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Live Action: Avengers / Supergirl / Firestorm – FIRE & WATER #126

Firestorm and Aquaman: The Fire and Water Podcast

The 126th episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST is now available for your listening pleasure! THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST is the official podcast of FIRESTORM FAN and THE AQUAMAN SHRINE.

Shag and Rob discuss Avengers: Age of Ultron, the new Supergirl show, Firestorm on The Flash, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow!

You can find the 126th episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST on iTunes. While you’re there, please drop us a review on the iTunes page. Every comment helps! Alternatively, you may play the podcast using the player below or by right-clicking “download”, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (62 MB).

As always, thanks to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on these episodes! Opening theme, “That Time is Now,” by Michael Kohler. Special thanks to Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our fantastic original closing theme! This episode brought to you in part by InStockTrades.com!

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8 Comments

  1. Xum Yukinori says:

    Gentlemen,

    Because no one demanded it, the theme to “Firestorm and His Atomic Friends” (karaoke style):

    https://youtu.be/UTpNoAM3cKI

  2. ^Brilliant Xum!

    So, how much do I owe you Rob for namedropping me 10 times this week?

    Seriously, I’m glad you guys have come around to my way of thinking on Chris Evans’ portrayal of Cap. He is the reason I get stoked for these Marvel films. I jokingly referred to both Avengers films as “Captain America and Those Other Guys”, kind of like Shag and his “Firestorm and His Atomic Friends”. I’ll hate to see Evans go, but it’s good to know he’s on board through Avengers 4 or 3.5, or whatever it will be.

    As for the Age of Ultron, I loved it. I tend to give new movies a wide berth and have trouble getting past the excitement when I see them in the theater, but I feel I will still prefer this one over the original. The first one has the WOW factor of seeing everyone together for the first time, but this one was much stronger, story and acting wise, I think. I think RDJ got plenty to do, myself. I think they did a good job balancing the time between the guys who have their own films and spotlighting the movie-less Avengers like Widow, Hawkeye and Hulk/Banner. The fact that Whedon managed to juggle all the characters, the main story, the subplots, etc. is a miracle, but he pulled it off. I saw it twice, but I’d see it again if the opportunity arose.

    Supergirl looks FANTASTIC. THIS is what I want a Superman film to look at. Zack Snyder should be sucking his thumb in a fetal position after seeing this. This is what most fans want Snyder. Take the black cloth off your camera and lighten up a bit. Sheesh.

    I agree that Benoist seems to have that “IT” factor. She comes across as charming and lovable. Who knew “Glee” was a farm league for future super heroes?

    Legends of Tomorrow…this looks interesting. I’m not as excited for it as Supergirl, but I am intrigued. I’ve finally come around to liking Wentworth Miller’s Captain Cold. At first I couldn’t decide if he was too over-the-top and campy. I mean, he could work on Batman ’66! But he sells it, especially in this last Flash episode. As for Firestorm…maybe we only get the combined Nuclear Man in the pilot, and when Stein and co. are whisked away to time-hop with Rip Hunter, they can’t combine? It’s probably the obvious though: Ronnine is doomed, and Jay Jackson is in as the other half. Ammell should have signed up!

    Great episode as always guys. I’m even more excited for the Flash finale and these new shows this fall!

    Chris

    1. Kyle Benning says:

      Yes I’m definitely on the Chris Evans = Captain America train. It’s hard to imagine anyone ever topping his performance. Whenever I see him now, all I think is, hey that’s Captain America, (at which point I hear Bucky yelling “Let’s hear it for Captain America” in my head).

      He truly has reached that Christopher Reeve = Superman level.

      Besides those 2, the only other examples that I can really think of that deep of character portrayal is Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

  3. Kyle Benning says:

    Great Instock Trades selections. I love Roy Thomas’ Avengers Run, especially when paired with Buscema. And Shag choice is full of all sorts of win, I loved Superman Family Adventures when it was published, it’s sad the run only last 12 issues! That book was so chalked full of easter eggs and homages to Superman the movie and the pre-New 52 versions of all of the Superman Family characters. When that book was coming out I was living and working in the Des Moines area at the time (the largest urban area in Iowa, but that’s not saying much) and the comic shop I frequented there actually had this Superman Family Title outselling all of the other Superman New 52 books. It’s a great all-ages romp that has a lot of fun little nods for older readers as well, I really recommend that you check it out if you haven’t read it before!

    Avengers 2 was in my opinion, right up there with Captain America 2 as my favorite of the Marvel Studios Films. I’m with Rob on this one, I really don’t find the first half of the first Avengers movie all that exciting. I thought the action and plot of Age of Ultron was much more exciting and enthralling than Loki and his gang of alien friends. You actually feel like Ultron is a real, world-ending level threat, and thus truly worthy of squaring off against the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

    Rob I’m curious to hear your thoughts specifically on Ultron as a villian and credible threat? I believe in a past episode you had mentioned that typically the only weak part of these films were that most of the villains were kind of weak one-noters outside of Loki. Did Ultron fit that bill in your eyes as well, or was he (it?) a stand-out and more credible/interesting threat?

    I was good with the level of characterization, I felt like the character beats were devoted mostly to the characters who needed it most, the ones that don’t have their own solo movie franchises. In my opinion Hawkeye and Black Widow stole the show, and that was definitely needed, as they are often pointed to as the characters from the movies that don’t belong in the Avengers and are unrelatable. Seeing as Hawkeye and I share the same birthplace (Waverly, IA 11-thousand strong!) it’s always good to see him get a chance to shine in the spotlight.

    I still thought we got some great moments from Iron Man and some of his ongoing themes/problems from past movies advanced forward. Tony’s ego is his achilles heel, we saw that advanced and touched upon, and I think it will probably come to its ultimate fruitition in Cap 3. We also see him/the world continuing to suffer from Stark Industries’ double dealing weapons off the books from the first Iron Man film. The whole reason they find themselves at odds against Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver is because some Stark weapons got in the wrong hands and decimated their village. I also thought Tony’s battle with the Hulk in the Hulkbuster armor had some nice character moments, Tony is constantly trying to take the Hulk out of the city, away from the populace, you know unlike some other guy a couple of summers ago, and so he then confirms there are no people in the building that he buys and then demolishes. It was a short moment, but showed his concern for collateral damage and minimizing the risk of innocent lives.

    The fight choreography and action in this one was just awesome. Captain America in action was jaw-dropping, and the team functioned very well together. This was one of the few movie experiences were I was completely sucked in and enthralled by the film from the word go, and completely oblivious to being in a movie theater surrounded by hundreds of other viewers. It was definitely a Top 5 movie theater experience for me, I can’t wait to see it again.

    I’m pretty excited for Supergirl, it looks like it’s going to be a really fun exciting show!

    Hey c’mon now, those 70’s Cap movies may be awful but they’re still a blast to watch. They’re that good type of awful, where it’s still entertaining to watch, unlike that 90’s Captain America movie, that thing is just so bad it’s not even entertaining, and it had a much larger budget. Italian Red Skull and Rubber Ears Cap what the hell is up with that? I’ll take cheesy motorcycle helmet cap with translucent frisbee shield anyday. I mean they were fairly faithful with their adaption, at that time Steve Rogers was an artist working for Marvel and drawing comics, he was an artist in those Cap movies as well, at least they were trying to be faithful, that should count for something!

    “People think Harrison Ford is wooden, good God Red Brown is so wooden that people catch splinters watching these shows” haha best line ever of the Fire & Water Podcast.

    A very entertaining episode, Fan the Flame and Ride the Wave! It’ll be interesting to see what changes and events the Flash Season Finale brings!

    1. Yeah, the Reb Brown line made me laugh at loud… at work. It’s bad enough Rob labeled him “The Side of Beef Known as Reb Brown”. Now he’s a block of wood! Poor guy. I wouldn’t piss him off, Kelly!!!

      Chris

  4. Anj says:

    I think the Supergirl trailer is just about as perfect as you can get. Seems to capture the essence of the character, the new hero discovering who she is and where she belongs on this world. It seemed to riff on the excellent Sterling Gates run on the book.

    As for the critics, they are misguided. I have said, as Rob said, that the Flash has plenty of relationship stuff as well. As did Buffy. You could easily put together a 6 minute trailer of the Flash and make it look like a rom-com.

    Regardless, so what if there is some romance and comedy. This is just what Superman (and especially Supergirl) fans are looking for. Bright. Optimistic. Fun. Strong. Fierce. Not all rom-coms have plane rescues and super-power brawls with trucks exploding.

    As you all say, Benoist is charming. The whole cast seems brilliant.

    I loved it. My daughters loved it. Can’t wait!

  5. Frank says:

    I liked Avengers 2: The Quickening, but it wasn’t the movie I was expecting, and the movie that it is has its problems (as did Avengers 1: Who Invited Maria Hill?, or How I Dozed Off During The Fight Amongst The Three Leads Over Loki In The Forest.)

    I don’t like The Flash as a concept, and don’t care much for it as a set of characters/series. As Rob noted, there was a time when comic nerds held compulsory viewings of anything comic book related (though I skipped most of Flash ’90 too.) I’m relieved to live in an era where I don’t have to watch a series about Jim Gordon combating preludes to flamboyant Arkham inmates while an adolescent Bruce Wayne looks on. I don’t care enough about Vibe to watch a show with a water downed version of the character in a supporting role, but I’m happy that Cisco Ramone exists in live action and that people who want to watch him on TV can. I’ve got the last season of Arrow on my DVR because Ray Palmer was in it, but apparently The Atom isn’t, so I may watch them or I may delete them. Ditto the horribly titled “Legends of Tomorrow.” It’s a DC show with a hodge-podge of characters, very few of which mean something to me. I don’t think it’s going in the queue, but it’s not getting in the way of anything else I want, so good for folks who dig this stuff. Do note the “DC’s” branding, by the way.

    Unlike most nerds, I’m glad Supergirl will be isolated from the other DC shows/movies. I have a great affection for that character, and it would have to suck a lot for me to not watch it. I’ve avoided the extended trailer/preview and leaked pilot to better enjoy the actual series, and I have no problem with the lighter tone or liberties taken in the adaptation so far. I doubt Melissa Benoist will ever replace Helen Slater as the Supergirl of my heart, but she’s cute and seems to fit the part, so we’ll see how it goes.

    I watched Game of Thrones (relatively) “live,” and +1 day’d Mad Men when they ran at the same time. It’s 2015 Shag. No need to Sophie’s Choice Gotham, and I hear it’s already disappointed enough fans to clear the way for the Maid of Might anyway.

  6. Darrin and Ruth says:

    Another great episode! I’m definitely looking forward to the Supergirl series. Looks much more fun than the dark brooding movies ahead.

    My favorite Marvel movies are definitely the two Captain America movies, Thor 1, and Iron Man 1.

    The others are fun spectacles, but not really satisfying stories.

    Brandon Routh has been tons of fun as the Atom on Arrow and I’m sure he’ll be equally great in the new spin off.

    The Firestorm stories were easily the most interesting episodes of the Flash season 1 for me, and I’m hoping the character transitions well in the spin-off.

    Is there any hope for Robbie Amell returning? And Shagg, I’m sure you’ve noticed he is on the guest list for Dragon Con.

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