You know, things were a lot easier, back when you could tell whether someone was a Nazi or not a Nazi. Then X-Men: First Class came along, and all of a sudden, everything was on the table.
Luckily, this week, Trevor Bolliger and I dissect First Class, the 2011 violent rom-com about doomed romance on the high seas, and we try to make sense of this thrilling and utterly bizarre reboot.
We discuss Nazi coins, nuclear missiles, and most importantly: What is happening with women in this movie?
To make things easier for you, the podcast episodes are split into three parts according to the Syd Field three-act structure, and released separately over the course of the week. The episodes are fast, funny and full of surprises, and if you haven’t tried it yet, then my prediction is that you’ll love it.
The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible, Stitcher and lots of other places. Welcome to my facility!
Here’s act 2:
And act 3:
Coming up next week on the podcast: the 1997 Shaquille O’Neal Superman-adjacent film Steel!
Next episode:
the 1997 Shaquille O’Neal Superman-adjacent box office bomb
Steel!
— Danny Horn
Superheroes Every Day 
Thanks for putting the podcasts on YouTube. It appeared there very early this morning.
I’m fascinated that the name Sebastian Shaw keeps appearing in pop culture. There is, of course, Christopher Pennock’ s Dark Shadows character, but there’s also the English actor who played the unmasked Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. I thought perhaps the X-Men villain was an homage to him but he was introduced in the comics 2 years before the movie came out. I also read the character was based on the actor Robert Shaw. I guess it’s just a coincidence.
What is the song that you’re using at the opening of the podcast? All that’s listed is Walk, Don’t Run, which I heard at the end.
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It’s “Glow in the Dark”, by David Garza. I’m glad you’re listening to the podcast!
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I just checked. That IS the David Garza my wife and her sister went to school with in Irving.
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What happened to the rest of the Man of Steel podcasts? I don’t remember seeing them announced here. 🤷
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They’re all under Episode 1: Man of Steel. There aren’t separate emails for them.
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Ah, thank you!
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Yeah, I’m updating the episode post when the second and third acts come out. I’m posting new episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!
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As for how Erik knew where in Argentina to go, the banker also told him the name of the villa there.
I can’t believe that this movie came out 12 years ago! It seems more recent than that, but at the same time so regressive given its treatment of women.
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I’m glad you gave so much love to Nicholas Hoult. This was the movie where I discovered him too. McAvoy and Fassbender are pretty enough, but Hoult is definitely the prettiest.
I’m surprised though with all the discussion of Charles and Erik’s romantic relationship that you hardly had anything to say about the two of them in bed together with a stripper about to strip for them. That was the scene that really raised my eyebrows back in 2011 as one of the most blatantly homoerotic scenes in a superhero movie up to that point.
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For some odd reason, I thought it was Gary Cole who played Sebastian Shaw. 🤔
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I was unclear if y’all read 1980’s X-Men and the extremely horny take on the Hellfire Club in those comics. My intro to X-Men included issues with the lead women of the org wearing lingerie and a cape in every panel as formal wear. Absolutely thought I was getting away with something reading X-Men at this juncture.
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I remember it very well! Emma Peel did it first in The Avengers TV show and if memory serves, there really was a Hellfire Club that served as the inspiration for the comic.
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It was a ride figuring out over the years how much stuff Chris Claremont (how do you say politely?) was inspired by for the pages of X-Men.
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You asked why the girl with the insect/fairy wings was code-named Angel. Wasn’t that her stripper name?
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