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Y. M. Nelson: On this episode of Nerdy Romantics Podcast, we will continue our discussion of James Gunn’s Superman. We are going to talk about the secondary characters in the Justice Gang and in the Daily Planet, talk a little bit more about the movie itself, what we have coming next from the DCU that you may see us review in 2026, and we’re going to end it with a good reads rating.

As with the previous episode, there will be spoilers on this episode.

​[spoiler klaxon]

Y. M. Nelson: So, if you have watched James Gunn’s Superman, or you just really wanna get in on everything, then stay tuned. This is the Nerdy Romantics Podcast and I’m your host, YM Nelson.

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[00:01:22] Secondary Characters: The Justice Gang

Y. M. Nelson: And, you know, speaking of, speaking of that so we’re, I guess we’re kind getting into secondary characters ’cause we’re talking about Lois and we’re talking about Guy. So, two things that I, I wanted to point out and see what y’all thought, especially, you know, Jen and Staci, what you thought.

So, we we’ve seen Hawk Girl, in a way, but we’re seeing here some secondary characters that we don’t normally see in things and may not be too familiar with.

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: We’ve seen Green Lantern, but we’ve seen can’t remember which one that it was,

Perry C.: Ryan Reynolds played the Hal Jordan.

Y. M. Nelson: Which one did he play? Ha, Hal Jordan. Okay. Mm-hmm. We’ve seen Hal Jordan, but we haven’t necessarily seen Guy Gardner, Green Lantern. If you watch Titans, you’ve seen Hawk Girl, but that, but you know, she may not be a big character here.

And

Perry C.: I think it was Legends of Tomorrow actually.

Y. M. Nelson: Legends of Tomorrow. Yes. That was one that I did not suffer through because I’ve watched like maybe two, three, I dunno. Anyway, and then Mr. Terrific. Who was terrific in this.

Jen G.: Yeah.

Y. M. Nelson: OMG. So, what are we thinking about? You know, Jen since your mic’s open, we’ll start with you.

Jen, what did you think about some of the secondary characters? Did you know them? Did you like what you were seeing? What are your thoughts?

Jen G.: Okay. So as far as the green lanterns go, I don’t know the differences between the green lanterns, so I can’t speak to that, but I really liked that this was a very different green lantern than the Green Lantern movie from, from wherever.

One thing about the, the Justice Gang that again, it was, it was mentioned but not like not really explored, and maybe this is just setting up for something else, is that they have a corporate sponsor and, and that doesn’t play out sort of in, in any relationship to like Lex Core or other corporations?

Not It was, it was mentioned, yeah. Twice and then not ever, but nothing ever came of it. So that was kind of a odd thing for me.

Y. M. Nelson: Okay.

Jen G.: There was Hawk Girl and I think on some level I loved that she was there and I love her as a character because she is not and there a point is made that she’s like, “I’m not like Superman.”

And she drops that man from the sky.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. She ain’t playin’

Jen G.: like she’s not here for it. So, I really, so, and I liked that as a character, but I also felt like of the, of the three justice gangs that she got the least amount to do. So, I’m hoping, I’m hoping that we get a little bit more from her in future iterations, wherever they take her character.

Because she was in Legend, what was it called? Legends of Tomorrow.

Perry C.: Legends of Tomorrow, yeah.

Jen G.: Legends of Tomorrow. And yeah, there’s a lot of things I could say about that but, but but I always feel like they bring in hot girl who has, she has wings. Where is she from? Is she from the, is she from the Earth or not?

Or, they never talk about it. They’re just sort of, they just appear these winged winged people and fly around and they do stuff. And yeah. So, I think that, that she was underutilized, I felt, in terms of in terms of, I thought that because the, because the Justice Gang was such a small part of the overall story, I felt like that’s why she was, she was smaller where Mr.

Terrific got like a nice big role and kind of got to, to really sink his teeth into something and do a lot. So, so I’d like to see more of Hot Girl in the future.

Y. M. Nelson: So, Staci being not a comic Book reader but what, what did you think about the secondary? I also forgot to mention Element Man as well.

But

Perry C.: Metamorpho.

Y. M. Nelson: Oh right, yeah, yeah.

Staci: Sorry.

Y. M. Nelson: But anyway go, go ahead Staci, what did you think about the secondary characters?

Staci: Oh, look, I didn’t, like I said, I didn’t, did, you know, I read the comic books and I remember Hawk Girl and I didn’t see Legends of Tomorrow. I think I saw like the first, isn’t that his first season of that or, because that’s a show Legends of Tomorrow.

Yeah,

Perry C.: yeah, yeah. Legends.

Y. M. Nelson: It was a CW show.

Perry C.: I think Hawkgirl was only in the first season. I think she’d written, written out by the second, but don’t quote me on that. I can’t remember exactly.

Staci: And I don’t really remember much. I really don’t remember that much of that show to be honest.

Jen G.: Oh, you know what I’m thinking of is the, I’m thinking of Black Adam.

I was thinking of Black Adam. She’s in that movie, but

Perry C.: Hawkman was in that.

Staci: Hawkman. Okay.

Hawkman was in there.

Staci: See, I just remember the Hawk- I just remember them vaguely from Yeah. The justice script of a cartoon. And so, I don’t really have anything to go from, from her. And it wasn’t that like she just, right, it’s that she was just in there for a hot minute.

They didn’t really showcase her at all. Except for that one time when she said, I’m not Superman, and boom. And it’s like, that was like, her big thing was doing that, and that was pretty much it for her.

Y. M. Nelson: Mm-hmm.

Staci: And when it came to Green Lantern, like I said, I don’t know the, the different types of Green Lantern.

I only just remember the one Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern.

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Staci: And this one. I mean, he was a, he was a jerk, but he was, you know how he, when he came in, he, he was, when he was doing the when you saw the hands that, of he was flipping over those things. He was giving the middle finger and all that kind of stuff.

Y. M. Nelson: Yes.

Staci: It was like that, that with his, with his bow cut hand.

Y. M. Nelson: Right.

Staci: He just was a really jerky weirdo. But I mean, I did like them, but I was like, okay. They did, they really underutilized her. ’cause I didn’t really have any kind of reference point for her at all. Mm-hmm. Mr. Terrific though, was terrific.

He was fantastic. Fantastic. I love

Y. M. Nelson: He was fantastic. Yeah.

Staci: Yeah. But I like, you know, and that, but they brought him, but they did show more of, he, they showed the most of him out of those characters to me. And he was like, I said, Mr. Terrific. And I just loved his whole persona, how he went through like when.

They were trying to find Superman and it was like, yeah, “I I put trackers on all my, on all my friends.” Like what? I put trackers on.

Y. M. Nelson: And Hawkgirl was like, what?

Staci: What? But the thing that not only that was that part when when he had to, when they went into LexCorp or whatever, he’s got a, he’s got to turn off that rift and the guy said, “I can help you out,”

and [he said] “I’m Mr. Terrific!”

And I really thought he was gonna say something more than that.

Y. M. Nelson: Yes.

Staci: And maybe, I’m not sure what the rating is, but he, how he was sound, I was like, he was about to say something else than I’m miss. Terrific. It was like, I, I thought he was gonna drop something else besides

Y. M. Nelson: that. Right.

Staci: But he had that, that whole persona. I really did enjoy that. Yeah, I really did enjoy that. And I mean, the interaction that he has with Superman, when we see the interaction with Superman, it just really, all the characters that he’s really smart, but he doesn’t. Him and Lex Lu, because they’re both very smart people. But you can see just how they’re coming from diff two different, two different ways in it.

You know how Yeah. Mr. Rif is using his for the betterment of mankind while Lex Luther seems to be for the betterment of himself.

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Staci: And his fear, because when he does mention about, you know, you’re just jealous of me, that’s what Superman says.

And it’s like, “of course I am.” It’s like, “I’m glad you pointed that out.”

‘Cause everybody else saw that too.

Y. M. Nelson: Right.

Staci: And that jealousy in how it was coming across in him doing whatever he could to make Superman small. And I mean, it was just, I mean, I, I know that’s is not a minor character, but, but Mr. Terrific, I really enjoyed that. And then I didn’t know anything about Element Man until that very, like, just meeting that part of it.

I have no idea in the comic references or anything like that, the element man. But I did just how he came into play and how he just did that and, you know, cared about his kid, Joey, just, if you rescue my kid, I’ll get you outta here. Hey.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. And, I know Perry is like dying to like correct all of us on all of the stuff that we’re saying. But maybe I have a little bit of comic book reference here.

But I’m gonna agree with Jen and Staci as far as the, as far as the secondary characters go here, I, I think Hawk Girl got shafted a little bit.

But I also think that I heard she was going to get more of something in a later movie, or they have plans for her character. So, this is not the last time we’re gonna see her.

And of course, I, I knew that Guy Gardner was the jerky Green Lantern. And, and I know that the green lanterns their things manifest in different ways, but I don’t know the whole thing about that.

But I do know that they are going to make Lanterns, and I cannot wait to see Aaron Pierre. I’m like, Oh My God! Anyway, so that was my little fan moment.

But I do know some comic book influencers that I follow were just like all over the fact that, Nathan Fillion had the hair, had the wig, cause it’s very, true to the comics and him being a jerk. It’s very true to the comics.

And of course everybody loved Mr. Terrific. And I’m in total agreement. I was like, Mr. Terrific is fantastic. Just like, yeah. You know, one thing that I really you, and it’s funny too, because of the way Staci was saying at the end when he said, I know how to do this.

I was thinking to myself, I was like, if Samuel L. Jackson played this character!

Be a no go be.

Even if Samuel L. Jackson was like: imagine if he was the voice of Four slash Gary.

Staci: No, that’s not gonna work.

Y. M. Nelson: That would’ve been so funny. But but yeah, it just kind of, the way that he phrased stuff and the surety of himself, and you are right. When you compare Lex and Mr. Terrific, it’s like both of them are geniuses.

Staci: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: But the genius, when you have an altruistic background, it has more, I mean, the genius comes out more, right? Stuff happens a little bit differently, but when you have that genius and you combine it with this obsession and this narcissism, then it looks so narrow-minded. It looks stupid. It’s like, why are you putting all of your smarts into this, when you could be doing so much here? Right? When you could be doing so much for the rest of the world.

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: And I,

Staci: I think it shows like when he said Lex Luthor, it’s like he, he said like he is jealous of Superman, his gifts. Yeah. He just came here with, with gifts. And I had to, he says I had to build myself up, I had to earn being Lex Luthor and you just born with these gifts kind of a thing.

But you could tell with Mr. Mr. Terrific knows he’s terrific. ’cause that’s why he calls himself Mr. Terrific.

Y. M. Nelson: That’s right.

Staci: You know, knows, you know, it’s like, I know I’m bad and I, you know, and, and I don’t care.

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[00:13:26] Peacemaker tie-in

Staci: And I think that’s when you see, it’s like he doesn’t care that Superman has all these that can do all the stuff he does. He knows what he’s capable of doing, and he doesn’t have that whole part that Lex, that envy that he has that right of, of Superman or in all metahumans, if you, so no one here has watched Peacemaker second season?

Jen G.: Oh yeah, I’ve

Y. M. Nelson: second season.

Perry C.: I’m not, not yet.

Y. M. Nelson: I’m not, I’m not up on second season yet, but I know, I know. I’m so, like, oh my gosh, I gotta get up on this. Yeah. Staci, are you about to spoil a Peacemaker for us?

Staci: I’m not going to spoil Peacemaker but they do bring in people from Superman into that in the show.

There are- people are there as cameos into the in second season.

Y. M. Nelson: Oh, I, I can’t wait for, because when I saw him be in this movie, I said, I’ve got to catch up on Peacemaker because obviously this is going to be pulled into the world.

Just like with, The Batman, the Robert Pattinson Batman.

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: And the Penguin was in that. And then the Penguin has the show, and now they’re bringing out the second Batman. And so, you know, that version of the DC comics is kind of coming together.

When I saw Peacemaker, I said, oh, he’s gonna be in, this, version this in the DC EU part. So, I’m like, okay, alright.

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[00:14:51] The “Justice Gang” make up: Guy Garnder, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific

Staci: I got this for Perry because he’s a comic per person.

Y. M. Nelson: Yes.

Staci: So, the Justice League and the Justice Justice Gang, those are two different universes.

Perry C.: No. So no, I think the Justice Gang is something they just came up with for this movie. Mm-hmm. But the Justice League in the comics, there was a time when they did have corporate sponsorship by Maxwell Lorde.

And, and that’s, you know, that’s who’s funding it in this movie too. Like he appears at the end I think Sean Gunn plays. Yeah, he’s

Y. M. Nelson: the guy yeah, the, the guy Kirk from Gilmore Girls, Kirk from Gilmore Girls, but they, the guy in the very end and he says something as he’s getting into the car. That’s him.

Perry C.: So Kraglin from The Guardian to the Galaxy movies. James Gunn’s brother.

Y. M. Nelson: Yes, exactly. Him too. He, he,

Perry C.: he’s playing, I think he also appear, I’m pretty sure he appears in Peacemaker, season two as well. So, he’s, yeah, he’s like funding this team. And I think they didn’t call it the, in the comics, it was the Justice League, but I think they’re calling it the Justice Gang in this because they want to save like the actual Justice League.

A big thing here is what my theory is with that.

Y. M. Nelson: I agree.

Perry C.: So, on the green lanterns though, the green lanterns, it’s basically space cops basically is what it is, right? It’s this intergalactic police force. So, there have been a few different earth green lanterns. So, there’s Hal Jordan who’s what Ryan Reynolds played in the movie.

Actually, Nathan Fillion vo- voiced Hal Jordan too in some of the animated stuff as well.

Y. M. Nelson: Oh!

Perry C.: John Stewart he’s who Air Aaron Pierre is playing in, in the Lanterns TV show. Yes. Kyle Chandler’s gonna be playing Hal Jordan in that. And John Stewart, he was the one used in the Justice League animated series as well.

Guy also came in as well. There was also in the nineties there was Kyle Rayner, there’s Jessica Cruz, and I think Simon Bz is name too. So, there have been a few different ones, earth-based green lanterns.

But as far as Guy goes like, I mean, Nathan Fillion, he perfectly captured the character, like with the bowl cut and everything.

And the, the attitude, like one of the most famous Green Lantern Guy Gardner moments is when he tried to challenge Batman to a fight for leading the Justice League. And he takes off his ring and he makes a big show. Batman knocks him out with one punch. So, he’s, he, he played the, the jerky, you know, douche bag part of Guy Gardner per perfectly

Hawkgirl, there’ve been a bunch of different, like the Hawkgirl whole backstory is really confusing. In the animated series, it was Shire Hall, she’s an alien. This one, I think it’s Kira Sanders. But I’m not sure, I don’t know what the backstory is with her exactly.

I’m not the Hawkman Hawk girl mythos is very, very convoluted. They’ve been reincarnated from ancient Egyptian gods, they’ve been space aliens. So, it’s been like a whole, they’ve been some mixture of the two. So, it’s been all over the place over the years.

Y. M. Nelson: Gee.

Perry C.: Yeah.

Staci: Okay.

Perry C.: Yeah. The Hawkman, the Hawkman Hawk Girl Mythos are, are it’s a journey to kind of wrap your head around all that. But I, I’m not sure how I, I haven’t read a whole lot of Hawk Girl stuff, so I’m not sure how true she was to the, to, to what we’ve seen in the comics.

Mr. Terrific, though, like, I I, I only know a little bit of him from the comics, but from what I do know, like Edi Gathegi captured him perfectly. Like he was, he was amazing. I was never, even when I saw him in the comics, like, oh, he seems kind of cool. But after I watched this movie, I’m just like, I gotta go read some Mr. Terrific comics now, because he was amazing.

Especially ’cause, you know, it’s such a big change. ’cause we also saw Mr. Terrific in Arrow. And in there he was just kind of like stereotypical Black nerd. And that was it. That was his main characterization.

But here we see him like, you know, confident. You believe he’s the smartest guy in the room. He knows he’s the smartest guy in the room. He’s gonna tell you he’s the smartest guy in the room. And we haven’t mentioned it yet, but that fight scene when they go to the, the base

Y. M. Nelson: ball kind, just

Perry C.: yeah.

The TS spheres and everything. Oh God. I was, I was jumping up and down in my seat when I saw that and that I, I added that song to my Spotify playlist because I’d never heard it before. And I love it.

Y. M. Nelson: And, you know, that, that was the thing it, that was very James Gunn to have that particular song during the fight scene.

I was just like. I was having a moment, you know, like from all different angles, and I knew it was gonna pop off when that woman said, well, I, I’m assuming a woman. But you know, they were in that whole gear or whatever, said,

Perry C.: “oh, it’s just the smart one.”

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah, “just the smart one.” Yeah. I was like, oh, to pop something off, it’s about to be good.

And it really was. That was awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Staci: Yeah, “get your little circle things.”

He’s like, “those aren’t circles. It’s a sphere!”

Y. M. Nelson: Right “circle is two-dimensional.”

Staci: two-dimensional This is 3-d!”

Y. M. Nelson: Oh my gosh. Loved it. And we were calling him element man, but he is not, Perry, you were saying his name is,

Perry C.: Metamorpho is his name. Yeah, it’s the Element man is kind of like his, his tagline, you know, like Superman, the Man of Steel, Batman, the Dark Knight, Metamorpho the element man. So, it’s just kinda like his tagline type of thing

Staci: is part of the Justice League.

Perry C.: He’s been, I think he’s been in some iterations, I think mostly he was part of The Outsiders, which was this team Batman formed with like Black Lightning and Katana and Metamorpho after he left the Justice League. So, I think he’s been more associated with them, but I think he’s been in some Justice League incarnations over the years.

Y. M. Nelson: I cut you off. Staci, what were you gonna say?

Staci: No, I was, I was just asking the reason why were they in the same universe? Because Peacemaker at the end of Peacemaker, the, have y’all seen season one? You finished season one?

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah.

Perry C.: I’ve seen season one.

Staci: End of season one. They kind of outlined the Justice League. They, they weren’t calling that, but you see, when he was, they were coming after they had killed that alien at the end of it. And he’s, they’re walking out and you see, Aquaman, Superman, you see the them there?

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah.

Staci: They kind of do the same kind of scene similar to that in the season two. And it was, and it was the Justice Gang from, you know, that you see that.

And I was like, oh, okay. So, for a minute there I was like, they, they have to be in the same universe, but I was just making sure that it was us in the same universe that it was. Yeah. Because they,

Perry C.: I haven’t seen season two yet.

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Perry C.: I’ve been waiting until it all comes out, but I don’t know, just from the trailers and stuff, it seems like they, they play with like different universes in it.

So, I think it’s kind of like, like a loose continuity with like obviously that, that Justice League scene and the whole, the Aquaman Flash cameos are obviously not gonna be Canon here ’cause mm-hmm. Ezra Miller is, who knows what, like, you know, causing a international crime scene or something somewhere and then mm-hmm.

And Jason Momoa is now playing Lobo in Supergirl. So, he’s not even playing Aquaman anymore?

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: Oh, he’s playing Lobo in Supergirl. Okay. Yeah, I did not know that.

Perry C.: Which is actually a much better, he’s like perfect for Lobo, so it’s kind of weird they cast him as Aquaman in the first place.

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[00:21:42] Next in the DCU

Y. M. Nelson: Okay. Dunno much about that character, so now I really gotta pay attention. Okay. I gotta really pay better attention now. But but well, you know, you knew it was gonna be a shakeup. And getting to that, so the next DCEU movie, is it Supergirl?

Perry C.: I’m pretty sure, yeah, I’m pretty sure Supergirl’s up next. They already finished filming it and I think it’s coming out

Jen G.: 2026 is the date.

First 2026.

Perry C.: Okay. So yeah, that’s what, okay. So, I dunno if there’s one

Jen G.: before that, but there, that’s

Y. M. Nelson: when

Jen G.: that one’s coming out.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah, I was pretty sure. Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything before that.

Perry C.: I mean, I think Lanterns is supposed to come out early 2026. I’m not sure exactly when it’s coming out. Okay.

But yeah.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah, see, I don’t know either.

Perry C.: Also, Creature Commandos. That was part of it too. So, Creature Commandos was the animated series. That was kinda like the- Yeah, that was kinda like the first thing that started. Frank Brillo, he voices Rick Flag Sr. in Both of those, and he plays ’em here in this movie.

And Peacemaker season two is in it. Oh, also Clayface– Clayface is coming out. No, that’s coming out after Supergirl. Yes. Yeah,

Y. M. Nelson: that’s after. Yeah. And it, it looks like it’s a horror.

Perry C.: Yeah, that’s what it, so

Y. M. Nelson: is that how it’s in the comic? Is it like, is it a horror? You know,

Perry C.: I mean, there have been a few different versions of Clay face in the comics as well, so, but I could see a horror bent with that.

I mean, mostly he’s just a Batman villain, so I’m curious to see how they’re gonna do this.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I’m, I’m curious too, because when I saw, well, not trailers or, it’s not really a trailer, it’s just some, I, I don’t know, production, something, I don’t know what it was, but I was like, okay, this looks like a horror kind of thing.

Like maybe you know, if if it was Marvel, it will be like a Venom, Morbius kinda horror level, sort of maybe. I’m trying to think, do I wanna see, am I gonna be ready for this?

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[00:23:44] DCU and multiverses explained

Y. M. Nelson: But is this all DCEU? So, this is the thing. Are these all talking to each other, like Marvel movies and shows, kind of all talk to each other? Because what I see is I see whoever does the Batman and Penguin that I see that line, and then I see James Gunn and I see all of this other stuff going on.

Perry C.: Yeah.

Y. M. Nelson: So, it’s, so is that how, how it’s, this is working?

Perry C.: It’s called, it’s just called the DCU now is what they’re calling it. And what it is, is the, everything is together except for the Batman stuff and the Joker movies, the Joaquin Phoenix Joker movies, right? Those are all separate projects. They’re all called Else World. So basically, those take place in their own separate universes. They’re their own thing.

Okay. There. So yeah, when they, so when they do Batman in Brave and the Bold, it’s not gonna be Robert Pattinson. It’s not, it’s gonna be probably a more comic book type Batman.

And we know Batman exists already in this universe. He had a cameo in Creature Commandos. So, so we know that, but they, they haven’t actually cast anyone as far as I know yet.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. So, in my head, cannon, you know, the, the whole Justice Gang thing is them. Throwing around this, this name that they’re, they’re gonna end up being the Justice League and we’re gonna end up getting a Justice League movie.

Like how Marvel has Ave- you know, a few Avengers movies. I, I just, that’s just my head Canon, but I don’t know where if that’s, that’s how it’s gonna go or not. But that’s kind of how I saw them throwing around the whole Justice Gang thing. But then again, like you, I haven’t really, I haven’t seen the second season of Peacemaker, so maybe that’s not,

Jen G.: so, it looks like we get three movies in 26, and then there’s another movie in 27.

So that was the three

Y. M. Nelson: movies.

Jen G.: So, we’ve got in 2026 according to IMDB, we are getting Super Girl clay Face and Lanterns,

Perry C.: which is a TV show.

Jen G.: Yeah. Which is a TV show. And then Man of Tomorrow is that Superman and Lex Luther have to work together. That is for 2027. And then there’s another, you know, whatever this is nine, 10 things that are listed here that do not have dates on them.

So, anything can happen with those. They don’t have pictures. There’s no pictures and there’s no dates. So yeah, those are the ones.

Clayface is kind of cracking me up, I have to say, because I don’t know if anybody’s, if you guys have all watched the Harley Quinn series, the animated series of Harley Quinn which is super fun.

And so, all I can picture is that version of Clayface and I don’t think it’s, I dunno how accurate that is to the comic books. I have no idea if that’s where they’re taking, but I don’t know. But an entire movie just around that one character is, is kind of hilarious to me. So.

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[00:26:56] The Daily Planet crew: Lois, Perry, Jimmy and the newsroom

Y. M. Nelson: Oh boy. Well, it sounds like we’re in for a lot, but y’all, before we actually rate this movie, did I forget something?

Perry C.: Anything that y’all wanna

Y. M. Nelson: point out?

Perry C.: We didn’t talk a whole lot about Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and how

Jen G.: yeah.

Perry C.: Incredible she was. Or also Skylar Gozando as “Ladies Man” Jimmy Olson, which I got a huge kick out of.

Y. M. Nelson: My God. Yes. Yeah. Actually, let, let’s, let’s talk Daily Planet y’all, let’s talk Daily Planet for a minute.

Just the whole Daily Planet staff including Lois and Jimmy and so craziness. But in general, the casting here was amazing!

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: This is just some amazing casting and that amazing casting for me includes of course Lois and as well, but definitely includes Wendell Pierce as as Perry, you know, oh, the Chief.

Mm-hmm. I’m just, I’m loving the Daily Planet, and I’m wanting to see more of that. So, I’m hoping we get more of that in Man of Tomorrow, but but

Perry C.: there might be a Jimmy Olson TV show actually

Y. M. Nelson: really. Okay.

Perry C.: Which, if you wanna check out a really great comic book, there’s there is a Jimmy Olsen Olson comic book that Matt Fraction wrote, and it’s hysterical.

It’s brilliant.

Y. M. Nelson: Oh boy. Okay. All right. You know, you’re gonna have to give me all of that so I can put it in the show notes all the dets on that so I can put it in the show notes.

And so, I can of course read it. That will be my first one. Well, no, not my first one. I actually have read a comic book since, since we talked, but anyway for another day.

But y’all, yeah. What did we think about the Daily Planet staff, including Lois and, and Jimmy and, and the rest of the gang?

Perry, you’re the one who brought it up. So, tell us what you thought about this. I

Perry C.: mean, echoing, echoing what you said, I thought they were perfect. It was, they were, I, I just, the only, my only criticism of that is I wanted to see more of them, but yes.

I was impressed by how much Jimmy we actually did get though, and how much of a actual, meaty part he ended up serving in the overall story. So, I really liked that.

Yeah, I just, I just wanted to see more of them, so I thought they were really good in what we saw there. Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard.

You know, Perry White was, you know, again, just of, we didn’t get to see a lot of him, but I love what we did see of him. Yeah. And same thing with Kat and I. Yeah. I just, I would love to see like a Daily Planet TV show that’s just focused on, like these characters,

Y. M. Nelson: right? Yes. I I, I’m agreeing with that.

Staci, what did you think?

Staci: I mean, I think they were great characters and they kind of, they weren’t stereo they enough to realize who they were. If you weren’t familiar with like, past shows or anything like that but not stereo, stereotypical. Like Olson, I mean, they put their own spin on it, which I liked and I liked I keep wanting to say Marvelous Miss Maisel, Lois Lane.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah, because she used it that isn’t she? ohmigosh

Staci: she’s, because she, but I liked how she played, how she played Lois, you know? Yeah. It wasn’t totally hard core, newspaper Maneater kind of a thing. She played it when she was tough on a job, but she was very smart, really good at a job knowing she was good at a job.

It was, to me, both Superman and Lois were more reminiscent of, you know, the Christopher Reeve. I mean, that Lois Lane and that, that Clark can’t in the movie, not how they interact each other. ’cause by that, by the time, you know, in the, the original movie, she didn’t know who he was.

But in this one, yeah. You can see how she realistically would’ve evolved. They were together, how they were realistically evolved. It

Y. M. Nelson: wasn’t, yeah.

Staci: You know, just, he’s the greatest thing in the world. It’s like she pushed back on the stuff that he did and said and does, and I really, really like that.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. Jen, what about you?

Jen G.: I’m a huge fan of Rachel Brosnahan, so I was thrilled when I heard that she was Lois and I feel like she did a fantastic job. So, I, I really love her as Lois.

And then as far as the rest of the daily Planet crew is- Okay, same thing you guys have said about Jimmy ’cause he, he had played the larger role, but for those smaller characters that we don’t see much of and they don’t, yeah, I can’t, yeah, they don’t do a whole lot except for kind of more or less comic relief.

I definitely feel like there’s a, there’s a show, there’s something happening ’cause you’ve got so much, so much energy and talent in the, in those, like, they’re not even secondary. They’re like tertiary characters. I would love to see them in a television show and just trying to like, stay on top of the news

Which could be really interesting and subversive at this time when we’re seeing when we’re seeing First Amendment questions and, and challenges being made, I think that could be a really interesting place for for The Daily Planet to play a role, but we’ll see what happens.

Yeah. It’s not, it wasn’t on the list of things they had planned, so I don’t think anybody was really expecting there to be a, such a major first amendment challenge.

Staci: Right. Well, who was the actor?

He was on Saturday Night Live. He was in there. He was the one that said, why don’t have a seat in the

Y. M. Nelson: yeah. When they were a doctor, a sports guy. Yeah, yeah. Guy. Yeah. Steve. He played Steve. Yeah. What’s his name? Steve

Perry C.: Lombard. Yeah.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. Okay. And he was like. But what, what’s his actor name? What’s his a what’s the actor’s name?

Perry C.: Beck Bennett.

Y. M. Nelson: Okay.

Staci: Okay. So, he was like, you know, nowhere, like I said, he wasn’t even secondary to tertiary, but he did make an impact because he said some funny things that I just really, you know, he just kind of caught off guard. Like when he, when Superman first came in, or Clark Kent first came in, he was kind of riding on him or whatever.

But when the whole thing about you need to evacuate the city, and he’s on the phone saying he, she needs to hear my voice. And he says, I don’t care. It’s a cat.

Perry C.: The sound of your voice.

Staci: Like that made you laugh without like small role, but it was just.

Okay. He still made me laugh because this is what he said, the cat thing.

And I was, I was like, yeah, that was not the kind of pet I expected him to have. But he was like, she needs to hear daddy’s voice or whatever. He said something like that,

Y. M. Nelson: especially since he’s a sports guy, right. You think he needs to have a big pit bull or something. It’s like, you know, and especially since like you said, riding Clark, when Clark first came in, he was, being macho.

Staci: Like I’m a macho, macho guy. Exactly.

Y. M. Nelson: Exactly.

Staci: Hear my, can’t hear my voice.

Y. M. Nelson: Right.

Perry C.: And the cat’s name is Persephone too.

Staci: Yeah. Persephone. Persephone.

Y. M. Nelson: Like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. But yeah, you know, it’s those little things which made them stand out, which made us want to

Jen G.: mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: See that and possibly have that TV show and.

You know, I love the fact that with all of these characters, and for some reason, you know, James Gunn seems just do that in a lot of things. Like even the small characters, they get these memorable things, which make you want to know more and get more of them. It’s not always the bigger characters, you’re gonna see them, but like the smaller characters and things, it’s like, really wanna know more about where, where you’re going with this.

I wanna see more of your personality. You know, we need to have a Daily Planet TV show. I’m totally, totally in this, .

And the, thing that got me, the cat thing really got me, but then the writer in me, when he was talking to Clark and he was like, you don’t have any adverbs in this.

How do we know about it? So, the writer in me was going like all the way there with Stephen King. You know, Stephen King hates his adverbs. And the dude’s name is Steven! I’m like you’re not supposed to like adverbs, dude!

Perry C.: I’m a writer as well. And that’s exactly what I thought too.

Y. M. Nelson: Oh my gosh. I was like, my brain just just went there, you know? But.

Jen, you are right now with all of this First Amendment stuff going on, number one and number two, I mean, do we consider The Daily Planet to be like independent journalism, like maybe NPR or maybe a PBS kind of thing? Do we consider that? You know?

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: And there might be a story there. There might be a through line there to get, right.

We’re, we’re just trying to get a Daily Planet TV show y’all, you know?

Jen G.: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: And for anybody out there, you know, in Warner Brothers, HBO Max, whoever they’re gonna go with next. Yeah.

We’re just trying to get a Daily Planet TV show.

Jen G.: That’s what we want.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. Yeah. That, that’s all, that’s all we want,

Jen G.: we’re manifesting. That’s what we’re doing. We’re manifesting!

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[00:36:07] Easter Eggs in Superman

Y. M. Nelson: Exactly. Exactly. But you know, all around, I just, I just think there’s all, there’s a lot of little Easter eggs. And I’m probably not getting all of these.

And I don’t know, Perry, if, if there’s some comic Easter eggs that we wanna talk about, but just for a mention before we go into ratings.

They mentioned when Metamorpho is manifesting the yellow sun. Mm-hmm. He’s thinking about the elements. One of the elements is deuterium, which is a big deal in Star Trek. That is what they use to do the warp power engines. So, I was like. I wonder why they said that. But anyway, I just, I just happen to see this again. Right before we, we film this, y’all.

 Another Easter egg, which I am not exactly sure about, but saw online. So, Perry, maybe you can clarify this one for me, but there is a mural at the Hall of Justice, and I think someone said that there’s the first iterations of the Justice League from, I don’t know if a comic or justice society, that’s what it is.

And they are on that mural in the Hall of Justice when they’re all there.

And then the Mighty Crab Joys, of course, is a band made just for this movie. And they sing that Mighty Crabjoy song in the credits. So, there you go.

Perry C.: Wait, it, I thought it was a real band.

Y. M. Nelson: They, they really did get, that’s what I’m saying.

They really did get together. For this movie.

Perry C.: Wow. I did not know that. I thought it was a real band.

Y. M. Nelson: Oh gosh. But yeah. So that’s that. That’s, that’s the, the Easter eggs that I have. Perry, did you have any Easter egg or any comic book things you wanted to point out?

Perry C.: Well, Will Reeve, the son of Christopher Reeve, he

Y. M. Nelson: Yes.

Perry C.: Has a cameo.

Y. M. Nelson: He he does, has a cameo,

Perry C.: a reporter on the street. Yep. Michael Rosenbaum is one of the Raptors who played Lex Luther on Smallville. And really yeah. We saw, we saw John Sena as well as, as Peacemaker in that interview as well. Course that start of

Y. M. Nelson: had the cameo. Mm-hmm.

Perry C.: Those are kinda like the big ones that I,

Y. M. Nelson: and we talked about Maxwell Lord.

Perry C.: Yeah.

Y. M. Nelson: And we talked about Maxwell Lord at the end. Yeah. I was like, the guy from

Perry C.: Ultraman Ultraman is kind of, because he’s actually like from a different universe in the comics. Okay. He’s an alternate universe, Superman, where like the, where like all the heroes and villains are inverted. Like Lex Luther is a hero.

All the Justice League are villains. And so that’s where Ultraman comes from. But here they kind of combined him with Bizarro.

Y. M. Nelson: And that’s what I was gonna ask you. If he’s Bizarro. Okay. But he’s not. Okay. Yeah.

Perry C.: Basically Bizarro. But with him going into that, you know, it kind of looks like they’re setting up the Bizarro world with him getting sucked into that pocket universe at the end there.

Because I think because Bizarro world in the comics, it’s actually like a, the earth, Bizarro Earth is actually just a square planet. Or cube planet.

Y. M. Nelson: Right.

Perry C.: So, I think that they, it was kind of like a cube shape at the end there. So, people think that that might be setting up Bizarro in the future. I think those are the biggest ones that I noticed.

Yeah, I think those are pretty much the biggest ones that I noticed there.

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[00:39:35] Star rating

Y. M. Nelson: Okay. Cool. Yeah, so this, this had a lot of stuff in it, so we’ve talked a while about a lot of stuff that’s been in it. So, let’s, let’s give this one a rating and to remind everybody out there what our rating is. Our rating is taken from Good reads because this is supposed to be a book podcast.

Hey, Superman is from a comic book series, so there you go. And the rating is one star. We did not like it. Mm-hmm. Two stars. We thought it was okay. Three stars. We liked it. Four stars, we really liked it. And five stars. It was amazing. And yes, you can rate kind of in the middle there. So, Jen, I’m gonna start with you.

Jen G.: Alright.

Y. M. Nelson: What would you rate this one?

Jen G.: I’m gonna go I’m gonna go four to three and a half. So not three and a half to four, but from four to like three and a half because Okay. I did, there was so much about it that I liked. There’s and I’m so excited for this, for the reboot of the DCU and seeing, seeing them be able to do with the DC superheroes, maybe what Marvel was able to accomplish with the Marvel superheroes.

The Justice League cartoon was, is something that I have watched my whole life from being a little kid on Saturday morning. So, I can’t wait for like, my favorites to be sort of re to have like the, the exciting big interconnected TV shows, interconnected movies. I’m super excited about that. Mm-hmm.

The, the little downside comes though from, like I talked about before. Just some issues with the story where I felt like some things were they kind of went in these, in a couple of really weird directions for me. So so that took some of the shine off of this one. But I have a lot of hope. I have a lot of hope for the future, so I’m not worried about it, but that’s me.

Y. M. Nelson: Alright. Staci, what about you? What’s your rating?

Staci: I go for four for this one. I mean, I really, and I probably, it’s like four because it’s, I’m just thinking about the past movies from the, from the whole series and how this has really got me in a more a positive feel for it. So, I’m not sure if it is truly deserving of a four, but because I have so much hope for this to hopefully that this will keep going in the direction it is that I really.

And nostalgia from watching it, it did make me feel like, oh my gosh, back to the eighties when I was a kid, when I actually saw, when I saw it. Not in the movie theaters, but remember watching the original Superman. And just having that feeling again.

And I just think especially now how the world is, how the world is. It just feels you wanted a cleaner, Superman, you wanted a cleaner, a happy, you know. The world is dark right now. Yeah. And I, and having this more positive outlook just make me feel good, you know, just watching it. So, I would say I’ll give it a four.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. And I’m gonna give my rating right now since Perry is hanging out with his family for a second.

I’m going to rate this one a four and a half. And I’m kind of piggybacking a little bit off of Jen’s rating because before I got on the call, I was thinking five and I think part of it is exactly what Staci is saying is that I feel that hope when I watch it.

I feel the lightness and I also feel the, the nostalgia. I mean, it’s Christopher Reeve, but it’s not Christopher Reeve. It’s, it’s the, it’s the lightness and the good and the positive of Christopher Reeve with the realness of Tyler Hoechlin in Superman and Lois.

You know, we get, you know, when we see those moments in this movie between Superman and Lois, and also when we see those moments, when, at the very beginning, I mean, when he’s down, you know?

Staci: Mm-hmm.

Y. M. Nelson: And then, in other moments when he’s down, we get the not perfect part, which I think to me, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman plays that whole real gritty, you know, not as perfect part of Superman. He played that well, and Christopher Reeve played the good, positive, hopeful part of Superman well. And also, to me, you can see more of the difference between Clark Kent and Superman with, with Christopher Reeve’s portrayal, in my opinion.

So, because I got all of that swirling in my mind, right? I’m thinking five when I, when I came in. But then the reason why I say four and a half now is because, talking with y’all, I do see, like, there are a couple of areas where, the continuity, I’m not sure where they were going with it kind of thing.

And the one major area, of course, is the whole fear and misinformation kind of thing that happened and the. Hashtag secret harem kind of thing that comes out all of that stuff and it kind of doesn’t really go together.

And then the, as we talked about, the pitting between the parents we shouldn’t have to do that to show that John and Martha are, are good parents. You know, so there are a couple of things there that are kinda weird, but maybe those things will play out or do something. Some, some iteration will happen and that’s why they were there or why they were there in that way.

But Perry, what, what’s your rating?

Perry C.: So, I’m gonna go 4.5. I thought it was very good.

You know, I loved a lot of it, and the things I love, I, you know, love a lot, but I still have some issues, like you said with the parent stuff and the, the hypno glasses. So those are kinda like the big issues that, that I had with it.

Also, I didn’t really like, I, I did like Pruitt Taylor, Vince as Jonathan, but I didn’t really like Neeva Howell as Martha. I thought she was too folksy. So that kind of brings it down a little bit for me. So, I’m going 4.5 ’cause of those things. Yeah,

Y. M. Nelson: I will say I did like when she was getting on him about, he’s such a sap, you know, talking about talking about her husband, I was like, well that was kind of cute. But she was very, actually, I think both of them was very folksy.

So, I’m glad to have y’all on and y’all know that you’re gonna have to come back and talk the next superhero, whatever. Next thing with me, so can’t wait till that next discussion.

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