[00:00:00] Before the MCU became the juggernaut it is today, a few iconic ladies helped pave the way for the franchise. In this bonus episode, we're ranking our favorite OG MCU women, hearing Sam and Andrew's contenders for employee picks, and deciding which Marvel characters from the 2000s deserved their own solo movies. Get ready for a nostalgic superhero showdown.
[00:00:40] Welcome to the No More Late Fees podcast. I'm Danielle. And I'm Jackie. And in this bonus episode, we're giving props to the OG women of Marvel of the early 2000s with returning guests Sam and Andrew. Hey guys. Hello. Hello. Oh man, I am bracing myself for double trouble right here. We're starting off strong too. Why would you think such a thing?
[00:01:07] Because there's been a reason the two of you have been separated these last few seasons. I mean, that feels like a thing that should not happen. I don't see why we would be separated. I looked at the list and I'm like, Danielle, I am so fucking excited for Andrew and Sam to be on the same episode. I swear, Sam, the candle that Jackie burns for you is strong.
[00:01:37] She's like, I miss Sam. I miss him. I miss him. And I you. And I you. Thank you. I mean, we have to create recreate that 13-0 synergy. Oh, man. Yes, we do. Something I strive for every episode. It's a beautiful time. And meanwhile, Andrew is just that jerk who made us watch Kung Pao that time. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I get it. That's not true. We love you. You lucky you're back after that movie. I mean, I had to only lock my kids in the cabinet somewhere.
[00:02:07] Yeah. We brought you back for Spice World. Yeah, we did. We did. Yeah. I enjoyed Spice World. We spiced up your life. Yeah. Oh, it's my world. You're building credibility back. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. Well, what's new with you? Because Sam, I thought you took a pause on the podcast, but I see it's back up and running. What's going on? Yes, four minutes two is back on the scene.
[00:02:35] By the time this episode dropped, I would have dropped one, a new episode on Invincible. There was a, you know, last year was kind of- Life is life-ing. Yeah, life, if you have looked outside and life has been life-ing and I have been, you know, rolling with it, but I'm back. I'm better than ever. And come get your comic book news and reviews. And, Andrew, you started a new series. Tell us about your historical views. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:03:05] I basically got tired of reading the news and distressing over where the world was going. And it's February as we record this. So I figured, oh, it's Black History Month. And we just recently learned that we're not allowed to learn about Black History Month. So I thought maybe, maybe I would write something and do something about it. So yeah, as this stands, if you probably go to the website rapturepress.com, you'll see me giving you one minute tidbits about Black history.
[00:03:36] Because Black history is American history. And American history is the history of everyone, which is what I call it. And then maybe next month I'll move forward to find some other group, some other Heritage Month to highlight an American history. But it kind of feels like something I could do. I love it. What's it called again? I basically have called it American history is the history of everyone. Because, you know, America is made up from everybody. It wasn't just one group of people who kind of made the country what it was.
[00:04:07] So I know. Yes. Side note, Andrew. I looked and when I was looking at Instagram, why is the acronym called a hit ho? Look, I don't. I can't. Look, I came up with an idea for a good title. And acronyms sometimes fall where they are. So if American history is the history of everyone. Acronyms out to a hit ho. A hit ho is gonna holla.
[00:04:36] Maybe we just gotta know. America is a bit of a hit ho right now and we gotta learn about it. What? Acronyms. Acronyms just happen to us sometimes. I don't know. I really tried to figure out how to do the title is gonna happen. I think you should lean into the marketing for real on that one. So I think I might have to, but at the very least I checked and the URL is not taken. So a hit ho is where we go. A hit ho. Yeah. So we have a game.
[00:05:06] We are going to rank the women of the OG MCU. So the timeframe I'm going to say from our timeframe, 1995, maybe we'll extend it out to 2007. I don't know what movies came out around that time in the MCU. And we each going to pick three of our favorite OG women from the MCU at that time. And they don't have to be superheroes per se, AKA Mary Jane can count from Spider-Man, even though she did the most.
[00:05:33] But yeah, so I'll give you guys some time to pick your top three. For me, it's pretty hard. Okay. I have one that I'm going to start off with and it's Ursula Dikovic. Okay. No one knows that. Ursula was from Spider-Man three. She was the landlord's daughter. She took care of Peter and she brought him cookies. Oh God. Was she the greatest looking girl? No. But did she care about Peter truthfully and honestly? Yes.
[00:06:03] She didn't know he was Spider-Man. She just knew she was a, he was a broke dude living in her dad's apartment. And, and he, he tolerated the fact that he still didn't fix that damn door. Ursula was a gem. Andrew with the deep dives here. Oh, real. Oh, I got three. Go for it. Anna Paquin as Rogue and... Fuck off. Sorry. No, that was...
[00:06:34] That just was... I am so sorry. There is a little demon inside that really, the X-Men series is a sore subject for me. I apologize, Sam. I love you so much. Continue. Okay. Hmm. I'm afraid to say the next one. Oh. Oh. Halle Berry's Storm. You, it look like you're biting your lip to say something.
[00:07:01] And lastly, Jenna, uh, Jessica Alba's Sue Storm. I understand that it's hard to pick the best of the trash that's existing in this timeframe. You see my point. You see my point. Right. But you did horribly. Oh my God. What? Who's next? Me? I'm still thinking. Okay. I got a second one then. Okay. Gwen Stacy, Bryce Dallas Howard. Also Spider-Man 3. She was good. I liked her. She looked very Gwen Stacy.
[00:07:30] She was very Gwen Stacy. Not normally a blonde, usually a redhead. Fit the role really well. Enjoyable performance. Put in a nice dynamic between Mary Jane and Peter and all that. I just don't know why they keep trying to make Bryce Dallas Howard a thing because. I mean, isn't she? She's Jurassic Park now. Oh, please. They're making a new Jurassic Park. She's gone. I mean, so is Chris Brett. I mean, they're all gone, I think. Oh, cool. I can watch this. Yeah. Crash 2.
[00:08:02] I got to see. I got to think of another one. Let's see. So why Anna Paquin and Halle Berry hate for X-Men stuff? It's not them. It's the fact that they just messed up the kit. Rogue is one of my favorite X-Men, so is Storm. And it's just like, first of all, bitch, why can't you have a consistent accent for both of them? Why? She tried. Was it natural?
[00:08:29] And they made Rogue so fucking weak, a weak ass crying bitch. That's not Rogue. I don't know why they picked it. Like, I don't even want to talk. And then you put them, put it with Bobby Iceman, one of the original OG X-Men. They're not the age range. What the fuck? I mean, they didn't have Gambit. They had to just pick someone. They didn't have Gambit. They should have had Gambit. And at the time, there was also like some stuff that they were dating in the Ultimate Universe. There's...
[00:08:58] What I love about the X-Men is just this one big incestuous friendship family, found family group. So technically speaking, everyone hooked up with everybody at least once. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Bobby's gay now, I think in the comic books. Bobby is gay. He is. But that doesn't matter. It just... Because I'm like, what is this? But you know what? I'm gonna save all of that hate for when we do X-Men this year, later on this year. I'm so excited.
[00:09:27] And I have my third now. My third is Kerry Washington from the Fantastic Four as Alicia Masters. That's a good one. Yes, that is a good one. Excellent. Okay, and you say... More role, but everybody liked her. I have... All right, you go ahead. A very deep dive list. First up, Abigail Whistler from Blade Trinity. Okay. Then I have Betty Brant from the Spider-Man trilogy. Oh, okay. Good one.
[00:09:53] And then I have Jubilee because she was only in a pit for two seconds in X-Men, and she deserved more time. Oh, it hurts. It hurts so much. How they tried to make Rogue some sort of a modulation of Jubilee in something else. Like, her character that she's playing in those X-Men movies was essentially Jubilee. Like, especially the relationship between her and Logan, but...
[00:10:21] Again, we'll save that for later. Anywho, my list is Dr. Karen Jensen from Blade and Boucher doesn't get enough credit. She was kick-ass, smart. He barely ever had to save her, and the fact that they didn't bring her back to the second movie was just like whitewashing. It made me so angry. But, badass. Number two, Lady Deathstroke. Now, I know they fucked up her character. I know they did.
[00:10:51] I get that. But I still liked her. And then lastly, my dear goddess Elektra. And those are my three. I didn't know we could pick Elektra. I didn't know we could pick Elektra. I didn't know we could pick Elektra. I mean, I don't... There was no rule against not picking Elektra. That's fair. That's fair. Great list, guys. Great list. Great list. A lot of... Very hard to do. Yes.
[00:11:21] Well, now we have a question for everyone. Which Marvel characters from the 2000s deserved their own solo movie? And this is not based on the comic books. I mean, not based on the movies itself. But you just feel like when they were picking, how did they miss this character? Why did they just give this person a solo? Like, how did Elektra get a solo instead of X, Y, and Z?
[00:11:50] That kind of thought process. I have a very biased answer. Because I don't know the comic books. So I can only go based on movies. Mm-hmm. And my love for Hannibal King runs real, real deep. You mean your love for Ryan Reynolds? Yes. In that body as Hannibal King. Hmm.
[00:12:17] I feel like Hannibal King was one of the better characters that he had to play in all the comic book roles that he fucked up and said it was other people's fault. Just saying. I do love him as Deadpool. Yeah. I think this is a, this is an easy one for me. And it's Storm, baby. And I, I want that in the old MCU and the new MCU.
[00:12:42] I just feel like, did I hate Halle Berry as Storm? Yes. Because we could have had Angela Bassett. At the time I was very furious. Is that, is that canon? Was that a thing that she lost? Yeah, that was. I mean, that was going around for a long time. Angela Bassett lost to Halle Berry? Are you serious? I don't know what happened there, but when we do our episode, we'll definitely talk about that. Yeah.
[00:13:08] But I feel like if they had really good writing, Halle could have done a good job as a soul. Like she, she's such a badass Omega level character. I don't know why we haven't gotten a really decent storm in the MCU and a solo movie at that. Okay, Sam, what about you? A solo Magneto movie. God damn it, I was going to say that. Yes! That's what I was going to remember.
[00:13:36] Sir Ian McKellen, like just show us the whole thing. Give us the whole story. His, his goes from like, like they did it in X-Men First Class, but I want another version basically where they were just, where him and Charles meet up and they're growing and then they grow their own factions and him doing stuff like, and it ended up being Sir Ian McKellen doing the whole thing. Cause he, he's Magneto to me. He's always going to be Magneto to me. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:59] And the, the, the, the charisma of charm, the coolness with the powers, the, it, I would have gone for a solo. Yes. Yeah. That's it. I got, I got nothing. He said my answer. Andrew, please. Pick a damn movie, a damn character. It reminded me, I was thinking of Magneto and I was going to say Magneto and then he said it and he just split from me and now it's gone. I don't, nothing. I don't know. I could, you know what I would have loved.
[00:14:26] Like, um, you know, we got the Legion TV show. I would have loved to have a Legion movie with like professor Xavier in it. Cause his, his character is so interesting and different how his powers come about or even Reed Richards kid. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you know what I would have liked done fine. I would have liked a proper generation X either TV show or movie. Yes. Yes.
[00:14:56] They made that TV movie with all the young X-Men in training. Like that. That I would have liked. Cause then they could have done random cameos of the original, like the X-Men coming in and nobody has to be committed to being there all the time. Kind of like how Samuel L. Jackson made that cameo in. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Which I. It was like episode one, right? Yeah. It was the end, the season finale. He, he made an appearance.
[00:15:24] I think he popped up in one too, but yeah. He hated a few. Yeah. That's what I love about him. He's not like, I'm too good to do anything. You know, he's about that check and do what he's gotta do. He, it was a deal with him. He, he signed over his rights to be Nick Fury in the ultimate comics. And he was just like, you gotta, but you have to make me the character when it ever comes live action. Because they drew him. And then they were like trying to pretend like it wasn't him.
[00:15:52] And he was like, I read these comic books, bitch. And that's me. So now that you put me in there, you've gotta guarantee that I'm in these movies now. And I'm, I love a black man and a chick. I'll say that every episode. All right. Now it's time to put Andrew and Sam in the hot seat for their employee picks. So you guys have to pick three movies. It doesn't have to be in our timeframe that you would recommend if you were a Blockbuster employee.
[00:16:22] Okay. Which Andrew. I was. You were. So again, I did work there. So my three would be probably no hard feelings with Jennifer Lawrence. Saw that a little while ago and it's just ridiculously funny. He goes way over the top, including literally having a naked fight scene, which is just ridiculous.
[00:16:49] But I like that she commits because she's just so committed to being ridiculous. So that one's a lot of fun. Probably if I have to pick an old one, my date with the president's daughter. That's Wilfred Dell, who, I don't know. I just like the guy a lot. He, he feels like he should have been a bigger star. Had he not gotten crippling anxiety in his twenties and then had to shift the voice acting. Like he was a good looking guy. He had good hair, good looking, good comedic timing. And just, you know, never quite blew up as big as he probably could have.
[00:17:20] Yeah. And I think last, I was going to say either the parent trap or Moana 2. Parent trap sounds right. I feel like I'm going to say the parent trap because not only has Lindsay Lohan somehow found a way to make her face look like she was still in the parent trap again now. She was able to fool a nation of us before the internet into believing that she had a twin sister. So, you know, parent trap is good to go. Good acting. Good acting. Sam.
[00:17:48] So, A Knight's Tale. I was a huge fan of Heath Ledger. All right. Lucky number Slevin. I'm still a huge fan of Josh Hartman. And then Easy A. Oh, that's a good one. I just think I'm a Stone is hilarious. Ah, good choices. Love it. Excellent choices.
[00:18:12] I always love to like what we should start doing Jackie is guessing when we post these on Instagram stories, which one's going to win. Yeah. For Andrews, my parent, the parent trap is going to win. There's no question about it. I think my date with the president's daughter is going to give it a good run, but it's, it's going to sweep. What do you think? What do you think? I, I think. I don't know.
[00:18:37] No hard feelings was like, it was really funny and just like a fun, like raunchy comedy. So if people haven't watched nostalgic movies, no hard feelings might be up there. They're not following us if they don't watch nostalgic movies. All right, we'll see. I know you just don't want to pick the parent trap. And that's fine. I think Jackie has a point. No, no, no. I think the parent trap is going to win. Obviously. Yeah.
[00:19:07] I am the minority in that group, but that's my, my feelings for runners up for Sam. I think a Knight's tail is going to win, but I think easy A is going to be up there too. Yes. I know at least two votes for the lucky number 11 though, because there's some diehard Josh Harnett fans that follow us though. Out of those three, lucky number seven was my favorite. Well, Sam, why don't you tell everybody where they can find your podcast and follow you on social.
[00:19:37] So you can follow me at four minutes to four minutes to add on Twitter. Cause I'm not calling it X Instagram and Tik TOK. And you can find my podcast on all places. You find podcasts, podcasts, and the app, the podcast app on Apple, Spotify, overwatch, overcast, all that stuff under four minutes to. And Andrew. You can find probably anything I'm doing at rapturepress.com.
[00:20:06] You can find me on blue sky and threads, probably under the name, A G McDonald's. I have left the hell site. I'm not going back there. So you cannot find me on Twitter. I burnt all bridges there. And you guys can follow us at no more late fees on Tik TOK, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube threads, and blue sky. Bye. And don't miss us next week as we cover the classic body swap movie, wish upon a star.
[00:20:35] February really is a good month for me. It was just Danielle's month of joy. It is. And as always, be kind and rewind. Oh, God.