Now Playing Presents: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie Retrospective Series

By Venganza Media Inc.

TV & Film

What's Now Playing Presents: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie Retrospective Series about?

The Avengers exploded on movie screens after a massive multi-movie strategy begun with Iron Man in 2008. The gambit paid off and the MCU is one of the top-grossing film franchises of all time. Now, join the Now Playing Podcast reviewers watch and review all The MCU films, including their early appearances in film and television, all the way through weekend-of-release reviews as new installments are released!

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Spider-Man: No Way Home

12.22.2021

Peter Parker fears there’s No Way Home to his happy life with MJ (Zendaya) after Dr. Strange casts a magic spell that brings all the previous Spider-Man heroes and villains into the MCU. Is it Tom Holland’s responsibility to fix ...

Now Playing Presents: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie Retrospective Series episodes:

12.22.2021 Spider-Man: No Way Home Peter Parker fears there’s No Way Home to his happy life with MJ (Zendaya) after Dr. Strange casts a magic spell that brings all the previous Spider-Man heroes and villains into the MCU. Is it Tom Holland’s responsibility to fix ...
11.09.2021 Eternals Eons before the assembly of the Avengers, ten celestial caretakers known as Eternals came together to protect and guide human development on Earth. Did Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) deviate too much from the Marvel formula in telling the secret ...
11.03.2021 Loki (Season 1) Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob played a nasty trick on listeners when they pulled Loki from the Summer 2021 schedule at the last minute. Now they make up for lost time by diving into the first six episodes of Tom Hiddleston’s ...
09.08.2021 Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Could the next Legend of the Marvel Cinematic Universe be an unassuming San Francisco parking valet who prefers late night karaoke to taking down his father's infamous Ten Rings terrorist cell? Martial artist Shang Chi is ready to answer the ...
08.31.2021 Join us at NowPlayingPodcast.com for our new The Haunting (1963) retrospective series! Find over 1,000 in-depth movie reviews at NowPlayingPodcast.com
07.13.2021 Black Widow Scarlett Johansson breaks away from the Avengers after seven Marvel movies together so that her Russian secret agent Black Widow can finally headline her first solo adventure. Will Natasha Romanoff wipe the red from her ledger by hunting down the ...
05.12.2021 The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Anthony Mackie shields himself from the pressure of becoming the next Captain America by taking to the sky as The Falcon for Marvel’s second Disney+ miniseries, and it’s made Sebastian Stan angry enough to relapse back into The Winter Soldier. ...
03.17.2021 WandaVision It wasn’t so long ago that Elizabeth Olsen was blowing up the big screen in epic films like Avengers: Endgame. What curse has befallen her career that Scarlet Witch is now slumming it in a cheesy sitcom called WandaVision? Is ...
07.10.2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home Movie Review Peter Parker leaves his friendly neighborhood Spider-Man alter ego behind for a journey Far From Home meant to alleviate the loss of mentor Tony Stark. But S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury won’t let the 16-year-old tourist shirk his Avenger duties while ...
05.01.2019 Avengers: Endgame It was inevitable that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would reach an Endgame after producing 21 blockbusters over the course of 11 years. Can Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye undo the devastation of Thanos’ Infinity War ...
03.13.2019 Captain Marvel Before they reach their End Game, Marvel Studios takes audiences back to where it all began for S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Nick Fury (Samuel “Mother-Flerken” Jackson) - a 1995 close encounter with Captain Marvel. Can Brie Larson’s space invader rectify where her ...
07.11.2018 Ant-Man and The Wasp The box office for 2015’s Ant-Man might be considered small in comparison to other Avengers films, but Marvel banks that the second Paul Rudd adventure will make a bigger impact on the big screen thanks to The Wasp. Are the ...
05.02.2018 Avengers: Infinity War Ten years ago Marvel Comics gambled their entire existence, using all their remaining IP as collateral, on the idea that they could make superhero films better than anyone else. 18 movies later, Marvel Studios makes their biggest bet yet - ...
05.01.2018 Avengers: Infinity War Ten years ago Marvel Comics gambled their entire existence, using all their remaining IP as collateral, on the idea that they could make superhero films better than anyone else. 18 movies later, Marvel Studios makes their biggest bet yet - ...
02.20.2018 Black Panther Chadwick Boseman bounds to the screen as Black Panther - the latest Marvel superhero to leap from comic pages into his own blockbuster movie. Will the newly crowned African Avenger continue to hide his technologically-advanced kingdom from the exploitative Western ...
11.08.2017 Thor: Ragnarok The God of Thunder was ready to change his image after Now Playing and so many others hammered his solo films as the silliest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Third effort Ragnarok not only puts Thor in the arena with ...
09.05.2017 Inhumans Marvel's Inhumans are the result of combining alien DNA with humans. In that way they're neither human nor alien, they're inhuman. Likewise Marvel's Inhumans is a halfbreed--it's neither television nor film. It is the TV series pilot premiering this weekend ...
07.11.2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming Spider-Man has finally come home! While Marvel Studios started without its most popular characters, an agreement between studios (aided by some North Korean hackers) has now made it so Marvel's most super of heroes, Spider-Man, can stand alongside the other ...
05.10.2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 James Gunn defied all expectations. 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy was the first Marvel studios film to go cosmic, and with stars like a raccoon and a talking tree, it could have easily crashed. Instead it has become many fans' ...
11.09.2016 Doctor Strange Fourteen movies into the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes the Strangest movie yet -- Doctor Strange. This film eschews all the other movies' science fiction basis to bring that magic feeling to the franchise. Can lauded actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, ...
05.11.2016 Captain America: Civil War Is this movie Captain America 3 or Avengers 3? Cap is back and he’s brought the whole team. Iron Man, Ant-Man, Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and half a dozen other costumed heroes appear–to fight! At issue is the UN ...
07.22.2015 Ant-Man The second phase of Marvel Studios' Cinematic Universe is going out small. Compared to their other Phase 2 films, the hero is smaller, the budget is smaller, the box office is smaller. But it's a big moment as comics' final ...
07.21.2015 Ant-Man The second phase of Marvel Studios' Cinematic Universe is going out small. Compared to their other Phase 2 films, the hero is smaller, the budget is smaller, the box office is smaller. But it's a big moment as comics' final ...
05.05.2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron The 2015 summer movie season kicks off in a big way with the next Marvel Cinematic Universe film Avengers: Age of Ultron. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye are back in front of the camera, ...
08.05.2014 Guardians of the Galaxy When teased at the end of Thor: The Dark World, the Guardians of the Galaxy looked like a bunch of a-holes. But this past weekend Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot proved their worth with a heroic opening weekend ...
08.04.2014 Guardians of the Galaxy When teased at the end of Thor: The Dark World, the Guardians of the Galaxy looked like a bunch of a-holes. But this past weekend Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot proved their worth with a heroic opening weekend ...
04.08.2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier The First Avenger is back in the latest film from the unstoppable Marvel Cinematic Universe. With a mysterious new assassin out to kill Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. turning on him, it's up to the Star Spangled man along with his ...
11.12.2013 Thor: The Dark World It will be 2015 before the Avengers assemble on the big screen again, but Disney and Marvel will fill that time with films focusing on individual Avengers and their disassembled heroics. Earlier this year we had Iron Man 3, and ...
05.07.2013 Iron Man 3 The Avengers broke box office records taking in more at the US box office in the opening weekend than any other film. With such popularity the world was primed for a follow-up. Now, almost one year to the day later, ...
05.06.2012 The Avengers THE AVENGERS! Breaking worldwide box office records this super-hero team-up is a film that seems impossible to make, and yet they did! After a year of reviewing movies based on Marvel Comics characters, listen to Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob's review ...
05.01.2012 Captain America: The First Avenger By the summer of 2011 fans were ready for Avengers, but Marvel Studios still had some groundwork to lay before they could assemble. And in July the final character, the First Avenger, was introduced to audiences. But the fifth film ...
04.24.2012 Thor In three films Marvel had created a cinematic universe based on science. Iron Man used advanced technology to power an armored suit; Bruce Banner used genetic manipulation and medicine to create The Incredible Hulk. But in their fourth film leading ...
04.17.2012 Iron Man 2 The first Iron Man film set the gold (and red) standard for Marvel superheroes in movies, but Marvel Studios knew the pressure was high to build up to The Avengers so just two years later Iron Man 2 was released. ...
04.10.2012 The Incredible Hulk Mere months after Iron Man went supersonic at the box office Marvel's second issue of its Avengers movie series smashed its way into theaters--The Incredible Hulk! But after Ang Lee's film disappointed just a few years earlier Hulk's biggest enemy ...
04.03.2012 Iron Man Who would win in a fight, Thor or the Hulk? In comic books, team-ups are the stuff of legend, fulfilling geeky desires while also increasing comic sales. But what can easily be done on the page is not so easy ...
03.27.2012 Hulk First Blade, then X-Men, then Spider-Man...Marvel's summer blockbuster films were just getting bigger and bigger, so expectations were high when Hulk smashed out of the small screen and into a big screen feature film. Directed by Ang Lee, coming right ...
03.20.2012 The Death of the Incredible Hulk A new science experiment holds the key to curing David Banner of the Hulk, but a group of terrorists plan to steal the device and the scientists who created it. In Death of the Incredible Hulk television audiences said goodbye ...
03.13.2012 The Trial of the Incredible Hulk After Thor and Hulk was a smash hit in the ratings another Hulk movie was quickly approved. David Banner is arrested for a murder he didn't commit, set up by crime Kingpin Wilson Fisk, and the only one who believes ...
03.06.2012 The Incredible Hulk Returns In 1987 The Incredible Hulk Returns and he brought a friend with him--Thor! Comic book crossovers are the thing of geek legend. Everyone wants to know who will win in a fight, Batman or Spider-Man. But due to licensing issues, ...
03.02.2012 The Return of the Incredible Hulk (Death in the Family) In November 1977, The Incredible Hulk premiered on CBS. But just a few weeks later, a second pilot movie aired to gauge audience reception to the now-famous Incredible Hulk formula. David Banner, on the run and searching for a cure, ...
02.29.2012 The Return of the Incredible Hulk (Death in the Family) In November 1977, The Incredible Hulk premiered on CBS. But just a few weeks later, a second pilot movie aired to gauge audience reception to the now-famous Incredible Hulk formula. David Banner, on the run and searching for a cure, ...
02.28.2012 The Incredible Hulk (1977) The Incredible Hulk has been a staple in Marvel Comics since his first appearance in 1962, but to many The Hulk is less known for his comic book persona than his portrayal by Lou Ferrigno in CBS' hit prime time ...
02.07.2012 Dr. Strange (1978) In 1978, before the Captain America films, CBS was still trying to replicate the successes of their Wonder Woman and Incredible Hulk TV series, but their next attempt to launch a superhero show drew inspiration from the Strange-st of places. ...
01.31.2012 Captain America (1990) In the early 1990s the country was hungry for more superhero films. Batman had come out and shown us that comic book characters could be done without camp, and studios rushed to get more superhero projects in development. Yet despite ...
01.24.2012 Captain America II: Death Too Soon In 1979 Captain America had not one but two TV movies! The first was a pilot for a possible series. The second was Captain America 2 - Death Too Soon! Reb Brown returned as Steve Rogers, the ex-Marine who really ...
01.17.2012 Captain America (1979) In the 1940's Captain America was born with a punch to Hitler's jaw. In the 60's he was thawed out again to help lead Marvel's super-team The Avengers. And in the 70's, when superhero shows Wonder Woman and The Incredible ...
01.11.2012 Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. During the Cold War, only one man could protect America from the evil terrorist forces of HYDRA - Nick Fury, director of ! But the Berlin Wall fell, HYDRA'S leader Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was captured, and Fury was put ...