Batman And Captain America Plead Guilty To Deflating Balls

All of us here on the blog are big Patriots fans. Needless to say this two weeks of non-stop "Deflategate" coverage has really pissed us off. So who will swoop in and shut the 24 hour news cycle the fuck up? Batman and Captain America of course. Here is their leaked confession from last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live, that states that they were responsible for the deflation of 11 of 12 Patriot footballs. Thank you boys for stepping forward. This is why we love superheroes!

If Ben Affleck says that Tom Brady and The Patriots are innocent then it's a done deal. On to Seattle!

Informers Superbowl Prediction: 31-17 Patriots! 

You can't beat a team that makes amazing videos like this.

Arrow "Midnight City" Thoughts/Review!

This week Danny Brickwell attempts to take over the Glades , Ollie walks around, and Laurel stabs a fool with her high heel! (Spoilers!)

Episode Description: Diggle and Arsenal confront Laurel about her dangerous work as the Black Canary; Felicity sees a new side of Ray as he helps Lance fight a villain who has kidnapped the city's Aldermen.


High Points:

• I really enjoyed the Roy, Maclom Merlyn confrontation  Pretty badass move by our boy in the red hood to take on the Dark Archer by himself.

• Laurel showed her badass side through out the entire episode. (High Heels make good weapons!).

• Hong Kong flashback scenes are becoming more intriguing especially with the revelation that Maseo and Tatsu are no longer together in the present day.

• Ray Palmer continues to be a favorite character for the Informers week in and week out.

• As Gronk would say, Ollie and Maseo were "throwin bitches out da club".

• Canary using a voice recorder to trap Brick in that room was a brilliant display of intelligence.

• Laurel is bringing a much different side to the Canary then Sara did, and I do not hate it.   

• Maseo and Katana taking out members of the league was awesome, but why are they so easy to kill? I know they are both, Maseo and Tatsu are skilled fighters but there should be some sort of fight from members of the League of Assassins.

• Team Arrow 2.0 (if you want to call it that) jacks Ray Palmer's helicopter (which does have keys) and saves the Aldermen in brilliant heroic fashion.

• It isn't an episode of Arrow until we see Thea Queen's mid-drift.

Superbowl Sunday is just 4 days away!

Low Points:

• I think Laurel needs some more fighting lessons. Gettin' your ass kicked a little to easily there Katie. I love ya, but more lessons.

• Why must villains go to the "I want all the cops in the city gone" routine. Did Brick not see Dark Knight Rises? It didn't work for Bane, Brick, it probably won't work for you.

• Can someone please tell Captain Lance Sara is dead? Stringing him along and now using the voice modifier is just cruel. The poor man is going to be dead by the end of this season from the heartbreak. 

• As I mentioned before, the league members seem way easy to kill. I would like to see a little more skill going into these battles.

• We need more Diggle. The guy gets less and less air time every episode I feel. He didn't even go along on the trip when Brick killed the Alderman.

Hey Brick that was my plan!

Verdict: This week's episode of Arrow was very "middle of the road". The reason is because it wasn't exactly boring, but it wasn't anything exciting either. So what really happened this week? Brick's plan to take over The Glades is in full swing and looks like it could carry on for another week or two. But what this episode was really about though was Laurel becoming the Black Canary. She and Roy became the new Ollie and Sara. Initially things didn't go so well (getting an Alderman killed doesn't exactly get you an A+ on a superhero exam), but when the chips were really down the new twosome stepped up to the challenge. I'm excited to see the new Canary progress as the weeks go by. As for the rest of the hour, the flashbacks stood out. I really enjoyed the bar scene where Maseo and Ollie just cleaned house by beatin' the hell out of people with dessert trays and martinis. Lastly, Christian predicted the ending a few weeks ago in his midseason review. He called it saying that Thea's DJ was part of the League and that he was secretly feeding information back to them about the Merlyns. It will be fun to see what badass Thea does to another boyfriend who betrays her.

All in all I would like to give tonight's episode a solid 7.0 out of 10!

How did you guys like tonights episode? Feel free to Tweet at us @Caped_Informers and comment on your thoughts. Make sure to tune into next week's episode "Uprising", where we may see the return of the Arrow!

The Flash "The Sound and the Fury" Review/Thoughts

This week on The Flash, we get a fresh new rivalry between Dr. Harrison's old chess-loving protégé, Hartley Rathaway, and his current protégé who is adamant that Han shot first, Cisco Ramon.

Episode Description: Once a friend and colleague of Dr. Harrison Wells, Hartley Rathaway returns to Central City to make Wells pay for ignoring his advice regarding the particle accelerator. Meanwhile, Iris lands a job as reporter for Central City Picture News but soon realizes she may not have been hired on talent alone.

High Points:

• Start the episode off with The Flash casually taking down the Royal Flush Gang (very cool to see Barry do some casual hero work, as well as have it be against recognizable enemies)
• We have seen him with the suit and very possibly in the suit, but tonight was the first time we saw Dr. Harrison Wells run at super speeds
• Enter Hartley Rathaway a.k.a. The Pied Piper
• I like the rivalry between Rathaway and Cisco right now. It makes me wonder if there is going to be some Pied Piper/Vibe rivalry down the line and it also adds to Cisco's character.
• The flashbacks tonight also helped to give some character-building background on Cisco as well as Wells and Rathaway
• Iris West's new job introduces us to Mason Bridge (a character who has been known to be good friends with Wally West)
• We get a very interesting scene of Harrison Wells faltering in his speed powers in which he falls to the floor and mutters "Not now". (Sounds like there could be some speed force/time stream discrepancies at work here)
• Hartley's promise that Cisco will release him soon (sounds like there could be a Hartley/Cisco adventure to find Firestorm on the horizon. Perhaps this will be the beginning of a Pied Piper/Vibe relationship?)
• Speed Force confirmed!! First time it has been directly referenced and the device that Wells is using to harness it is very fascinating since usually the speedsters can just harness it themselves 
• He mentions the machine as a "temporary fix" (Definitely sounds like there could be some speed force/time stream discrepancies at work here)

Low Points:

• The effects seemed really off tonight...Specifically during the fight on the bridge. When Rathaway pushed the cars with his sonic waves it looked very rigid and when his gloves blew up in his hands it just didn't look right. 
• The "He Wanted to Be Caught" scenario is pretty overdone nowadays. Just ask the Dark Knight... 

                                                              The Joker applauds Hartley Rathaway's scheme

• I was perfectly fine with Hartley's chess references but then he just kept going and going and going with it. It felt like they were trying really, really hard to portray him as a strategic mastermind but it started to lose it's effect really quick

                                                      How I was starting to feel after the 17th chess reference

Verdict: When I first heard that Hartley Rathaway was going to be making an appearance on the show I really didn't think too much of it immediately. However, after seeing him on the show tonight I think a lot of possibilities open up for future storylines. First off, the Pied Piper has been known to be a member of the Rouges so if and when he does get out of his prison, I am sure Captain Cold and Heatwave could find a spot for him on the team. Secondly I am loving the rivalry between him and Cisco because it gets me thinking that Vibe is going to make an appearance at some point. We knew going into this show that Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow were the names commonly associated with Vibe and Killer Frost respectively, but we weren't sure if, when and how they would become those characters over the course of the show. Now Pied Piper strolls in with his sonic technology and immediately butts heads with Cisco "Vibe" Ramon, a superhero persona who can manipulate and generate sonic waves. This is all just speculation of course, but it is starting to look like the Cisco/Hartley relationship will continue to grow via a Firestorm hunt in the very near future. Perhaps it will eventually lead to Cisco's transformation into Vibe. Either way I look forward to seeing where this renewed rivalry takes them during the course of the show. We also got introduced to another interesting name tonight: Mason Bridge. As of now we know him simply as Iris's co-worker, however a certain Mason Trollbridge has been known to be very closely affiliated with Wally West. Could he eventually be really close with Barry? Could this mean the potential to see Wally in the future? By the future do I mean in later episodes or in a confusing time travel paradox way? Who knows! One thing is for sure though, this Mason Bridge character is meant to be more than just a disgruntled employee where Iris works. We should keep an eye on him and expect him to play a bigger role at some point down the line. And now we have reached the point where I talk about the good doctor. We very clearly saw Dr. Wells do some super speedy running tonight so in case there was even the slightest doubt left in anyone's mind: Dr. Harrison Wells is officially a speedster. We also got the very exciting confirmation of the speed force tonight via an interesting chest piece that Dr. Wells was wearing during the weekly twenty second cliffhanger. We also heard him call the device a "temporary fix" and saw him falter with his powers during Rathaway's escape. It seems like Harrison is using the device to harness the speed force which is fascinating due to the fact that historically the speedsters tap into it themselves. Could Harrison Wells not know how to tap into it himself? Could he be siphoning so much of it up already to prevent time-travel by other speedsters that it is affecting his other speed based powers? (taking that one right out of the Flashpoint Paradox). Once again, Dr. Well's motives are not 100% clear, but according to him, his endgame is getting close, and I cannot wait. Tonight's episode gave us some great character development and some new names to keep an eye on moving forward. All-in-all a 7.5 out of 10 is in order.

Thanks for checking out the review. Do you think Cisco's character is starting his transformation into Vibe? What the hell is going on with Dr. Wells and his speed force machine? Let us know what you think in the comments or on twitter @Caped_Informers. Also be sure to check back on the site regularly for more show and movie reviews as well as breaking stories, latest rumors and in-depth analyses of the superhero universe. The Flash returns same time next week with "Crazy for You".

A Fantastic Four Trailer Is Finally Here!

After months of speculation, relentless online fanboy attacks, and rumored production troubles, director Josh Trank has finally released the first trailer to his reboot of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four comic. Gotta say this looks pretty cool to me. Looks like a deeper sci-fi take on Marvel's first family. Hopefully this trailer will ease some fanboys minds. Check  it out for yourself!

Casting News/Rumors Galore!

Take a moment to get away from your 24 hr. Deflategate coverage to check out all the castings + rumors that happened yesterday in the comic movie/TV realm. Seriously was yesterday was like Christmas for comic junkies. So let's take a look at what went down in no particular order.

1. CBS casts Melissa Benoist (Whiplash) as Supergirl
Source: ComicBookMovie

Like/Love/Hate/Don't Care: Last time I had doubts about a Glee actor becoming a superhero, Grant Gustin made me look like a fool. The guy is a fantastic Flash. So with the same casting company from Arrow and Flash, David Rappaport, and people behind the scenes such as Greg Bertani from those shows onboard, I have confidence in Melissa Benoist being an awesome version of Kara Zor-El. I liked Melissa in Whiplash and I like this casting.

2. Rumor: Gary Sinise (CSI:NY) will play Gen. Eiling in Suicide Squad

Source: ComicBookMovie

Like/Love/Hate/Don't Care: Gary Sinise would be a solid grab for WB/DC, but I don't think the role of Gen. Wade Eiling merits much hype. He will probably serve a similar purpose to what Christopher Meloni's General did in Man Of Steel which will amount to minimal screen time. So I like Sinise yet don't really give a shit whether or not he ends up being Eiling.

3. Jon Bernthal (Fury) or Joel Edgerton (Warrior) for Rick Flagg?
Source: CimenaBlend

Who You Taking?: Shane "Worst Best Friend Ever" Walsh is getting the nod here. Personally I'm not a huge fan of Edgerton, he really sucked in Exodus: Gods Among Us. So if it comes down to these two, I would rather see the superior actor, Bernthal, lead the Suicide Squad as Rick Flagg Jr.

4. Rumor: Joe Manganiello (True Blood) will be Deathstroke

Source: ComicBookMovie

Like/Love/Hate/Don't Care: Love isn't a strong enough word for how I feel about this rumor. I'm a HUGE Joe Manganiello fan. The guy loves comics and has one of the best beards in the business, nuff said. So if Joe steps into the greatest assassin in the DC universe's shoes, it would be a dream come true.

5. Karl Urban (Dredd) Wanted For a Role in Aquaman

Source: ComicBookMovie

Who Should He Play?: First off, Karl Urban is a beast. That is a fact. Anyone who has seen Dredd will concur with this. So who better to step into the shoes' of Aquaman dickhead half brother/ nemesis Ocean Master? He could be plotting in secret in the first solo film. Then unleash chaos for Arthur in the sequel.

6. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) Eyed For a Role in Doctor Strange

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Who Should He Play?: Chiwetel would have made an excellent Black Panther, but Marvel decided to go with Chadwick Boseman instead. With a chance to still be in the MCU, I see him potentially being the Ancient One. The mentor to Doctor Strange.

7. Younger Jean Grey, Cyclops, And Storm Casted For X-Men: Apocalypse

Source: ComicBookMovie

Like/Love/Hate/Don't Care: I mean I do like Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones, but the best actors of this franchise are already place, so I'm saying I don't care. Cyclops, Storm, and Jean are all great characters, but Singer has never given them their due and I don't see it happening for their younger counterparts either.

Bonus: Who Should Direct Aquaman? Nichols (MUD) or Murro (300: Rise Of An Empire)? No question, Nichols. He is an original film maker and not a Zack Snyder ripoff like Murro. I want different styles of filmmaking across the DCU, especially for displaying Atlantis.

Thanks for reading and make sure to follow us on twitter @Caped_Informers or follow me @cstrand73 for all your comic related news.

Arrow "Left Behind" Review

Arrow is back! Lets not waste time and get right into. (Spoilers!)

Episode Description: As Diggle, Felicity and Roy start to fear the worst after Oliver's disappearance, Merlyn pays them a surprise visit; Ray experiments with part of his new suit; Laurel takes on the role of the Black Canary

High Points:

• Right out of the gate we get a tease of the green suit only to be revealed as Big Daddy Dig
• The team up between Roy and Dig is the type of stuff that could make even the manliest of men cream their pants.
• Vinne Jones who you may know formally as "The Jaggarnaut" played an excellent Daniel Brickwell aka "Brick"
• Brick challenging people promising them they will make it out alive if they win is probably one of the most bad ass things we've seen since Slade Wilson was in town.
• Ray Palmer as a character is amazing. Really excited to see his storyline play out.
• Thea continues to train and become more and more of a warrior.
• Thea's stomach refuses to be covered up in this show and I don't think anyone is complaining. 
• Learning the true fate of Oliver and why Maseo decided to saved him was a lot of fun to watch and it made me feel all the warm and fuzzy feelings you get when touching moments occur.
• We got the first taste of Laurel Lance's "Black Canary" and it did not disappoint.
• Katana and Maseo save our favorite Emerald Archer.

Low Points:

• Within the first 5 minutes of the episode, our good friend Detective Lance or Captain Lance as it is now not only loses his perp, but loses a cop on his force. Please for once can this show do something right for him? It's been three season this guy needs some luck.
• At times the episode seemed to be very slow and dry. Yes I know things have to be explained,  but I felt bored at some points.
• Bitch move by Felicity telling Ray what his fiance would have wanted him to do. Ray was right, it's not her place to say anything.
• Speaking of Felicity, Christian and I agreed that as hot as she is, they need to show less of her. She's a great character, but gets way too much air time. We don't want you to end up like Lana in Smallville. #SaveFelicity that is all!
• The episode needed more Dig and Roy team up scenes. In Oliver's absence they have really stepped up to the plate and taken over Team Arrow, but we want more.
• Malcom breaking the news to Team Arrow about Oliver's death and the reactions of the room was very crushing to see.
• Would have liked to have seen more scenes with Brick, but I guess that will come with time. 

Verdict: After a crushing blow (no pun intended) during the mid-season finale of Arrow, it was a tough one to predict how this next episode would play out. First off, it was great to see both Diggle and Roy step up and become the leaders of Team Arrow. Obviously everyone is worrying about Ollie, but they know that the city itself and protecting the city is what Oliver would have wanted. Dig has a great line in the episode that describes their partnership and what is left of Team Arrow perfectly "This is our work, this is what Oliver has set out to do. We have to do this" Leave it to Big Daddy Dig to pull on the heart strings. So now we move to Ollie's story. I must admit in my mind I knew he would be back but not the way they portrayed it in the show. A mysterious man, dressed in a black hood takes Oliver's body on a sled and drags him to a shed. Later to be revealed as Ollie's old friend and mentor Maseo. Then Katana is also revealed, but it seems that her and Maseo being together seemed unexpected for Ollie. Which leads me to believe that she will be found in the Hong Kong flashbacks, but perhaps the happy couple will not stay together. On a final note lets briefly talk about the first look at Laurel's Black Canary. I have no complaints. The suit looked great, she looks great, she's got the attitude, and plus the sonic canary was a great DC animated TV solute and I loved it.
All in all I give tonights episode a solid 7.5 out of 10!

PS.....HE'S BAAAHHHCKK!

What did you think of tonight's episode, and what do you think will happen with the remainder of the season? Feel free to comment and tweet us @Caped_Informers and let us know what you think! Stay tuned for next week's episode "Midnight City"

The Flash "Revenge of the Rogues" Review/Thoughts

The Flash is back everyone! After a brief month-long midseason hiatus, Barry and the S.T.A.R. Labs crew returned tonight to find that the ice-flinging Leonard Snart has teamed up with the fire-obsessed Mick Rory. One is a cool and collected strategist while the other is a hot-head who is quick to jump the gun. Sounds like every show ever that features a tidy roommate and a sloppy roommate who are forced to live together, and at times tonight it, it kind of felt that way.

Episode Description: Captain Cold and Heatwave team up to wreak havoc around Central City in an attempt to draw the Flash into battle. Meanwhile, Barry decides that dedicating his spare time to getting faster is more important than protecting his city from the dangers at hand.

High Points: 

• Barry's intense drone training session almost causes Harrison Wells to blow his disabled persona (also the drone training session itself was really cool)
• Barry's encounter with the Reverse Flash has clearly left him shaken up which will serve as a good obstacle for The Flash to overcome and will ultimately lead to more character growth over the second half of the season
• Barry flexes his latest speed-based power: Super Speedy Speed Reading
• "The Scarlett Speedster!" - Captain Cold 
• Cisco's freeze-gun proof shields 
• The fight between the Flash and the Rogues (are we going to see Eddie warm up to the Flash more? Will this effect any Eobard Thawne related transformations in the future?)
• I couldn't help but notice that when Barry and Harrison Wells met up briefly at S.T.A.R. Labs right before they found out about Caitlin, the music during that scene was strangely ominous. It made the whole scene feel like the whole relationship between them was very uncertain and I enjoyed that. 
• Dr. Martin Stein was mentioned as being a part of the whole F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. project meaning that Firestorm's second half is probably very much already in play
• Not to mention that the man Caitlin met up with to talk about F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. was none other than Jason Rusch (The Firestorm who comes after Ronnie Raymond)
• Captain Cold's sister making a cliffhanger appearance (Lisa Snart, a.k.a. Golden Glider)

Low Points:

• I couldn't help but notice that whenever Barry shows up to the crime scene nowadays, they no longer show his thought process via little side calculations and observations. Not that it takes anything away from the show by taking it out, I just found it cool during the first two episodes. 
• "Wait...SCUBA is an acronym!" -Barry Allen. (Of all the ways they could have figured out Firestorm was an acronym, happening to say SCUBA moments before should not have been the one they went with)
• Scumbag Joe West: "I'll give you two some time alone". *Sits down on the couch three feet away* 

Just remember folks, if you don't know what a word means then it is probably just a long-ass acronym for something...

Verdict: After a humbling encounter with the Reverse Flash during the midseason finale, we return to Central City to find a Barry Allen that is clearly torn up about both not being the fastest man alive, and having let the man who murdered his mother get away. The Reverse Flash is in no way the focus of this episode, but I do like to see that the encounter had a long lasting effect on Barry, and I look forward to see how he deals with it in the near future. Tonight the villain spotlight was on the Rogues, Captain Cold and Heatwave. Dominic Purcell showed us his Mick Rory for the first real time tonight given that we don't count the 3 seconds we saw of him during the cliffhanger to "Going Rogue" episode earlier this season. Unfortunately I was not overly impressed, but I also think I have an explanation. Now I understand that Mick Rory and Leonard Snart are pretty opposite personalities to begin, and in some circumstances have even been considered adversaries, but I felt like they were trying really hard to emphasize how completely opposite the two characters were. Earlier in the season Captain Cold had been established as calm, calculated and clever. Here they tried to establish Heatwave as the opposite of that, and at times he almost seemed too simple-minded compared to Cold. However, maybe I just got a bad first impression of him too. I will have to see what I feel when I see Heatwave and the Rogues return again, presumably with Golden Glider on their roster next time. Lisa Snart has been know to be romantically connected to Mirror Master, which could potentially hint at his membership in the Rogues. There have also been storylines where Lisa is killed, which then causes Captain Cold to seek vengeance, so that route becomes a very possible option as well by throwing hr into the mix. This episode also spent some time on the Firestorm part of the storyline, as Caitlin digs deeper into what happened to her ex-fiancee. Basically what we got tonight were two big names: Jason Rusch and Martin Stein. Jason Rusch is the man who becomes Firestorm after Ronnie and Martin Stein is the man essentially acts as Firestorm's voice of reason. The original Firestorm arose during the fusion of Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein but the end result was essentially Ronnie as Firestorm with the wisdom and insight of Dr. Stein ringing around in his head. In fact, Jason Rusch's comment to Caitlin about nobody having seen the good doctor in awhile leads me to think that he is already a voice inside Ronnie's head. All in all there were a lot of name drops this week, another strong showing by Captain Cold and his ever-growing group of Rogues, and a dozen more reasons to keep tuning in each week to watch The Flash. This week's episode scores an 8.0 out of 10. 

Thanks for reading the review! Got anything weighing on your mind after this week's episode? Think you know who will round out the Rogues' roster? Sound off in the comments or on twitter @Caped_Informers. Be sure to check back on the blog regularly for reviews of other comic book shows like Arrow which returns tomorrow, as well as other comic book news and analyses. The Flash returns same time next week with "The Sound and the Fury".

2nd Annual Capeys Comic Book Nominations!

The 2nd Annual Capeys:

Comic Book Nominations

On to part 3 of our nominations: Comic Book! Otherwise known as the greatest form of media ever created, it was another amazing year in-between the panels. Marvel, DC, Image, and many others brought their "A" games so expect each victor to have fought hard for a win. So get in the spirit of Award season by voting for your favorite show in the comments section or on Twitter. Good luck to all the candidates.

Time to reveal the nominees!

Best Comic Run of 2014
Wonder Woman (DC)
Saga (Image)
Batman (DC)
Uncanny Avengers (Marvel)
Southern Bastards (Image)

Best Comic Event
Original Sin (Marvel)
Forever Evil (DC)
Death Of Wolverine (Marvel)
Green Lantern: Godhead (DC)
Edge Of The Spider-verse (Marvel)

Best Comic Writer
Gail Simone (Batgirl, Red Sonja, Secret Six)
Jason Aaron (Thor, Southern Bastards)
Rick Remember (Deadly Class, Uncanny Avengers)
Scott Snyder (Batman, Wytches, The Wake)
Charles Soule (Red Lanterns, She-Hulk)

Best Comic Artist
Greg Capullo (Batman)
Declan Shelvey (Moon Knight)
Scottie Young (Rocket Raccoon)
Mike Allred (Silver Surfer)
Fiona Staples (Saga)

Best New Series
Southern Bastards (Image)
Moon Knight (Marvel)
Wytches (Image)
Deathstroke (DC)
Grayson (DC)

Best Single Issue of 2014
The Wake #10 (Vertigo)
Edge Of The Spider-verse (Spider-Gwen) #2 (Marvel)
Wonder Woman #35 (DC)
Batman #37 (DC)
Superior Spiderman #30 (Marvel)

Best Fight
Moon Knight #5 (The Raid)
Batman #35 (Batman v Justice League)
Batman #36 (Batman v Superman)
Green Arrow #34 (Green Arrow v Richard Dragon)
Deathstroke #2 (Slade vs. 300)

Bonus Categories:

Best Announcement
Marvel Studios Announces Phase 3 Lineup
WB Announces DC Comic Movies Lineup
The Suicide Squad Cast
Deadpool Movie

Sexiest Caped Informer
Ryan Keough
Brady Doyle
Justin McKinney
Christian Strand
Matt Schneiderhan
Dan Lee
Adam Strand

Those are the nominees. All week we will debate and fight over who wins. The victors will emerge this later this. Also expect our Oscar picks as well. It's a jam packed week of Caped goodies. Who do you think should win? Have any fun category ideas for next year? Post them in the comments section.

Hey come join the party all this week!!

2nd Annual Capey TV Nominations!

The 2nd Annual Capeys:

TV Nominations

As I said yesterday the Capey's are now divided into 3 separate categories: Movies, TV, and Comic Books. Today the boob tube gets it's due. Comic book TV shows have taken over everyone's DVR schedules this year. Whether it's old favorites like Arrow and The Walking Dead or newbies like The Flash and Gotham everyone is watching something comic related. So with so many shows, expect the winners to have fought vicious battles in order to come out the victor. People saying winning a Capey means you have really made it. So get in the spirit of Award season by voting for your favorite show in the comments section or on Twitter. Good luck to all the candidates.

Time to reveal the nominees!

Comic TV Show Of The Year

Arrow (CW)

Gotham (Fox)

The Flash (CW)

Agents Of S.H.E.L.D. (ABC)

Constantine (NBC)

The Walking Dead (AMC)

Best Sci-fi/Fantasy Show

Supernatural (CW)

Game of Thrones (HBO)

Orphan Black (BBC)

Sherlock (BBC)

Black Mirror (BBC)

Best Lead

Oliver Queen/Arrow (Steve Amell)

Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin)

Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg)

Jim Gordon (Ben Mckenzie)

John Constantine (Matt Ryan)

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln)

Best Supporting

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)

Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards)

Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh)

Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue)

Skye "Daisy" Johnson (Chloe Bennet)

Best Villain

Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor)

Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (Manu Bennett)

Lenard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller)

Those Terminus Pussies

Reverse Flash (Yet To Be Revealed)

Best Episode of 2014

Unthinkable (Arrow)

Man in The Yellow Suit (The Flash)

The Grove (The Walking Dead)

Turn, Turn, Turn (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Flash vs. Arrow (The Flash)

Best Animated Show

Ultimate Spiderman (Disney XD)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon)

Beware the Batman (Cartoon Network)

Teen Titans Go! (Cartoon Network)

Star Wars Rebels (Disney XD)

The Worst of the Worst (The Gotham Award)*

Fish Mooney

Edward Nygma's Terrible Riddles

Destroying The Rogue's Gallery

Barbara Kean's Infidelity/Annoyingness

The Spirit of the Goat (Worst Episode of TV ever)

Most Exciting Future Show

Supergirl (CBS)

Daredevil (Netflix)

Krypton (Syfy)

Titans (TNT)

The Atom (CW)

What Deserves A Show

Moon Knight

Green Lantern

Suicide Squad

Nightwing

The Punisher

The awards will be given out on our podcast later this week. Thanks for reading and congratulations to all the nominees. Tweet at @Caped_Informers or tweet me @cstrand73 to tell us who should win what or sound off in the comments.

*Our apologies if you love Gotham, it's just not our cup of tea. So be prepared for us shitting on it in our podcast. Because truly we have nothing better to do and Gotham sucks.

UPDATE!: As I wrote this Gotham got renewed for it's second season. In short fuck me.

What commonly happens after you win a Capey

This blog is getting sexual and I love it

The 2nd Annual Capey Movie Nominations Are Here!

The 2nd Annual Capeys: 

Movie Nominations

This year's Capey will be divided into three separate categories: Movies, TV, and Comic Books. Each category will receive it's winners via separate podcasts that the Informers will put out later this week. So get in the spirit of Award season by telling us who should win in the comments section or on Twitter. Good luck to all the candidates. 

It's time to reveal the nominees!

Comic Movie of The Year
Amazing Spiderman 2
Captain America: The Winter Solider
Guardians of The Galaxy
TMNT
X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Best Sci-Fi Movie of The Year
Dawn of The Planet of The Apes
Edge of Tomorrow (Live, Die, Repeat)
Godzilla
Interstellar
Snowpiercer

Best Lead Hero
Captain America (Chris Evans)
Spiderman (Andrew Garfield)
Star Lord (Chris Pratt)
Wolverine (Hugh Jackman)
Caesar (Andy Serkis)

Best Supporting Hero
Black Widow (Scar Jo)
Falcon (Anthony Mackie)
Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper)
Professor X (James McAvoy)
Groot (Vin Disel)

Best Villain
The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan)
Ronan (Lee Pace)
HYDRA
Magneto (Michael Fassbender)
Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford)

The Grab Bag Award
Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone)
Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence)
Quicksilver (Evan Peters)
Drax (Bautista)
Gamora (Zoe Saldana)

Best Director
Russo Bros. (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
James Gunn (Guardians of Galaxy)
Brian Singer (X-Men: DOFP)
Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)
Chris Nolan (Interstellar)

Best Movie Fight
Cap 2 Fighting WS on the Highway
TMNT vs. Shredder
GOTG Prison Break
X-Men Against Future Sentinels
Spidey vs. Gobby

Funniest Movie Scene
Quicksilver Saves the Day
Groot Murder a Few Guys
Drax Steals a Dude's Knife
Rocket Needs that Guy's Leg
Captain America Goes to the Apple Store

Best Elevator Scene
Professor X Punching Magneto
Gwen Stacy Meeting Max Dillon/Harry Osborn
Cap Critically Injures about 15 Guys
The Turtles Jam on the elevator

Worst Movie Villain (The Aldrin Killan Award)
Electro
Ronan
The Rhino
Green Goblin
The Shredder + Eric Sacks

Biggest Disappointment
Amazing Spiderman 2
TMNT
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

You Need To Be Replaced Award
Marc Webb (Director of TASM 2)
Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec (Writers of TMNT)

Jonathan Liebesman (Director TMNT)

Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach (Producers of TASM 2)

Megan Fox (Actress in TMNT)

Best Sexually Charged Moment

Hipster Cap and Black Widow make out on an escalator

Peter stalks Gwen as Spiderman

Gamora does not succumb to Star Lord's pelvic sorcery

Wolverine's ass shot

Best Animated Movie

Justice League: War

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis

Batman: Assault on Arkham

Son of Batman

Lego Movie

Best Movie Trailer/Teaser

Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Guardians of The Galaxy

Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

Ant-Man

The awards will be given out on our podcast later this week. Thanks for reading and congratulations to all the nominees. Tweet at @Caped_Informers or tweet me @cstrand73 to tell us who should win what or sound off in the comments.

It's already Capey Season again?

I really like True Detective in case you couldn't tell.

Arrow Midseason Recap/Review (Spoilers!)

Arrow Midseason Recap/Review

Our favorite Emerald Archer returns from his midseason break next week (and hopefully from the dead too), so I thought there was no better time than now to go over the first half of Arrow's third season. Let's get to it.

High Points (Ep. 1-9):

• Roy is now a full-fledged sidekick.
• The theme of Identity: Can Ollie be both the Arrow and Oliver Queen.
• The shocking death of Sara Lance at the end of Ep. 1.
• Emotional fallout from Sara's death hit Team Arrow hard.
• Komodo from Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow run gets introduced.
• Motorcycle Jousting should be in the Olympics.
• Brandon Routh has added heart + humor to the cast with his fun portrayal of Ray Palmer and his interactions with Felicity are always hilarious.
• The angry hunt for Sara's Killer led to many different suspects.
• Awesome DC easter eggs spread through all nine episodes.
• Thea's transformation to a badass through her studies with Papa Merlyn.
• Ollie and Roy's relationship has grown from "He's just my sister's BF" to "Bros".
• Laurel has begun her path to become Black Canary.
• The gorgeous Nyssa Al Ghul came back and she was pissed about Sara's death.
• Ollie's inability to find Sara's killer puts him at odds with the League of Assassins.
• Enter the Demon's Head, Ra's Al Ghul.
• Felicity's Mom has got it going on (MILF TO THE MAX!).
• Flashbacks to Felicity's hacker past at MIT filled in some blanks about her backstory.
• Roy recalls that he killed a cop in last season's "Seeing Red".
• It's Cupid, stupid! But seriously she was a sexy and unique villainess.
• Ray Palmer has plans for his ATOM suit and now has dwarf star matter as well.
• THE ENTIRETY OF THE FLASH/ARROW CROSSOVER!
• Even though it's in The Flash's episode that incredible Flash vs. Arrow fight.
• Captain Boomerang is another worthy addition to the Flarrow rogues gallery.
• Ollie and Barry's seasoned vet to super-powered rookie relationship.
• Merlyn sets up Ollie to clear his blood debt with the League of Assassins.
• THEA KILLED SARA! (Under mind control, but still!)
• Ollie vs. Ra's in a trial by combat.
• The death of Oliver Queen!

My sediments exactly

Low Points (Ep. 1-9):

• New Vertigo was a Scarecrow ripoff.
• All of the Hong Kong flashbacks have been weak. Katana and Maseo have been extremely underdeveloped which led to the latter's reveal of being in the modern day League of Assassins be very underwhelming. Tommy popping up was the lone bright spot.
• Laurel in her anger over Sara's death makes several stupid decisions.
• Nothing good ever happens for Det. Lance. He is this show's punching bag.
• Being in Corto Maltese really detracted from attempting to find Sara's killer.
• First half has been a real slow burn especially with the League of Assassins.
• Felicity used to date a hacktivist pussy.
• Certain episodes in particular Ep. 3-6 did very little to move any main stories along. Also besides Merlyn, these eps had terrible bad guys involved. Brother Eye, Shaw (The Manhunter), and that dumbass attempting to frame Ted Grant all sucked as antagonists.
• Ollie was a huge hypocrite in regards to Ted Grant being dangerous because he was a former vigilante who killed people. Re-watch Season 1 Ollie. You filled a fucking graveyard.
• No Suicide Squad or Deathstroke.
• No one and I mean no one gives a shit about Thea's new DJ boyfriend. Unless the rumors about him working for Merlyn or Ra's are true, then I will give at least one shit.
• Not enough emphasis on Roy. 
• Dinah Lance is the biggest shithead to ever walk the fake universe of Arrow.

What I do on Wed. nights without Arrow

Best Episodes So Far:

1. "The Brave and The Bold": The Flash/Arrow crossover was a massive successful. Everyone knew going in that pairing Barry and Ollie together was going to be awesome and that fight between them did not disappoint. So "Brave and the Bold" had the job of continuing that level of epicness. It did so by giving Arrow one of it's best baddies this season in Captain Boomerang. Boomer was no joke and was on a war path to take down A.R.G.U.S. This led Arrow and Flash into action thereby delivering some of the coolest action sequences of this season.

2. "The Climb": The trend of TV in 2014 was to have a "trial by combat". On Game Of Thrones, the Mountain and the Viper had an epic showdown to determine the fate of Tyrion Lannister. It was a fun fight with a crazy unexpected outcome. So how was Arrow going to top that trial by combat? By having their own fun fight that has an even more unexpected outcome. Ollie got killed. It was a moment that Arrow fans never expected to see. In the end it just goes to show that you don't fuck with the Demon's Head. Overall this episode just showcased how scary powerful Ra's Al Ghul really is and how Oliver pails in comparison to his might. Obviously Oliver will have to come back somehow (Lazurus Pit is everyone's guess), so it will be interesting to see if the League still has a problem with Starling City's vigilante when he returns. 

Worst Episode So Far:

1. "Guilty": Oliver was acting like a major hypocrite. Wildcat's old partner was trying to frame him, yet we didn't care. The story felt like it could have been resolved in the first 10 minutes. Whatever negative tidbits you have to say about "Guilty" are probably 100% on the money. Just a filler hour of TV with a lameass bad guy. Only high point for it, was the boxing glove arrow.

Biggest Surprise: Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer has been an excellent addition to the Arrow roster. At first I thought he would be a throw away character that was trying to take over Oliver's company much like Summer Glau's Ravager was last year, but instead Ray added humor + heart + levity to a show that desperately needed some. His character has been coming along nicely and I for one am definitely looking forward to him suiting up as The Atom in the second half of season 3.

Biggest Disappointment: Until I watched "The Climb", Ra's Al Ghul, or his lack there of, was going to be the biggest disappointment of the first half of season 3. Now that honor instead goes to the Hong Kong flashbacks. Early on in the show, flashbacks were one of Arrow's greatest strengths. They helped inform the story at hand while simultaneously giving the audience an interesting backstory on what happened to Oliver in those 5 years that he was away. The revelation at the end of last season that Ollie was not on the island the entire time he was away made me excited for what the show would going to do with it's new Hong Kong setting. To be frank, they haven't really done shit with it. Tatsu/Katana and Maseo have very little development other than that they love their son. When flashbacks were with Slade, Shado, and Sara, the audience learned a lot about who thee characters were and bonded to them. That's what made Slade's transformation that much cooler, you cared about him. Nobody cares about Maseo or Tatsu yet. Maybe the second half of the season will showcase who these characters are a little bit more.

Best Fight So Far: 

1. Ra's vs. Oliver: The Demon's head easily destroys Ollie in perhaps the coolest way possible.

Honorable Mention: This fight happened on The Flash, but it was so badass that it should still count here. #Flarrow

Verdict: Arrow's first half gets a 7.0 out of 10. Now some people may feel that score is a little low, so let me explain. Arrow reached awesome heights last year and I'm going to hold them to that standard. Off that bar that they set, this season has been good, not great. Of course there were plenty of highlights, but I expect the second half of the season to be on par with Season 2. Oliver's death sets up a ton of possibilities for the season's second half so there is no reason not to expect greatness from this next set of episodes.

Most Excited For (Ep. 10-23):

• Mob boss Brick is coming to Starling! Played by Vinnie Jones who famously said "I'm the Juggernaut, BITCH!"
• Roy and Diggle stepping up in Oliver's absence.
• Appearances by Suicide Squad and Deathstroke.
• More League of Assassins.
• Another Flash appearance?

Okay, that's all I for ya. Stay tuned for Arrow return on Jan. 21st and make sure to follow us on @Caped_Informers or follow me @cstrand73 for all your comic book related news. Thanks for reading!

If you want individual reviews for each of the first nine Arrow episodes click the links below:

The Calm

Sara

Corto Maltese

The Magician

The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak

Guilty

Draw Back Your Bow

The Brave and The Bold

The Climb