Comic Zombie #18: Revisiting the MCU: Phase One (w/ Zack Derby!)

Issue 18: Revisiting the MCU: Phase One (w/ Zack Derby!)

“We have a Hulk.” – Tony Stark

To kick off Season 3, Chris and Erik are teaming up with Zack Derby the ‘Nick Fury of podcasting’ himself: radio host extraordinaire (from Podcasters Assemble, Effin Cultured, and The Neat Cast), to revisit the Marvel Cinematic Universe – starting with Phase One!

MCU Phase 1 Movies:

  • IRON MAN (2008)
  • THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)
  • IRON MAN 2 (2010)
  • THOR (2011)
  • CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)
  • THE AVENGERS (2012)

Be sure to listen to the last episode for our “Spider-man: No Way Home” Review And check out our blog at ComicZombie.net for more – including Erik’s recent article on “Into the Spider-verse”!

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

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“LOKI” Season Finale – Breakdown (Spoilers)

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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“LOKI” Episode Five – Recap

Check out my last recap here!

EPISODE FIVE: “JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY”

We start where we left off with Loki waking up in “The Void”, a realm at the end of time riddled with all the “pruned” variants and remnants of forgotten timelines. Loki is approached by “the Council of Lokis” – made up of 4 Loki variants: Classic Loki (an older variant from the future played by Richard E. Grant), Kid Loki, “Boastful Loki” (an African American variant with what looks like an alternate version of Mjolnir?), and last by not least, Gator Loki… who is just an alligator with Loki horns?!

Gator Loki living his best life
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“LOKI” Episode Four – Recap (Spoilers)

Check out my last recap here!

EPISODE FOUR: “THE NEXUS EVENT”

After a heart-wrenching flash back to Sylvie as a kid, in Asgard, being taken away by the TVA, we jump forward to Loki and Sylvie as they await the end of their worlds as the doomed planet Lamentis crumbles around them. She explains to her male counterpart that she escaped their custody as a child and had been on the run ever since, hiding in apocalyptic events, “That’s where I grew up, the end of a thousand worlds… and that’s where I’ll die.”

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“LOKI” Episode Three – Recap (Spoilers)

Check out my recap of Episode 2 here!

EPISODE THREE: “LAMENTIS”

The episode begins with the song “Demons” by Hayley Kiyoko, immediately setting the stage for a seemingly out of place scene at a margarita bar, between Hunter C-20 (the temporal agent who had been enchanted in the previous episode) and Lady Loki herself, “Sylvie” (played by Sophia Di Martino). It’s all an illusion of course, in C-20’s mind, as Sylvie as trying to pry information out of her regarding the time keepers.

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“LOKI” Episode Two – Recap (Spoiler Alert)

Check out my Episode 1 Review here!

EPISODE TWO: “THE VARIANT”

Episode 2 starts with a Ren Fair! I really like the way it kicks off, fading from the green Marvel logo to what at first glance looks like it could be somewhere in Medieval Europe, before we quickly find out that it’s Wisconsin in the 80’s. It’s those little moments that really play up the theme of things not quite being what they appear to be.

After another squad of minutemen are ambushed by the “other Loki”, Mobius brings Loki along to try and find a clue as to the variant’s motives.

It can’t be understated how great this cast is. Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson are one of the best buddy cop duos since Riggs and Murtaugh. Once again, we get a wide array of super random quirky moments, like Miss Minutes being a high tech holographic Alexa to Agent Mobius obsessing about jet skis.

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“LOKI” Episode One – Review

Marvel’s new “LOKI” series is a wild, off-the-rails, jaunt through time – once again starring Tom Hiddleston as the Asgardian Trickster God himself. Following this first episode and the success of “Wandavision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, I think it’s safe to say that the MCU is *still* going strong on Disney+!

LOKI 101

For those who somehow don’t already know, Loki is a supervillain in the pages of Marvel comics (first appearing in ‘Journey Into Mystery’ #85, 1962), loosely based on the Norse deity of the same name, he’s the adopted son of Odin, and brother to his greatest adversary, Thor – the God of Thunder. He was also the first villain to fight the Avengers in “The Avengers” #1 in 1963! In the comics, like in Norse Mythology, Loki has taken on a number of forms throughout the years, including a female persona. While Loki has an array of powers, including shape-shifting and conjuring illusions, his most cunning weapon is his mind and his innate ability to persuade and manipulate others for his own ends.

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