M.O.D.O.K was just the beginning! This November, Hulu is continuing to crank out the epic Marvel animated shows, with its latest ambitious adaptation of Marvel’s Hit-Monkey!
Continue reading “Make Way for Hulu’s ‘Hit-Monkey’”
Spider-Man has had some truly iconic moments in his comic book history. From Peter Parker’s initial debut as the wall-crawling webhead in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962, to the introduction of the vast Spider-Verse in 2014. Arguably one of his most controversial moments was during the “Clone Saga.”
Continue reading “New ‘Amazing Spider-Man Beyond’ Trailer Introduces a Familiar Comic Face”
Keith, Britney, and Dominic are back on Hard NOC Life to break down the new trailer for The Matrix Resurrections and tumble down the rabbit hole of Marvel movie speculation. They also give their thoughts on the latest episode of What If and the merits of Marvel Zombies.
Disney+ and Marvel Studios have just released an official teaser trailer and poster for Hawkeye. The new series stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop. The cast also includes Vera Farmiga, Florence Pugh, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, Brian d’Arcy James, and Alaqua Cox.
Continue reading “Watch the New Trailer for Marvel Studios’ ‘Hawkeye’”
Recently and on their own initiative, my 11-year old child became interested in Greek mythology. As a single co-parent father continually desperate for reasons to relate to and bond with my child, this delighted me, because by coincidence I became infatuated with Greek myths when I was young. As a broke Vietnamese refugee nerd kid, I’d go to the Franklin library and read up about the messed up Gods, the flawed heroes, the fantastic creatures.
Continue reading “Why Asian Americans Feel Compelled to Defend ‘Shang-Chi’”
Now that it’s breaking box office records, Keith, Britney, and Dominic are joined by HK cinema and martial arts movie expert Raymond Chow to break down Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on a new episode of Hard NOC Life.
As Bruce Lee might say, we must start with dispelling what is not useful and replace it with what is useful. I will not rehash any arguments comparing Shang-Chi to Black Panther which are based in speculation, impulse-tweeted, or otherwise made in bad faith. The phrase “Asian American Black Panther” has been tossed around (including by me), in various contexts, since Black Panther came out in 2018.
Continue reading “‘Shang-Chi’ Is Not NOT Like ‘Black Panther’”
Keith and Dominic tap into their Chinese American backgrounds to provide YouTube’s definitive explainer on how to pronounce “Shang-Chi,” a name that the entire world will want to know now that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the biggest movie in the world!
Continue reading “Two Chinese Americans Explain How to Pronounce ‘Shang-Chi’”
Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opens in theaters tonight! Be safe, be curious!
Continue reading “‘Shang-Chi’ and the Ten Asian American Things (To Be Aware Of)”
Marvel’s Shang-Chi premieres this week. As the first Asian-led Marvel film, there’s a lot of pressure to get this character and story right, given the comic book’s problematic history being rooted in stereotypical Asian tropes. Director Destin Daniel Cretton and screenwriter Dave Callaham did a lot of research on Shang-Chi’s comic book origins and knew what they wanted to do with him.
Continue reading “‘Shang-Chi’ Screenwriter Dave Callaham on Keeping it Authentically Asian American”
On a new episode of Hard NOC Life, Keith, Britney, and Dominic revisit the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, worry about the discourse surrounding Shang-Chi, how the Free Guy creative team should bring Deadpool to the MCU, and recap the latest episode of Disney+’s What If. They also look back at the one-year anniversary of Chadwick Boseman’s passing.
In just one week, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is set to premiere in theaters everywhere. As the first Asian-led Marvel film, with a predominantly Asian cast, Shang-Chi is about to get its very own #GoldOpen.
Continue reading “‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ is Getting a #GoldOpen”
War for Wakanda — Marvel’s Avengers free expansion — dropped last week, and T’Challa’s exploits defending his homeland from the likes of A.I.M. and Ulysses Klaue revitalize the game in considerable ways. When Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics announced their All-Access weekend ahead of the expansion on July 31, their player count spiked to over 10,000 gamers through the weekend, well above the game’s average of around 800 since its release last September.
Continue reading “‘War for Wakanda’ is Proof Black Panther Needs His Own Game Already”
In the Marvel comics, Spider-Man’s final-boss-level foe is the Sinister Six. Not the Fatal Five, not the Frightful Four, not the Seven Samurai, although those are also all things. In the Internet-breaking first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, there are distinct teases and reveals for at least five villains: Electro, Sandman, Lizard, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus. Who will be the sixth adversary in the much-anticipated Spider-Man film, to be released this December from Marvel and Sony Pictures?
Continue reading “Who Is the Sinister Sixth Villain in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home?’”
The new trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home broke both the 24-hour global record for the most watched and talked about trailer ever! The film stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, and Marisa Tomei. It will premiere exclusively in movie theaters on December 17.
Continue reading “The ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Trailer Breaks Global Records”
Ferdosa joins us to discuss the Netflix documentary Lift Like a Girl! How well did this documentary do at showcasing the weightlifting journey of Asmaa and her team, and the depiction of everyday Egyptians? What could it have done better? We also discuss the exciting news that Black Palestinian writer and actor Yassir Lester will be the head writer of the upcoming MCU series Armor Wars, and speculate on what that might mean for the MCU’s penchant for military propaganda. Enjoy listening!
Continue reading “The Middle Geeks Episode 29: ‘Lift Like a Girl’ and an MCU Assessment”
Spider-Man: No Way Home stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, and Marisa Tomei. Based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the film will be directed by Jon Watts as well as written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal serve as producers.
Continue reading “Here’s All the Latest Details on ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’”
After much anticipation, the time has finally come… Sony just dropped the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer and it is INSANE! Spider-Man: Far from Home ended on a major cliffhanger, so it’s no surprise that fans have been eagerly waiting on the edge of their seats for any news regarding the third film. This first trailer definitely seems to prove that the wait will be 100% worth it (as expected).
Continue reading “Watch the Official Trailer for ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’”
Whether it’s an overall sense of fatigue from mainstream audiences who aren’t into comic book films, or perhaps a general sense of pandemic malaise from folks unsatisfied with the state of entertainment these days, it seems like the momentum and good will the MCU has cultivated the past 12 years has turned to mixed sentiment for most of this year.
Continue reading “NOC Review: ‘Shang-Chi’ is Spectacular”
Like nearly all viewers tuning in to this week’s episode of Disney’s animated reimagining What If…?, I was excited, anxious, and sad about seeing and hearing Chadwick Boseman on screen in his last project. The second episode, directed by Bryan Andrews and written by Matthew Chauncey, was a bittersweet exploration of a possible reality where T’Challa takes the role of Star-Lord instead of its original figure Peter Quill. While heartwarming and hilarious, the episode felt like a rush through a journey that could have potentially been explored further but was unfortunately cut short.
Continue reading “Black Panther, Star-Lord, and the Great Chadwick Boseman”
During the global press conference for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings this morning, director Destin Daniel Cretton revealed that Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Katy (Awkwafina) say they are strictly platonic.
Continue reading “Shang-Chi and Katy are Just Strictly Friends”
Marvel Studios dropped the latest trailer for Eternals. And I didn’t post it immediately because I spent the last 40 minutes watching it over and over and over. In fact, in the past 40 minutes the trailer has amassed 332K views on YouTube alone (probably all from me). But the fact of the matter is, THIS LOOKS SO FREAKING INCREDIBLE!
Continue reading “The New ‘Eternals’ Trailer Emerges”
The recent release of Marvel’s Avengers War for Wakanda DLC has players rushing back to the RPG en masse and a lot of the outfits that released for T’Challa take inspiration from his many iterations in the comic book world. My favorite comes by way of writer David Liss and artist Francesco Francavilla’s gritty Black Panther run, The Man Without Fear, where T’Challa dons the cowl as Hell’s Kitchen’s sole protector in place of Matt Murdock.
Continue reading “‘Black Panther: The Man Without Fear’ Writer David Liss Talks Comics and More”