Stargirl shines bright in dark times

Last summer, I discovered DC's Stargirl, streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime (affiliate link) in the UK, and became enthralled by a superhero series that harkened back to director Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie.

I'd fallen out of love with DCTV due to becoming overwhelmed by all The CW spin-offs. However, Stargirl's production values mirrored those of HBO's Game of Thrones and His Dark Materials. The cinematography was worthy of the big screen.

Over the holiday season, I pestered, I mean enthusiastically encouraged Nick Smith to find out if it was just wishful thinking (on my part) during a global pandemic or did we have a superhero Scooby Gang for troubled times? Having cleaned himself up after Swamp Thing...

Guest post by Nick Smith

Judging by its first episode, Stargirl is a cute family show aimed at mid-teen girls and Disney channel devotees. For the second episode on, though, it gets dark and surprising and, at times, wonderful.

Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) becomes a newbie at Blue Valley High School when her mom Barbara (Amy Smart) and stepdad Pat (Luke Wilson) move to a small Nebraskan town. When she discovers a staff with cosmic powers in the basement, Pat admits to her that he used to be Starman’s sidekick Stripesy. Courtney is inspired to become Stargirl, a high-flying superhero who is aided by Pat, leading to some heart-warming father-daughter moments.

Unfortunately, the little town is a hotbed of villainy. Disguised as respectable citizens and sensible parents, the Injustice Society of America wants to make the country great again. Stargirl needs help to stop them, so she enlists the help of misfit school friends to rebuild the Justice League. Her parents are justifiably concerned, especially when she gets the stuffing knocked out of her by the daughter of one of the bad guys. To complicate matters, Barbara could be working for the ISA’s head psychopath too. Did I mention that Solomon Grundy’s locked up in a cell, ready to clobber the kids?

Stargirl feels like a Shazam-style movie, taking the 1940s style and all-American values of the original JSA and transplanting them into the modern day. In this alternate version of DC lore, the Justice Society was destroyed by its evil counterpart 10 years ago; anachronistic names like The Star-Spangled Kid fit with the ‘parents are quaint’ mentality of this show’s primary target audience.

Geoff Johns, who created Courtney and this show, co-developed The Flash and Titans and has been involved in the Arrowverse for years. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., which set up Courtney’s character, was the first DC comic he wrote for back in 1999, so he must be pleased as punch to see a televised version.

In the 22-year interim, TV and comics have popularized the trope of villainous parents (Heroes, Runaways). But there are enough twists in Stargirl to keep the series interesting. Johns packs in a multitude of characters and challenges, building an arc plot worthy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Two of Stargirl’s friends hit the books like Buffy’s Scooby Gang; Courtney has to navigate the pitfalls of high school friendships and keeping secrets from her mom. Pat is the Rupert Giles-type mentor, training the team, knowledgeable about the past. If not Giles, then Pat is like a DC Forrest Gump, goofy and long-suffering, playing gooseberry to the Seven Soldiers of Victory and chauffeur to the JSA. As Pat, Luke Wilson adds Hollywood charm and confidence to the production, which focuses on newcomers like the sprightly Brec Bassinger (Stargirl).

All of the cast are entertaining; standouts include Anjelika Washington as Beth, who revels in playing a nerd, and Cameron Gellman who makes his sulky James Dean-type character of Rick Tyler likeable. The themes explored - bullying, forgiveness, believing in yourself, relationships with siblings, broken families - all have consequences and have satisfying resolutions.

Stargirl plays like a 13-hour feel-good movie with lots of death and destruction and just enough hints dropped for a second season, scrambled up with Easter Eggs like movie posters for Prez and The Unknown Soldier.

With little references like those and a long-earned understanding of what makes entertaining television, Geoff Johns has taken Stargirl’s simple premise and created a love letter to the comics of his youth that works as an adventure for all ages.

Have you watched Stargirl and are you looking forward to the second season? Let me know in the comments below.

The Mandalorian star cast in The Last of Us

Pedro Pascal, who plays the titular The Mandalorian in the hit Disney+ Star Wars spin-off series, has been cast as Joel in HBO's live-action adaptation of The Last of Us.

Pascal celebrated the announcement on Twitter, sharing a quote from the game: "No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for."

Pascal will be joined by Game of Thrones co-star Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Ramsey most recently appeared in His Dark Materials.

Neil Druckmann, the writer-director of the Last of Us video games, also reacted to the casting news, writing: "We're absolutely thrilled to have Bella join the TLoU family.... Aaaaand there’s the other half. Stoked to have Pedro aboard our show!"

Are you excited for The Last of Us on HBO? Let me know in the comments below.

Gina Carano fired from The Mandalorian

Gina Carano has been fired by Lucasfilm in the wake of social media posts and will not be reprising the role of Cara Dune in the Golden Globe-nominated live-action Star Wars spin-off series, The Mandalorian.

“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm representative said in a Wednesday statement. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

The Alderaan survivor is a fan-favourite and there are calls for the character to be recast with Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) in Rangers of the New Republic.

Gina Carano will not be appearing in any future Star Wars projects for Disney.

WandaVision showrunner talks Family Ties

Major spoiler for Marvel Studios' WandaVision streaming exclusively on Disney+. If you haven't caught up with, or started watching, WandaVision and don't want to find out what's going on, please look away from the screen now.

At the end of the latest episode, following an argument with Vision (Paul Bettany), Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) answers the door to see her twin brother, Pietro!

However, this time Pietro's played by Evan Peters (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and not Aaron Taylor-Johnson who was killed in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

This not only plays to the introduction of the multiverse - setting the groundwork for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - but also the long-established sitcom trope of recasting characters. Series showrunner Jac Shaeffer explains:

“We loved the idea of [bringing him back],” Schaeffer told Marvel.com. “And then we were like, how in the world are we going to make this make logical sense? Like, how do we justify this? Because that's the thing, you can hatch a million great ideas, but to make them land, to make them be grounded, to make them feel organic to the larger story.”

Schaeffer continues:

“We thought like, how do we give him this entrance, and then enjoy that, and then make it crazy? And we had long had the idea of the trope of the brother, or the relative, or whoever comes to town and like, stirs things up with the family — that sitcom trope. Everybody was really excited. I think Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios president] wanted to make sure that there was a reason for it, that it made sense. And I hope that’s what we did.”

New episodes of WandaVision premiere every Friday exclusively on Disney+.

What do you think will happen next? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi begins filming soon

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi begins filming in Los Angeles this spring with director Deborah Chow (Lost in Space) at the helm.

The latest Disney+ live-action Star Wars spin-off sees Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) reprise their roles from George Lucas' prequel trilogy and utilises the Volume, an LED-based virtual set technology developed (by former Lucasfilm staffers) for The Mandalorian.

"It'll just be great to do it again. It's so funny, I did my last one in 2003 and it's such a long time ago and the idea of doing it again now is just more exciting than it was then, I think," McGregor said. "I'm thrilled to get the chance to play him again. I've always felt there was a story about between my ones and Alec Guinness' ones and that's what we're gonna do. It should be really interesting."

Following the cataclysmic events of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi went into hiding on Tatooine to watch over and protect Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

However, there's scope for interplanetary adventures and a second face-off with Darth Vader! In Return of the Jedi, Vader tells young Skywalker that Kenobi tried to turn him back to the light side of the Force.

Are you looking forward to the new live-action Star Wars spin-off series set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope? Let me know in the comments below.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Super Bowl TV Spot

An official trailer for Marvel Studios' The Falcon and the Winter Soldier dropped during the Super Bowl, which saw veteran quarterback Tom Brady win the coveted NFL trophy for a record-breaking seventh time.



The official synopsis for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier:

"After being handed the mantle of Captain America at the end of Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson teams up with Bucky Barnes in a worldwide adventure that puts their abilities to the test as they fight the anarchist group the Flag-Smashers."

The latest live-action spin-off series, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in the titular roles, was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and follows the conclusion of WandaVision this March on Disney+.

Are you looking forward to the dynamic duo's action-packed adventures? Let me know in the comments below.

A multiverse of madness in House of MCU

Spoilers ahead for the latest episode of Marvel Studios' WandaVision on Disney+!

On A Very Special Episode... Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) are back in time to the eighties in an homage to Family Ties.

The twins, Billy and Tommy, are rapidly growing up in the town of Westview as they deal with the sudden death of a family pet and are told they can't change things (ironically something their mother did by reanimating their father against his wishes).

Wanda proves why she's the strongest Avenger and could have beaten Thanos, single-handedly, if he hadn't called in an airstrike in Avengers: Endgame! Is anyone a match for the Scarlet Witch? Just don't suggest Captain Marvel to Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris)!

Vision gets to use a Commodore 64, an 8-bit computer that formed an integral part of my formative computing years. Then he breaks free of Wanda's mind control and challenges her in a scene that, once again, deftly showcases the acting abilities of both Bettany and Olsen. It's heartbreaking stuff, and I'm fully invested.

And then... BOOM!

The big cameo we were teased that changes everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Wanda's twin brother, Pietro AKA Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters (X-Men: Days of Future Past), seemingly turns up at the front door, literally, and the multiverse of madness begins with the first X-Men from the Fox film franchise to crossover to the MCU. This opens the cosmic floodgates.

Do you think a recast Pietro (originally played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the MCU) is really back, and what impact will the multiverse have on the Doctor Strange sequel, currently filming in London with director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) at the helm, and Spider-Man 3 rumoured to feature multiple incarnations of Peter Parker? Let me know in the comments below.

WandaVision cameo comparable to The Mandalorian

Like the Golden Globe-nominated live-action Star Wars spin-off, The Mandalorian, Marvel Studios' Disney+ series are fully interconnected within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in a way not possible for Marvel's Netflix spin-off series, which folded before the launch of Disney+ in 2019.

Actors Paul Bettany (Vision) and Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff) have both teased a major cameo in WandaVision comparable to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in The Mandalorian's second season finale.

Speculation ranges from Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) to Sir Ian McKellen (Magneto). Given WandaVision is inspired by House of M, a seminal comic book series written by Brian Michael Bendis, it's possible Pietro AKA Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) will return but all may not be as it appears.

New episodes of WandaVision premiere every Friday exclusively on Disney+. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in the titular roles, continues Phase 4 on Disney+ on 19th March.

Who do you think WandaVision's major cameo will be? Let me know in the comments below.

The Endgame in WandaVision

Following last week's exciting, but not entirely unexpected, twist, Marvel Studios has released a mid-season trailer for WandaVision on Disney+. Expect spoilers ahead for the decades-spanning sitcom homage.



Back in 2013, Netflix dropped the entire first season of House of Cards in one go and it inspired the first of many discussions with Andrew Lewin over the intervening years. Binge-viewing became part of our water-cooler pop culture lexicon.

However, there’s been pushback with some streaming services adopting a more traditional weekly format to build anticipation, social media discourse and lock-in subscription renewals in an increasingly saturated space.

WandaVision and Disney+ stablemate The Mandalorian have both been beneficiaries of this approach. But the former's courted controversy from casual fans who are taking the series at face value and impatiently bemoaning the lack of bombastic battles a la the big screen Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

They can't see the wood for the trees or, more accurately, white picket fences of an alternate reality Westview. Unlike the splintering Star Trek franchise, fans are treated with respect and rewarded for their emotional investment.

We Interrupt This Broadcast begins in the wake of the unsnap in Avengers: Endgame and delivers a sucker punch as folks discover they've been in limbo for 5 years and loved ones have subsequently passed away during the Thanos Blip.

We experience firsthand Monica Rambeau's (Teyonah Parris) return in a way that wasn't possible in Spider-Man: Far From Home and learn the tragic loss of a fan-favourite character from Captain Marvel.

Trauma and tragedy stalk the hospital corridors with no simple superhero fix. All very meta in the midst of a life-threatening global pandemic and our shared trauma in lockdown. And, on a deeply personal note, I'm reminded of the life-changing traumas of my head injury in childhood and losing mum to complications arising from a uniquely medical matter.

The image of Vision's (Paul Bettany) reanimated corpse was nightmare-inducing as Wanda Maximoff's (Elizabeth Olsen's) nostalgic sitcom facade momentarily falls away revealing a brutal, ghoulish, reality.

Wanda's experienced the death of a loved one before. Her twin brother, Pietro AKA Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), was killed in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Wanda's magical powers have grown exponentially since then.

There's a dark mystery at play as Wanda's mental health further deteriorates before our eyes with seemingly prodigious consequences for the future of the MCU. As Nick Smith wrote previously, Bettany is great but I argue this is Olsen's show. She deftly flips from fun to frightening; no longer overshadowed by her Avengers teammates.

A traumatised superhero, trapped in a dangerous nostalgic reverie (something many of us can relate to in lockdown as I rewatch classic series from Blake's 7 to Worzel Gummidge by way of Grange Hill on BritBox), making WandaVision a subversive pop culture technicolour touchstone that will be mentioned in the same breath as Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more.

Wanda's both protagonist and antagonist in her own story, but who will triumph? Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may hold the answer.

It's not all bleakness and the upcoming Halloween-themed episode inspired me to buy my first Funko Pops!, which look fantastic in-hand!

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New episodes of WandaVision premiere every Friday exclusively on Disney+.

Do you think Wanda is the 'big bad' in Phase 4 or is someone else pulling the strings? Let me know in the comments below.

Swamp State: 50 years of Swamp Thing

No stranger to filming in swamps himself, Nick Smith, our resident US-based stellar scribe, takes a break from solving the multiverse mystery of WandaVision on Disney+ and goes in search of an eco-friendly muck monster celebrating half a century.

Guest post by Nick Smith

DC’s latest live-action Swamp Thing series is intelligent and entertaining, with slick production values and first-class actors like Will Patton, Virginia Madsen and Kevin Durand setting the bar high. It brings the 50-year-old comic book character up to date with the downbeat, adult drama and high body count we’re used to in modern, post-Lost adventure shows. But it also has quaint elements like its boggy setting, which at times looks like an old-fashioned Hollywood set, and its environmental concerns straight out of a ‘70s eco-thriller.

Swampie has a long and lumpy history of adaptations. Wes Craven’s 1982 feature film starred Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) as Dr. Alec Holland, transformed in a lab fire into a smooth-featured Swamp Thing played by Dick Durock. Adrienne Barbeau was government scientist Alice Cable and Louis Jourdan was the dark-hearted Anton Arcane, who ultimately transformed into an unconvincingly furry monster.

While the saga went on to great heights in comic book form thanks to Len Wein, Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Stephen Bissette and other creative greats, on-screen he came back in a low-budget comedy. 1989’s The Return of Swamp Thing was followed by live-action and animated shows in the early ‘90s as well as a video game, riding a Tim Burton-spawned wave of superhero shows, which included The Flash and Batman: The Animated Series.

Since then, Mr. Thing has popped up in a couple of Justice League Dark animated features, making cameos in games, the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths and even in Teen Titans Go! to the Movies. So there’s obviously a fondness for the shambling mud pile and it’s not just because he’s green.

In issue 100 of Swamp Thing, the titular character searches for his daughter Tefe, who has been kidnapped by demons. To communicate with the demons, he requires a special water that will allow him to talk to them. He must also deal with a guardian of Eden, a paradise that lies unexpectedly in the continent of Antarctica.

The story, “Tales of Eden,” is indicative of the comic’s ecological and theological examinations. There are references to the underworld and its minions, the near impossible-to-reach Garden of Eden and Swamp Thing’s responsibilities as a father, even though Tefe is a disembodied ‘ghost.’

From its humble origins as an homage to muck monster horror comics courtesy of Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, Swamp Thing has become a much-lauded saga for adults. The hero started out as an intelligent, likeably scientist sharing conceptual roots with Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk. As Swamp Thing, he has hobnobbed with DC stalwarts like Superman and Batman but can spend a whole issue growing his head to enormous size so that he can puzzle out a problem, or borrowing a human’s body so that he can conceive a child with the love of his life, Abby Arcane.

Although the sequential series as a whole has necessary narrative tropes such as searching for lost family members and fighting evil villains like (Abby’s dad) Anton Arcane and the Floronic Man, the creative teams go beyond common comic book motifs to look at human progress and its effect on nature. Holland is imbued with the power to inhabit and control any kind of flora. As such, he has a unique, innate connection to plant life and the interconnected world of ‘The Green.’

The setup gives plenty of scope for stories exploring ecotheology – the correlation of religion and the environment. In the ‘80s comic book revamp of Swamp Thing, Holland is transformed into an elemental. He is a spiritual force of nature, as much a part of the fabric of the ecosphere as air or water and ultimately he becomes master of all elemental forces. That’s quite a load to put on a swamp monster’s shoulders. Consequently, Holland struggles with the ethics of his powerful position. Is he a steward or regulator of nature?

Comic books that cover such environmental and doctrinal ethics are rare. Swamp Thing is a deep, rich and sometimes pedagogical series that allows its carefully developed characters to make world-shaping decisions, some poor, some empowering. In the latest TV version of the book, Alec is just learning about the Green and its dark opposite – the Rot – so it’s left to other characters to make important decisions like, ‘should I dump harmful chemicals into the swamp?’

In a timely fashion, those chemicals cause a viral reaction among the local inhabitants of Marais, Louisiana. Abby, working for the CDC, is called in to investigate. With Alec Holland’s guidance, she makes a link between the viral symptoms and the chemicals. Holland’s boat is destroyed but he survives, his body mixing with the chemicals and the swamp to form… a thing.

The show follows Abby, played by the waif-like Crystal Reed, and Holland (Andy Bean is the man, Derek Mears is the monster) as they come to terms with Swamp Thing’s new life and the swamp’s elemental forces. The first few episodes are convoluted, with a ghost child, another young girl psychically attuned to Swampie, a mystic (Madame Xanadu) with unspecified loyalties and a guy full of roaches who disappears after one episode. The weirdness is blamed on the Rot, balanced by The Green, which can also cause spooky illusions.

As if that isn’t enough, we also meet the Phantom Stranger, the Blue Devil (embodied by Sharknado’s Ian Ziering), Anton Arcane in a brief nightmare scene and Swamp Thing nemesis Jason Woodrue, played with twisted glee by The Strain’s Kevin Durand.

The swamp’s Most Watchable vote must go to Will Patton (No Way Out, Armageddon) as the greedy, ruthless Avery Sunderland and Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) as the equally ruthless Sheriff Lucilia Cable, who will do anything to protect her son Matt (Henderson Wade).

Most of the supporting characters are deliciously shady, so it’s the human relationships that really make this show enjoyable. Beyond the fun of seeing some of the bad guys get their just desserts, the Force-like, ecotheological connection between Swamp Thing and The Green lends an epic feel to the series.

All the main storylines are resolved in the space of 10 hours. If the ending feels rushed, that’s because the series was cut from 13 episodes and a subsequent season made unaffordable by a change in tax rebates in North Carolina, where Swamp Thing was filmed.

The new adaptation of DC’s beloved horror comic was described as a ‘hit show’ when it was screened on The CW, with one million viewers tuning in live and mouths smudged out to hide the swear words, leading to hope that there was life in the old bog monster yet. Despite this, the show is ‘unlikely to return,’ according to a Deadline interview with CW Chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz.

The ‘90s version of Swamp Thing ran for 72 episodes, concluding with an episode ironically titled “It’s a Wrap.” While Swampie lacks the public awareness he had back then, when there were toys on store shelves, a sublime monthly comic and movies to watch on videotape, his environmentally-conscious story is as relevant as ever and I have a creeping feeling that he'll be back on small screens before long. In the meantime, I’m glad to say that the makers of the latest series ended their version on a high note - by acknowledging the comic book creators who spawned the ideas and images that entertain us today.

What are your favourite memories of Swamp Thing? Let me know in the comments below.