Fanboys Anonymous

Welcome to my breakdown of season 2 of Marvel's The Punisher on Netflix! Per usual, this post will be documenting my running commentary of thoughts as I watch every episode. I'll be adding notes almost as a stream of consciousness and when everything has concluded, I'll be wrapping everything up with a full season recap and review to see just how good or bad the overall package was and the hits and misses in a Reviewpoint podcast video.

I invite you to follow along and to leave your thoughts in the comments below just the same!

Episode 1 - "Roadhouse Blues"

• Full disclosure, I normally start these as soon as they premiere, but I didn't for this. I waited 2 days. Why? Well, it's not because I'm not interested or because I didn't like the first season. It's because all of these shows are getting cancelled and I know this isn't going to have anything to do with anything, it'll be its own contained story that will probably drag on too long like most of these seasons, and it's hard to watch these. So nope, no binging start to finish. No rush to watch. I hope this ends up being as good as Daredevil's third season and I breeze through it and love it. I don't have a ton of faith in that being the case for all 13 episodes.
• Ew, you're not helping my case by starting off with country music.
• Instantly don't like this woman for being abrasive right out of the gate. I don't want to go through some 7 episode journey of her warming up. Give me characters I like and I'm interested in, not people I have to tolerate and learn how to deal with. Bleh. I hope I'm wrong. It's only a minute in, so I'm not giving them credit.
• Johnny needs a bullet. Pig.
• Ringo's awesome. He'd better not die.
• Hey, at least Frank, I mean Pete, is trying to move on. Good for him. Beth is so dead because of that.
• Well damn, now I want pancakes, too. Good guy Pete/Frank.
• At least Rex isn't a stereotypical total pain in the ass kid like normal.
• Can we just keep Beth around instead of this other girl? I like Beth.
• Stop it with the country...eeuuuggghhh....
• We're dragging this shit out so much. I didn't need four or five stupid country songs. C'moooon get to the next thing. Tighter editing, everyone. These Marvel Netflix shows suffer SO much from pacing issues. Jeez.
• Did Frank just give that woman a uranage? Cool. Now do some Sweet Chin Music.
• Ringo with the chokeslam!
• Oh man, don't be stabbing Ringo like that.
• Of course both Ringo and Beth need to die and the annoying girl is going to live.
• Imagine what it would be like if we had a Scourge of the Underworld Bar with No Name thing.
• You killed Ringo, so at least let Beth live and have Frank choose to leave for her safety.

Episode 2 - "Fight or Flight"

• Yeah I really don't like this girl. Stop being such a constant stick in the mud.
• Just kill Rachel and save yourself the trouble hahaha
• Opening credits, which actually is going to be when I call it quits for right now, since I made the mistake of starting this at 6am.
• I still feel like Madani should be partnered up with Martin Soap. For that matter, The Russian should make an appearance.
• Good job, Beth, going with the name Pete instead of Frank. Smart move.
• Well, never mind.
• I'm always curious why people don't just say something similar instead of giving up the right information. She went with Pete, which was good, but she said Castiglione. She could have said Pete Costanza, you know?
• I'd at least eat the dinner if I were Dinah. Dinner Madani.
• Practically everything that comes out of Rachel's mouth makes me dislike her and pointing a gun at Frank now is even worse cause there's no reason for her to think that he's anything but a positive after all this. He's surly, yeah, but he saved her life and hasn't done anything to harm her since.
• Why doesn't Frank just pop a bullet in the woman he just knocked out? He already killed everyone else and he's now fought her twice, and he knows she'll wake up and come after them, so why not just...wait, okay, better strategy for sure. Wait, that's the downside is when she wakes up and shoots you.
• I hope this cop doesn't buy Rachel's bullshit.
• Don't be a bitch, Madani.

Episode 3 - "Trouble the Water"

• These insect noises or whatever actually made me think something was going wrong with my sound system. Not a fan.
• I like Deputy Ogden. Don't kill that guy. Give him his $5 back.
• Brett!
• Nice try, asking for Frank's sandwich.
• At least Ogden is likely to survive if he leaves. Sucks for the sheriff and the rest. Oh damn, they're gonna shoot him aren't they? Fuck. I liked Ogden.
• "Sweet boneless Jesus" hahaha
• That can of coke is still not hit?
• Hardin and Ogden are class.
• Yaaaay Hardin and Ogden are going to survive! And he got his five bucks back. Even better.
• Good episode.

Episode 4 - "Scar Tissue"

• Anyone else thinking of Red Hot Chili Peppers with this title?
• "What do you want, freak?" / "I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle."
• You can't be asking questions, Rachel, if you aren't giving any information, either. So...shut up.
• We're now 4 episodes in and there's no Micro yet. I hope he at least pops up somewhere along the line. Also, battle van.
• I'm still not feeling all that incredibly bad for Rachel. 
• Oh hey, Curt.
• Between Bullseye and Billy, I think we can draw some parallels. Don't let kids play baseball, and don't name them something close to baseball (basebill, baseballseye, etc)
• Yeah, Arthur needs to die.
• WHIH news. Nice.

Episode 5 - "One-Eyed Jacks"

• Turk!!!!! Give him the Mind Stone.
• Tell me, Dinah, do you still sleep with a gun under your pillow?
• Everyone has such nice places to live.
• I don't know if Lombardi's is a real place, but I want it.
• OMG enough with the fucking bugs.
• I totally don't trust Dumont. I haven't from the start.

Episode 6 - "Nakazat"

• Well, now you've got at least one gun.
• Kill this guy, Frank.
• Haha nice job burning the place. At least that's something.
• Who is this dude at the restaurant? That actor looks SO familiar and I can't place him...
• You mean to tell me she had the perfect clothes that were reversing and all? Give me a break.
• "Call me old fashioned but I don't work with Russians" hahahaha
• "Thanks guys. I mean it, thanks." Yeah, that really helped you out, didn't it? Now, you're going to Texas with nothing, including your support group.
• So much for not getting shot in the head.
• I just noticed that Dumont was on Lethal Weapon and the guy who played her dad was a cop on that show and is a cop on this show. Interesting.
• Oh just fuck Billy already, why don't you? You clearly want to.
• Curtis needs to play Father to these two.

Episode 7 - "One Bad Day"

• You know, for getting shot in the head, Madani doesn't even have anything wrong with her hair. No scarring preventing that area from growing or whatever. Just saying.
• Krista's a biter.
• Billy hits it and quits it.
• Remember how I keep complaining about the pacing issues of these shows? We've just abandoned Amy and that whole subplot while they get distracted with this Billy story and that just proves how they shouldn't have been dragging that out. It should have been six episodes of the Amy story and then six of the Billy thing that was only tangentially set up in the meantime.
• Don't let all these people die just because you're proud, Lilian.
• Do not feed the pigeons.

Episode 8 - "My Brother's Keeper"

• You've got to admit that Brett at least is on the right side, as much as he's adversarial for this particular set of goals.
• Wasting time. This episode is largely just pointless bullshit discussions that aren't accomplishing anything. People are having arguments just for the sake of eating up an episode's worth of time.
• Why doesn't Curtis just tell Delia something like "Sorry, a bunch of the guys I help out with are in some really bad stuff right now and I'm trying to help them out. I'll let you know when I'm back." or something? It isn't that hard.
• Giving a lot of consideration to just skipping this whole episode.
• Instead, I've just been only 1/3 paying attention. Not even half.
• I do want some spaghetti, though.

Episode 9 - "Flustercluck"

• "Have you forgotten about Pilgrim? Yeah, we did, too. We just didn't have enough material for a full season and hoped we had enough other stuff with Billy to keep you distracted while we stalled."
• Can we go somewhere? Accomplish something? We just had a waste of an episode and now I'm 17 minutes into this one and NOTHING has happened. I'm beyond bored.
• Zzzzzzzzzzz
• I do like the touch of having Frank kill the guy so Amy didn't officially have a murder on her conscience.
• Oh shit, what's his face, from Person of Interest. I loved that guy. He would have been a perfect Detective Bullock in a Batman film. Still could be.
• What a waste of an episode, again. The next one better not be, but I'm taking a break regardless. I don't feel the need to keep binging right now.

Episode 10 - "The Dark Hearts of Men"

• Still dawdling and wasting time...
• Curtis is such a good guy.
• I don't remember there being this many people in Russo's crew.
• Did Frank actually shoot those girls? I must have missed that.

Episode 11 - "The Abyss"

• Can Amy do something other than sit back?
• Karen!
• That reminds me, no Microchip still, and no Martin Soap.
• At least they didn't wait until episode 13 to expose that Frank didn't kill those girls.
• I was really thinking Pilgrim was going to kill Schultz there.
• A foot fetish? Yeah, no wonder people think you're weird, dude.
• So wait, all we accomplished in this episode was Frank STILL being in custody? Come on man, stop wasting my fucking time. This is the fourth episode in a row that didn't need to be a thing. They could have combined all the worthwhile elements of these four episodes into one and a half.

Episode 12 - "Collision Course"

• Finding it very difficult to care about this second half of this season with all this waste. I'm bored and I just want it to end. If there was an option to watch this at 1.5x speed, I would.
• Hey, that florist just had the best interaction anyone has had over two seasons with this whole crew. He's going home that night feeling happy instead of, you know, with a bullet to the brain and a knife in the chin or something.
• Now, Dinah's going to be the next Jigsaw as her face has a cut on it. Ha.
• Weird choice of music.

Episode 13 - "The Whirlwind"

• Yeah, Madani isn't dead. I'm not buying that. They wouldn't kill her like that.
• Eventually, you two are going to put so many holes in this wall that you'll be able to just walk through it and---okay, yup.
• Fuck that whole bullet extraction thing. I hate when I get a hangnail.
• That simple, eh? RIP Jigsaw.
• Well, he's totally killing himself.
• Yup.
• Frank definitely needs to go back to see Beth.
• What a lackluster ending.

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, host Tony Mango breaks down the hits and misses of Glass by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

M. Night Shyamalan brings together the narratives of two of his standout originals—2000's Unbreakable, from Touchstone, and 2016's Split, from Universal—in one explosive, all-new comic-book thriller: Glass. From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast. Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb’s superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.

Make sure to subscribe/follow on whatever platform you're listening, leave your comments on the videos or this post, share this with your friends and geek out with us!

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

The Green Lantern Intergalactic Police Patrol

Um...I don't think GLIPP is a better thing than GLC with the Green Lantern Corps. If you were renaming anything with that franchise, I'd think it would be better to rename the individual soldiers within the GLC so we're not calling the characters "Green Lantern" and having to distinguish by their real names, as to me, "Green Lantern: Hal Jordan" is still missing an element than what we do with the military. "Sergeant Hal Jordan", for instance, could be referred to as just Sergeant, but in a world of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc, it's still confusing that when you tell people "Green Lantern" you have to then do a whole discussion on "which one" you're talking about. Anyway...GLIPP sounds dumb :)

Black Widow to be Rated R?

Rumor has it, they're at least considering this, but c'mon. This isn't going to be rated R. It's just a slow news day/week.

M:I 7 and M:I 8 in Summer 2021 and Summer 2022
Tom Cruise tweeted this out. Christopher McQuarrie is returning and they'll be filmed back-to-back. I'm so down. These movies just keep getting better and this team knows what they're doing.

Possible Villains for Disney+ Shows

Kid Loki and Kid Thor against Ulik the troll and Karnilla. I'm unfamiliar with Karnilla, but I always thought it was strange Ulik wasn't in a movie yet.

Agatha Harkness (who I'm unfamiliar with) as the lead villain for a Vision/Scarlet Witch story about trying to give Vision a soul. I'm intrigued.

Clint Barton training Kate Bishop to be the new Hawkeye with Trickshot as the villain. That makes perfect sense.

Bucky and Falcon enlisted by S.H.I.E.L.D. to take down US Agent. SUPER into that idea, but I still really hope both Cap and Stark don't die in Endgame :(

Lady Sif against The Enchantress makes a lot of sense, and Beta Ray Bill being involved sounds cool too.

War Machine dealing with theft of Stark tech. Maybe that can be Spymaster?

Spider-Man: Far From Home Teaser Trailer

Happy and May flirting? Whaaaat?

Ugh I really hate how they're sticking with this MJ thing.

Nick f'n Fury. The man.

Mysterio looks cool.

Side note: Why does every trailer nowadays have a 1-5 second pre-trailer teaser thing advertising that it's a trailer? Ridiculous.

Batman: TAS Character Kyodai Ken Joins the DC Comics Universe

I'm all for when they use characters from preexisting material instead of making up a brand new character that fulfills the same exact purpose. Kyodai Ken wasn't someone I found particularly memorable, but hey, he's out there, so you might as well use him, right? Very cool.

Reign of the Supermen is the latest in the line of animated DC direct-to-video films. Is it worth the watch or it is something that should be skipped?

Reign of the Supermen
Directed by Sam Liu
Written by James Krieg and Tim Sheridan

STARRING:
Jerry O'Connell (Clark Kent / Superman / Cyborg Superman), Cameron Monaghan (Superboy), Rosario Dawson (Wonder Woman), Nathan Fillion (Hal Jordan / Green Lantern), Rebecca Romijn (Lois Lane), Rainn Wilson (Lex Luthor), Jason O'Mara (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Patrick Fabian (Hank Henshaw), Cress Williams (John Henry Irons / Steel), Jennifer Hale (Martha Kent), Shemar Moore (Cyborg), Brenda Strong (Lillian Luthor), Charles Halford (The Eradicator / Bibbo Bibbowski), and Tony Todd (Darkseid)

Here are some specific thoughts that ran through my mind during the course of the film as a stream of consciousness:

• Off to a good start with this intro.
• Obligatory reference to how I like this animation style.
• Wait, Sullivan? Is that Chloe?
• "I know what to ask these guys." Cut to: "Are you the real Superman, like, for real?"
• Nice ice cream reference.
• Lois at the cocktail party is a knockout.
• I still don't like Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor.
• "I have the shot" hahahaha
• I don't remember Darkseid being any part of the Death of Superman story
• Dafuq Eric. Leaving Becky out to dry like that.
• WORLDS COLLIDING! A SEINFELD REFERENCE! LMAO

The movie's a good watch, but it's not as good as I was hoping it would be, nor as good as its predecessor. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in this series, yet not as enthusiastically as I would some of the others. The action set piece at the end felt like it just went on and on, and I would have rather had some more character moments instead. The Darkseid stuff felt shoehorned and bland.

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

Young Justice: Outsiders

The first 3 episodes were released. This is a show that I have tons of problems with, but I love so much. My problems are largely that I feel like things are always a bit chaotic in that they skip around the timeline too haphazardly and want to fast-forward storylines without the proper setup. I almost feel like this should be season 5 or 6, just like I feel season 2 skipped a full season or two that I wanted to see them cover. But hey, I find the characters interesting and I like the animation style and how adult it is AND how they dig deep into the pantheon of characters.

So, keeping that in mind. We've got Ice, Steel, Black Lightning, Katana, Batwoman (not a fan, CW pandering a bit and this character is pointless outside of the LGBT pandering), Hardware (who I know nothing about, admittedly), Arrowette, Halo (largely an unknown to me), Thirteen (who I know nothing about, either), Spoiler (awesome), Troia....I love it.

The design of Dick Grayson is weird in the sense that when his mouth is covered up, with that hairstyle, he looks exactly like Superboy. Why didn't they notice that? Also, I'm simply not a fan of the face mask compared to what Nightwing should look like. But I always love when Grayson is treated well because he's such an underrated character and seeing him kick ass is great. Also, is that Oracle on the com?

Why is Roy Harper now going by "Will" and why haven't we addressed Wally yet?

Justice League vs. The Fatal Five Casting Announcements

Kevin Conroy as Batman is always A+, as well as Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman and George Newbern as Superman.

Most of the other ones are kind of unknown to me at face value, like Peter Jessop (Thorak), Matthew Yang King (The Persuader), Sumalee Montano (Emerald Empress), Philip Anthony Rodriguez (Mano), Daniela Bobadilla (Miss Martian). Curious about Kevin Michael Richardson as Mr. Terrific, as I don't picture him having that deep of a voice. Noel Fisher as Brainiac 5, Tara Strong as Saturn Girl, Elyes Gable as Starboy, neat. Interested in hearing Diana Guerrero as Jessica Cruz and having that character appear in general, as for some reason, I've always thought if I could retcon things, I'd like Green Lantern to be a woman and Cruz fits the bill, obviously, even though I don't personally know much about the character's ins and outs.

In any fashion, I'm naturally seeing this and will be reviewing it, so stay tuned.

Batman: The Long Halloween Coming Soon

A two-part film based on this story? Awesome! Especially when it comes to Troy Baker most likely returning as Joker, as he's the next best underneath Mark Hamill in my mind.

Star Trek 4 has been Shelved?

Deadline is saying the fourth film has been put on hold, which would make sense, as there are a handful of problems with trying to get it off the ground. What do they do with Chekov? How do they figure out all the scheduling of all those big stars, including apparently Chris Hemsworth if they want to do some story of bringing him back into the fold? What about the focus on the TV shows? It just seems like they might need to call it quits.

Superman: Red Son Animated Film Coming Soon

Supposedly (and not surprisingly) this is one of the movies DC Animation plans on making. I'm down. I never read the story, but I know it's a wildly popular one that people tout as being great, so you don't need to sell me past that pitch.

Lady Sif Series Coming to Disney+

Good! She should get her own limited series. The whole bunch of them should have. There should be a Lady Sif and The Warriors 3 series and the other three shouldn't have died, especially so poorly. At least they didn't just kill off Sif in some off-screen fashion.

Avengers: Endgame Screening Early for Terminally Ill Fan

Someone with a whole slew of health problems, who may not make it until April (or even be in the right health to see the film) is going to get to see Avengers: Endgame early. This is the type of good stuff I love to see. Obviously, it would be better if the guy wasn't sick to begin with, but in the worst of situations like that, it's great to see people willing to put a smile on his face while they still can.

The 76th annual Golden Globe Awards are scheduled for this evening, Sunday, January 6, 2019 at the Beverly Hilton on NBC, hosted by Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg. This post will be updated with the full list of winners from all the categories. Tell us your thoughts on the results in the comments below!

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film
Alex Borstein in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Susie Myerson
Patricia Clarkson in Sharp Objects as Adora Crellin
Penélope Cruz in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as Donatella Versace
Thandie Newton in Westworld as Maeve Millay
Yvonne Strahovski in The Handmaid's Tale as Serena Joy Waterford

WINNER = Patricia Clarkson in Sharp Objects as Adora Crellin

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film
Alan Arkin in The Kominsky Method as Norman Newlander
Kieran Culkin in Succession as Roman Roy
Édgar Ramírez in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as Gianni Versace
Ben Whishaw in A Very English Scandal as Norman Josiffe
Henry Winkler in Barry as Gene Cousineau

WINNER = Ben Whishaw in A Very English Scandal as Norman Josiffe

Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film
Amy Adams in Sharp Objects as Camille Preaker
Patricia Arquette in Escape at Dannemora as Tilly Mitchell
Connie Britton in Dirty John as Debra Newell
Laura Dern in The Tale as Jennifer Fox
Regina King in Seven Seconds as Latrice Butler

WINNER = Patricia Arquette in Escape at Dannemora as Tilly Mitchell

Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film
Antonio Banderas in Genius: Picasso as Pablo Picasso
Daniel Bruhl in The Alienist as Dr. Laszlo Kreizler
Darren Criss in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as Andrew Cunanan
Benedict Cumberbatch in Patrick Melrose as Patrick Melrose
Hugh Grant in A Very English Scandal as Jeremy Thorpe

WINNER = Darren Criss in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as Andrew Cunanan

Best Miniseries or Television Film
The Alienist
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Escape at Dannemora
Sharp Objects
A Very English Scandal

WINNER = The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
Kristen Bell in The Good Place as Eleanor Shellstrop
Candice Bergen in Murphy Brown as Murphy Brown
Alison Brie in GLOW as Ruth "Zoya the Destroya" Wilder
Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Miriam "Midge" Maisel
Debra Messing in Will & Grace as Grace Adler

WINNER = Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Miriam "Midge" Maisel

Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
Sacha Baron Cohen in Who Is America? as various characters
Jim Carrey in Kidding as Jeff Piccirillo
Michael Douglas in The Kominsky Method as Sandy Kominsky
Donald Glover in Atlanta as Earnest "Earn" Marks / Teddy Perkins
Bill Hader in Barry as Barry Berkman / Barry Block

WINNER = Michael Douglas in The Kominsky Method as Sandy Kominsky

Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series (Drama)
Caitriona Balfe in Outlander as Claire Fraser
Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale as June Osborne / Offred
Sandra Oh in Killing Eve as Eve Polastri
Julia Roberts in Homecoming as Heidi Bergman
Keri Russel in The Americans as Elizabeth Jennings

WINNER = Sandra Oh in Killing Eve as Eve Polastri

Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Series (Drama)
Jason Bateman in Ozark as Martin "Marty" Byrde
Stephen James in Homecoming as Walter Cruz
Richard Madden in Bodyguard as Sergeant David Budd
Billy Porter in Pose as Pray Tell
Matthew Rhys in The Americans as Philip Jennings

WINNER = Richard Madden in Bodyguard as Sergeant David Budd

Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
Barry
The Good Place
Kidding
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

WINNER = The Kominsky Method

Best Television Series (Drama)
The Americans
Bodyguard
Homecoming
Killing Eve
Pose

WINNER = The Americans


Best Original Score
Marco Beltrami for A Quiet Place
Alexandre Desplat for Isle of Dogs
Ludwig Göransson for Black Panther
Justin Hurwitz for First Man
Marc Shaiman for Mary Poppins Returns

WINNER = Justin Hurwitz for First Man

Best Original Song
"All the Stars" from Black Panther
"Girl in the Movies" from Dumplin'
"Requiem for a Private War" from A Private War
"Revelation" from Boy Erased
"Shallow" from A Star Is Born

WINNER = "Shallow" from A Star Is Born

Best Supporting Performance by Actress in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams in Vice as Lynne Cheney
Claire Foy in First Man as Janet Shearon Armstrong
Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk as Sharon Rivers
Emma Stone in The Favourite as Abigail Hill
Rachel Weisz in The Favourite as Sarah Churchill

WINNER = Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk as Sharon Rivers

Best Supporting Performance By an Actor in a Motion Picture
Mahershala Ali in Green Book as Don Shirley
Timothée Chalamet in Beautiful Boy as Nic Sheff
Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman as Flip Zimmerman
Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Jack Hock
Sam Rockwell in Vice as George W. Bush

WINNER = Mahershala Ali in Green Book as Don Shirley

Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns as Mary Poppins
Olivia Colman in The Favourite as Queen Anne
Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade as Kayla Day
Charlize Theron in Tully as Marlo Moreau
Constance Wu in Crazy Rich Asians as Rachel Chu

WINNER = Olivia Colman in The Favourite as Queen Anne

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Christian Bale in Vice as Dick Cheney
Lin-Manuel Miranda in Mary Poppins Returns as Jack
Viggo Mortensen in Green Book as Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga
Robert Redford in The Old Man & the Gun as Forrest Tucker
John C. Reilly in Stan & Ollie as Oliver Hardy

WINNER = Christian Bale in Vice as Dick Cheney

Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Glenn Close in The Wife as Joan Castleman
Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born as Ally Maine
Nicole Kidman in Destroyer as Erin Bell
Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Lee Israel
Rosamund Pike in A Private War as Marie Colvin

WINNER = Glenn Close in The Wife as Joan Castleman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born as Jackson Maine
Willem Dafoe in At Eternity's Gate as Vincent van Gogh
Lucas Hedges in Boy Erased as Jared Eamons
Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury
John David Washington in BlacKkKlansman as Ron Stallworth

WINNER = Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury

Best Motion Picture (Foreign Language)
Capernaum
Girl
Never Look Away
Roma
Shoplifters

WINNER = Roma

Best Motion Picture (Animated)
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

WINNER = Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Director - Motion Picture
Bradley Cooper for A Star Is Born
Alfonso Cuarón for Roma
Peter Farrelly for Green Book
Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay for Vice

WINNER = Alfonso Cuarón for Roma

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Alfonso Cuarón for Roma
Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, and Nick Vallelonga for Green Book
Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara for The Favourite
Barry Jenkins for If Beale Street Could Talk
Adam McKay for Vice

WINNER = Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, and Nick Vallelonga for Green Book

Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Crazy Rich Asians
The Favourite
Green Book
Mary Poppins Returns
Vice

WINNER = Green Book

Best Motion Picture (Drama)
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

WINNER = Bohemian Rhapsody

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

A Quiet Place 2 Ideas

Supposedly, the story will follow a different group of people and focus on the same situation from another perspective. I'm cool with that. We don't need to necessarily follow these particular characters we've already gotten to know, as they were kind of placeholder people to begin with.

Bird Box

I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. It felt like A Quiet Place to me (funny enough, second story here) but not quite as good. If you haven't seen it yet and you think it's interesting looking, I'd recommend checking it out, for sure.

The Punisher Season 2 Trailer

Eh...this felt like something that the creator thought was super deep and cool, but it didn't do much for me.

Carmen Sandiego Trailer

This is an interesting direction to take for the character to make her a hero, but still a thief. I kind of dig it.

PGA Best Picture Awards Nominations

Black Panther - Awesome. Loved it. I'd really love to see it win.
BlacKkKlansman - Haven't seen it yet.
Bohemian Rhapsody - Good movie. Thumbs up.
Crazy Rich Asians - Haven't seen it and I have no interest in watching it.
The Favourite - I don't even think I've heard of this. If I have, I forgot about it entirely.
Green Book - Didn't strike me as a movie I'd love, but I haven't seen it.
A Quiet Place - I liked it quite a bit. Very cool it's nominated.
Roma - I still don't even know what this is about.
A Star is Born - Yugh. Stop. This just has this stench of bait all over it and I hate that it's working.
Vice - Haven't seen it yet.

Welcome to another edition of 6 Flicks Picks, wherein I list all of the upcoming films that are scheduled to be released in the United States for the month which is about to begin and break down which ones I'll be watching in theaters, which ones I'll wait to rent at home, and which ones I'll be skipping out on entirely. After going through the list, I'll choose which six films stand out to me as the ones I want to see the most, even if there are more or less than six that interest me.

Note: The list below is based primarily off the expanded nationwide USA release dates on IMDB as well as some other random outlets if possible, so some information may be different. If I am missing some of the limited releases or the dates conflict in some fashion, please let me know in the comments below and any adjustments and corrections will be made!

Without further ado, another new month means another new set of films, so what's coming soon to theaters in January 2019?

Eli

Synopsis: A boy receiving treatment for his auto-immune disorder discovers that the house he's living isn't as safe as he thought.

Will I watch? = No

Escape Room

Synopsis: Six strangers find themselves in circumstances beyond their control, and must use their wits to survive.

Will I watch? = No

Great Great Great

Synopsis: A young couple's decision to get engaged threatens to break them apart.

Will I watch? = No


The Upside

Synopsis: A comedic look at the relationship between a wealthy man with quadriplegia and an unemployed man with a criminal record who's hired to help him.

Will I watch? = No

A Dog's Way Home

Synopsis: A dog travels 400 miles in search of her owner.

Will I watch? = No

Perfect Strangers

Synopsis: Seven friends gather for dinner and decide to play a game in which all incoming messages and calls will be on display for the entire group, leading to a series of revelations that gradually unravels their 'normal' lives.

Will I watch? = No

Replicas

Synopsis: A scientist becomes obsessed with bringing back his family members who died in a traffic accident.

Will I watch? = No

The Untold Story

Synopsis: Edward Forester's career and personal life have hit rock bottom-but not his spirit. At 64, the handsome bachelor moves in to a tiny apartment and must start over again.

Will I watch? = No


Glass

Synopsis: Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities.

Will I watch? = Yes

The Heiresses

Synopsis: Chela and Chiquita are both descended from wealthy families in Asunción and have been together for over 30 years. But recently, their financial situation has worsened and they begin selling off their inherited possessions. But when their debts lead to Chiquita being imprisoned on fraud charges, Chela is forced to face a new reality. Driving for the first time in years, she begins to provide a local taxi service to a group of elderly wealthy ladies. As Chela settles into her new life, she encounters the much younger Angy, forging a fresh and invigorating new connection. Chela finally begins to break out of her shell and engage with the world, embarking on her own personal, intimate revolution.

Will I watch? = No

Arctic Justice

Synopsis: Swifty the Arctic fox works in the mail room of the Arctic Blast Delivery Service but dreams of one day becoming a Top Dog (the Arctic's star husky couriers). To prove himself worthy of the Top Dog role, Swifty secretly commandeers one of the sleds and delivers a package to a mysterious location. He stumbles upon a secret fortress where he comes face to face with Otto Von Walrus, a blubbery evil genius who walks around on mechanical legs and commands a loyal army of oddly polite puffin henchmen. Swifty soon discovers Von Walrus' plan to melt the polar ice caps and flood the world in order to reign supreme. Now, Swifty has to enlist the help of his friends: PB, a concerned polar bear, Lemmy, a scatterbrained albatross, Bertha and Leopold, two conspiracy theorist otters and Jade, a worldly fox. This ragtag group of Arctic misfits has to band together to stop Von Walrus' sinister plans and save the day.

Will I watch? = No


Serenity

Synopsis: The mysterious past of a fishing boat captain comes back to haunt him, when his ex-wife tracks him down with a desperate plea for help, ensnaring his life in a new reality that may not be all that it seems.

Will I watch? = No

The Kid Who Would Be King

Synopsis: A band of kids embark on an epic quest to thwart a medieval menace.

Will I watch? = No

The Invisibles

Synopsis: Four young Jews survive the Third Reich in the middle of Berlin by living so recklessly that they become "invisible."

Will I watch? = No


Which films make the cut?

#6 and #5. (holdovers from December) — Can I cheat on my own thing and choose these two as two movies from December that I didn't get to see yet in Ralph Breaks the Internet and Vice? If not, I don't know, give it to Escape Room and Eli for all I care.

4. The Upside — Maybe there are some good jokes in it or a poignant moment or two.

3. Replicas — I have no idea.

2. Serenity — I know better than to get sucked in by a trailer promising mystery with a hot naked blonde Anne Hathaway, but this is a weak month.

1. Glass — This was almost on my 6 Flicks Picks for the entire year, just narrowly missing out at the #7 ranking. Yeah, ONE off. Of course this is my top pick and the only one that I'm actually interested in seeing this month.

Welcome to a special edition of 6 Flicks Picks to jump-start the year 2019!

Naturally, this breakdown won't be listing the releases of every single movie that will be coming out in the year—partially because that's too daunting of a task and partially because even the studios don't know all of those yet—but it will still follow the same format as far as the picks go.

This will be much harder, as there are hundreds of films that will be coming out, but it still boils down to the same concept: if I had to pick only six movies that I could watch, which ones would they be?

Without further ado, let's take a look at what makes my cut for 2019!

What is so difficult about this type of thing is that I have to go by the general breakdown of the big releases, as there can definitely be movies that pop up that I'm completely unaware of that are smaller in scale. A major summer blockbuster is already in promotion now, but what about the little indie flick?

Those end up being ignored in this generic year scope, but on the monthly basis, they'll get much more attention, so keep that in mind.

This year, I had a list of over 30 movies that I was interested in right out of the gate, to varying degrees. Of course, some of those are definite theater experiences, while some might not even be a film I watch at all, even at home, as I haven't seen trailers for everything (case in point, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). I know I'm going to see Fighting With My Family, even though it looks awful, cause I'll cover it for Smark Out Moment, and with AMC A-List, I might just stumble on something random.

Normally, I do a "What Didn't Make the List" breakdown, but this year, I think I'm going to take things one step further and do a tier-ranking of the 24 things that didn't make the list and then the final cut of the top 6 in order.

Bottom Tier Honorable Mentions:

30. Alita: Battle Angel OR Charlie's Angels — This entirely depends on what Charlie's Angels turns out to look like. I don't have much interest in either of these movies, but they're at least on the bottom of my list for the year, which is something. This will be one of those things where I'm sure another film that isn't on my radar would definitely overtake this spot, but I just don't know about the smaller movies right now.

29. The Addams Family — I liked the two films as a kid. This animation looks weird as hell, and I don't like that, but I might be checking this out.

28. Frozen 2 — I'll have to watch it for the Oscars, as I'm sure it'll be nominated for Best Animated Film, and the first one wasn't bad (just overrated).

27. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World — The first two were decent. Same scenario of Best Animated Film preparation.

26. Son of Shaft — Why? I don't know. It's Samuel L. Jackson. I saw his Shaft film even though I have no ties to the series, as it's not from my generation, but hey, maybe this will be cool.

25. Hellboy — I saw the previous two films, and even though this isn't a continuation of that, it's still an offshoot of the same idea. Granted, I wasn't a fan of the comic series, so this doesn't have any strong ties to me, but it's a superhero film and I tend to see most of those.

Low Tier Honorable Mentions:

24. Men in Black International — I guess I have to watch MIB 2 and 3 first, right?

23. Jumanji 3 — Is this even happening? If so, I'm down. I thought Welcome to the Jungle was decently entertaining.

22. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — Quentin Tarantino made two of my favorite movies, Reservoir dogs and Pulp Fiction. I haven't enjoyed any of his other films as much as those two, but I still have a devotion to him to want to see his movies.

21. Brightburn — What is this weird horror superhero film's deal? I'm intrigued. Evil Superman. Neat.

20. Sonic the Hedgehog — Oooooh boy...this could be awful...and it probably will be. If they have Sonic 2's Robotnik theme, though, I'm gonna be pumped in the theater.

19. The New Mutants — I put this on my honorable mentions for last year, and they pushed the film back. I have even less interest in it now. I just don't think this is going to work as a horror film idea with FOX in control and the muddled franchise. I think it'll be one of those weird experiments that fails to accomplish anything. But it's an X-Men film, so of course I'll see it.

Middle Tier Honorable Mentions:

18. Pokemon: Detective Pikachu — How the hell did such a stupid concept churn out a trailer that made me actually interested in this, instead of laughing about it? It tapped into the nostalgic part of my childhood that loved Pokemon and screw it, I'll see this.

17. It: Chapter Two — The first part was decent and I had seen the older version, too, so why not?

16. Dark Phoenix — Yes, this is a few spots about The New Mutants, but that's only because I'll still get to see Cyclops and Magneto and Professor Xavier. I still think it'll be a wreck of a film.

15. Joker — Ugh. I feel like this whole idea of random experimentation and no unified game plan for DC films is not a good idea and this Joker film will be beyond stupid...but it's a Joker film and he's my favorite villain in anything, so...

14. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part — Admittedly, I think the first Lego Movie is overrated, but I still enjoyed it enough to want to see this. Just not enough for it to make the top 6 or anything.

13. Godzilla: King of the Monsters — Visually, this movie looks beautiful. Whether or not there's an actual story around it that is interesting enough to justify wasting time until the monsters pop up is a different story. But it's Godzilla. I've been a fan of that character since I was a kid, and even though I was never the most invested in the world, I always liked something about that franchise, so I'm down.

Top Tier Honorable Mentions:

12. Terminator 6 — Terminator 2 is my favorite movie of all time. Ever. It pretty much always has been, for my entire life. But Terminator 3, Salvation, and Genisys were so problematic that I can't under any good conscience believe this is going to be anything but crap, and that makes me sad. Remember that when it comes to me bringing up Star Wars later on this list.

11. Zombieland Too — I'm not the biggest zombie fan in the world. In fact, I think the genre is kind of lame and they only work as villains in the context of destructible fodder, in a sense, and I have no interest in gore porn. However, Zombieland was a pleasant surprise that I actually enjoyed quite a bit. When they announced a sequel, I was already sold, even though I don't know much about the film itself and haven't seen a trailer yet.

10. Kingsman: The Great Game — I absolutely LOVE the first Kingsman movie, and the second one was really disappointing on several levels. This one, being a prequel, could right some of those wrongs or at least be a separate good film, and I hope they get back to the magic of what the first one was all about.

9. Star Wars: Episode IX — The Force Awakens shook my devotion to Star Wars, but The Last Jedi legitimately hurt my love for the Star Wars franchise so much that I unsubscribed from several YouTube channels and podcasts that I would check out weekly, I haven't bothered to watch TLJ or Solo for a second time, I have no interest in any of the spinoff things like The Mandalorian, and so on. This film absolutely has to undo what The Last Jedi did for my fandom. This should have been my #1 or my #2, and it only barely makes the top 10 just because Kingsman was disappointing and Terminator was killed long before Star Wars.

8. Aladdin — It's funny, the three animated films that are my favorite of all time are Aladdin, Toy Story and The Lion King, and they're all getting movies this year. They haven't released a trailer for this yet, which is why it is lower on the list even though it's probably my favorite animated film (maybe Toy Story beats it out...tough call, but Lion King is #3). I really hope this kicks ass.

7. Glass — When I saw Split, I just assumed it would be an interesting movie, but the twist at the end got me so excited, because I think Unbreakable was the best of M. Night's films and had untapped potential. This movie looks interesting as hell and I'm so down for Mr. Glass running the show.

What Made the Final Cut:

6. Shazam! — You'll never hear me say that Captain Marvel is one of my favorite superheroes, and DC is so damn flawed that I can't trust that this will be great. Still, there's something about how this comes off as a little different that I'm vibing with, and I like that.

5. Toy Story 4 — Remember how I said this was one of my three favorite animated films? Well, apparently, it's a tear-jerker, and the idea of Forky might sound stupid to some, but I thought that that was a pretty interesting direction to take the series. You sold me. The previous three are great and this probably will be, too.

4. Captain Marvel — You'll never hear me say that Captain Marvel is one of my favorite superheroes. I feel like we just went through this. Oh, wait, we did, but that's not Captain Marvel anymore, he's Shazam. This one is Captain Marvel, and he's....wait, it's not Captain Mar-Vell, it's Ms. Marvel. Goddamn this would be confusing to someone who wasn't in on the joke that I'm making right now. Anyway, this trailer didn't wow me enough to be super amped for it, but it falls under the MCU branch and I can't possibly at this point expect anything but good stuff coming from that team. This will likely be great.

3. Spider-Man: Far From Home — Again, it's the MCU, and it's Spider-Man, and yay.

2. The Lion King — Remember how I said this was one of my three favorite animated films? Well, couple that with how the trailer looked AMAAAAAAZING and you've got one of the movies I'm most excited to see, for sure.

1. Avengers: Endgame — Come on. You knew this was going to be #1 before you even clicked on this. OF COURSE this is the top ranked movie of the year. It's the culmination of everything we've seen for 10 years in a franchise that just keeps getting better!!

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

IG-88 in The Mandalorian

Neat. I still think the show and the franchise in general is in rough shape, but I'm really curious how the hell they can make IG-88 be a character that looks and talks and all. I thought if anything, Bossk would be their go-to returnee.

"Us" Trailer

This looks interesting. I'm not a big horror fan, but I liked Get Out, and I'm willing to give this a shot.

Jigsaw Isn't Jigsaw in Punisher Season 2

So why is Billy just going to be Billy again? Why are these shows and sometimes even movies so against the idea of giving people their nicknames? Would it be that hard for people to refer to him as "the jigsaw-faced killer" or something and let that spark people calling him Jigsaw even twice in the season?

Thanos is/isn't a Sociopath

The Netflix description of Avengers: Infinity War had Thanos as a sociopath and people complained, because their lives are so good that being triggered about this is something worth being upset about. Jeez, people. Yes, Thanos may not be a sociopath in the movie if you look at it from his perspective and so on and so forth, but there are more important things going on.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

We went through and watched as many variations of this as possible, because it was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend checking out when you can, and I want to talk more about it, but I don't want to spoil anything.

What's up Dacetacular Nation? Chris "The Dace Man" Dace back again, to bring you a list of games to look forward next year!

With all the excellent releases that happened in 2018, 2019 has a tall order to topple. With titles like God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, 2018 certainly took us gamers to a very low checking balance.

2019 doesn't look to be disappointing either, with a couple last minute announcements and games that have been long over due, yours truly wants to give you a run down of the games we're most excited for here at Fanboys Anonymous. Keep in mind this list is in no significant order and we do realize some are missing, I apologize in advance,

Marvel's Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

Here is a game that came in under the radar and has been long over due. Landing exclusively on the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2019, little is known about the third installment in the beloved franchise. All the fans were exposed to was a trailer at the 2018 Game Awards setting up a show down with the The Black Order and possibly Thanos. Many other villains and Heroes were shown in some quick action shots but the overall plot is only being speculated from it's title and the minute and a half trailer. I for one am looking forward to the nostalgia wave and the team up with some friends both virtually and in real life.

Kingdom Hearts III

Talk about long overdue. This game has been announced for years even releasing a ton of teaser footage early on however delay after delay has pushed the game back to its final release date of January 2019. Out the gate in 2019 we are getting a good one with long overdue third installment of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. With new Monster's Inc., Toy Story and Big Hero 6 levels being added to the game, players are salivating to continue the story that integrates Final Fantasy and Disney! I may actually finish this one when it comes out on January 25th 2019.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

Now here is the game you didn't know you needed, but once you heard it was coming, it is absolutely all you need in 2019. Crash Team Racing the game, that in my humble opinion, kicked Mario Karts ass. The game had a story mode with multiple challenges, competitive mode and dozens of characters. It was way before it's time in the came of cartoon racers and was sorely missed after Crash to a hiatus from the gaming world. I am super stoked for this release in June and am only disappointed it will not be out in time for the Dacetacular Gaming For a Cause VI. Cheap plug...Bang,Bang. The race begins June 21st 2019!

Overkill's The Walking Dead

Zombie Apocalypses are all the rage these days and this isn't the only Zombie game coming out on this list and there are way more in 2019 than I listed also the game had a Windows release in November. However this one has me on the edge of my seat because it's set in The Walking Dead Universe and takes place in Washington D.C. which is not to far from Alexandria. So I have hopes that there will be some show cross over in the game but at the same time, I am super realistic understanding the game probably won't. This game doesn't look too different from the other titles coming out in 2019 with the undead, but the fact it's The Walking Dead, I'm in, you can pick up this game for consoles February 6th 2019.

Mortal Kombat 11

Twenty-six years after the original Mortal Kombat we are getting an eleventh installment. Now Mortal Kombat X was an amazing game both with story telling and the crazy amount of characters in it's DLC. That in itself is a huge hurdle to jump to make Mortal Kombat 11 bigger and better. One of the rumors surrounding the game is the inclusion of Spawn and interesting addition and some what natural fit for the franchise. I will naturally get the game as I have been since it's PS3 day, but I am super curious as to how they top the last release. You can join the fight starting April 23rd 2019 on all consoles.

Resident Evil 2 HD Remake

I have to admit I am a bigger fan of Resident Evil 3 solely based on a demo disc I got on the original PlayStation, but the HD release of Resident Evil 2 did get me excited upon the announcement. The trailers that have been posted leading up to the game's release have shown the amazing detail and care that has gone into bringing this twenty year old game from basic level graphics to the world of PS4 HD. Resident Evil 2 HD Remake is set to hit consoles on January 25th 2019.

Doom Eternal

The sequel to the 2016 PS4 Hit DOOM! is set for a 2019 release as of right now, and we could not be more excited. One of the few games I have played start to finish the sequels is set to pick right up from where we left off. So far all we have to go on as fans is the little bit of gameplay that was release in August at the annual Quakecon event. I eagerly await the official date and hope that you do in fact come out in 2019.

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your gaming controllers—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!

Hey, hey, hey Dacetacular Nation! The Dace Man is back after a very long hiatus from the nerdiest of realms Fanboys Anonymous. Now I know I haven't been here in a long while so I hope you still have the desire to read what The Dace Man thinks...even if it is madness.

One thing yours truly has been mulling over, is where does the Marvel Cinematic Universe go after 2019's blockbuster Avengers: EndGame. Now I know most people are spending time speculating what is going to actually happen in the fourth Avengers installment. Aside from the eventual write-off of the original Avengers who have become some what of a financial burden to Disney or those who wish to not portray awesome characters anymore, the movie has a sense of predictability to it coming up.

Black Panther, Spider-Man (which will also include Nick Fury and Maria Hill) and Doctor Strange all have announced sequels, so that's five characters guaranteed to return from the snap of doom. Not to mention prior to the James Gunn debacle at Disney, the Guardians were teed up for a 2020 release which means they will return as well in some form assuming Dave Bautista still wants the Disney money without his friend directing.

So with the exception of a few of the OGs the Marvel Cinematic Universe won't take too large of a hit, especially since the two suspected to sacrifice it all have had SEVERAL exits from the comic book source material. Some one will enter phase four with the Captain America mantel and I'm fairly certain some one will be running around in a suit of iron.

I have several theories on those two topics that I will explore in another article at some point. However as of right now there doesn't seem to be a direction that would call for an Avengers 5, once the squad handles Thanos that underlying threat that has been there for three phases is gone. So lets take a look at what could be in store for Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

A New Captain In Town


In the history of the Avengers there have been several instances of either Steve Rogers or Tony Stark being the leader of the Avengers. The Marvel Cinematic Universe handled it beautifully, essentially making their version of the Avengers lead by co-captains. Don't believe me? Captain America: Civil War is the prime example of the avengers having co-captains since it split the team right down the middle. Now assuming both Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark make the their exit from the main story lines in Phase 4, either by death or some other kind of creative writing, the leadership role of the Avengers will be open.

Enter Carol Danvers. We get our first look of Captain Marvel in early 2019, but without a doubt she's got the credentials to lead the team. Speculation among fans point to her being a key factor to the end of the mad titan Thanos, she has been noted as the most powerful the MCU has had to offer when it comes to heroes, plus she's a captain. Not to mention with the recent women's empowerment movement playing out in reality it would be huge for a female leading some of the highest grossing films in history. I also have read the comic runs of Carol Danvers and I definitely have a bias towards her running the Avengers in the future, plus Brie Larson for the win!

Acquisitions Assemble

Luckily Disney has made some moves in the world of reality that could setup three major villains that would not have been a possibility a mere three years ago.

First up would be a character they currently have secured based on a deal made with Sony Pictures. Norman Osborne has been a thorn in not only Spiderman's side but the Avengers too. Playing off the current theme that was set into play during Captain America: Civil War, Norman can easily play off the fears of, "If The Avengers were not a team, these threats would not plague Earth." mentality. Secretary Ross has already played the card with the Sokovia Accords so it's not to far fetched to believe this story line. From the seeds of this Norman can form the Dark Avengers and play out the comic run, that saw the good guys and bad guys swapping positions in the public opinion.

Another villain who will potentially be available in 2019, assuming the FOX and Disney merger is finalized, is Magneto. Now the one weak point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to be the introduction and inclusion of the Inhumans. Clearly all the big wigs in Marvel yearned to have the mutants find their way home, however due to 20th Century Fox owning their rights they settled for the little-known Inhumans. That experiment fell flat on its face. First a movie was announced to include them into the big screen line up, but the small screen took a crack at them first and seemingly foiled the plans of the big screen team. Then they decided to put them in their own series on TV and that was the death of the Inhumans.


Now with the Mutants back on the home team we now have a chance for the Avengers to square up with the baddest mutant out there Magneto. What would be the most fun is exploring Scarlet Witch and her connection with Magneto, assuming they change the word "Miracle" to "Mutant" for her. Then maybe we can get a House of M scenario going and instead of "No More Mutants" we can wipe out the Inhumans...Sorry Blackbolt.

Lastly is the nemesis of the soon to be acquire Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom. Victor Von Doom has stirred the pot on several occasions that caught the attention of The Avengers. Considering the Fantastic Four has been the weakest performer over at FOX it would most likely be the easiest to integrate into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Also with titles like Guardians of The Galaxy and Doctor Strange it's not crazy idea to have the Fantastic Four pop up... or another one of their greatest foes...Galactus.

The possibility are endless, with the new acquisitions, but none of these villains really have an multi-movie plot line appeal in my opinion. With the three previously mentioned they could all play a role that calls forth a large threat requiring The Avengers to pull out the big guns once more.

Kang the Conqueror Cometh

Thanos has been the big baddie in the background for almost 6 years. The army supplied to Loki in the original Avengers movie was by the mad titan and the stones he so desired played a part in the majority of the individual film's plots. One of the other big threats to the Avengers was Ultron, however he was dismissed after a single film and even had dialogue at the end that implied he wouldn't be coming back despite his ever nagging presence in the comics.

With two of the biggest threats in The Avengers history already down and out by the closing credits of Avengers: EndGame, who could that leave?


Welcome the conqueror. Kang has been held hostage over at 20th Century Fox but with the acquisition rumored to be complete as early as January 2019, he will be fair game again. A descended of the great Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, Nathaniel Richards develops time traveling technology that allows him to travel to the past. Time travel has been hinted via the quantum realm in Avengers: End Game so how cool would it be if Kang appeared at the end of EndGame and captured Steve Rodgers or Tony Stark rather than actually have them die or something dumb.

Kang could be introduced as an unknown side-effect of reversing the Thanos snap. Thanos has warned several of our heroes about the universe out growing it's available resources. Who would better experience the effects of limited resources than a conqueror from the 31st century. Kang could appear later than originally intended, because after all it would be his first jump back through time, and out of frustration kidnap an Avenger or two until he figures out how to get back earlier than his initial jump. Think about it.

Well, anywho... we have another few months before we put a cap on the first three phases of the Marvel cinematic universe before we have to start worrying about the future. This, however, is definitely food for thought though. With the merger of 20th Century Fox and the deal in place at Sony, the future has unlimited possibility. I mean with the exception of a solo Hulk movie, but that's not a big deal.

So...let's see if I still got it.

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your thinking cap—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!

Nailed it.

What's up Dacetacular Nation? Chris "The Dace Man" Dace back again with another post Avengers: EndGame speculative article! Join me as I guess and get everything wrong!

Pending the release of the articles, you may or may not have read my hypothetical situations for Steve Rogers. This is going to be essentially the same article but focusing solely on the man who kicked off the Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark. Now you may notice I didn't include a recast option for Tony Stark, and that's because I feel like that is highly unlikely, even more so than Captain America. Public image at this point is Robert Downy Jr. is Iron Man and I believe we are a long way off before talks to recast this pivotal role can be thought of. With that being said let's jump in and figure out how to replace that arc reactor sized hole Mr. Stark may potentially be leaving us with.

The King Continues to Reign

Robert Downy Jr. is absolutely the king of kings when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So much so it is kind of hard picturing life after Tony Stark in Marvel Movies. In fact he has been in the most Marvel films (I Absolutely do not count the post-credit scene in Ant-Man for Captain America, it's just a clip of Captain America: Civil War no impact to Ant-Man plot). When I entertain the idea of RDJ sticking with the Tony Stark character, I picture just that. He's retired from the Iron Man suit and is a mentor to others like Peter Parker. In the comics he's even assumed the role of Secretary of Defense at one point and the head of SH.I.E.L.D. so those are two viable options as well if Tony is killed off.

Ms. Potts to the Rescue

Let us make the painful assumption Tony Stark does in fact bite the dust. A character that seems to have been positioned for her debut is Rescue, a.k.a. Pepper Potts in an Iron suit. Rescue had a decent run in the comics and even managed to hold her own. So let's go off the assumption Pepper will be there as Tony takes his last breathe, with a renewed vigor to actually fight the fight rather than complain about unavoidable confrontation, Rescue has potential to be pretty kick-ass. On the off chance Tony lives but is badly injured and can't perform the Iron Man duties she would be a logical padawan for Mr. Stark.

The Iron Heart...Shuri 

Now this one could be a bit far fetched if they decide to have Shuri stand out as her own but I feel like there have been small teases at her becoming Iron Heart. I realize that Iron Heart was a completely different character in the comics but it's not a stretch to transition Shuri into that role. They have already pointed out her knack for technology and even outshining Bruce and Tony a bit in Avengers: Infinity War in regards to Vision's construction. She already has the gear we've seen in Black Panther that uses similar propulsion technology Iron Man's Suit does. If they needed an Avenger to replace the missing Iron Man she would have my vote especially if they go the route of just retiring Tony rather than killing him off. Imagine scenes with RDJ and Letita Wright....amazeballs right?

Dead is Dead

I said this with Cap and I'll say it again with Tony, dead is dead. Now this would be the worst option for any one who's been with the MCU since it's 2008 inception but unfortunately the most logical. Robert Downy Jr. will be 54 when the next film comes out, so he's has the potential to turn into a creepy billionaire playboy philanthropist. Not to mention if he's playing his actual age in the movie, his fight scenes would be as painful to watch as an Undertaker match these days. Additional RDJ is the highest paid actor in the MCU to date. Stack all these things on a kill/don't kill sheet and our boy is dead.

The positive to come out of this will be a full payout of the character though, when we first met Tony he was a drunk egotistical jackass who wouldn't make the tough play. By the end of Avengers: EndGame we could see the finalization of the complete 180 for the character. I hate saying this, but I think this is what is going to happen this April. His death would have the biggest impact on the MCU in a way that could be reflected as a positive. Killing Cap is just gonna suck if it happens.

So what do you think is the fate for the other guy burdened with knowledge, Tony Stark?

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your Arc Reactor—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!

What is crack-a-lackin Dacetacular Nation? Chris "The Dace Man" Dace back again here at Fanboys Anonymous to do what I do best...speculate with little to zero merit.

So with Avengers: EndGame on the horizon, it's time to let speculation run wild! One of the thing that has the Fanboys Nation in a loop is the fate of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Actor Chris Evans has dropped enough soundbites and blurbs to indicate that the next Avengers could possibly be the end of him as Steve Rodgers. With that being said there are a few options on how to handle the departure of the First Avenger from the cinematic Universe and I have a few ideas.

Steve Rodgers Retains the Title

Here's the angle I personally hope for the most, out of all the options you are about to read. Chris Evans can step away from the character for the time being but that doesn't mean we have to kill off Cap to do so. It is very well plausible after all the things Steve has been through in his life time enough is enough and it's time to retire, he is in his 90s after all. Why not have Steve fight the good fight and then hang up the shield? Bucky can stay as the newly attained White Wolf moniker and no need to have Sam stray away from the Falcon gimmick. This also leaves the option open that if Evans ever wanted to reprise his role as the First Avenger it would be there waiting for him.

Bucky Barnes as Captain America

The next logical choice in my opinion, is Bucky picking up the shield and running with it. Bucky has been Caps oldest friend, hell Cap went against the stars and stripes for the man. If Cap were to perish in the next installment of the Avengers franchise, his old pal Buck should be the next inline to carry on the legacy. Another point is Bucky really hasn't done squat in the Marvel cinematic universe to stand out on his own. Sure Civil War breaks out partly because of him and Winter Soldier is named after him but Bucky has yet to have that redemption moment to make the audience buy into him. Picking up the mantle would surely do it.

Sam Wilson as Captain America

If Bucky doesn't pick up the stars and striped banner, Sam definitely should. In the off chance the Marvel Cinematic Universe has more in store for the White Wolf persona Bucky was sporting in Avengers Infinity War the door is wide open for Sam. Sam has been Caps modern-era B.F.F., following Cap on any crusade the man goes on and never really having a personal investment in the outcome. The Falcon also deserves a shinning moment for himself too, though I personalty think it would be better suited as The Falcon, Sam has gotten the raw deal in almost all movies thus far.

First he gets his butt whooped trying to help Cap take on Hydra-S.H.I.E.L.D. Secondly head into his Avengers Debut and he has a brief cameo talking about tracking Bucky and isn't even called to help against Ultron despite the hell he went through during the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. Next in an Ant-Man Cameo he gets upstaged by Ant-Man....Ant-Man. He ends up in jail at the end of Captain America: Civil War and then lastly is snapped out of existence in Avengers: Infinity War

To loosely quote one of my favorite comedies..."Sam's a Peacock Falcon, Captain! You gotta let him fly!"

Recast Steve Rodgers

Here's one I'm really hoping they don't do, recast. Now If you would have asked me back at the start of this all my feelings on Chris Evans as Captain America, I would have scoffed at the idea. How can a guy who was an evil ex in Scott Pilgrim v.s. The World and Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four going to pull off the God-Fearing Clean Cut Steve Rogers. Well I've eaten crow and almost 8 years later I'm begging for the man not to go. Names have been jokingly thrown out there to recast the role, like John Cena, but hopefully they are just jokes and not serious. However it's an option, not a good one, but just ask Terrance Howard.

Dead is Dead

Lastly the super morbid way out of the roll...death. Steve Rogers is a man who absolutely lays it all out on the field each time he heads into battle so why wouldn't he do so to bring back half the universe. The ultimate sacrifice would be a heavy price to pay not only for the fictional character but as well as the audience watching in the theaters. One would think after the depressing ending of Avengers: Infinity War it's sequel would have a much more lighthearted ending. However knowing what we know about real world implications on our fantasy worlds it is a real possibility that dead will in fact be dead for Steve Rogers.

So what do you think is the fate for the star spangled man with a plan?

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your Captain America gear—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!