198. Thunderbolts* / New Avengers Review

We celebrate 200 episodes of Talking SMAC with a special live recording at our favorite hometown nerd shop: Cataclysm Games and Collectibles! Intro (0:00) Let's meet Doug from Cataclysm Games & Collectibles! (1:32) Hemanstarfox joins the group! (5:14) Kicking things off with an AMA question (6:20) Rocket Racoon vs Legolas (7:01) Marvel Rivals tangent about Jeff the Landshark (8:29) Back to Rocket Racoon vs Legolas (10:50) Lara Croft vs Aloy - One Bow, One Shot battle (15:20) AMA: Joey Fitz question (19:06) Goku vs Omni Man (23:49)* Homer Simpson vs Fred Flintston vs Peter Griffin (27:00) Dennis Nedry (Jurassic Park) vs Boris Grishenko (GoldenEye) - Hacker off (28:18) Engineer-Xeno Hybrid from Alien Romulus vs Human-Xeno Hybrid from Alien Resurrection (32:42) AMA: Slade question (36:11) The Rookie vs Malcolm Reynolds vs Rick Castle vs Guy Gardner - Nathan Fillion character fight (43:10) Xenomorph vs The Death Angel from A Quiet Place (45:27) Stuart Little vs Remy (52:40) Purrgil vs Chitauri Leviathans (Space Whale battle) (55:46) Batman (from Batman Begins) vs V (V for Vendetta movie) (1:04:28) Heel John Cena vs Ruthless Aggression Era John Cena (1:10:21) Did Hemanstarfox lied about his backstory?! (1:13:26) Goodbyes and social media plugs (1:15:38) Please join our Discord and check out our merch store! Special thank yous to Ricki for running our mixer for the live recording.  Also, special shoutouts to our friends who have supported us and teamed up with us throughout the years: Luis, Scotti, Matt and Bepbo (Talking SMAC OGs who helped kick off the podcast) Derek, the creator of our original logo Dan at Casting Views Antonio at The Cultworthy Joey, Tim & Alex at the Game Club Pod Justin at the Movie Wire Cesar at the No on 15 All-Cast Karen and Ann at the Sugar Coated Murder Josh and Amanda at Super Familiar with The Wilsons Liam, Scott and Gregg at I Have Some Notes Slade at Driveway Studios We truly could not have made it this far without your support and friendship. Thank you all, so much!  *Omni Man vs Thanos was suggested in Episode 150, Goku vs Invincible was suggested in episode 74

Josh and Alex bring dream pitches for projects they'd love to bring to life if they had the means Intro (0:00) Casting Views Promo (7:13) *Pitch Meeting disclaimer (8:05) Josh forgot a big nitpick from last week’s review (10:25) Alex pitches a ‘House of Leaves’ adaptation (11:37) Josh has questions about Alex's pitch (24:58) Casting options? (27:50) Josh pitches his 'Inheritance Cycle' adaptation (32:36) Who would Josh want to animate his series? (42:39) Josh pitches his showrunner if it's not him (46:16) Josh lays out his dream casting (46:58) Social media plugs and good byes (1:07:16) Please remember to check out the Casting Views podcast, join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

The MCU machine churns on. Now it's time to see what Marvel's reinterpretation of the Thunderbolts team looks like within their connected universe.  Intro (0:00) 2 Blokes from Blighty promo (7:28) The trailers in front of Thunderbolts* are all over the place (9:19) I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) looks dumb for all the wrong reasons (10:04) Back to the trailers (13:14) Non-spoiler 'Thunderbolts*' time! (15:08) Josh's issues with US Agent (24:31) Non-spoiler resolution (26:20) Is 'Thunderbolts*' a Must-See or Pass? (27:40) Spoiler Discussion (31:42) Jeremy Renner's revelation about why no Hawkeye season 2 (1:10:48) Goodbyes and social media plugs (1:17:45) Please remember to check out the 2 Blokes from Blighty podcast, join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

Josh and Alex talk about the stuff they're doing away from the pod! Intro (0:00) WrestleMania 41 thoughts (4:17) Alex Hates Movie Runtimes (11:35) Super Familiar with the Wilsons Promo (26:01) What'cha doin? (26:29) Until Dawn movie (27:25) Inheritance Cycle (37:01) Path of Exile 2 (43:47) Frieren: Beyond Journeys End (50:22) Ghosts season 4 (58:05) Goodbyes (1:10:34) Please remember to check out the Super Familiar with the Wilsons podcast, join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

Josh & Alex have had a lot of stuff they wanted to cover for the pod, so we're gonna blitz review five of them!  Intro (0:22) Sugar Coated Murder Promo (4:10) Accents and good dialects in movies (4:33) Sinners (8:14) I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out On Time (19:46) Solo Leveling (25:31) The Pitt (33:18) Has Alex watched Wicked yet?! (44:34) Daredevil: Born Again (45:13) Tangent: Superman Behind-the-Scenes (46:25) Back to Daredevil: Born Again (52:12) Star Wars Celebration 2025 Discussion (1:04:25) Good byes and social plugs (1:10:08) Please remember to check out the Sugar Coated Murder podcast, and don't forget to join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

Josh and Alex are joined by the incredible Hemanstarfox to preview the upcoming WrestleMania event from WWE pitting the heel John Cena against the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE championship as the main event for the two-night wrestling extravaganza!  Intro (0:00) Hemanstarfox is in the house! (0:54) How'd we find ourselves enjoying pro wrestling? (6:00) No On 15! Allcast promo (20:25) Hemanstarfox's take on WrestleMania 41's significance to the pro wrestling industry (24:36) The specter of John Cena over Cody Rhodes (32:47) Does the WWE have an age problem with their superstars? (36:08) Matches that could steal the show at WrestleMania 41 (41:41) The biggest storylines heading into WrestleMania 41 (46:21) Jey Uso vs Gunther and the rise of Jey Uso into the main event picture (57:04) Josh doesn't understand the structure of the championships in WWE (1:01:00) The Anoa'i family could walk away from WrestleMania in great shape (1:02:21) The Women's Championship Triple Threat Match (1:05:26)  WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Match (1:09:00) Cody Rhodes defends the Universal Championship against a heel John Cena (1:12:22) Social plugs and goodbyes (1:31:19) Please remember to check out the No On 15! Allcast, join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

Josh & Alex are joined by the dynamic duo from the Balcony; Antonio & Justin from Back 2 the Balcony (and The Cultworthy and The Movie Wire) to talk about their impressions of the documentary centered around the creation of A Goofy Movie; Not Just a Goof You can find Back 2 the Balcony on YouTube here You can listen to the Movie Wire and The Cultworthy  You can find the episode of The Cultworthy where a very tired Josh reviews A Goofy Movie with Antonio in a much more in-depth manner here Please, join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

Josh is joined by Matt to discuss the implications of the Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse and upcoming MCU Spider-Man movie news announced during CinemaCon. They also discuss the Switch 2 announcement.  Intro (0:00) 'Beyond the Spider-Verse' has a release date! (1:30) The next MCU Spider-Man movie has a title and release date! (7:46) The Movie Wire promo (14:57) The biggest thing to remember with any new system announcement (16:10) The Switch 2 Announcement (17:37) Mario Kart World details and thoughts (20:11) Donkey Kong Bananza (24:56) Switch 2 Editions of games (27:23) Confusion surrounding game prices (33:16) Current events affecting pre-orders in the US (39:59) Matt's positive takeaways from the Switch 2 Direct (42:07) Metroid Prime 4 takeaways (51:14) We googled the name, don't worry: The Duskbloods (58:42) Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (59:35) Additional announcements we missed (1:05:05) Goodbyes and social media plugs (1:12:23) Please remember to check out the Movie Wire podcast, join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

Alex and Justin examine the Russo brothers' filmography post-Avengers Endgame to try to figure out if they're true auteurs, or if they just fit really well into the MCU machine. Intro/Josh and the blustery day (0:00) The Popeye slasher film that Justin's already seen (0:53) The Russo brothers pre-MCU filmography (3:46) Game Club Pod promo (9:34) Justin's take on the Russo's MCU entries so far (11:05) Post-Marvel Russo bros projects (13:51) The Russo's blank check return to the MCU (26:07) Do the Russo's really only work within the MCU structure of film-making? (28:14) Goodbyes and social plugs (45:08) Please remember to check out the Game Club Pod podcast, join our Discord and check out our merch store! 

Marvel showed off some chairs with names on them. We discuss and speculate on the upcoming tentpole movie for Marvel Studios. Please, join our Discord and check out our merch store!