Tag Archives: Lex Luthor

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)”!⁠

Nearly Every SUPERMAN Ever… So Far!

Posted by ErikSlader on

Since his debut as the world’s first superhero in 1938’s Action Comics #1 – the Last Son of Krypton has had a number of incarnations, evolving through the decades as a reflection of the times he lived in, but one thing will never change – the Man of Tomorrow is here to stay! With James Gunn’s new “Superman” movie hitting theaters this summer (2025), we figured it would be a good time to do a deep dive into (nearly) every version of Superman… so far!

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Top 100 Comic Book Villains Master List

Posted by ErikSlader on

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.

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CZ Podcast – Issue #49: The SUPERMAN Movies! (1978-2013)

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Issue 49: The SUPERMAN Movies! (1978-2013)

“Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Zod!” – General Zod (Superman II)

Chris and Erik are joined once again by Justin Ache to talk some DC movies – this time we’re delving into the long history of not-so-great Superman films, before James Gunn’s long-awaited reboot…

Superman Movies Discussed:

  • Superman: The Movie (1978)
  • Superman II (1981)
  • Superman II: The Donner Cut (2006)
  • Superman III (1983)
  • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
  • Supergirl (1984)
  • Steel (1997)
  • Superman Returns (2006)
  • Man of Steel (2013)
  • Honorable Mention: “Superman and the Mole Men”?! (1951)

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

And be sure to check out Erik’s article on “Nearly Every SUPERMAN Ever… So Far!”

Top 100 Villains 5-1

Posted by comiczombie on

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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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Comic Zombie Podcast #32: The Future of the DCU?

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Issue 32: The Future of the DCU?

“Storytelling is always king, that’s all that matters to us.” – James Gunn 

In light of the recent news that James Gunn (director of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Suicide Squad”) and Peter Safran are officially “rebooting” the *entire* DC film franchise (following “The Flash” and “Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom”), we decided to break down what each of us would do if we were (somehow) put in charge of the DC Studios reboot! Strap in for two of the craziest, nerdiest, mega-fan pitch meetings of all time as Chris and Erik attempt to construct an entire inter-connected cinematic universe! 

Also On This Episode: 

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

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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 #25: The Death of Superman

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Issue 25: “The Death of Superman” (30th Anniversary!)

Chris goes solo once again to talk about one of the biggest DC comic book events of the 90’s: “The Death (and Return) of Superman” – just in time for the 30th Anniversary! 

For more random nerdy content, check out our blog at ComicZombie.net for more – including our Top 100 Heroes list and our Essential Reads: Superman! 

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)

Follow us on Social Media:

Instagram: @ComicZombiePodcast

Twitter: @ComicZombie2

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Essential Reads: SUPERMAN

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Here’s our Superman comic recommendations from Comic Zombie #23!

Chris’s Pick: ALL STAR SUPERMAN by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

Erik’s Pick: SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu

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Chris’ Top 15 DC Movies (So Far!)

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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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