It’s that time of week again; round 2 of our fun, yet harmless, mailbag questions. Before we get started I’d like to commend this young nerd for his enthusiastic welcome speech to Georgia Tech freshmen. Seriously it’s one of the best speeches I’ve seen. It’s funny and empowering. If you haven’t watched it, you need to. Let’s just say I will always want an orchestra to be behind me if I ever have to give a speech in the future. It really adds to the moment.
Anyway, let’s get to it.
Kari writes: How do you feel about Peter Capaldi?
For anyone who doesn’t know us personally, this is my wife trying to throw a wrench in the gears as none of us watch Doctor Who. Good one honey. While I’ve never watched the show (promise we will watch it together so I can become a whovian), I have seen a couple of episodes with different doctors (David Tennant and Matt Smith). While they are both completely different, they are still one in the same. They each added their own quirks to the doctor, but at the same time their wit and humor seem to be the same. I know I’m probably way off here, but just from one or two episodes from different seasons the writers for the show have not changed, and while the actors have changed and each put their little spins on the doctor, the baseline character has not changed completely. I say all this to say, from my perception, that you are either in one of two boats. You hate that Smith is gone, and you’re questioning coming back because of the new doctor or you’re optimistic about Peter Capaldi and what he could bring to the doctor and thought it was time for Smith to move on. My question is, with it being an older Doctor how many in the 18-35 year olds demographic are going to be tuned in and stay tuned in? Other than that, he seems to be a good guy. I don’t really know him. – Cody (Your loving husband)
Josh Davis asks: “Why don’t villains ever want to get laid?”
The short answer is, because they’re too distracted to see that’s an option. They’re typically too obsessed with world-domination and greed to realize that buying Mystique a couple of Blue Hawaiian’s might help them score a one night (Last) stand. Also, they’re typically very ugly or psychotic. Look at batman’s rogues gallery: Joker, Two-face, The Riddler, Penguin, Mr. Freeze. Short of hooking up with a crazed I-Write-Love-Letters-To-Serial-Killers-Because-Only-I-Understand-Them-Also-I-Have-52-cats kind of gal (which at least a couple of these guys has done), they’re just not packing the mental prowess and physical superiority to close the deal on a classy lady. – Stephen
Nathan Daugherty ponders: “In your opinions, who are the worst (for whatever reason) characters created in the DC/Marvel universes?”
Honestly we all had varying opinions on this, and mostly got hung up on heroes and not so much villains. We went with more popular characters that we think are terrible, just because if we mention a character like Water Wizard most people would be clueless. Here’s our answers…
Bill– I would have to say that my most hated superhero is Hulk. I just feel like he is a nuisance and an unneeded loose cannon in the Marvel Universe. My main problem with him is, his power only works when it’s convenient. And it seems like Marvel just gave him everything, they even once tried throwing him into the sun and that didn’t even kill him. If Hulk is on the good guys side, its just a dead give away that we are going to see the Hulk win. Marvel gave him everything, so I give him my most hated award
Cam– I was going to say Aquaman because Bill just loves him so much, but as I began to think about it I realized that there are some really stupid characters out there. The one that I just hated for some reason is Zatanna, the magician. Alex Ross’ Justice League run has some beautiful artwork, and her sitting there in her ridiculous top-hat/tuxedo combo was completely jarring. In one frame you have beautiful watercolors of some of the most iconic characters, and right beside them is this ridiculous lady dressed like a cheap magician you would rent for your kid’s birthday party if you hated them
Robbie– I’m going with Daredevil. The fact that he is blind is kind of cool I guess, but is really just ridiculous. I don’t see anything real appealing as far as his powers outside of his generic fighting skill set or heightened senses like every other superhero. Daredevil is just boring in my opinion. My answer may or may not also be influenced slightly by the recent news that Ben Affleck is the new Batman. On a side note, The Hulk is my runner up for most hated superhero.
Stephen—Aquaman. I know how generic it is to say that Aquaman is your most hated superhero, but I swear to you I tried to think of a character more ineffective and unnecessary. I just can’t. He communicates with fish. That’s his most renowned superpower. There’s literally no catastrophic event that would be thwarted by aquatic telekinesis. PetSmart Fish department assistant manager? Yes. Superhero? Absolutely not.
Cody– This is going to crush some of you, but I’m going with another “A” man. Antman. He is the land version of Aquaman. These are his powers (directly quoted from Marvel) “Has the ability to shrink to roughly the size of an ant, also can communicate telepathically with insects, and (as Ant-Man) can punch with as much force as a normal sized person” If I were picking a team of super heroes, I’d definitely want this guy. He can punch as hard as me, and can talk to roaches! Awesome.
That’s all we have time for today(because we all work 40 hour a week jobs.. except for Bill). Thanks for your awesome questions and we hope you’ll join us for our questions from The Nerdery.