Now Playing Podcast Presents: The Marvel Retrospective Series

Struggling actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman) hides his destructive ionic powers to land his dream role as Wonder Man in this 2026 Disney+ series. But can Iron Man 3’s Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) really expect to shed his Mandarin image if he’s gonna villainously turn his super-scene partner into the Department of Damage Control? And shouldn’t Hollywood be giving an Oscar to anyone who can permanently show Josh Gad the door? Listen Now to learn if showrunner Andrew Guest (Brooklyn 99) found the real man inside this Stan Lee creation.

It’s a Brand New Day for Tom Holland now that everyone has magically forgotten Peter Parker, and Spider-Man is once again anonymously ridding New York City of criminals like Scorpion and The Hand. But is the workaholic web-slinger turning into something socially unacceptable by suppressing his feelings? And will his genetic mutation qualify him for Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters if he can’t go to MIT with MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon)? Find out if Punisher (Jon Bernthal) or Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) have any fatherly advice when you Listen Now!

Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) worries that his life has no purpose after putting down the crime family that murdered his wife and two children in an ultra-violent 2026 Marvel Television Special. Could there be One Last Kill for Punisher to perform after sitcom mom Judith Light (Who’s the Boss) sets a bounty that brings every criminal in Little Italy to the vigilante’s door? Hide your kids, lock up your dog, and take that donut and coffee to go, as you join Justin, Arnie, and Stuart for the bloodiest street bawl ever started on Disney+. Listen Now!

Avengers Series Episode 53

Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) returns from her Wakanda Forever semester abroad to learn she’s lost her Tony Stark grant money and is being kicked out of MIT in the 2025 Disney+ miniseries Ironheart. Is the young inventor so desperate to fund the overhaul of her robot suit that she’d partner with possessed Chicago hood Anthony Ramos (Hamilton)? And how much help will the superhero receive from a magic candy store, an A.I. program designed to look like her dead BFF, and pushover Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story)? Find Out Now!

Avengers Series Episode 52

Kathryn Hahn (Glass Onion) realizes she’s Agatha All Along after breaking the TV show spell put on her by Wanda Maximoff in a 2024 Disney+ miniseries. But can this prickly loner forge a coven with Broadway legend Patti LuPone and deadly Aubrey Plaza (White Lotus) that has the power to access a mythic, wish-granting Witches’ Road? Or did her dream to reconnect with her dead child come true the minute a nameless, hexed teenager (Joe Locke) joined her quest? Listen Now to hear if Justin, Stuart, and Arnie sing the praises of this WandaVision sequel.

Avengers Series Episode 51

Now Playing Podcast has been overrun by Marvel Zombies just in time for Halloween, and somehow it’s all up to Jersey brat Kamala Khan (aka Ms Marvel) to save the day. Can she transmit an S.O.S. to allies in space before Shang-Chi, Red Guardian, Spider-Man, Thor, Riri “Ironheart” Williams, and dozens of other Avengers are overtaken by an undead horde commanded by Scarlet Witch? And why is Blade choosing to trick-or-treat in Moon Knight cosplay? Learn if Arnie, Justin, and Stuart find any Braaains in this 2025 animated miniseries when you Listen Now.

Avengers Series Episode 50

The MCU takes its First Steps into Phase Six by bringing comic’s premiere family, The Fantastic Four, back into the fold. But was newborn Franklin also mutated by the cosmic storm that stretched the talents of Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), disappeared Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), got Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) rock hard, and made Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) so hot? And how well does Silver Surfer Julia Garner (Ozark) herald the arrival of big boss Galactus (Ralph Ineson)? Hear “The Terrific Trio” of Arnie, Justin, and Stuart break it all down for you now!

Avengers Series Episode 49

Marvel Studios turns to treacherous CIA director Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld) to help them identify New Avengers to replace their most iconic superheroes, and carry the franchise forward. But will longtime MCU fans buy a ticket (or even a box of Wheaties) for a ragtag assembly of antiheroes known as the Thunderbolts? Listen Now to find out if former Black Widow Florence Pugh, her drunken surrogate father David Harbour, newly elected Congressman Sebastian Stan, bitter super soldier Wyatt Russell, and barely there Hannah John-Kamen can pull it off.

Avengers Series Episode 48

Anthony Mackie still sports his Falcon wings as he steps into the role of Captain America, and navigates a Brave New World of political intrigue without first Avenger Chris Evans. Should he give a vote of confidence to new President Harrison Ford by helping the ailing politician soften the “Hulk Hunter” image earned when played by William Hurt? Or is everyone in Washington DC being led on by Tim Blake Nelson, whose musical mind-control threatens to destabilize global efforts to peacefully bring adamantium to the MCU? Listen Now to learn if Red Hulk’s a smash!

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Spider-Man Series Episode 15

Aaron Taylor-Johnson stuffs and mounts his previous Marvel characters, Kick-Ass and Quicksilver, to make room on his mantle for the prized role of Kraven The Hunter. But before the expert tracker can find his way into a movie with nemesis Spider-Man, he’ll face off with a stampede of super-villains, including The Rhino (Alessandro Nivola), Chameleon (Fred Hechinger), and an angry lion definitely not voiced by Blue Ivy Carter. Find out if Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Ariana DeBose help salvage Sony’s radioactive Spider-Verse. Listen Now.

And Enter to Win one of FIVE digital copies of Venom: The Last Dance.

Get one entry by joining our Facebook Listener’s Group, and a second entry by subscribing to the Now Playing Podcast weekly newsletter!

You have until Dec 22, 2024 to enter. Winners will be announced Dec 27, 2024

From Sony:

Tom Hardy returns in VENOM: THE LAST DANCE, the final film of the epic trilogy. Hailed by critics as “a wild and exhilarating ride” and “a spectacular showdown you don’t want to miss,” watch VENOM: THE LAST DANCE – available to buy or rent on digital now. Rated PG-13.

Spider-Man Series Episode 14

Tom Hardy has a Last Dance with his shadow self Venom as the symbiotic pair hot step across the country evading Chewitel Ejiofer (Serenity) and alien enthusiast Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) in the trilogy’s 2024 conclusion. Is there something extra about the black ooze E.T. that makes him a target for both the US military and imprisoned space elf Andy Serkis? And are the bickering fugitives better off locked up in Area 51 rather than trying to get from a Mexican dive bar to a Lady Liberty photo op with a pack of monsters on their tail? Listen and Find Out Now!

Avengers Series Episode 47

Ryan Reynolds makes a big gambit to save the MCU from the Phase Four doldrums by reviving Hugh Jackman and the rest of 20th Century Fox’s stable of discarded superheroes for a 2024 blowout. But will Disney prune Deadpool & Wolverine from the sacred timeline once the vulgar assassin and his cranky man crush start letting blood and R-rated words fly? Maybe audiences are okay with Professor X’s twin sister Emma Corrin (The Crown) wiping out everything that’s happened since Endgame? Skate uphill with MFs Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie to find out now!

Avengers Series Episode 46

Alaqua Cox leaves New York City to reinvent herself as a Native American superhero, but that won’t stop her bad deeds in Hawkeye from coming back on her like an Echo. Can Maya Lopez restore honor to her Choctaw ancestors by baiting her abusive surrogate father, Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), into a rematch on Oklahoma home soil? And does the deaf character’s preference to let action speak louder than words translate into the bloodiest Disney+ effort yet? Hear what Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart think about this 2024 MCU miniseries when you Listen Now!

Avengers Series Episode 45

Tom Hiddleston keeps on slippin’ slippin’ into the future (as well as 19th Century Chicago) in the concluding season of his Disney+ series Loki. Can Oscar winner Ke Huy Quon stop the Norse God from glitching everywhere all at once by making dramatic repairs to the space loom that weaves time together? And will Jonathan Majors remain an ongoing MCU presence after being convicted of offscreen villainy, or must Owen Wilson and the TVA Minutemen purge the actor from official Marvel canon? Don’t waste a second looking for the answers. Just listen now!

Spider-Man Series Episode 13

Dakota Johnson is clairvoyant EMT Madame Web, the only one who sees a future for marginal Spider-Man characters starring in their own Sony features. Can the fashionista paramedic protect a trio of teenage girls, including Sydney Sweeney (White Lotus), from toxic “ceiling guy” Tahar Rahim? And does the presence of Adam Scott (Severance) in this ambulance mean the actress is less than 50 Shades from Aunt May? Find out if Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart will perform the compressions to bring this DOA superhero flick back to life when you Listen Now!

Avengers Series Episode 44

Brie Larson mixes it up for the sequel to her 2019 Captain Marvel debut by bringing estranged niece Teyonah Parris (WandaVision) and gushing fangirl Iman Vellani (Ms Marvel) into her 2023 Marvels adventure. Can the trio stop trading places long enough to thwart a hammer-wielding Kree (Zawe Ashton) from disrupting the Skrull peace negotiations? And have the years Sam Jackson spent assembling the Avengers prepared him for a mother-Flerken job herding cats in space? Listen to find out if Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob are annihilators of the MCU’s 33rd movie.

Avengers Series Episode 43

Sam Jackson returns from the far corners of the cosmos to help extra-terrestrial bud Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) stop a Secret Invasion of Earth by shape-shifting Skrulls. Are White House envoy Don Cheadle and MI-6 agent Olivia Colman smart to discount the aged Avenger after he broke his promise to find these radicalized aliens a new planet to inhabit? And is Nick Fury keeping other surprises about his personal life, and his time in space, tucked underneath that eye patch? Listen Now as Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart expose the truth about this 2023 Disney+ miniseries!

Avengers Series Episode 42

Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) sees her dreams of headlining a fun lawyer show get contaminated after cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) accidentally turns her into She-Hulk. Does being a giant green hothead help the Attorney At Law win high profile cases for celebrity clients like Megan Thee Stallion and Abomination (Tim Roth)? Or will the super-prosecutor be convicted in the court of popular opinion after haters launch a nasty social media campaign against her? Learn how angry Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob get about the 2022 Disney+ series now!

Avengers Series Episode 41

16-year-old cosplayer Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) fulfills her ambition to be like idol Brie Larson after she straps on her great-grandmother’s magic bracelet, and becomes Ms. Marvel in a 2022 Disney+ miniseries. Can the fledgling superhero heal generational trauma dating back to Pakistan’s split from India by stopping supernatural family members from opening The Veil of Noor, and wiping out life on Earth? And how will the self-described “brown girl from Jersey City” honor Muslim tradition while following her cosmic dreams? Listen and find out.

Spider-Man Series Episode 12

Miles Morales swings Across The Spider-Verse to reconnect with best friend Gwen Stacey five years after collecting the Oscar for his first animated adventure. Has the superhero jeopardized the structural integrity of everything by refusing to be the self-sacrificing Spider-Man we’ve seen in so many previous comic books and movies? And do new friends Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) and Spider-Man India (Karan Soni) widen this story’s appeal? Find out if the sequel hits The Spot for Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob when you Listen Now!