Gambit’s Serious Transformation in Avengers Doomsday

Thomas joins Frank to remember Eric Bauza, the modern voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and tells the story of meeting him at DreamHack San Diego and running into him again at WonderCon this year. Then the news: Jonathan Hickman is consulting on Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, and EA has shut down BioWare and canceled the next Mass Effect. Thomas calls Hickman the Christopher Nolan of comics, pointing to House of X/Powers of X, while Frank goes back to the Council of Reeds in Hickman's Fantastic Four. Both want the Reed and Doom friendship at the center of the movie. On BioWare, Frank lays out Andromeda, Anthem, and Veilguard alongside the $55 billion buyout, and the two talk about the mid-budget games that disappeared and the indie studios filling the gap. Frank closes with his Clayface review: a small, dark DC movie with rough CGI late, a big turn from Tom Rhys Harries, and a villain you end up rooting for. Plus picks for Blade Runner 2099 and Prime's Carrie. Chapters 0:00 Remembering Eric Bauza 5:30 LA Comic-Con Plans 8:45 Jonathan Hickman Joins Doomsday and Secret Wars 25:27 EA Shuts Down BioWare 32:19 Triple-A Risk vs. Indie Games 41:55 Clayface Review (Spoiler Free) 43:34 Clayface Spoiler Talk 51:29 Around the Geek Freaks Network 54:40 Thomas Recommends Blade Runner 2099 57:44 Frank Recommends Carrie Key takeaways Thomas spent 20 to 30 minutes talking with Bauza before a WonderCon panel, and Bauza kept the conversation going from the stage as the room filled. Frank wants to see how Steve Rogers reacts when someone pulls him out of the life he finally got to live, and wonders if he still feels the same duty to this Earth. Frank's theory: Marvel is stretching the multiverse mess on purpose (two Caps, multiple Spider-Men) so the Secret Wars reset lands harder. A story-driven Triple-A game takes five to ten years, so one flop can sink a studio. BioWare had three in a row. Frank would rather spend ten dollars at a time on Marvel Rivals skins than $70 on a game he finishes in eight hours. Clayface's cop love interest could be cut without changing anything, and darker characters like Swamp Thing, Etrigan, and Constantine suit the same mid-budget approach. Quotes "I stand by he's kind of the Christopher Nolan of comic books." (Thomas) "That story is so big and yet that question is so small." (Frank) "Not everything has to be $200 million." (Frank) "He's a man who's lost his identity. He's gaining a new one. He's desperately trying to reach the old one. And when he finally accepts the new one, he's Clayface." (Frank) "My peak of high school and social media together was figuring out your top eight in Myspace." (Frank) Source All news discussed in this episode comes from GeekFreaksPodcast.com. Support the show Follow Geek Freaks on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, leave a five-star review, and send this one to the friend still waiting on another Knights of the Old Republic. #GeekFreaksPodcast Follow Geek Freaks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegeekfreakspodcast Threads: https://www.threads.net/@geekfreakspodcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GeekFreakspodcast Instagram and TikTok: @GeekFreaksPodcast Twitter: @GeekFreaksPod Listener questions Which BioWare game are you going to miss most? Send that, plus questions and topic ideas, to thegeekfreakspodcast@gmail.com.