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Point-of-fact: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is an ABC show, not on NBC.

[…] From The Beat:  […]

My big concern is that they are going to swap bullseye and punisher in regards to Elektra.

I’m afraid I’ve had my fill of Bullseye, Kingpin, Elektra, Punisher and Ninjas. I read that stuff in the Frank Miller days (early ’80s) and I still have those issues and cherish them. But I don’t want to read or watch rehashes in 2016.

Mark Waid had the right idea — clearing away some of the darkness and angst, and getting back to the fun of the Stan Lee-Gene Colan days. Ant-Man and Guardians showed there’s an audience for lighter takes on superhero tales. Why can’t it work on TV?

“the television rendering of this character, while very well-acted by Jon Bernthal, fails to match the ferocity and depth of his comic book incarnation.”

Who the hell cares? Since when has the comic character been interesting? Why does the show have to be like the comic?

Is the show, and the character on the show, in and of themselves, worth a damn?

I’d say the Ennis and Aaron versions of the Punisher are very compelling. Even his appearance in Brubaker’s Daredevil was a highlight.

Thank you for posting this info. It’s a most interesting development.

Happy to hear that Flash appealed to the crucial crucial 18-49 market. I’m over 49, so I don’t count, but ironically, I was around for the first appearances of all those cool villains. And that counts for me.

I was a huge fan of the comic. Been a long time since I thought about NEC comics. Wow

I really hope they go with the Brubaker 12-issue run from a few years back. That’s such a good book and I think most of it would translate well to film.

Can’t wait to see the costume they dream up for him

Isn’t the man behind the metal mask black? THat would preclude it from being Jay Garrick, would’t it?

I thought so too at first, but then in other shots inside the case, it looked like he had blonde hair and white hands.

Yeah, I think they deliberately used dark lighting to make it difficult to tell anything about him for certain.

This is so far off, you’re out there in lala land pulling ideas from everywhere. Go watch this season again and maybe read some other sites that have much much more plausible theories. Your theory is so far out in left field. Wow

I think the man in the mask is Jay Garrick and the Lame Jay Garrick we’ve been watching is none other than Earth 2 Hunter Zolomon. That is why when they looked for earth one Jay Garrick, and found instead Hunter Zolomon ( who Lame Jay said was him but with his name changed)

That theory doesn’t hold up. If the Jay Garrick we’ve been seeing is Everyman from Earth-2, then why did his cells respond the way they did when he took Velocity? Why would he even know about it?

If he’s working for Zoom, he probably knows about it already from Jay, who in this theory is surely being interrogated and used for his speed force access.

If Hannibal copied the cells and structure of Jay’s physiology, he could presumably utilize Velocity.

The issue I have with Hunter Zolomon being more than a red herring is that we’ve already seen Jay as a hero in flashbacks on Earth 2 from Harrison’s perspective. How many people look like Teddy Sears in this scenario?

Well, there is precedent in the Flash mythos for separated-at-birth twins…

I think the man behind the iron mask is Jay Garrick, and the man who is pretending to be Jay on Earth 1 is in fact ZOOM. That’s my guess.

I think Zoom is Eddie from Earth 1. When Eddie got sucked into the singular, there was blue lightning all around him. Since Earth 2 vibrates differently, Eddie survived, became a speedster and became mentally unstable. Also explains why Reverse Flash survived). He recruited then earth 2 Hunter Zolomon (now posing as Jay Garrick) scientist to steal the real Jay Garrick’s (now imprisoned in metal mask). speed. Hunter developed velocity 6 which he tested on himself but made him ill. Hunter knowing of Zoom’s plan to steal the Flash’s speed escaped through one of the breaches posing as Jay Garrick in hope to find a cure. That’s why Zoom killed Hunter through the last breach for abandoning him on Earth 2. I actually hope this is wrong because I enjoy John Wesley Shipp in the series and hope that he is involved as Henry in some of the next episodes.

Meh. Donning the costume was, weirdly, the low point for season 1. It was too dramatic and awkward a tonal shift from what had come before. Season 2 will essentially be a completely different show in terms of tone.

NO ONE likes that costume design. I”m honestly shocked they didn’t listen to the fans and update it before season two…

Is there a “problem” with the Bechdel test? I think it serves a good purpose, but point #2, on its own, doesn’t mean that a show/film is a failure. It’s possible that you can have a couple very good female characters who never meet each other, but they pass #1 and #3

Wow. Can you comment on the reason for this article? I don’t sit around making hashmarks about my personal obsessions when I watch TV. Or read a book, see a movie, etc. The main question I have about my entertainment–is it entertaining? Entertain first. Preach second. Or never. This commentary really belongs on a personal blog, not a comics news site.

How did Age of Ultron pass? The only conversation I can recall are when Black Widow and Mrs. Hawkeye discuss the gender of the baby which was male..

Ultron passes according to this – http://bechdeltest.com/view/6217/avengers:_age_of_ultron/

I think the Madam B/Black Widow scenes would qualify it if you exclude the baby discussion

Vichus – I completely agree that a show/movie can fail this test and still be good. I also don’t think the Bechdel test is the only gauge for how well women are represented in fiction, but it’s a decent and quantitative starting point, with the assumption that there will always be exceptions where the test doesn’t really work (like Gravity). I don’t think that was the case in any of these specific episodes, though.

Oh no! Not the Flash!

Jerry, of course you don’t. If you’ve never felt marginalized, then you’re not going to feel the need to speak out or point out certain things. If two people are out on an extremely hot day and one feels fine while the other does not, whose reaction is valid and whose is not?

Colin, there are more women in the film than that.

Hannah: Yeah, the Bechdel test would also “fail” if the movie only involved one or two people. Good point.

Any time that group stereotypes are reinforced it is a public issue, not simply “a personal obsession”.

I wish that one more point could be added to the Bechdel test:

4. In a scene featuring a female character, is she fully clothed, or is she in a state of undress, or wearing clothing that is overtly revealing in some way?

I love The Flash, but it definitely wouldn’t pass this test, either.

(shudders) Voyager? (smiles) Deep Space Nine. (looks content & happy) “Star Trek” from ’67
The Star Trek decay from TOS (The Original Series ’67) to Next gen, to DSN to Voyager to Enterprise worries me.
There is an online show “Star Trek Continues” that does TOS proud.
I hope the stories are worth the hearing. People will watch anything – once.

#blessed

Thank you, Q.

[…] Bryan Fuller to showrun new STAR TREK streaming series – The Beat […]

It seems to be too early in the preacher storyline for the Meat Man. Jesse Custer’s journey looks to be very different than how it originally went. I’m afraid Humper Dumper De Doo moment will not have the profound impact like the original series.

Odin? Not Starr, who he sounds like a perfect fit for?

I would have gone way older.

A frail, small 90 year old man humping a pile of meat?
Hilarious.

I suspect that Waller’s death was management-mandated: there was a rumor, when Deadshot was killed off last season, that DC/Warner was clearing the decks and didn’t want any of the cast of the Suicide Squad movie appearing in Arrow anymore. I dismissed the theory at the time but Waller’s sudden and anticlimactic death leaves me much more inclined to believe it.

That doesn’t mean your premise isn’t valid, though; the pattern you’re describing is real, regardless of how any individual example originated or was executed. Hell, your list isn’t even exhaustive; what about last season when Oliver kidnapped Lyla, and the betrayal was explored entirely in terms of how it affected his relationship with Dig?

I think the show’s gotten better in its portrayal of its female cast, by leaps and bounds (look at where Thea and Laurel are now, for example, compared to early in the series where they were addicts and their lives were a mess), but it’s still got a long way to go.

The Suicide Squad killing rumor is interesting. If so, it’s curious they would bother to bring Katana back this week. And if so, what her fate may be in the next few episodes.

A major difference between the Barbara and Felicity comparison: after being shot, Barbara wasn’t able to be Batgirl and sought out a new manner in which to fight crime, reinventing herself as Oracle. Felicity was already in that role, so the shooting is a personal struggle. Finally giving her the title “Overwatch” could have (and should have) come at anytime beforehand.

I read your piece with great interest, particularly given the headline. You actually forgot a few instances, like when Slade Wilson killed Shado or when Sara Lance was murdered.

You also might have forgotten when Robert Queen killed his (male) aide before committing suicide. Or when Tommy Merlyn died. Or all the times Diggle has been in jeopardy. Or the two times Roy was kidnapped. Or, y’know, when Oliver was stabbed through the chest and kicked off a mountaintop.

To date, we’ve removed the eyeballs of two characters on Arrow — both male.

To date, we’ve tortured scores of people — especially Oliver — all male.

It’s hard to escape the reality that Arrow is a dark show where bad things happen — often to good people.

But your focus on what’s happened to our female characters is selective to say the least. Your ignorance of convenience also extends to turning a blind eye to the strength of Laurel Lance, Felicity Smoak, Sara Lance, Thea Queen, Helena Berinelli and Nyssa al Ghu — four of them costumed super-heroes in their own right. And we haven’t even debuted Vixen on the show.

I appreciate you watching the show. I just wish that you weren’t being so selective about it.

Interesting read. While I agree with some aspects I also disagree with others. Don’t feel like debating it though. Also, maybe it doesn’t bother me as much b/c while I love the Flash I feel like their female characters are reduced to solely love interest roles. So, I often find myself enjoying the females on Arrow more because we see them in the action. They are all strong on their own right. Arrow is also female heavy so yes the females are in danger more often thus damsel in distress feeling but men have often needed rescued as well. Roy particularly this episode. Ray an episode. And how often in the flashbacks has often been rescued by a women often Shado whether hallucinating or not. It goes both ways.

This reads to me as not coming from a place of “female characters should be treated better”, but more from “female characters should not be harmed at all–i.e., since women in real life have been legitimately treated poorly in a myriad number of ways over the centuries of human history, we should completely eliminate the suffering of women in our fiction”. The former can be a valid point; the latter is an utterly unrealistic expectation–good and bad things happen to women and men all the time, and any character, of any gender, who doesn’t experience strife of some kind in their story is, quite frankly, so uninteresting as to be pointless.

Furthermore, this particular assertion baffles me:

“….’Arrow’ isn’t interested in exploring storylines that divert attention from Oliver Queen’s journey.”

Next, I suppose you’re going to complain about how “The Flash” mistreats Caitlin Snow and Iris West because it focuses too much “attention” on *the character whose name happens to be the title of the series*. We can argue all day about how there should be more examples in TV, and particularly those adapted from comics, of shows with a female central character, but it’s, again, unrealistic to expect that any series will spend any great length of time on storylines that don’t in some way involve and draw focus to the main character. The show’s still called “Arrow”, not “Team Arrom”, and it’s still Ollie’s story at the end of the day.

1. Waller clearly sacrificed herself to save Lyla.
2. Nobody on Team Arrow actually liked Waller. She committed (or ordered) five horrible acts for every one grey/good action on this show. Giving her a big touching send off would have been very, very out of place. Diggle and Lyla may have had some respect for her, but for everyone else she was only tolerated when it was absolutely necessary. Frankly, I was surprised that they gave her a solemn toast instead of saying ‘good riddance’ and throwing a party.
3. Every male character has played damsel in distress as well. Roy much more than the rest, but Diggle, Tommy, Maseo, Ray Palmer, Yao Fei, Detective Lance, Curtis, and Oliver have all had turns. Acting like this is only a problem for the women on Arrow is hilarious.
4. Sara has died countless times? You can’t count to two? Once on the boat (she didn’t actually die then, but whatever) and once by Merlyn via Thea.
5. I felt they spent an adequate amount of time with Felicity’s feelings in last week’s episode, but the little inspirational speech Curtis gave last night rang hollow to me as well. I don’t think the narrative should revolve around her injury given this is an action-oriented superhero show, but you’re right in that it’s being glossed over and tidied up a bit too quickly.
6. That last paragraph is mostly speculation, so I’m going to leave it alone.

“At least The Killing Joke, the Batman story that crippled Barbara Gordon and inspired Felicity’s story, was willing to delve into some of the horrific emotional baggage from Barbara’s injury. ”

What? No it didn’t. The biggest flaw in The Killing Joke, that it’s roundly criticized for nowadays, is that it doesn’t deal at all with the impact it had on Barbara at all, only on the impact it had on her father (and to some degree on Batman).

Alan Moore had her crippled and sexually assaulted only to motivate the male characters. It was Kim Yale and John Ostrander who explored how Barbara felt about it.

LOLOLOL pwned by Guggenheim.

Writing a poorly researched article is NOT okay.

Comicbeat’s Alexander Jones does selective research, and it’s NOT okay.

Tried to score points with the “look at me I’m an ‘in-tune to women’s issues’ male” but was shot down with facts.

Interesting. 11 minutes is how long a number of their shows run – Adventure Time, Teen Titans Go, Steven Universe (I think) – it seems like that’s Cartoon Network’s standard unit of programming these days.

Here’s hoping that Aquaman appears on the show, is voiced by John DiMaggio, and says “Outrageous!” If they get the best version of Aquaman to ever appear in any media ever on the show then I’ll be happy…

I like how they added red to Superman’s belt, it almost makes up for the red that went away with his trunks.

“(despite seemingly retiring from the role, this, along with his return in the Arkham Knight videogame, seems to walk that back)”

Come on, Beat. His declaration was obviously a ploy to keep the best twist of Arkham Knight a secret, which paid off well.

Short attention span, moronization of children by the school system = 11 minutes

@JC Lebourdais: A typical Bugs Bunny cartoon is 6-10 minutes. Short cartoons are not a new development, and neither does a short running time mean that a cartoon is stupid or low-quality.

I think you’d like Bugs. He had trouble using the word “moron” correctly too.

The CW also has iZombie, unless that has been cancelled.

So now the Punisher is a hottie? Why not? :p

I live in a time where all my heroes, from both DC and Marvel are on big screens. This! Is! Paradise!