The DCU Is Selling Genre, Not Spectacle
James Gunn's new DC slate sells genre, not spectacle. Why the strategy remains the most interesting bet in studio filmmaking after Supergirl's opening weekend.
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Pop culture
He-Man was always a little bit ours. The new movie is finally in on the joke.
A blond barbarian in a fur loincloth pulls a sword from the air, shouts a magic phrase, and transforms into a bigger, oilier, more powerful version of himself.…
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The Body That Fights Back: What a 1992 Kids' Cartoon Understood About Passing
The first horror in "Feat of Clay" arrives in a mirror, long before any clay. Batman: The Animated Series opened its first multi-part origin with a washed-up actor…
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Superman Is for Everyone. That Is, in Fact, the Entire Point.
Last summer's Superman did the only thing the character has ever asked of him: he took the side of the people who were being told they didn't belong.…
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Aging Out of the Cowl: What Batman Beyond Knew About the Cost of Being the Strong, Silent Type
Batman Beyond opens with one of the saddest images in animation: Bruce Wayne, brittle and alone, finally outmatched by a body that won't do the thing he taught…
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Richard Gadd Keeps Casting Himself as the Man Being Watched
Half Man arrived this spring. The anti-hero era never ended; it just learned to look at itself.
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Spider-Man Was the First Gig Worker on Television. We Just Didn't Have the Word for It Yet.
A skinny twenty-something photographs himself nearly dying, walks five blocks to the only buyer in town, and gets lowballed by a man who profits from his peril. The…
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