155 - Avengers: Infinity War - TWO YEARS LATER

Avengers: Infinity War - TWO YEARS LATER Remember that moment in Endgame where they killed Thanos and then there was a title card that was all like, "FIVE YEARS LATER," and we were all like "WHOAH." This episode is kind of like that, but way, way less epic. OK, for real, we started Nerd Critic just over two years ago, right around the time that Infinity War came out (and partly because of it), so that should give you some idea of the importance of this film in Nerd Critic's history. We felt it was a good time to revisit not only the film itself (TWO YEARS LATER), but also our very first episode. Are we any better? Worse? Exactly the disappointing same? See for yourself. 2:00 - Our thoughts about our first episode, after registering 3:30 - A reminder to listen to this show at 2X speed, and why 6:20 - Nerd Critic tropes (making up words, underestimating the runtime of our episodes, man-crushes, and Jordan's rants) 9:30 - Revisiting the points we made about Infinity War 10:00 - Do comic book deaths matter? (And the vicarious fantasies that comic book movies offer.) 16:20 - Will there be a full resolution in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? 18:40 - Can Chris Hemsworth be a leading man? (See: Extraction on Netflix) 21:00 - Love for Chris Evans was well established from day one 22:00 - Does the relationship between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts work? (CJ wins an argument.) 25:00 - Do we like Nebula? A question which leads to a much larger point about the derivative dynamic between Nebula and Gamora 31:00 - OK...we need to talk about time travel (buckle up) 34:00 - Endgame was incredibly sophisticated and successful fan service 39:00 - Two big final points: 1. Pretty good stakes in Infinity War, not so much in Endgame; 2. Thanos' big chance to be meaningful was spent in Infinity War, but it was a miss 44:00 - We get back to arguing about Thanos -- the difference between UNDERSTANDING character motivation and FEELING it. (Spoiler: Jordan wins.) 48:00 - Things that we got wrong (predictions about Endgame) 52:00 - Coming up next (this part is a mess) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdcritic.substack.com