Issue #41: Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 2 of 2) – Podcast

Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 2 of 2) – Podcast

“Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now, it’s here. Or should I say… I am.” – Thanos

Chris, Erik, and Zack (⁠⁠⁠Podcasters Assemble⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Effin Cultured⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠The Neat Cast⁠⁠⁠) assemble once again to *finally* finish off The Infinity Saga!

MCU Phase 3 Movies (part two):

  • Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
  • Captain Marvel (2019)
  • Avengers: Endgame (2019)
  • Spider-man: Far From Home (2019)

Be sure to listen to our previous MCU episodes as well:

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)

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Issue #39: Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 1 of 2)

Issue 39: Revisiting the MCU: Phase Three (Part 1 of 2) – Podcast

“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain!” – Doctor Strange

Zack returns once again – the ‘Nick Fury of podcasting’ himself: radio host extraordinaire (from ⁠⁠Podcasters Assemble⁠⁠⁠⁠Effin Cultured⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠The Neat Cast⁠⁠) for another epic CZ Team-Up with our heroes, Chris and Erik to finally tackle ‘Phase Three’ of the MCU! (Part 1 of 2)

MCU Phase 3 Movies (part one):

  • Captain America: CIVIL WAR (2016)
  • Doctor Strange (2016)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy – VOL 2 (2017)
  • Spider-man: Homecoming (2017)
  • THOR: RAGNAROK (2017)
  • Black Panther (2018)

Be sure to listen to our previous MCU episodes as well:

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)

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Top 100 Villains 50-41

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Everyone knows nothing makes a good hero like a great villain. Sherlock Holmes needed Moriarty, G.I. Joe needed Cobra, the rebels needed Darth Vader, etc. Nothing makes a story better quite like an interesting, intriguing, and yet hated adversary. Readers tend to flock to the villains they love to hate. The best villains bring something out of the hero that nobody else does, or force the hero to push themselves further than before to find a way to win.

We wanted to make a top 10 list, but that’s impossible. There are just too many good choices, and we couldn’t agree on any of it. So we increased the list, and increased it, and increased it (honestly we probably could have kept going, too). So, before it gets too out of hand, here are our choices for the 100 best villains in comics.

(Click here for our Top 100 Heroes List!)

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Top 10 Avengers Teams

In the past 60-ish years there have been a lot, and I mean a LOT of people assembling as Avengers. The roster has been in a constant state of evolution and change since the fourth issue, when they re-introduced Captain America to the Marvel universe, and issue 16, when they replaced everyone but Cap with a former Iron Man villain (Hawkeye) and two of Magneto’s lackeys from the Brotherhood over in X-Men (Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch)!

Because there have been oh-so-many rosters over the decades, it’s fun to debate which are the best ones. Of course, as always it comes down to personal preference; for instance, I’ve got the West Coast Avengers on this list, but I’m sure many would disqualify them just based on the name. To each their own. That said, what follows are my picks for the 10 best Avengers rosters ever assembled.

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5 Coolest Moments From… Civil War, part 1

Civil-War-Comics

Marvel tends to have a lot of ‘event’ stories. It’s true. It’s a thing.

These stories are typically team-up or vs books, and often take place in their own mini-series with tie-ins occurring in the regular monthly books (and often additional mini-series, as well). Often big, status quo changing stories that feature some of the top writers and artists in the industry, some people are sick to death of them, and others can’t get enough of them. Personally, I tend to fall towards the latter, but I think even the most jaded fan would agree that, as far as Marvel event stories go, Civil War is the big daddy of them all (the only other argument I will listen to is 2015’s Secret Wars).

Written by Mark Millar with art by Steve McNiven (huge shout out to Dexter Vines and Morry Hollowell for their inking and coloring) this story is chock full of crazy. There are 7 issues and each one is packed full of big moments and jaw-dropping action. These event books are often marketed as ‘nothing will ever be the same!’, and for a while, at least, that was certainly the case here.

Picking only 5 moments of awesome from Civil War is really, really hard. So, because I’m a total fraud, I decided to split this list into 2 parts and do 5 moments in each part. Here are the first 5 coolest moments from Marvel’s Civil War.

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Top 15 Rivalries

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Comic books are filled with rivalries. Some are friendly, like Archie and Jughead, and some are… not so friendly. While the friendly ones are fine, and can often inject plenty of drama into stories, it’s the really vitriolic ones that grab our attention and are typically the ones we remember the most fondly. With that in mind, below are my top 15 rivalries in comics. Plenty of these rivalries have had backstories fleshed out after the first time we saw them, like our first entry, but for ‘first altercation’ I’m going with the first published fight or confrontation between them, and not the backstories that were later filled in.

Who makes up your favorite rivalry? Did they place on the list? Let us know!

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Top 100 Villains 70-61

4427-wizard_lms_dc_villains_vs_marvel_vi

Everyone knows nothing makes a good hero like a great villain. Sherlock Holmes needed Moriarty, G.I. Joe needed Cobra, the rebels needed Darth Vader, etc. Nothing makes a story better quite like an interesting, intriguing, and yet hated adversary. Readers tend to flock to the villains they love to hate. The best villains bring something out of the hero that nobody else does, or force the hero to push themselves further than before to find a way to win.

We wanted to make a top 10 list, but that’s impossible. There are just too many good choices, and we couldn’t agree on any of it. So we increased the list, and increased it, and increased it (honestly, we probably could have kept going, too). So, before it gets too out of hand, here are our choices for the 100 best villains in comics.

(Click here for our Top 100 Heroes List!)

(And be sure to check out Parts 1, 2, and 3 of our countdown!)

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5 Coolest Moments From… Infinity Gauntlet

Man, the Infinity Gauntlet was awesome. The story of the mad Titan, Thanos, combining the power of the six infinity stones and obtaining complete power over the universe and the desperate, doomed attempts of the Marvel heroes and cosmic beings to do anything and everything they can to stop him, the only reason I haven’t done one of these for it yet is that, really, it’s quite difficult to narrow the awesome down to 5 moments, so really a ton of great stuff will be lumped together so this isn’t a 25 Coolest Things From…

Without further ado, 5 of the coolest moments from the pure 90’s goodness that is one of the best Marvel comics ever published, the Infinity Gauntlet.

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Top 25 Avengers

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There have been a TON of Avengers over the years. Some of them have been great additions to the team and have added to the mythos of the franchise, and others… not so much. Thankfully, for every Deathcry there’s a Black Panther, which is why the Avengers have endured for so many decades. While the core members are mostly now common household names thanks to the MCU, they aren’t the only ones that make the Avengers Earth’s mightiest heroes.

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Comic Zombie Podcast #30: The “Ultimate Marvel” Comics

Issue 30: Ultimate Marvel

“Hulk Smash Freddie Prinze Junior!” – The Ultimate Hulk (The Ultimates #4)

Chris and Erik review the “Ultimate Marvel” Comics Line (2000-2015) – including: Ultimate Spider-man, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, The Ultimates, and Ultimatum… 

Also On This Episode: 

  • Erik’s (spoiler free) mini-review of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
  • Quick thoughts on “Werewolf by Night” and “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special”
  • Artist Spotlight: Darwyn Cooke
  • Essential Reads: The Incredible Hulk

Check out our blog at ComicZombie.net for more! 

And buy Erik’s new sci-fi / noir novella, “2299” here! 

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

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