Chris’ Top (Bottom?) 15 WORST DC Movies!

Posted by comiczombie on January 4, 2023

Marvel Studios is about to release Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, which will be the 971st part of their massive mega saga. Meanwhile, DC is… doing stuff. They’re still going to release The Flash, despite its star being straight up coo-coo for coacoa puffs, Batgirl got cancelled, but Blue Beetle, Flash, Aquaman 2 and Shazam 2 are still coming to theaters despite the… reboot?… coming soon now that James Gunn and Peter Safran are running things in an attempt to duplicate what Kevin Feige has done at Marvel. While there’s no denying we have goten some quality out of DC’s attempt at the MCU, and may still with the remaining slate of films, they just have been completely unable to capture the “IT” factor that has defined Marvel Studios since “Iron Man”.

In fact, even though DC/Warner Bros has been at this whole ‘making studio films out of our comic book properties’ game than Marvel has, all that has really amounted to is a handful of really good movies, a couple of great ones, and a long, long list of terrible movies going back decades that shows that maybe, just maybe, they’ve NEVER known how to really do this whole thing right. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me 59 times, shame on me.

For every Batman, Superman: The Movie, or Dark Knight there are… these. The worst of the worst.

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Podcasters Assemble – S8: “BATCASTERS ASSEMBLE!” (Episode List)

Posted by ErikSlader on July 26, 2022

Season 1 covered the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Iron Man to Endgame, Season 2 reviewed the Star Wars saga, Season 003 tackled all 24 James Bond films, Season 4 was an epic countdown to Godzilla vs Kong, Season 5 reviewed the Mortal Kombat movies / games, Season 6 was all things Ghostbusters, in Season 7 we plugged into The Matrix, and for Season 8 we watched every live-action Batman movie!

Bonus Episodes (coming soon to Patreon) :

Batman Video Games (4 parter)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Lego Batman: The Movie (2017)
JOKER (2019)
The Best / Worst of Animated Batman Movies

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Chris’ Top 15 DC Movies (So Far!)

Posted by comiczombie on June 5, 2022

These days there are hardly any human beings on the planet who don’t know about Marvel and their characters thanks to the insane success of the MCU. Characters that hardly anyone knew when I was growing up- Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Shang Chi, Black Widow, etc are practically household names across the globe. But what about Marvel’s ‘competition’, DC? They’ve been at this since before Marvel, and for decades had bragging rights over Marvel on both the small and big screens. What the hell happened?

It’s not like DC has been churning out crap for years and years (…actually…), and they have three of the biggest names in all of fiction, forget comic books, in Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And that’s the real head scratcher here; I was going to make this a top 25 list but to be honest I could BARELY make it to 15. I know Warner Bros is a garbage studio in a lot of areas, but damn…

Maybe it’s because forever they only thought to make Superman or Batman movies, but you would think that a studio like WB that has been making movies of these characters to some degree or another since the late 1970’s would have a large, glorious back catalog of films to select from, but I would say Marvel has far, FAR more good-to-great films in their library and they’ve only been at this since 2008!! (Obviously I’m discounting third party studios leasing out the IP of Marvel characters, although between Blade, the X-Men films and the Spider-Man films there are some great ones).

The good news is that there seem to be a lot of films coming up for DC that cover a lot more of their universe besides just three characters. We’ve got Black Adam, Aquaman 2, Shazam 2, Batgirl, Blue Beetle, and… hmm. Is that it? Well, crawl before you walk, I suppose. Each of these has the potential to supplant one of the entries on today’s list; hopefully in a few years I’ll laugh at this list the way I do this one!

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Erik’s TOP (bottom?) 15 WORST DC MOVIES!

Posted by ErikSlader on April 23, 2022

With the latest news that the seemingly cursed “The Flash” movie has been delayed a year (once again), and the future of the DCEU remains uncertain with the recent Discovery acquisition of WB, I figured it would be an appropriate time to take a look back at some of the more turbulent entries of DC movies past…

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my Top 15 DC Movie list here!

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“THE BATMAN” 101 – Who’s who?

Posted by ErikSlader on March 3, 2022

With the upcoming release of Matt Reeves’s “THE BATMAN” (in theaters on March 4th, 2022), we figured we’d take the opportunity to do a quick rundown of every confirmed character appearing in the new movie (as well as a couple who *might* make an appearance?), along with where they first appeared in the Batman comics, who played them in previous movies, and some of our recommended stories to read before (or after) seeing the new movie!

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Comic Zombie Podcast #20: THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY

Posted by ErikSlader on March 1, 2022

Issue #20: THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY (w/ Justin Ache)

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” – Harvey Dent

This week, with the upcoming release of Matt Reeves’s “The Batman”, Chris and Erik are teaming up with graphic designer Justin Ache (from Podcasters Assemble and Significant Otter Co), to revisit and discuss Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne!

The Dark Knight Trilogy:

BATMAN BEGINS (2005)
THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

Be sure to listen to our previous episodes on the MCU Phase One w/ Zack Derby as well as our very first episode on the Burton / Schumacher Batman movies! Check out our blog at ComicZombie.net for more – including Erik’s recent articles on his Top 15 DC Movies, Every Batmobile Ever, and Zack Snyder’s DC Trilogy!

And join in on the upcoming season of Podcasters Assemble where we’re talking about all things Batman! #BatcastersAssemble

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

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TOP 20 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES EPISODES!

Posted by ErikSlader on June 15, 2021

With another new animated Batman series in the works (Batman: The Caped Crusader), we figured it would be a great time to revisit the classic that has stood the test of time and remains to this day one of the absolute best superhero cartoons to date!

Created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, “Batman: The Animated Series” first premiered in 1992 and lasted 4 seasons (including “The New Batman Adventures”), spinning off into several other animated series throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s – Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Justice League, Justice League: Unlimited, and Young Justice! Inspired by the style of the 1941 Fleischer Superman cartoons, the 90’s Batman series was a dark and faithful adaptation.

Batman: The Animated Series is, in my humble opinion, the absolute best version of Batman to date. Sure, the Tim Burton movies are great, Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy is a masterpiece of cinema, and the Arkham games are a lot of fun, but nothing has really captured the magic of the old school Batman comics quite the way that this show did. Not only did Bruce Timm and Paul Dini draw heavily from the source material, in some cases they streamlined and improved on some of the classic storylines and characters from the comics!

Unlike the campy Adam West series from the 60’s, this one took a darker and grittier look at Gotham, while still retaining the fun elements. Further, the voice talent on this series is incredible, including but not limited to Kevin Conroy as Batman / Bruce Wayne and of course, Mark Hamill as The Joker! And to top it off, the show was actually geared towards adults, while still being appropriate for kids, which is not an easy task.

The following list is 100% up for debate, so feel free to yell at me on Twitter @ErikSlader!

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The Comic Zombie Podcast: Issue #1

Posted by ErikSlader on January 27, 2019

The all-new Comic Zombie podcast is out now!

holy bat movies

In their first episode: “Holy Bad-Movies, Batman!” – Chris Carroll and Erik Slader endure 8 hours of Batman films (two of which were good) so that you don’t have to!

Will they decipher the plot of “Batman Returns”?

Will they solve the Riddler’s ‘e.nigmas’?

Will they survive “Batman and Robin”?!

Find out here, this Bat-time, this Bat-channel!

(Also, be sure to check out Issue Zero: This Time, it’s personal!)

Holy Bat-movies! – Part 3

Posted by ErikSlader on February 6, 2015

We did it! We made it! I was worried for a second…

In Part One – we covered Batman ’66, Batman ’89, and Tim Burton’s Batman Returns…

Then in Part Two – we tore apart Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and the god awful Batman and Robin…

Now it’s time to review Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy!

Batman Begins (2005)

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale (Batman), Liam Neeson (Ra’s Al Ghul), Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow), Ken Watanabe (fake Ra’s), Katie Holmes (Rachel Dawes), Michael Caine (Alfred), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon), Tom Wilkinson (Carmine Falcone), Rutger Hauer (Mr. Earle)

Batmobile:

Plot: A true origin story following Bruce’s life periodically from the murder of his parents to his travels around the world making himself into Batman, one step at a time. He becomes a member of, and eventually turns against, the League of Shadows, who come to Gotham to get their revenge and destroy the city. As Batman, he must face the Falcone mafia, the Scarecrow, and Ra’s Al Ghul, while trying to rekindle his relationship with childhood friend turned assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes, establishing a relationship with Jim Gordon (one of the only honest cops in Gotham), and working to get his company back from Mr. Earle.

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Holy Bat-movies! – Part 2

Posted by ErikSlader on February 3, 2015

Last time, in Part One: we covered Batman ’66, Batman ’89, and Batman Returns, now for our descent into Hell…

Batman Forever (1995)

Directed By: Joel Schumacher

Starring: Val Kilmer (Batman), Chris O’Donnell (Robin), Jim Carrey (Riddler), Tommy Lee Jones (Two-Face), Nicole Kidman (Dr. Chase Meridian), Michael Gough (Alfred)

Batmobile:

Plot: Batman and his new sidekick Robin must face the combined forces of Two-Face (former district attorney Harvey Dent, who blames Batman for the courtroom incident that scarred his face) and the Riddler (Edward Nygma, a former employee of Bruce Wayne seeking revenge for being justifiably fired), and their device that is going to steal all of the information from all of the brains in Gotham. Or some stupid crap.

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