What a crazy time of year. With D23 leading directly into San Diego Comic-Con the news just pours in. Luckily Julian, Daniel and Jeremy are all back together to unpack it all for you. Starting with the Emmy nominations then moving into a Disney heavy movie news segment. The guys also discuss some new Young Justice details as well as break down the rumour of a possible N64 Classic. All that and so much more in this week's Tower of Babble Podcast.

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Show Notes

Emmy Nominations

Predictions for who we WANT to win and who we think WILL win.

Movies

George A. Romero passed away at the age of 77 due to lung cancer.
Quinton Tarantino has revealed what his next film will be. Sources close to THR report that Tarantino will write and direct a film based on the Manson murders with rumours of Brad Pitt and J Law in talks to join the project.
D23 happened last weekend and at the big Disney convention they revealed the full cast of Aladdin:
- Mena Massoud will play Aladdin, Naomi Scott (Power Rangers) will play Jasmine. They also confirmed that Will Smith will play Genie with Guy Ritchie directing.
Disney also revealed some information about their new Dumbo movie:
- Tim Burton is attached to direct with the film set to release in March 2019.
- The cast will include Colin Farrell, Danny Devito, Eva Green, Michael Keaton, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins.
Director Brad Bird revealed at D23 that the main cast of The Incredibles will reprise their roles for the sequel. Except for Spencer Fox who played Das who is now too old.
Star Wars: Edge of the Galaxy.
- Star Wars “Westworld type” hotel.
Wreck it Ralph 2 goes to the internet with more video game companies on board and ALL the Disney princesses.
Fox is apparently “reevaluating" the Alien franchise.
Variety is reporting that Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts is in talks to direct the sequel.
Variety is also reporting that the Sony spinoff movies will be very distinct and possibly be R rated if it fits the project.
- Rumours are saying that the Venom movie will be a John Carpenter/David Cronenberg-esque horror film.
Speaking to Variety Mark Ruffalo who plays Bruce Banner/Hulk in the MCU clarified, AGAIN, that we won't get a solo Hulk movie because Universal owns the rights.
According to sources at THR, Warner Bros is apparently working on a “graceful” way to transition Ben Affleck’s Batman out of the DCEU.
Speaking to Yahoo! Movies Geoff Johns revealed that Dwayne Johnson will not be appearing in the Shazam movie.
Todd McFarlane has announced a new Spawn movie and that he will be directing it.
At the end of the Legion panel, creator Noah Hawley dropped the mic by revealing he was working on a film with Fox with only two words “Doctor. Doom.”

Agree or Disagree

Speaking to Indiewire, Christopher Nolan had some pretty pointed stuff to say about Netflix and their release strategy.

TV

A new trailer for The Defenders was revealed at SDCC along with the premiere episode.
Iron Fist season 2 was announced at The Defenders panel.
At Comic-Con new images were revealed for Young Justice season 3 showing off new character designs for the main cast.

Games

Telltale announced that the fourth and FINAL season of their Walking Dead series will be released in 2018.
Nintendo has filed a trademark application for various game controllers. One of which being for the N64 which have sparked rumours that the company is starting on its next mini-console.
Kingdom Hearts 3 coming in 2018

Comics

Grant Morrison revealed at Comic-Con that he is working on a sequel to his acclaimed graphic novel "Arkham Asylum: A serious House on a Serious Earth".

What We've Been Watching/Playing

War for the Planet of the Apes
Baby Driver
Spider-Man: Homecoming

Nerd Association

Theme: Comic-Con

Round 1: Comic-Con
Round 2: Comic Book
Round 3: Comic Creators

May 9, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 E7 - 9

When dealing in the world of prequels, it’s impossible to escape the inevitable - Anakin will fall, Han will win the Falcon, Cassian will die on Scarif. Somehow, in the midst of some of the most thrilling episodes of television ever put to screen, Tony Gilroy and his team found a way to address that impending doom and weaponize it against the audience to induce some of the most gut wrenching and heart breaking moments we’ve yet to see on ‘Andor’ - “There’s some place he needs to be”. At a larger scale, the show continues to outdo itself on a weekly basis, proving that the Star Wars galaxy provides a colour pallet of some of the richest hues from which to paint bold and personal stories. Proving you can go beyond the larger than life stories of heroics and grandeur to human stories of loss and pain and everything in between. That’s without mentioning the deft touch in pulling in themes that resonates with the contemporary while remaining timeless - a feeling that is a staple of Star Wars. Every detail is considered, every character is deep and interesting. There isn’t much more that can be said about such a powerful piece of art, except that not even the audience can escape the inevitable - only one week remains of this masterpiece.

May 2, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 E4 - 6

I'm sorry to tell you all, but we're already halfway through this final season of 'Andor'. Fortunately, the quality hasn't dipped one bit as we accelerate into the finish. Join Julian and Rachel as they savour every minute of this 3-episode arch that takes us to Ghorman for the first time on screen. Tony Gilroy and the team at Lucasfilm outdid themselves yet again in crafting every detail. The size of the set alone is impressive, but they take it a step further by developing a unique culture and even language different from anything we've seen in Star Wars before. It all fits seamlessly into this next chapter of the story that has a heavy emphasis on spycraft as the pressure ramps up for both the Rebellion and the Empire.

Apr 24, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 Premiere

It's been a long time since Cassian Andor and his band of Rebel compatriots has graced our TV screens. A long hiatus, no doubt, but when you look into WHY this second season took so long the reason becomes clear - they were dotting every "i" and crossing every "t" (along with dealing with the writers and actors strikes, growing and harvesting ancient grains, hand stitching wedding dresses, the list goes on...) to make sure that this isn't just good Star Wars, but indeed the maybe the BEST Star Wars (I'm partially convinced that it may be the best we may ever get actually). Season 2 roars to life in it's first of four, 3-episode drops (essentially a movie a week for a month), not wasting any time picking up with our characters a year after the events of season 1. The sheer scale, scope, and commitment to its heavy themes is laudable, but when combined with the masterful set design, costuming, writing, and acting, you can't help but to stare, mouth agape, at this singular piece bold storytelling, that will likely go down as Tony Gilroy's largest contribution to popular culture, and deservedly so. Join Julian and Rachel as they unpack it all. It's going to be one hell of a ride!

Apr 2, 2025

Bonus Episode - ToB Film Club - Constantine (2005) + Special Announcement

Hard to believe that 'Constantine' came out 20 years ago. That being said, as the movie tells us, time stops when you're dead, so what IS 20 years anyway? And as long as we're asking questions, the biggest one related to this movie is "why was it a flop?". Julian and Jeremy try to answer that very question, as well as unpack this extremely dense film that makes no effort to hold the audience's hand. And despite some rocky elements, 'Constantine' holds up as a surprisingly comic accurate rendition of the titular character, even if we weren't aware of it when it first released. Keanu, despite missing some of the obvious character flourishes like the blond hair and a British accent, is still able to capture the essence of the character: an extremely talented magician/occultist, with tortured soul (literally), who's a bit of a dick, and loves a good smoke. All in all, it's a pretty fun ride, and an example of movies that just aren't really made anymore (despite rumours of a sequel) from a different era of Hollywood and comic book movie making.

Episode 101 - Comic-Con and More