad takes get aired out here. Van's smart. Like, he'll just say some shit to the side in the group chat. But Mahersha Ali's Blade as the leader the Avengers is bad. It's like, Charles. Give us, Charles, one second. He who moderates, Van. You got two minutes. Make your case. Make my case about why Blades should be the leader of Avengers. Yeah, make your case. This is my case because it would be fucking awesome. Counterpoint, it would be dumb as hell. The Avengers are a bunch of motherfucking, oh, we're so straight up.

We're going to fuck. We're goody two shoes. Put a fucking black vampire in charge of the Avengers. You know what I'm saying? Like have Blade look at Hawkeye and say, you know what, Hawkeye, go right. Or I'll take out the fucking thirst on you. I'll drink your blood, Hawk, Hawk. I like the way owls taste.

I like owl blood. It would be so funny to me. Hawkeye, shoot him. I don't think we should do it. No, I'll drink your blood. Owl. You know what I mean? Isn't Hawkeye an owl?

He's an owl, right? What are you talking about? Hawkeye has got an owl. Steve, cut his mic. Wait, wait, wait, Hawk Eye's got out, seriously, in the comics, Hawkeye has like an owl motif. Does he not?

No. Yes, he does. His name is Hawk. I. All right, we're off of this. Charles has something. Steve, can you turn on your mic? I want this to happen after every draft.

Let's give us a quick, like, minute post-draft analysis. How did Van and I do strategically? All right. Well, I think Van stuck mainly to the rules yet again as he shows us what Hawkeye can look like. That looks like an owl. It looks like an owl. It's not an owl, Van.

Context clues, Van. It looks like an owl. It looks like an owl. He has an owl motif to me. Whatever. I think that maybe Van doesn't know the difference between the birds rather than the other ones. I think the clear winner from this one is probably Charles from this one.

As much as I love Charlie Cox's Daredevil, and that's a pick that I definitely wanted to be in this draft. I'm going to have to go. And he pulls up birds again. One of those are straight up the Guardians of a Hool. Tell me, tell me straight up that that doesn't look more like the mask. It's a style choice, man. There's a style of semblance. I think that's tough.

That's tough to overcome. If you're doing a marble on screen draft. I think that. I think, what do you think? I mean, you know, I'm, I'm Hugh moderate, so I won't, you know, go into who I like better. But I will say that you left a lot of, you know, cool names off the board. Professor X didn't make the cut.

Where's Professor X going? Where's it going to go? Mutant leader. Leader? Oh, leader. I could have taken him for leader. But I think he kind of. It's Patrick Stewart, man.

Come on. I think he's a little bit of a hoe. but... Whoa! I'll be honest with you. But, but go ahead. You know, I know Peggy Carter's been catching slander, you know, all week,

but Peggy Carter is cap, you know, into the yet-to-appear tier, you know. But, I mean, ultimately, we got a fun, we got a fun, we got two fun teams. Were there any characters we left on the board that were crazy for leaving on the board? I think people are going to probably be mad that we left Tom Holland,

but, like, I like Tom Holland. I really, really do. But I like Miles Morales and Toby McGuire better. No, I think, I mean, ultimately, I mean, if we're talking about Spidey preferences, I think it's too. There's so many that we can, like, go from in terms of like, do you like his Spider-Man better? Do you like it's Peter Parker better? We'd be here all night. We could have a whole episode about who Spider-Man is better.

Steve, write that down. But I think ultimately your choices for your reasonings are pure. And I think hopefully the listeners will accept that. Well, I mean, now the listeners are swayed by the fact that you guys have already said that he won the draft. Well, I didn't say, no, no, no. That's Steve's opinion. First of all, the listeners hate, like they want me out of here. First of all, I feel like peaks get Davis on this fucking shit, right?

But if you want to decide who the winner is, don't let Steve sway you. Go to our socials tomorrow. We'll have a graphic. You'll be able to vote on Facebook at the Ring ofverse. Join the Facebook group. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram at Ring ofverse to vote on who you think the winner of the superhero draft is. All right, that is it for our MCU Heroes draft

and our Midnight Boys show for today. Let me take us got something. We're getting back into it next week because Marvel's What If it's going to be dropping. We're going to get back into it. We're going to give you guys some content on that. But also, checking with Mal on Friday, she's got a lot of good stuff popping over on the House of Mal.

Then check back with the whole team on Monday, ringerverse team-up edition, where we're going to talk about the Suicide Squad, which is I'm sure a movie that you guys will all run out and go see this weekend. A lot of good stuff happening. The content won't stop, and neither will we. As always, we have to give credit to our producer, Steve Allman, and our social producer, Jomi.

It's okay. You got time. You got nothing but time. Come on. Come on, get it. All right, all right. Jomey. I've never said it before.

It's okay. You probably have. See, he's just trying to get me back because I ate his chicken. You feel me? That's just because I ate his chicken. Jomi Dining Dash. Jomi Dining Dash.

Jomi Dineron. That's good. Yeah, I'll take that. Jomi Dineron. Jomey a Dineron. There you go right there. I was, you know, by the way, me and Kliqa were going back and forth

because you changed your first name to your name on Twitter. And we were trying to say it. It was good. Give it your best shot right now, man. Nope. Fuck. Come on.

What do you mean? No. I'm not going to have all the people out there thinking that I'm not down with my brother's. No. But thank you. Literally, this show is just an amazing and a lot fun to do because of the guys we have working on it and the guys we work with. I love to do it. So with that said, Charles, take us out.

All right. I don't have any bars, but can I have a public service announcement really quick? sure. This superhero drop was so far. I realize my stock in this presidential election is pretty, pretty low. But vote with your hearts.

Not with your ears and how much you hate me, but with your hearts, okay? Okay? I need a win. In my life right now, I need a win, okay? So just vote for your boy, okay?

It'll make me for you, then. My agent is wilding. I can say, I can say Charles hasn't been. All right. Everybody, who are we? We are the midnight boys. Peace.

Before you, before you move on, I just want to take off my he who moderates cap off real quick. How dare you insults the 2005 masterpiece Fantastic Four? If you don't get the fuck out of here, Joe Me. Let me tell you some. Let me tell you some.

Like an MVP part of the pod and then he ruins that shit. No, let me tell you some. Let me just be real with y'all, right? Nine-year-old Jomi. right, walks into the theater, man, and had never seen anything like that before. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

Special. I don't care what none of y'all say. You're not going to hurt me. You can't offend me. That movie is special. And you want to talk about the 2007 sequel? Fine. All you.

You know what I'm saying? But how, how dare you just insult what made me meet? My core, you know, what I'm saying? like I'm here because of Johnny Storm. I'm here because Jessica Alba. No, wait, wait, hold on, oh, don't know. Whoa. Whoa.

Whoa. Hey, hey, hey, hey, we're going to drift back into that other conversation. That's what we're going to drift back into that other conversation because she was one of the main catalysts.