Tag Archives: Fantastic Four

CZ#53 – “Superman” (2025) and “Fantastic Four: First Steps”! – Podcast

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Click here to listen to the new episode!

“That is where you’ve always been wrong about me, Lex! I am as human as anyone. I love, I-I get scared. I wake up every morning, and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices that I can. I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength. ” – Superman to Lex Luthor

That’s right, it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for (probably) Chris and Erik are finally back with their thoughts on James Gunn’s “Superman” (2025), and the MCU’s latest entry, “Fantastic Four: First Steps”!

Featuring cameo reviews by:

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

Also be sure to listen to Episodes ⁠⁠#40 – “All 4 Fantastic Four Movies?!” ⁠⁠and ⁠⁠#49 – “The Superman Movies (1978-2013)”!⁠

10 (More) Great Spider-Man Stories

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Spider-Man, obviously, is one of the most popular characters in comic books (or movies, or cartoons, or video games, or…) and has been for decades now. His popularity has meant for most of the 60+ years of his publishing history he has had more than one ongoing title running simultaneously. Not counting what if…? or Ultimate stories (those would need to be different lists), I wanted to pick out 10 tales of the webbed wall-crawling wonder that will show you why he, his villains, and his cast of supporting characters are second to none.

I should point out this is NOT a top 10 list, in that these are not ranked in any particular order, nor are they the 10 BEST Spider-Man stories, or my absolute favorite 10. These are just 10 cool stories that maybe slipped your radar or were out before you were reading Spider-Man and/or were born. I imagine I will revisit this topic, because it was hard to narrow it to just 10 for this article.

So, if you haven’t read these, do yourself a favor and check them out, and if you have read them, well… good.

Check out our first installment of great Spidey stories here, and check out some X-Men recommendations here and here!

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Top 100 Villains 5-1

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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!)

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Issue #40: All 4 “FANTASTIC FOUR” Movies?! – Podcast

Posted by ErikSlader on

Issue 40: All 4 “FANTASTIC FOUR” Movies?! – Podcast

“Flame On!” – Johnny Storm, the Human Torch

After dreading it for years, Chris and Erik are finally tackling their deep-seated trauma, and reviewing ALL 4 “Fantastic Four” movies!? (Spoilers: they’re all garbage, despite the comics being so good…) As well as some speculation on what the MCU may end up doing with the FF in Phase 5 or 6…

Movies Discussed:

  • Fantastic 4 (1994)
  • Fantastic Four (2005)
  • Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
  • …FANT4STIC ?! (2015)

Also on this episode:

  • ⁠Invincible – Season 2: Part 1 (Amazon Prime)
  • What If? – Season 2 (MCU, Disney Plus)
  • ECHO (MCU, Disney Plus)
  • Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple Plus)

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll and Erik Slader)

Check out our Essential Reads for the FF and more at our blog – ⁠⁠⁠⁠ComicZombie.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

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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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Comic Zombie Podcast #26: Marvel SDCC 2022 News! / DC Cancellations?!

Posted by ErikSlader on

Issue 26: Marvel SDCC 2022 News! / DC Cancellations?!

“It’s an incredibly bad look to cancel a Latina Batgirl movie.” – Kevin Smith 

Erik and Chris return to discuss the latest geek news – with ALL of Kevin Feige’s Marvel Phase 5 *and* 6 announcements from this year’s San Diego Comic Con 2022! Meanwhile, the new head of Warner Bros decided to cancel not only the (nearly completed) “Batgirl” movie, starring Leslie Grace (and Michael Keaton!), but several other DC projects from the CW and HBO Max (including Kevin Smith’s work on “Strange Adventures” an animated anthology which honestly sounded cool as hell) all in an apparent attempt to save $3 billion with a tax loophole, but the move has since apparently backfired causing them to lose $20 billion after pissing off the entire internet, because of course it did. So you know, the usual. 

Note: In this episode we accidentally referred to Ezra Miller as ‘he’ instead of ‘they’, but mean no disrespect the trans community, just an honest slip up. 

Also On This Episode:

  • Our belated reviews on “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” *and* “Thor: Love and Thunder”
  • “She-Hulk” Episode 1 – initial thoughts
  • Artist Spotlight: Tim Sale (RIP)
  • Essential Reads: Fantastic Four! 
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Essential Reads: FANTASTIC FOUR

Posted by ErikSlader on

On our latest podcast episode (Issue #26) we gave some recommendations for the FF!

Erik’s Pick: “FANTASTIC FOUR: 1234” by Grant Morrison and Jae Lee (Marvel Knights)

Chris’s Pick(s): “Fantastic Four: Unthinkable” by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, and Casey Jones *AND* “Fantastic Four: Authoritative Action” by Mark Waid, Howard Porter, and Mike Wieringo!

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Top 100 Villains- 100-91

Posted by comiczombie on
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!)

Continue reading →

A “Brief” Recap of the MCU Timeline (Part One: Avengers Assemble!)

Posted by ErikSlader on

Reblogged from ProbablyWork.com

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going strong for over a decade, and has already become the biggest, most-expansive franchise in movie history! First starting in 2008, with Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man”, starring Robert Downey Jr., whose story eventually culminated with 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” – the 22nd movie in the series. All of which was orchestrated behind the scenes by the one and only Kevin Feige!

The MCU continues with ‘the Multiverse Saga’ (including several new shows now streaming on Disney+). Most of these titles are intrinsically tied to the overarching narrative of the MCU as a whole, so where does everything fit in? If you’re not already a hardcore fan (like us), it can probably feel like A LOT to catch up on, so if you want to dive in and follow along in (mostly?) chronological order, the following is a *quick* guide to the MCU Timeline (so far), from Captain America: The First Avenger to Avengers: Secret Wars… probably!

Also, be sure to check out The Best X-Men Movie Watch Order and Every Spider-man Movie Explained for more!

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“LOKI” Season Finale – Breakdown (Spoilers)

Posted by ErikSlader on

Check out my Episode 5 breakdown here!

EPISODE SIX: “FOR ALL TIME. ALWAYS.”

As I said in my review of Episode One, “LOKI” has been a ‘wild, off-the-rails, jaunt through time’ – and with so many crazy twists and turns, it’s a rollercoaster that’s never once slowed down since then! Throughout the show we’ve followed a Loki variant (Tom Hiddleston), after the time-traveling events of “Avengers: Endgame”, go from being an Asgardian supervillain to an introspective Alice through the looking glass.

Through a series of random Douglas Adams inspired shenanigans with Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) of the TVA (Temporal Variance Authority), Loki encountered a female variant of himself in the form of Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) who he then joined on a quest to uncover the identities of the Time Keepers who turned out to be nothing more than robotic puppets! Together, the two Lokis eventually found themselves in a realm at the end of time known as the Void, where all manner of Lokis have been discarded amongst the remnants of countless erased timelines, including Kid Loki, President Loki, and Gator Loki. With the valiant sacrifice of an older Loki, Sylvie and Loki are able to combine their powers and enchant the hangry cloud monster known as Alioth, revealing a portal to… somewhere?

It’s all lead to this…

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