Hello and welcome to a brand new episode of The Flickcast. A pop culture podcast about stuff nerds love. On this week’s show Joe is, unfortunately, away so Chris is joined (once again) by Rick Marshall of Digital Trends to talk about all sorts of amazing things.

Some of these amazing things include the recent HBOMax/Warner Bros announcement, some favorites from all the latest Marvel, Disney and Star Wars news and what they’re looking forward to in 2021. And yes, they also discuss how 2020 wasn’t all bad.

How do they explain “2020 wasn’t all bad”? Well, by highlighting some of the many great movies, tv shows and more that came out during this very difficult year. Hey it’s something, right? It wasn’t all bad, just mostly bad. 

It’s a big show with lots going on. Thanks for listening and Happy Holidays!

WARNING: This episode may contain discussions about COVID-19, mental health and quarantine. We understand not everyone is in a place to talk about or hear discussions surrounding these issues. Please do what’s best for you. Stay safe everyone.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, Instagram or, yes, even Facebook. Or shoot us an email. We don’t mind.

Photo: Harlan Jacobson for WBGO News

Opening and end music by Kevin MacLeod under Creative Commons License

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The MCU has a lot of mysteries in it. Some have been revealed and become major plot points for the whole universe, like the ultimate fate of Tony Stark’s parents. Others have been hinted at and probably won’t get full explanations. Two of these minor mysteries have become questions for the fan community and revolve around the non-powered Avengers, the Black Widow and Hawkeye. 

The first is “What happened in Budapest?” Stemming from a seemingly throwaway line, this question has made the Avengers community speculate as to whether this was a battle the two took part in during their S.H.I.E.L.D. days or if it was something more personal.

The other question is how the two met. In The Avengers, Black Widow recalls, “I got on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call.” And that was it. Needless to say, it leaves a lot to the imagination as to what could make a top agent like Hawkeye defy orders from the top brass.

We did it. We got a new episode of The Flickcast done and out to you, our loyal listeners. We know we should have had one last week and we didn’t. Sorry about that.

It probably won’t happen again. Probably. And Aliens mostly come out at night. Mostly.

Anyway, on this week’s episode, Chris and Joe are back and a bit less angry than last time. That’s a good thing because they’re talking about a whole slew of potentially anger-inducing subjects this week including the current status of Rosario Dawson’s career, all the various TV show pickups and cancellations, Idris Elba vs. Tom Hardy and a whole lot more. Yep. More.

Picks this week include Chris’ pick of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, which airs on HBO, and Joe’s pick of the new Samsung Galaxy S6. Yes, he uses and Android phone. So?

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship, or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook, Google+ or via email.

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After a move to a new day and time and some personal problems last week, the boys are finally back with a brand new episode this week! That’s right, it’s another new episode of The Flickcast on its new day: Wednesday!

And yes, as we said before, it’s still the same great show, just on a new day. So, let’s get to it.

This week Chris and Joe take on some new topics including the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer, the Marvel universe, the (potential) death of Nick Fury, a Black Widow movie, the return of Heroes and 24, what makes a movie star, some Oscar predictions and a whole lot more.

That’s right, the ever-present more. And, 11% more sincerity this week. Yes, we’re trying.

This week’s picks include some awesome stuff. You’ll just have to listen to find out as we’re too lazy to put them here. Besides, it would ruin the surprise.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship, or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook, Google+ or via email.

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There’s no doubt the Avengers are pretty cool. From comics to movies and back again these heroes take on the tough assignments and make things happen.

And this March, they’re back. Here’s more (including previews):

The Earth is in danger. And only the world’s most effective secret squad can save it. Too bad that’s NOT the Secret Avengers! Three missions kick off at the same time: one in the air, one on the ground, and one in…space?! And no one is ready for what comes next – except the attackers!

Now, Fury, Coulson, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Maria Hill, and even the villainous M.O.D.O.K. must work together if they hope to achieve the impossible. But first, they’ll have to survive!

Check out the previews after the break. Look for Secret Avengers #1 to hit stores on March 12.

With all the hoopla surrounding certain members of The Avengers such as Iron Man and Captain America, we can’t forget another member who also kicks quite a bit of ass. We’re talking, of course, about Natasha Romonov, aka Black Widow.

And this January, she’s back in comics form with a brand new series called, appropriately enough, Black Widow. Here’s all you need to know about it from Marvel’s official press release:

Though she now walks a righteous path, Natasha’s past is paved with bloody memories. The death and destruction from her past as a KGB assassin still haunts her – and she now seeks atonement for past sins. Atonement that will take her to the darkest corners of the Marvel Universe and beyond. And commit acts the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. would not approve of.

“Phil Noto and Nathan Edmondson have one those magical creative partnerships that brings out the best in both of them,” says series Editor Ellie Pyle. “Together they bring you a Natasha who is unsettlingly human in the midst of all the action and intrigue you’d expect.”

Check out some preview for the series, written by Nathan Edmonson with art by Phil Noto, after the break. Look for Black Widow #1 to hit store shelve s on January 8.

With E3 just around the corner, the news cycle doesn’t start a few days early as publishers and developers look to get their smaller bytes out just before the flood gates open. It starts a week out. And with that first wave comes a look at LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. In the horde of stories coming out in the E3 before the next generation of console launches, Traveller’s Tales and WB Games were smart to get us these screens early.

The latest shots from LEGO Marvel Super Heroes shows some characters we already knew were coming to the game like Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man and Thor in the staple of Marvel locales New York City and the newly announced Asgard. The crazy thing is Asgard and especially its rainbow bridge look pretty darn beautiful in LEGO. But with all the new visual glory coming soon from the PS4 and XBox One, it’s probably for the best we see these graphics now rather than after the Microsoft and Sony press conferences.

Back in January we reported on the breaking news that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes was coming. Yes, we know it was kind of a no brainer but it was great to see it was actually happening! Now we are proud to bring the first official trailer to the Flickcast faithful.

In the trailer below, check out the first official look at LEGO Spider-Man, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, Deadpool and Black Widow who will be amongst the “more than 100 memorable characters to choose from, each with their own unique powers and abilities, players are in for a brick-smashing adventure”. Those actual gameplay isn’t shown, one can assume it will probably be similar in style to that of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. The trailer also gives a pretty good indicator who one of the game’s big bads is going to be.

Sneakers are a big deal, a person’s shoes say a lot about them and quality sneakers are a bold statement. Up until now the sneaker world has pretty much been the realm of sports stars, with a couple tiny detours into general entertainment.

Now Reebok is looking for another brand of recognizable heroes to draw their foot apparel inspiration, Marvel Super Heroes. As opposed to the comic themes chucks we have seen in the past, these shoes draw inspiration from specific characters but don’t have specific comic imagery all over them. In fact, only the Captain America pair, with the giant A on the front, come across as immediately comic book based.

Eight total pairs have been announced thus far, with the shoes representing Captain America, Wolverine, Black Widow, Emma Frost, Deadpool, Sabertooth, Chamber, and the Red Skull. All of the shoes also seem to be in a range of styles, which will hopefully broaden the appeal of the sneakers and make the set more popular.

Aside from these eight, Marvel.com also alludes to a Spider-Man themed pair as well that should be announced sooner rather than later. The shoes will be released in waves, with the first sneakers based on Black Widow and Emma Frost available this July.

Take a look at a full gallery of the shoes after the jump.

I feel bad being so late to this movie—granted this is the opening day, but it seems that for the past two weeks, everyone in the world has seen it already. And so, for the past two weeks, everyone’s been raving about it and saying that it’s the greatest superhero movie ever made; it’s the best movie of the summer; it’s better than a big sex sandwich, and so on.

The premise, if it weren’t already evident from the stingers Marvel’s added to the very end of every one of their movies for the past five years, is that a group of superheroes—Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)–need to recover the Tesseract, a glowing blue cube that generates unlimited energy and also, somehow, opens the portal to the realm of Asgard.

No sooner does S.H.I.E.L.D., a shadowy government agency overseen by a committee whose purpose in the film is somewhat tenuous, discover this than the Tesseract’s stolen by Thor’s adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who also hypnotizes Hawkeye and one of the scientists from Thor, Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) into doing his nefarious shenanigans, namely, opening a bigger portal to Asgard and invading earth.

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! 

Yesterday in select cities nationwide, thousands of people were treated to a back-to-back marathon screening of all six Marvel Studios films. From Iron Man all the way to the midnight premiere of The Avengers, this epic, butt-busting extravaganza was sold as THE best way to celebrate the arrival of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

The roster of films was impressive, but the time commitment was daunting. For true Marvel movie fans was this celebration a good thing? Is the act of subjecting yourself to hours upon hours watching these films worthwhile? Does it diminish the quality or enhance the context when you watch them all back-to-back?

These were all questions I had to ask myself before settling in on my seventeen hour quest through the Marvel Movie-verse, and they were all questions that were answered quite emphatically by about the fifth hour.

OK, so we know it is coming, we know The Avengers looms just a little more than a week away. The early critical reception is very high, the buzz couldn’t be better and many of you already have your tickets in hand for the midnight shows.

That is a lot of anticipation, and we are certainly feeling it here at The Flickcast. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to the most is the score by Alan Silvestri, as the resident film music nerd here, his take on an Avengers theme tickles my fancy way more than most.

When a film of this magnitude is on the horizon, it is hard to keep things like it’s soundtrack under-wraps, and as such the entire score has already leaked online. I am happy to say it is quite great in what little I have allowed myself to listen to, but it only makes my jonesing for the movie that much more intense.

So to alleviate a little of that pressure, here is a video of the main theme by Mr. Silvestri, cut together as a music video featuring all of the as yet released Avengers footage. This video lets you experience the kick assery of the main theme in the context of actual Avengers footage.

Check it out after the jump.