In all honesty, Marvel hasn't felt quite on their game lately. The majority of the recent films have felt just okay and a couple even outright disappointed us (looking at you Thor... sigh...).
​
Not this one. An emotional rollercoaster that can absolutley wreck your tear ducts, this one is well written, well directed, well acted, and serves as an incredible finale to the Guardians' storyline. Definitely go see it, but also come well prepared with a box of tissues. 

​Sometimes, a movie that has smaller ambitions gives us a bigger payout, and that's exactly how it feels with Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Rather than trying to build a whole new universe, this movie is telling a straightforward story with a relatively contained cast, and it makes all the difference for the fun, relatable narrative. 

​You know, it feels really good to be able to come here and talk about a Marvel movie and actually feel really happy with the outcome. After a couple real bummer-inos, this new installment of Ant-Man introduced some really great characters, some long-lasting villain implications, and a good bit of depth to a majority of the established heroes. Heck, Marvel, it's almost like you DO know how to make a movie. 

​So, this movie came out almost 3 years ago at this point, but because of the dreaded panini, it really fell under the radar for most folks (it literally released in mid-March 2020). We recently had a chance to check it out, and decided to share our thoughts on this pretty decent Vin Diesel flick that should have gotten way more love than it did. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong company, wrong circumstances. 

​We're not saying this short flick is going to replace your yearly rewatch of A Christmas Story, but it is a holly jolly joyful little romp to brighten your season. With the focus on Mantis, we get a delighfully goofy and heartwarming tale about saving Christmas for Starlord. Oh, and Kevin Bacon is awesome, even if he IS just a stupid actor.

​There was a lot of speculation around how they would incorporate the loss of Chadwick Boseman and his rendition of T'Challa into the MCU, but it was done gracefully and with a lot of empathy. Beyond that, the movie itself is well done - great acting, beautiful visuals, and a solid story - even though there were some small but pronounced holes that could have made the film better with a little more fleshing out. More than anything, we're just proud the MCU has started to really figure out how to mix up the tone of their movies; we've come a long way from the Tony-Stark-ization of every character, and that's something to be celebrated, for sure.  

​I wouldn't say that the rock has brought something hugely new and different to the genre, but I would say he's helped create a super fun, action-packed popcorn movie that's definitely worth seeing on a big screen. Oh, and it DOES have some implications for the rest of the MCU so, you know, be ready for that. 

​It's a Halloween spooky special from your fright-night friends at Cover B! This week we're covering the recently released Werewolf By Night, a Marvel & Disney+ short horror film that does an incredible job stylizing itself after the old-school genre films. You know, except randomly for the "not-TVA" folks. Which... well, we'll tell you all about it. Time for some spooks! 

As for the show, it was mostly gimmicks. Silly nods to fan theories. Fun little through away lines that were clearly aware of reddit threads, both positive and negative. Kitchy digs at the MCU but never anything way to critical. Until, of course, we get to Episode 9.

OKAY, STOP!

A LOT happened in this episode, and I've never really shied away from spoilers in previous episodes, but I think it's important to SPOILER WARNING at this point. This was a fairly heavy episode, so just in case you do actually care about big time, somewhat silly spoilers, now is the time to click away.

ALRIGHT, SPOILER TIME...

The episode opens with Jen in prison after her rage explosion in the previous episode. She agrees to a plea bargain that involves an inhibitor. Once she's out, we see that she has been fired from GLK&H and eventually has to move back in with her parents. While there, she works with Nikki to try and uncover who is behind the Intelligencia site, the HulkKing account and ultimately who ruined her life so she can sue them for damages. Nikki takes it upon herself to upload an embarassing video of Jen to Intelligencia, garnering an invite to some event the group is having. She ropes in Pug to be her proxy because groups like this aren't fans of females. Jen, unaware of Nikki and Pug's mission, heads out to Emil's compound to talk with him about what's happening to her, since he's clearly going to understand. To make a long story short, turns out the HulkKing event is being held at Blonsky's compound and Emil is doing a key note speech at the event AS Abomination. Jen discovers this and skeezeball Todd reveals himself to be HulkKing and the owner of Intelligencia. He also reveals himself to be the one behind the attempts to steal Jen's blood, which he claims his team has synthesized. He shoots up on some green goo and turns into the Incelible Hulk!

Then Bruce shows up from space and starts fighting Abomination, even though Emil was just trying to protect Jen from Todd-Hulk.

Then Titania shows up and just starts fighting basically everyone.

It's a chaotic mess of an ending. And Jen knows it. So she leaves.

No, not the compound. The show. She pops off her inhibitor, kicks her way out to the Disney+ launch page and smashes her way into ASSEMBLED.

Yep, CGI She-Hulk is now walking around the Marvel Studios lot. She works her way tot he writers room, judges them harshly for the finale and finds out it's "what Kevin wanted." So, logically, she demands to meet this Kevin. NOBODY MEETS KEVIN!

​Jen meets Kevin, who turns out to be K.E.V.I.N., a robot intelligence responsible for the construction of the MCU. Jen argues with Mecha-Feige about the nature of the finale, calling out things like overused story archs and the overall formulaic approach to Marvel things. She constructs what she believes to be a better finale and makes sure to throw in a return of Matt Murdock into the mix. Kev-Bot agrees and then kicks She-Hulk back into her show, wherein we get a finale without a big fight, without a male hero showing up to save the day, and more importantly with people getting their comeuppance and taking accountability for their actions.

We end with Matt and Jen having lunch with her family. Bruce shows up and reveals the reason he was in space: to meet and fetch his son.

People are going to absolutely HATE this ending. They're gonna hate that it throws their own veiled insecurities and silly criticisms back at them. They're gonna hate that it's critical of Marvel movies and characters. They're going to hate that it suggests that Marvel isn't perfect and that things can be improved upon.

I LOVED THIS FINALE.

Like I said previously, utilizing 4th wall and "meta" to criticize the very world the character exists in is the peak of the art form. This episode does it and does it STRONG. There are quite a few lines that almost feel dangerous, knowing how controlling and strict Marvel can be. And sure, Marvel signed off on all the commentary meaning they felt it was "safe," but that doesn't change the fact that we had a major piece of Marvel media directly stating to the audience that Marvel needs to grow narratively and start telling different stories. It gives the audience the chance to feel the same way without feeling uncomfy about it. Maybe it's even Marvel's way of saying that they feel the same way, but let's not get too optimistic. At the very least, this sort of internalized criticism lets fans know that it's okay to feel critical about the thing you love. It can be tough as a fan to find yourself critical of something that you once loved without question. It leaves you feeling distant and cutoff from the people that you see as more passionate than you. In addition, with the way fan communities online have gone, it can sometimes make you feel villainized if you share a dislike of a film or show with someone who dislikes it for an incredibly bigoted or awful reason. If terrible people are sending death threats to writers and actors over something they didn't like, am I a bad person for also not liking it? Am I giving them support every time I share my dislike? It's a tough world to be in, but seeing the critiques come from inside alleviates that a bit. It's nice to be able to say "look, they feel it too and they're MAKING the things, so I can still be passionate and critical of the content."

Ultimately, Season One of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was a win for me. It definitely had slow points and I think there was an issue with balance in the middle. While I GREATLY appreciate the finale, I think it also would have been an incredible show if it didn't try to build to some greater plot. Granted, the finale showed that the build and possibly the complications caused by it were all part of a greater commentary the showrunners wanted to make. All that said, the cast did an incredible job and the show was fun. I am really stoked for a season two, and I hope it doesn't lose its silly side.

Things I liked:

• Blonsky didn't turn out to be the bad guy
• Tatiana Maslany absolutely destroyed the role and is an incredible comedic actor
• Nikki and Pug are my new favorite supporting MCU characters
• Making the main antagonists internet douchebags who veil their misogyny behind criticisms and projection
• Madisynn
• The criticism in the end
• Yet another bit of superhero fiction that focuses on accountability and retaliation that isn't simply violence

Things I didn't like:

• Story bogged a bit in the middle
• Could have used more emotion in general. Balancing emotion with comedy is a powerful tool and some of the best comedic shows have shown this.
• Todd and Dennis. The actors and writers did a great job making these characters exist. I just hate them.
• A bit too much reliance on comedy through characters being stupid or douchey. Matt Murdoc and sometimes Emil were basically the only characters with a normal and emotionally approachable personality in this entire show. Pug and Nikki had their moments.

​
​This show was a good time. Thank you so much for keeping up with us in these write-ups. We'll catch ya on the next show, whenever that may be! 💚

​Yes, the day has finally come friends: we finally have the highly anticipated superhero appearance that has been on everyone's mouths and has been angrily demanding for weeks. The day has finally come and we can rejoice: LEAPFROG IS HERE! Everyone's favorite street-level bad boy has finally made his way to the MCU along with his signature catch-phrase of "ribbit and rip it," which I don't remember being in the comics but I've found my memory is a bit hazy on Leap-Frog lore, to be honest. Maybe it's just been a while since I've read any Leap-Frog books. Anyway, they did take some liberties with his character a bit. Instead of a down on his luck inventor, they've turned him into a stuck-up rich boy, using his father's money to purchase his suit from Luke Jacobson. Obviously, in the comics, Leap-Frog is talented enough to make his own frog-related super suit with which to do crimes. They also made him initially trying to be a hero, which threw me off a bit, but they corrected it by the end and had him being the antagonist. Gripes about the changes aside, I'm glad that this character has finally made his MCU debut. It will be interesting to see how his character is utilized in the future, or if he's just relegated to a one-and-done kind of thing.

Oh, Daredevil also pops up in this one, like anyone cares.

Episode 8 sees Jen get tasked with representing the Friendly Neighborhood Amphibian as he goes after Luke Jacobson for faulty merchandise. Apparently, his fire-proof suit caught fire and he suffered 3rd degree burns on his legs. They take this man to court and who should show up to represent him but the devilishly handsome Matthew Murdock himself. Long story short, turns out Leap-Frog was an idiot and that's what caused the burns, which Matt figures out using his Super Sniffer™, and the case is dropped. Matt and Jen meet at a bar, hit it off, flirt a little, both have to leave for urgent work-y things, and Jen is off to meet up with the creepy dude Todd who just keeps being creepier and more entitled as time goes by. He claims to have a legal issue, says some entitled white boy shit, makes a pass at She-Hulk, gets a table shoved into him, and Jen leaves to crash on her couch after her extremely busy day, wherein Leap-Frog calls her in a panic because he's being relentlessly pursued by somebody.

Wait, that "somebody" wasn't ominous and hinty enough...

He is being relentlessly pursued by

SOMEBODDY.Jen finally dons her super suit, which looks fantastic by the way, and is off to help the Spectacular Frogger Man, when who should she come face to face with but the Matthew-ish-ly handsome Daredevil himself! He flip flops his way around as the two banter, eventually getting the opportunity to explain that Leap-Frog is the real villain and has kidnap Luke Jacobson! The two head off to the Lilypad (yep) and punch, wham, smash rescue Luke. Cops show up, day is saved, Luke forgives Jen for suing him in the first place, credits roll.

Wait, no, first Matt and Jen flirt some more and then go back to her place to put the D in Defenders.

d​Now credits roll.

Wait, no, the next morning, after a shot of Daredevil doing the walk of shame, Nikki shows up because it's time for the GALA! As mentioned last episode and the "last time on my show" bit in the beginning, Jen won "Female Lawyer of the Year" and is being honored at a gala. We pop over to the Gala and Jen, Nikki, Pug and Jen's parents grab their table. Jen's name gets announced as well as the names of a few other female lawyers, meaning the award is more of a group affair than lead on the believe. As Jen gives a little speech, the screen gets highjacked by the HulkKing Intelligencia community. They start flashing Jen's texts and photos from the phone Josh cloned in the previous episode as Jen and the audience panic. The whole thing culminates when it's revealed that Josh actually filmed the two of them having sex. As the video plays and gets more heated, Jen has her very first encounter with the Hulk rage that Bruce warned her about. The episode ends after a mini rampage and we are still in the dark as to who the HulkKing really is. A hefty episode setting up a very chaotic finale.

This episode was super cool. Jokes aside, it was absolutely great having Charlie Cox back, and he just seemed to be having so much FUN. My favorite thing in all these films and shows is when you can truly see the passion that the actor has for their character. You see it every time Ryan Reynolds dons his red suit, every time Vincent D'Onofrio clutches a jewel tipped cane, and it was super apparent here that Charlie was just happy to be back. If Daredevil's character here was any indication of what he'll be like in Born Again, than we are definitely in for a fairly different DD experience, which I'm sure will have plenty of people hot under the collar. However, Charlie Cox is incredible at having chemistry with whoever he is on screen with, so I'm not worried in the slightest. I'm glad that Daredevil got a whole episode and it wasn't just relegated to a cameo in the finale, a trick that Marvel has shown time and time again they are not above. Moreover, I'm glad that Daredevil acted as an accompaniment to Jen and the two worked well together on screen. It's nice seeing this character that we've only seen so far in a very limited capacity be able to hold his own in a new universe that is much faster and more bombastic than his old one. His fighting style felt familiar but more advanced and faster than that of his Netflix predecessor, which is where the character needs to be to work within the rules set by the MCU and to feel more tied to his comic counterpart.

​Overall, this episode did a good job tying threads together from previous episodes to build to the finale. I'm excited to see how the whole thing culminates. While I feel the middle of this season could have been improved by at least one additional episode that allowed room for a bit more emotionality on Jen, I think this episode does a nice job rounding out the finishing touches on the main storyline of Jen figuring out how to live two lives at once, especially at the serious leg work put in by the previous episode. Sure, a mid-season episode that was very bottled and character focused would have made the message a bit clearer sooner, I still think we had enough happening throughout the season to keep things pushing forward. There's no love lost from me.

One episode left. October 13th. BE THERE!