Geek Freaks Podcast: X-Men 97 Drama, New WoW Expansion, and Insights from Titus Walker

House of the Dragon Season 3 ended with Sunfyre back from the dead and Rhaenyra executing the High Septon inside his own sept, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day gave the MCU its darkest Jean Grey yet. Frank, Thomas, and Jonathan break down both, plus the Marvel Hall H panel from San Diego Comic-Con and why Ghost Rider got announced with nothing behind it. On the House of the Dragon side: the Episode 7 resurrection that flipped the board, Helaena's tapestry and what it was quietly spoiling all along, where the show splits from Fire and Blood on her death, why Rhaenyra was never built to sit on a throne in the first place, and a final score for the season from each of them. Then a full spoiler conversation on Spider-Man: Brand New Day covering Sadie Sink's Jean Grey and the road to Dark Phoenix, the Hulk and the Punisher as mirrors for where Peter Parker could end up, the ending that made a handshake hit harder than a kiss, and whether Marvel has its footing back going into Doomsday, Secret Wars, and X-Men. Network news and picks of the week close it out. 00:00 Intro: Three Weeks Off, Alaska, and Missing Comic-Con 03:11 San Diego Comic-Con and the Marvel Hall H Fallout 05:53 Project Hail Mary Is the Movie of the Year 07:02 House of the Dragon Season 3: Rhaenyra's Turn and the Finale 18:53 Sunfyre, Helaena's Tapestry, and Book vs Show Changes 25:02 Season 3 Final Thoughts and Scores 28:00 Spider-Man: Brand New Day Spoiler Talk 33:00 Sadie Sink's Jean Grey and the Road to Dark Phoenix 41:02 What It Means for the MCU: Doomsday, Secret Wars, and X-Men 50:16 Network News and Picks of the Week All news discussed comes from GeekFreaksPodcast.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a five star review if this one hit. Share it with someone still arguing about the House of the Dragon finale and tag us with #GeekFreaksPodcast. Instagram and TikTok: @GeekFreaksPodcast Threads: https://www.threads.net/@geekfreakspodcast Twitter: @GeekFreaksPod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegeekfreakspodcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GeekFreakspodcast Got a take on the finale, a theory about what Jean Grey becomes next, or a show you want covered? Send it in. We read listener questions and topic suggestions on air. Key Takeaways Rhaenyra spent three seasons trying to be her father and the finale is the moment she stops. Frank frames it as her Anakin-to-Vader turn, right down to killing the realm's holy man and walking back out to claim she is the savior. Episode 7 and the return of Sunfyre lands as the season's biggest swing. Jonathan calls it a genuine plot twist with no setup, and it resets who is actually holding power going into Season 4. Helaena's knitting was spoiling the show in plain sight. Her tapestry lays out everything she has seen, and nobody in the story looks at it until it is too late. Both Frank and Jonathan score Season 3 an eight, with the caveat that Episodes 4 through 6 drag badly. Thomas, who bailed on the season early, gets talked into going back and finishing it. Spider-Man: Brand New Day works as a character study more than a clean three-act movie. The guys argue it is structurally strange on purpose, closer to picking up a random issue mid-run than a typical MCU installment. Jean Grey's power set is used in a much more specific and much darker way than expected, which the guys read as deliberate setup for Professor X's mental blocks and the eventual Dark Phoenix story. Quotes "She's now in her Darth Vader era." (Frank) "She was never meant to actually sit on the Iron Throne. She was always meant to capture it." (Frank) "The dragon fire ripping through a city is going to kill the good and the bad alike. It's not justice. It's just suffering." (Jonathan) "So many parts of this shouldn't work. But it does." (Thomas, on Spider-Man: Brand New Day) "I can't believe how much relief I suddenly felt from a damn handshake." (Frank) Apple Podcast Tags House of the Dragon, House of the Dragon Season 3, House of the Dragon finale, Game of Thrones, HBO, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Sunfyre, Helaena Targaryen, Targaryen, Fire and Blood, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Brand New Day, Marvel, MCU, Tom Holland, Jean Grey, Sadie Sink, Dark Phoenix, X-Men, Punisher, Jon Bernthal, Avengers Doomsday, Secret Wars, San Diego Comic-Con, Hall H, Ghost Rider, Ryan Gosling, Project Hail Mary, The Long Walk, comic books, movie review, TV review, pop culture, geek culture