Batman: The Telltale Series

Having played a few other Telltale games I can confidently say this one is the best. Excellent art, voice acting and branching plots that really give player agency make this a beautiful game, especially since the writers weren't afraid to have a different take on this Batman universe. 

Over two "seasons" with five chapters each (get the "Shadows" edition to get them both) you'll encounter many familiar faces from the rogues gallery and while there's a bit of QTE combat to be had (which is on the easy side of things) it's the timed dialogue choices that will really get your brain working. Excellent game and highly recommended! I only wish there was more of it! 

Spider-Noir, Harley Quinn and Kite Man

A trio of alternate superhero shows!

Spider-Noir

This currently single season story has Nicolas Cage star as a 1930's private detective who also moonlights as "The Spider", their version of Spiderman - and guess what? When you have a good story, good characters and good acting you get a good result! Without a doubt this is now our favorite version of Spiderman. On Prime you even have the option to watch in in black and white if you want. Highly recommended and hope they make a season two!

Harley Quinn (and Kite Man, Hell Yeah!)

This currently five season animated comedy features the titular Harley Quinn who starts off breaking up with Joker and then forming her own gang. A lot of the laughs come from the irreverent way it treats the whole cast, with many extras dying gruesome deaths, but it can quickly get abrasive if that's not your sort of thing. Definitely shines brighter in the earlier seasons than the later ones. 

Kite Man, Hell Yeah is a currently one season spin off from Harley Quinn and follows the adventures of the guy whose power is he has a kite? It has the same tone too so if you like the main show you'd probably like it.

Dexter: Resurrection and Superman (2025)

They're back!

Dexter: Resurrection

As good as the first Dexter show was, it did feel that the quality was dropping a little bit towards the end of its run and stayed or only slightly improved in Dexter: New Blood. This series is an excellent return to form of the early seasons with cameos aplenty from familiar faces and some serious acting talent with star Michael C. Hall especially in top form. The first season is amazing, highly recommended, and I hope the trend continues in season two! It goes without saying that you'll get more out of this if you've seen the previous shows first. :)

Superman (2025)

This latest version of Superman stars David Corenswet as he somehow gets his ass kicked by (Nicholas Hoult) Luthor's machinations throughout most of the movie, which does a good job being an origin story without being an origin story. Good thing there are other superheroes to back him up in this quirky tale that features some good action and decent CGI. Not bad, and the dog adds a lot. Probably won't be the preferred Superman to any who have seen any of the previous ones (so adjust expectations accordingly), but this one is fine as he is. 

The Faces of Harley Quinn

From the recent DC games I was playing.

She's got a lot of screentime. :)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Where bullets solve everything!

In this game you play as one of the criminals recruited into the expendable Task Force X to retake Metropolis from Braniac's invasion - and he just so happens to be controlling the Justice League! While Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot and King Shark have slightly varying modes of speedy and vertical transportation all of them heavily employ firearms to deal most of their damage: especially in boss fights where you don't want to or simply can't be next to your target.

The game play is quite fun and the animations are fantastic, but they really shot themselves in the foot by making the "after the main game chapters" which continues the story (albeit lacking cut scenes now - replaced instead with comic strips), adds new squad members, and pretty much makes you fight the same bosses with slight twists but in exchange for a huge amount of grinding. I only did the easier / faster half of those chapters before calling it quits. While I did enjoy this, I can't really recommend it because of that. 

Injustice 1 & 2

Its DC fighting time!

This fighting game is like Street Fighter, except with characters from the DC roster such as Superman, who has become a ruthless dictator, and Batman who is running the insurgency against the Kryptonian. In the second game, Braniac comes along to mess with things but in both cases the stories start and end strong but have lots of "filler" in the middle, looking for any excuse to fit as many one on one fights as they can. 

Right on target!

The graphics and controls are ok (though both are improved in the second game) but some of the fighting stances are strange and the power hits make for hilarious moments where someone like Catwoman can single kick an opponent like Doomsday UP and THROUGH multiple floors of a building! Or even, Catwoman can just face tank punches from Superman. Things like that.

Outside the story the first game has an interesting STAR Labs trial mode which challenges you with various game play modes and/or outright unfair situations. The second game drops this in exchange for a leveling and loot end game system which is basically a stock standard series of fights. That's maybe the only part the first game did better for me. Anyway, if you like DC characters and want to watch them pummel each other silly then these games are right up your alley. 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

All about saving the environment and getting gross things in your mouth.

Continuing from his first film, Aquaman (played by Jason Momoa) is back and quite bored of his job while also being domesticated. Luckily for him (and the viewers) bad guys begin a plot to end the world using... global warming? Sure whatever.

Alas this film is a bit of a step down from the last one, with some really odd plot decisions that waste screen time. We don't need to be told the bad guys plans three times, all the shots of the bad guy doing stuff that doesn't interact directly with Aquaman can be cut out and everything before the first "vault raid" can be removed.

Then you have bad guys basing their operations on land... in a volcano that is spouting green fumes... and no one can find them? This is the same world where Superman is right? Said bad guys are also patrolling the volcano base in old style metal diving suits because... its comfortable like that? Not recommended.

Glass (2019), Hit Man (2023) and Blue Beetle (2023)

One of these is not like the other.

Glass

M. Night Shyamalan's "third chapter" of Unbreakable and Split has all the main characters rounded up and put in a psychiatric facility to try be cured of their notions of being "super human". It's definitely a change of pace to your standard superhero fare and the ending might even piss you off, but the tale being told is a good one with the extremely talented James McAvoy actually stealing the show over both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson's title character. Recommendation for this one is a bit tricky, but I'm pretty sure if you are a fan of James McAvoy and/or Split, you will enjoy this. Also recommended if you just like all of M. Night's movies anyway. :P

Hit Man

If you were playing the "which one is not like the other" game in this post, this comedy movie is the answer. In it a regular but pretty smart guy (played by the exceptional Glen Powell) moonlights as an aide to the police department by pretending to be multiple "Hit Men", catering the "Hit Man" per client and then getting them to admit via recording their intenet to murder people which leads to their arrests. Shenanigans occur when one of his fake personas become better than his regular persona. Unlike Glass, this one is easy to recommend as it is very light hearted and entertaining. Go see it if you haven't yet!

Blue Beetle

Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena doing the best he can with the script) is just trying to get a job to support his poor (but incredibly annoying and obnoxious) family when he becomes selected by an alien Scarab and sentient weapon to turn him into the titular superhero Blue Beetle. I'm going to assume this was made for the younger Mexican audience as the plot really caters to them but boy do I have issues with it. Like, is Jaime really the hero or are all his "heroics" controlled by the scarab anyway? Sure he doesn't want to kill, at the start anyway (and then what happens?). This doesn't stop the rest of his family from totally murdering those generic bad guy soldiers though. Getting grandma to chain gun a whole bunch without taking any hits in return really must get the laughs right? So... yeah. It's that type of movie and despite having the DC budget is the worst of this trio.

The Flash (2023)

After the events of Justice League, the Flash (Ezra Miller) is left feeling like the "Janitor" of the team until he works out that he can travel back in time to try change the past and change his and more importantly his parent's fates. It's almost like someone read my review of the Justice League and took the "use cameos instead of an ensemble cast" to heart and for the most part it works, the only issue being that some of those cameos are more interesting / better acted than the protagonist.

While I enjoyed Ezra's goofiness and humor that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but a bigger problem here is the CGI quality which is odd since most superhero flicks have amazing budgets for this. It might just be that due to the excessive CGI required in the movie there are noticeable aspects especially when it comes to people. Especially when compared to say Star Wars that's doing magic for the human faces some people here would be closer to video game quality.

Lastly, this was clearly made with DC movie fans in mind as there are a lot of inclusions that a regular movie goer wouldn't catch or simply be puzzled over. That's great news for someone like me, but I suppose someone going in blind will just have to take everything at face value spectacle. All up, despite me expecting a bad movie this was actually fine. Not amazing, but still enthralling enough to keep us glued to the screen rather than doing anything else.

Doom Patrol

Characters destined to lose?

Focusing on a DC superhero group that is anything but, this four season show starts of insanely strong with characters so deeply flawed its almost like everything they do is growth. Unfortunately everything goes wrong at season three mark where, despite still having a few moments of awesomeness, the  script really just circles that shitter with characters stringing out expletives just to be edgy, fill time, and/or try "cover" poor writing every few sentences to the point that my wife gave up on it. It also seems to suffer a similar problem which Titans did in that characters reverse their growth/progress each season which is annoying. Usually I'd say check out the first few seasons then drop out when it gets bad but in this case, maybe just avoid it altogether.

Werewolf by Night and Legion of Super-Heroes (2023)

Actually both superhero movies?

Werewolf by Night

This very short, one hour movie from Marvel tells a spooky, black and white tale of how a bunch of hunters all got together upon the death of a master hunter to go on a hunt to win his powerful doo-hickey. They really lean into the old style film trope here and while it was certainly done on a budget (count the number of sets) the story is quite entertaining with decent action pieces to boot.

Alas the last act needed to have something more to make this really shine but it just comes and goes with no weight or surprises. Still a decent attempt at doing something different, and I felt its better than Secret Invasion, but that's not a hard bar to clear. :P

Legion of Super-Heroes (2023)

This DC animated movie primarily focuses on Supergirl, who upon having difficulties blending in as a refugee on Earth is taught to be better by her family and friends sent away to a future school by Superman and Batman so that any problems she causes aren't their messes to clean up. Uh... Ok? Anyway said school is for the Legion of Super-Heroes ("the Justice League of the future") and they kind of suck, but that's intentional so that Supergirl can do her thing and save the day when things go wrong. That shouldn't be a spoiler, it's a superhero movie - things always go wrong!

While the main plot is weak, I did enjoy the little character development we got and very much enjoyed the excellent art style on display here. Not enough to get a recommendation from me though, so stay away unless you are a Supergirl fan.

The Flash (2014 TV Series) and Titans (2018 Series)

DC Superhero series.

The Flash

This nine season Arrowverse show follows Barry Allen (played by Grant Gustin), an individual gifted with super speed on his mission to protect his city and the ones he loves from all manner of bad guys. While it does start out strong each season becomes less polished with later episodes totally ignoring the Flash altogether and just focusing on the other members of his team. Why does the fastest man alive have a team? Well, because he (or the writers) continuously forget about his powers which is one of the most irritating aspects about the show (and the comics I'm guessing). Also, as his opponents are also usually speedsters the "speed battles" get really ridiculous later on... to the point of having light speed saber fights. Try it out and just drop it when it starts getting too silly for you is my recommendation.

Titans

Another show that lost polish as it progressed in its four season run. This one follows Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) in a "much darker style" show as he gathers a group of super powered individuals and forges them into a team. It's actually ok when it remembers to be dark and violent as there is some cool fight choreo, but especially later on they seem to have lost that memo and the plot does feel like the writers now didn't know what to do with any of the characters other than "lets put so and so in, because it would be cool!?" Another one you can try out but just drop once it gets too stupid.

Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Another Marvel vs DC match up!

Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and his family get sucked into the Quantum Realm and end up in a civil war between the resident Quantumites and their over lord ruler. Since the setting is super alien they really just went wild with the story and ideas here, some of which are great and some... less so... like the main villains power level fluctuating between disintegrate and knock back. Awesome CGI though, and an entertaining enough story for the most part but it still falls under non-mandatory viewing with no real major change pushed forward. If you like Ant-Man and / or Marvel films then this one is for you, but even if you skip it you'll probably be fine story arc wise for the rest of this set of Marvel movies.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Freed from their not so eternal prison a few goddesses hunt down Shazam (Zachary Levi) to retake their powers. It's a super simple plot and while the actiony back end of it is pretty decent the first half is simply bad and corny. The characters on screen are as bored as the audience and the poor over acting from the primary "child" actor ruins most of the film. Somehow, Shazam acts more like a teenager than his "normal" self too probably is a lack of direction. Some funny moments but not enough to save this. If you're looking for a no brainer action movie with superheroes in it you could watch this, but I'd recommend Quantumania instead.

Black Adam and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

The king is dead!

Black Adam

In a fictional Middle Eastern place oppressed by Intergang (mercenary goons who apparently never flee), a dangerous artifact and a powerful being (the titular Black Adam, played by Dwayne Johnson) with the powers of Shazam are discovered and released into the world. While Adam is viewed as a savior by the locals, internationals forces feel he is a threat and send other heroes to apprehend him. Violence ensues because he's one tough cookie.

While the plot is mostly predictable here, the action scenes are a great spectacle and there are lots of them (though almost all are just of the CGI variety). I also do find it refreshing for this superhero protagonist to be super violent to the extent that he goes out of his way to kill people. Alas the main child actor is a bit weak in the acting department and suspect his "cool" skateboarding skills were meant to make up for it. Nope. At one point he tries to sneak quietly ON A SKATEBOARD. Expect silly things like that. Also the female hero was unnecessary and could have been cut from the film. Still an enjoyable flick if you turn your brain off.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

In an attempt to continue to hold monopoly on their space rock, the recently kingless Wakandians (futuristic spear wielding Africans) find themselves in conflict with the ocean city state of Talokan (futuristic spear wielding aquatic Mexicans) who happen to have space rock of their own. This results in ridiculous unnecessary pursuits, poor decisions, some flat comedy, stupid CGI battles (seriously, Black Adam's were better but at least here the are non CGI fights which are great) and a lot of bloodless violence. Did they really try make this movie for kids while also including numerous languages that you'd need to subtitle for?

The worst part is I didn't care about the characters at all. The antagonist is a moron, protagonist Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) is a whiny know it all who doesn't obey orders and so obviously she gets along with student genious Riri (Dominique Thorne) who is introduced here to setup Ironheart (As an aside: Why? Is she so weak a character she needs a movie intro? Answer: Yep). But my favorite thing to laugh at here? The aquatic Mexicans were destroying people and buildings with water balloons! 

Terrible movie. Probably better if it had focused on the bad guy as the main character, ditch the Black Panther/Wakanda title, and explained better why he didn't try harder to make friends with the surface world or just Wakanda itself. As it is the entire plot could have been solved with simple diplomacy. Not recommended.

Stargirl and Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special

Superheroes being silly.

Stargirl

This three season series follows high school student Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) as she becomes the titular hero by inheriting a powerful weapon and all the enemies that come with it. While there is the usual high school drama at the start and actors who eventually look too old to still be in school, each season improves on the last and there are really awesome action scenes, a good death count and my favorite portrayal of Sportsmaster in any DC media so far. Worth a try just to see if you'll stick to it.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special

Certainly provides holiday cheer!

In this TV length episode, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) decide to try give Starlord (Chris Pratt) a surprise gift and a memorable Christmas by going on a ridiculous quest. While definitely not mandatory viewing I still recommend it as we enjoyed it immensely, despite a few jokes falling flat and most of the Guardians just being extras. We're definitely Mantis fans now. :)

The Batman (2022) and The Invisible Guest (2016)

Two crime solving movies!

The Batman (2022)

When a smart (and ultra sneaky) villain starts murdering people and leaving riddles addressed to the Batman, the police quickly involve the in/famous masked vigilante (played by Robert Pattinson) to help solve the case. This dark and gritty Gotham is nice as are the peppering of action sequences throughout but the movie is far too long for its ultimately average plot. There are so many scenes that linger too long for no purpose and regardless of the setting or time of day, everyone aggressively whispers to each other instead of talking like normal. I also felt the music composition was a bit weak. Only recommended for Bat or R-Pat fans who might be able to endure the long running time.

The Invisible Guest (2016)

In this Spanish mystery thriller film, a man (Mario Casas) accused of murder talks to his lawyer to try establish a defense for his upcoming criminal case. There is almost zero action here and the plot makes heavy use of flashbacks yet it is leagues better than the Batman, as you get invested quickly as the plot moves at a good pace and the "puzzle" of the crime does get your mind thinking throughout. Highly recommended.

Injustice

It's Batman vs Superman. Again.

Things go badly when Superman becomes the victim of one of Joker's schemes, which apparently is possible on this version of Earth since their heroes are a bit stupid. I do like that the main plot basically puts heroes against each other, that the fight animations are quite good, and that people are dying left and right to some of the silliest things. 

Foolish alien outsmarted by a clown.

Definitely enjoyable if you just turn your brain off. The only other thing that bugged me was that they draw knuckles as black rectangles... very distracting. Anyway - if you just want to see DC heroes fight and die against each other then definitely watch this, otherwise you aren't really missing much.

Batwoman and DC's Legends of Tomorrow

Two more Arrowverse shows have come to an end.

Batwoman

This heavily LGBTQ+ three season show features the titular Batwoman as the ladies that take the mantle try to juggle fighting randomly assorted villains while maintaining a drama filled personal life filled with occasionally stupid friends and acquaintances who combined have around two inches worth of depth. The villain Alice (Rachel Skarsten) is the stand out, but that is no where near close enough to gain a recommendation from me. It's ridiculous how so many shows keep tip toeing around Batman too. If you want a Batman inspired show, just make a Batman series?

Both are silly but only one is good.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

After a floundering first season of finding their feet, the remaining six seasons really hit the right note for me with absurd humor and a pretty regular rotating door of characters, aboard a time ship of all things, mainly led by the wonderful Sara Lance (Caity Loitz) and contains surprisingly great fight choreography and occasional moments of heavy feels. Obviously the humor will be the main hit or miss factor for each viewer, and while this had become my favorite Arrowverse show others might find it totally stupid as it is the least serious of the Arrowverse catalogue. Test out the waters if you like, all I know is I'll definitely miss this one.

Peacemaker (Season 1)

"You don't wanna believe in miracles, that's on you."

I watch a lot of superhero TV series and while I can't say this is the strangest one I've seen, it comes close to having the stupidest lines ever. That's not necessarily a bad thing because this action comedy is actually all forms of great. The story follows the titular Peacemaker (well played by John Cena) as he is put in another black ops squad following the events of "The Suicide Squad" to save the day, and he makes for an excellent protagonist wanting to change his ways.

So many likeable characters!

Every episode gets better and better as there is no filler, and while the comedy is hit or miss depending on the viewer (mostly good for me) the plot, acting, and action pieces are all very good. Right from the opening credit dance number you know what you are in for, and given my wife wants us to learn it speaks volumes of how much we enjoy the show. Highly recommended, with the small caveat that you probably should watch The Suicide Squad first (which is not a chore at all as it's a good movie). Here's hoping future seasons are just as good as the first!

Wonder Woman 1984

Wishes are bad. Guess someone wished for a sequel.

When a wish granting magical stone falls into the wrong hands it is up to super heroine Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to save the world. While it has funny moments, cool effects, and the beautiful Gal Gadot, there's something very tame about the whole thing. For starters, remember how she massacred Germans in the first film which was awesome? Yeah. Not so much this time around.

Bad guys lucky day.

There's also a problem in making Wonder Woman use new skills, which she uses exactly once. Indeed the highlight for me surprisingly turned out to be Chris Pine's sections. Not really recommended, I give it two geologists out of five.