What's Poppin in Pop Culture? The Olympics and San Diego Comic Con!

Hello and welcome to this very special edition of What's Poppin' in Pop Culture, brought to you by Conquest Journals and powered by Geek Vibes Nation as well. I am KJ. The next KJ Today show is coming up next Wednesday night, August 7th, but I am joined by our entertainment correspondent Tia from Geek Vibes Nation because we couldn't wait to talk about it. There's so much going on. And just San Diego Comic-Con wrapping up

and trying to digest everything. And then we have, you know, the Olympics going on. I'm just going to let Tia take it away, because really, honestly, the reason we're here is because Tia texted me and said, can we do a What's Poppin? Because there's just so much we need to talk about. I definitely bullied KJ into saying we need to do this. Sorry, can't wait. Oh, no, we need to talk about all the news coming out of San Diego Comic-Con. That sounds terrible. I know.

I was like, yes, let's do it. Yes. And I mean, the Olympics are going on right now. I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm definitely someone who enjoys the Olympics. It's like the one time I'm into sports. OK, yeah. So let's get into it. What's popping, Tia, in the Olympics? I was trying my best to like get a picture that wasn't overly grotesque, because if you know what this is about, it's like they obviously had some grotesque moments in it.

So anyway, I'm just going to go on. So the story that I want to talk about, I am a huge heavy metal fan and the French band Gojira

made its. Olympic premiere. It made history, honestly, as the first metal band to ever perform during the opening ceremony. It was so awesome. I was sitting there and I was like, this is so cool. I don't even know who this band is. But now I want to, obviously, but it's metal and you have like Maria Antoinette, that whole thing. And then all of a sudden they're literally like Oh, it was so cool.

It was so cool. I don't even know that I was literally in my living room standing up, but headbanging while it was going on. That's how cool it was. And I mean, there were so many amazing moments to the opening ceremony to the Olympic to the Paris Olympics. But Gojira being the first heavy metal band was so awesome. I just loved everything about it. I mean, it was so... I mean, it was... It felt a

little bit like a hot mess at times. We're so used to the opening ceremonies being very serious and in the stadium and very prestigious. And Paris was like, let's party, dudes. It's spring break. It felt like the spring break opening ceremonies. And I was here for it. I was actually nervous because We had my family over and my nieces and nephews. This was their first opening ceremonies. And I'm like, gosh, if it was like Beijing or something like that, I mean, those were beautiful.

But I'm like, I don't know that they're going to care. So I had my basement set up for them to go down and play games and do whatever. And they were watching it. I mean, when they started, like, I'm like, wait a second. Every country is coming in on a boat. I thought that was so cool. That was so cool to me. It was like, as you said, it's it's very exciting to see all the different countries come throughout the stadium, right? And walk and leave and everything. But the boats was

cool. The boats. Yes, those cool touch. I do remember at one point I was like, Wait, where are they going? There's no statement. Are they just doing drive-bys with the country? I didn't even think about that, actually. Where were the boats heading to? Where are the boats going? Did the athletes get to get off the boats? Like I had so many questions, but it was just, it was so fun. It just, I loved it. It was so different

from anything else. And I know it was a bit, disjointed from what we're used to with the opening ceremonies, but it's going to be when they're outside doing it. It's pouring down rain. They're like coordinating so much more than what you do when you're in a stadium and you have all of the elements under your control. I just, I thought it was fabulous. I agree. I liked the, so obviously they had the a masked person jumping all throughout

Paris with the torch and everything. And I thought they did a good job coordinating, obviously, the pre-recorded sections to the live sections. That went very well. And Celine Dion performed. And when people, even herself, thought that she would probably never sing live again. Yeah, it was huge. Oh, my gosh. It was the coolest. I I couldn't even believe it. And

then when they zoom out. Right. And it makes you realize how big the Eiffel Tower is because she's got a full stage set up up there and they zoom out and you can't even tell she's there. No, no. She was just a little blip. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, Lady Gaga just having a blast doing her thing. I loved every second of it. I thought it was a great opening. Again, as you said, it was maybe at parts a little disjointed, but fun, right? Something different. Yes, for sure. Yeah, it was very cool.

Are you watching? Are you watching the games? So I'm not watching every single game, but I'm my favorites are watching gymnastics. Obviously, Simone Biles is dominating everything. I like the swimming. I've enjoyed racing, not race, you know, track and everything. So I try to watch where I can. The men's US gymnastics team is doing phenomenal right now. And that makes me really happy. I did gymnastics when I was younger. So I guess, yeah, so I'm just really interested in that.

Oh, I love the gymnastics. Listen, I am a bit older than you. And I mean, like my first memories of the Olympics is the US gymnastics team and Mary Lou Retton. And she was like a little tiny thing. And I was like, Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be a gymnast. You know, she was inspiring. I was not coordinated enough to be a gymnast. Not one bit. But yeah, I enjoy that part. I'm not going to hide the fact that I think the Winter Olympics are far superior.

Yes, 100 percent. Just because they have ice skating, that makes it 100 percent superior to me. I mean, the ice skating and all of the I mean, all of the skiing, like they're just like it's almost the extreme games without

saying it's extreme games. Right. Like it. I mean, it's pretty amazing. And then you've got the curling. I'm from Wisconsin, which is like the world capital of curling. And it's just like so random that we're all enthralled with people with a broom on the ice. When we first saw that, I remember like years and years ago, obviously my mom would be like, I could do this. I mean, anyone who's into curling, please don't get at us right now. Okay. Someone's going to be like, you

don't understand. It's a very intensive sport. My family will come after you, Tia. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I couldn't do any of it, so. Hi, Michelle, by the way. Hi, Michelle. Paul says he is a curling fan. Michelle, thanks for the update. Men's team got bronze today, their first medal in 16 years. That is awesome. Yeah, I mean, I could talk about the Olympics forever, but I know that that's not real. Everybody's like in the comments is like, can we talk about San Diego Comic Con, please?

Because that's basically what I told them we were here for. All right, what's up next here? All right, so obviously San Diego comic-con was this past weekend I mean there was a plethora of amazing news that came out I can't even begin to cover every single little thing I mean from the tiny but mighty Winona Earp vengeance the new upcoming 90-minute special on to be getting a trailer and Uh,

to the penguin getting a update. Uh, but my thing is that I want to talk about obviously is the boys had a panel, which obviously season four just ended. The boys had a panel and during the panel, it was confirmed that Jensen Ackles obviously will be returning for season five, but he will be a series

lead. And not only that, but they are doing a prequel show called Vought Rising that will have Jensen Ackles and Aya Cash return. Aya Cash played Stormfront in, I believe it was season two now that I remember, season two of The Boys. And it's going to take place in the 1950s. And it makes sense because there's a scene in season three of The Boys where Soldier Boy talks about being with, I forget the whole name, but it was the soup

named Liberty, who was Stormfront. So clearly those two had a relationship, so we're gonna see some sort of craziness and vault uprising, or vault rising, I apologize. But Jensen Ackles is amazing, as he said, you can't

get rid of him, and we don't want to. um and soldier boy is unhinged and unfiltered and storm front is a really crazy character so it's gonna be insane with the two of them yeah i So listen, I was in a place where I was like, especially, and I do, I love the boys, but oh my gosh, I mean, the absurdity of it all, some of the violence and the uncomfortableness that this show makes you feel, I was kind of in a place where I'm like, I can do this for one more season. I'm going to do this

for one more season. And they're like, surprise, Jensen Ackles, prequel. You're going to keep doing this. And I was like, yeah, I am. You're right. I'll keep doing it. And I mean, you do also have Gen V. I don't know if you've actually watched Gen V yet.

we have not it was of course as soon as we finished uh the boys no spoilers uh we it came up as like the next suggested thing to watch and i was like oh tia watched that you said it was pretty good right yeah i think it's a good show to kind of it was especially when it came out it was before season four of the boys and it was a good show to tie you over Um, until it wasn't necessary to see, uh, the two characters that was in the boys,

right? The two college aged kids. I mean, they show up obviously in Gen V. It, it wasn't say as good as the boys, but it definitely will tie you over. Season two will be interesting. Um, but, but yeah, you still have more of the boys content KJ. So. There was part of me that was like, you know what, you can get through this and you won't have to cringe anymore. And then I was like, oh my gosh, because I just keep thinking

like. What else can they do? Like, but I don't wanna think about what else they can do. It's gonna get crazy. If you don't know, The Boys is based on a comic series and which is even wilder than the show, if you could believe it or not. And everyone online who has read the comics say what the finale of season four is obviously leading up to in season five. No spoilers, obviously you could

always Wikipedia it. But the one thing also I wanted to say was there was an article where Jared Padalecki had said that he obviously would be very open to joining the boys because the boys is created by Eric Kripke. who creates

Supernatural. It's too soon, obviously, if there's any sort of confirmation of Jared Padalecki is actually gonna be in season five of The Boys, but with them now doing a prequel show, I think that would actually be a very good opportunity to bring him in and have a reunion between Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. Yeah. Oh, man. I just, I don't want them doing disgusting things. not like I did not watch the Winchester brothers do too many.

Oh well what they had poor Rob Benedict doing in season four. I was like no I literally was I was looking at at at patches and not at the TV. And I was like, tell me I cannot watch him do this. I cannot watch Rob Benedict do this. Like, tell me when it's over. I cannot. And I would like, look. Oh, my God. And he's like, I'll tell you when it's over. It went on a little too long. I'll say that. It really did. It really did. Oh, man. But it's very exciting that, again, Jensen Ackles

will be returning. We're getting a prequel. And it was just cool seeing the cast of the boys on stage at San Diego Comic-Con. But obviously, that's not the real big story that we want to talk about. The biggest story. Sorry, DC, no news for you. It just continues perpetuating our distaste for DC. Although I will say, I'm very, very excited for James Gunn's upcoming DC Universe. I just have to throw it out before we get to it. But back to Marvel. OK, let's get

back to Marvel. Back to Marvel. So as you can see here, the big thing is I'm not even going to sugarcoat it. It was announced that

Robert Downey Jr. will return to the MCU, but he will not be playing Tony Stark. Instead, he will be playing Doctor Doom. On top of that, they brought back the Russo brothers, who if you didn't realize the Russo brothers directed all of the best films in the MCU, and they are coming back to direct two upcoming Avengers movies. They essentially confirmed that the Kang storyline is dead in the water. That's done. And they're bringing back RDJ as Doctor Doom, which is insane. I mean,

listen, like. So part of me at first didn't necessarily know how to feel about it. Obviously, it's amazing getting Robert Downey Jr. back, and I think getting the Russo brothers was amazing to hear. For sure. How they're going.

how they're going to do it when obviously we know rdj as tony stark but let's just see where they go with it um a lot of people online wanted killian murphy to play dr doom which would have been cool um yeah honestly i had thought Just by the way they were, what I was reading, that was just going to be a done deal. I was a little bit taken aback when the mask came off. And it was Robert Downey Jr. Oh, I mean, cool, but that's not who I thought was going to be there.

Part of me, and I saw this online, maybe they're going to do a bait and switch, right? They have RDJ come in, he plays Dr. Doom for a movie, but maybe he's not like the actual Dr. Doom. And then like, so I don't know, let's see what happens with it, right? He's not going to be a variant Dr. Doom. I know we got we got to bring to me. This is how I feel about it, because we were talking about this a little beforehand, right, where we don't want to be in the whole wheelhouse

of the MCU is dead. Right. But, you know, you're like, obviously things are a little up in the air. Kevin Feige was like, how do we get this back? We got Deadpool out. Call up the Russo brothers. Call up Robert Downey Jr. Let's get this back on track. Yes. Yes. I, I did. I love it. And I think, you know, It's such a complex character. And I just watched, honestly, while we were, I went to see Deadpool and Wolverine this

morning. Fantastic. Amazing. But we were, I went back and watched the X-Men movies this weekend. We kind of had those on and then had the Fantastic Four on. last night because there was some, you know, news about the Fantastic Four as well. And they put out some footage, which was awesome. And, you know, I enjoyed those Fantastic Four movies. I know a lot of people didn't and they thought they were a little too on the cheesy side. I don't mind if that's how they

want to make things. I'm good with a little comic cheese once in a while. But I thought the representation of Dr. Doom was perfectly fine in the Fantastic Four. But this Robert Downey Jr. taking on the character is going to, I mean, I think He will make us forget he was Iron Man. This is not going to be a comparison. This is going to be him showing just how incredible of an actor he is.

And I honestly think it's if Robert Downey Jr. was going to come back into the superhero genre, I think this is a good way for him to do so because and now don't get me wrong, right? But obviously Robert Downey Jr. is getting older, so maybe there would be some physical limitations to continuing playing Iron Man. Doctor Doom is a lot more, you know, meticulous, you know, and all that stuff. I think it's a better sort of position

for him. And I agree with you, KJ. I rewatched those original Fantastic Four movies a couple of years ago. They're great. I still like them. And Dr. Doom was great in it. So I forget that actor, but he was great. Yeah, I totally can't think of his name, which I feel bad about, but I enjoyed how he portrayed Dr. Doom. You know, I love a little Johnny Storm in my life. So I go back to those movies. It was interesting because basically my nieces and nephews were over

all weekend. And I put those on. And you know, sometimes when you put movies on and you want them to watch it, you're like, oh, we're going to watch this movie because I love it so much and you're going to love it so much. And they were all just playing on their devices. And I was like, I'm just I'm going to put the fantastic four on. It was probably about halfway through Rise of the Silver Surfer and my youngest nephew said, What is this? This is pretty cool.

I was like, oh, yes, that's so. So he was like, next time we come over, can we watch these on the like, watch them on the big screens we have? It's not a movie theater. It sounds really fancy. It's just a projector with a futon in our basement. But he was like, can we watch these in the movie theater next time? And I was like, dude, I'm never going to say no to watching the Fantastic Four. 2015 version of Fantastic Four. I hear not

I love it. I love it. And I'm very excited for the upcoming Fantastic Four project. Great cast all around. I've never seen the great things about it. Obviously, you must judge yourself. But yeah, so I'm just looking forward to the new one. I started watching it, and honestly, I was like, I'm just going to give this a fair shake. And I was eight minutes into it, and I was like, nope. Oh, that's not good. I was like, nope. This is going to be as bad as everybody said. I can't. I can't do it.

And it's too bad because I thought that cast was great, too. You know, it's a it's a great cast. It's just bad writing, bad direction. I mean, there's a ton of things like look at Ryan Reynolds, great actor that freaking Green Lantern movie. Not great. Forget his first outing as Deadpool in Wolverine 3, I think it was. Was that Origins Origins? I'm sorry. Yes, you're right. That was terrible. That was so bad. We actually we skipped over that when we were doing our X-Men rewatch. I was like,

we're not doing Origins. Oh man. But yeah, I think Fantastic Four is just, that is sort of my shining light. Whatever the MCU is doing, it's fine. Just give us a really great Fantastic Four. Right, like that's where I'm at. I'm very confident in Kevin Feige right now. The new Captain America movie looks great. They introduced Thunderbolts. I like the Black Widow movie. It got a lot of bad reviews. I did too! I liked it a lot. David Harbour showed up to San Diego Comic-Con in a new

Red Guardian costume. I thought it looked great. Oh, did he? Yeah, you got to look it up. It looks great. So Thunderbolt looks great. It just it all looks great. I'm happy. I'm a happy MCU fan again.

Without spoiling anything, it was the Deadpool Wolverine movie. It was I mean, it was Deadpool in the MCU. And it was, I mean, you had to like kind of like sit back and be like, this is an MCU movie about Deadpool and Wolverine's here too. Like, how cool is this? It feels like a dream come true because for so long of the MCU, Fox's Marvel was a way, like toys that you couldn't play with, right?

And now we can, and it's just like, oh, so happy well and they did a they did a really fine job with you know giving a nice nod to what was with fox you know not knocking it like it's just like here we are and now we get to do all these cool things so it was uh it was fun i thought that um that The cameos, because I had heard, and I'm not going to spoil anything, because one of them got spoiled for me, and I was super bummed about that. But it paced well. I mean,

of course, it's ridiculous. And you could probably break down the plot and be like, oh, it wasn't really much of a plot. I mean, there are holes. It's fine. But I thought the people that they put in it had a reason to be there, not just like, oh, we're going to throw this person in too, and oh, wow, that for a second. I felt like they cast it thoughtfully to introduce Deadpool into the MCU. So that is all I will say about

that. I already told Patches that I need to see it again because there are so, Tia, there are so many one-liners and just little quips and like there's, you just can't, you can't take it all in because it's happening and you're still taking in the fact that you're watching Deadpool in the MCU but there's still all of that witty dialogue and funny quips and It's a it's a second watch kind of movie in the theater. I'm very excited. My mom and I are going

to go see it a few weeks from now. And I just can't get over the fact that Kevin Feige is like, yep, let's have an R rated Marvel movie. Let's just do it at this point. I mean, let's go. I'm telling you. Yeah. And he I mean, he let them do what they needed to do. That's good. That's good. I'm very excited. I'm very excited to see this movie. This whole San Diego Comic Con with the Marvel panels really kind of just renewed my joy for Marvel. So very, very pumped.

I felt like overall, this was just a really big, I mean, San Diego Comic-Con's always big, but I feel like the last couple of years, the news coming out of it was kind of so-so, like, okay, I guess that's good. And this, I don't even know, props to all of you over at Geek Vibes Nation, because I don't even understand how you were keeping up with everything. I have to give a huge shout out to Jeremy and also Gaius and who were there at San

Diego Comic-Con. And then also Kanan. Anytime you're on our GeekFivesNation Twitter, that's him posting it. Everything. They did an amazing job covering everything. I'm super stoked. And if I could do a little plug, we soon will be dropping. Jeremy was able to speak to the star of the new Hellboy movie. So that interview will be posting soon to our YouTube channel. Very nice. Yay. I am excited. And we can also plug the Borderlands interview. I was like, let's do this and everything.

And my brain isn't even there. But yes, because you got to speak with Benjamin Byron Davis, which is the coolest thing. So go ahead, KJ. Yeah. You know, and Ben, as he said, I could call him Ben. He's also been in Guardians of the Galaxy and he is the voice of Dutch for Red Dead Redemption. So there were so many cool things that we got to talk about. I'm gonna play some clips on the KJ Today Show, which is the next one is next Wednesday night. So we have the kind of nerdy girls coming

up this Wednesday. And then next Wednesday, the 7th, will be the full KJ Today show with Tia. If you haven't heard, she's joined as a regular cast member of KJ Today. So I'm going to play some clips back from the Benjamin Byron Davis interview. But if you want to go watch it right now, honestly, he's just like, a delightful person and super great

energy. And he was so excited and fun to talk to about, you know, creating creating Dutch for Red Dead Redemption and then having it become a fan favorite and then being on the other side of this fan favorite video game and having the pressure of having to play a character that people already love. It was an interesting, you know, different take on on, you know, coming from one video game to the other video game. But that is streaming now on GeekVibesNation YouTube.

So subscribe to us here on KJ Today. Go subscribe to GeekVibesNation, because they're covering everything. I just get to hop in and help out once in a while. You do an amazing job, KG. You also got to speak with Meg Donnelly from the Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three, as well as Butch Vuchik, which was awesome. And then we have a few other of those interviews coming out as well.

Oh my gosh, I got to spend my whole afternoon talking about the Justice League crisis on infinite Earth was awesome. See DC. We talk about DC We do and you know, I did watch I didn't finish it, but I did watch some of that trilogy and it is pretty cool like I you know, I think that We, you know, we just we want the DC movies to be on the level that everything else is, you know, that the TV shows. I know, you know, there was the Superman and Lois panel at San Diego.

And that, I mean, is going to be so emotional that that's the end, like that's the end of the Arrowverse. When that show ends, there is no more Arrowverse on like it's done. That's sad to think about. But yeah. Um, the, the actor who played, I forget his name, Tyler something, I think, um, yeah, I mean, he played a great Superman. I think that that needs to be recognized when we're thinking about great live action Superman.

yes well and if you haven't watched superman and lois i'm not a big superman fan i don't hate superman but i just think the storyline is is kind of weak and we've been over that

like oh no this rock is not oh we've stopped you um but uh tyler hecklin playing the role of Superman as a father to two teenage boys, that's his kryptonite. It was done so well. So if you haven't, because I know a lot of people, I did too, kind of like the Arrowverse got kind of big. And I think the Flash maybe went a few seasons longer than it needed to. It's just like four seasons longer. Yeah.

kind of convoluted but Superman and Lois you could watch on its own and it was a really really great story of Superman and I'm gonna be really sad to see it go. Oh well I know well at least it got five seasons um and yeah I mean I I've never watched it before but I'd be inclined to check it out one day. I recommend it. And then one last thing out of San Diego, if you are a Doctor Who fan and you did not see it, they did. I was surprised at how much footage they actually released

from the Christmas special. It's a nice amount of footage is going to give you a tease from

what you can expect from the Christmas special. It looks fantastic. It looks like it's going to be so much fun. And then they also announced the the spinoff, which we'll talk more about this in the kind of nerdy girls on Wednesday. I just got to say, like of all of of all of the villains, aliens that they could have picked to do a spinoff for Doctor Who, this is my least favorite. Oh, no. I'm having a really hard time being excited about it.

Oh, that's awful. I was like, wait, that's the spinoff? OK. It's like you better do something really good to sell me on this, all right? Yes, yes, for sure. Well, thank you, Tia, for popping in and giving us an extended version of what's popping and not making us wait until next week to talk about all the fun stuff. I do have any interviews or anything else coming this week that we need to let people know about. I've been a little quiet on the interview

front, so nothing for me right now. I'm a little bit more working behind the scenes and editing people's interviews and getting them out. So, uh, but hopefully soon I'll let the professionals get to it. All right, well, we will chat again on Wednesday, All Things Kinda Nerdy. The Kinda Nerdy Girls will be live on the KJ Today YouTube channel. And again, please make sure you head over to Geek Vibes Nation if you haven't already and subscribe to their YouTube and follow

them on all of the social media places. Bye, Tia.