Phaneron

Question: Is this the last movie in the Infinity Saga? I always thought Endgame was, but apparently I was wrong. Wouldn't it make more sense for Endgame to be?

MikeH

Answer: All MCU movies from Phase 1 through Phase 3 are considered to be in the Infinity Saga. Avengers: Endgame is considered to be the climax, while this film is considered to be the epilogue.

Phaneron

28th Apr 2020

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Question: What happened to Loki? Does this mean he's now alive?

MikeH

Answer: The Loki from the original timeline is dead, but the 2013 Loki that is imprisoned on Asgard is presumably alive and well, and the 2012 Loki that escaped with the Tesseract is alive and supposedly, this version of the character will be the focus of his own upcoming Disney+ series.

Phaneron

Answer: The Loki who escaped is in a different timeline, so he will not encounter the "main" versions of the characters. This version of Loki will appear in the new series.

26th Apr 2020

The Simpsons (1989)

Oh, Brother, Where Are Thou? - S2-E15

Question: How exactly did the production of Homer's car bankrupt Herb? If Herb, as a highly successful car manufacturer, was spending so much money spoiling Marge and the kids that an $82,000 price tag for making a car was enough of a straw to break the camel's back, wouldn't he have gone bankrupt sooner than later anyway?

Phaneron

Answer: It wasn't the cost of one car, but that they'd produced thousands of Homer's ridiculous vehicles, which they'd marketed as a family car, but cost five times as much as a new car at the time. No one would buy them and the company went under.

Brian Katcher

Wasn't the car just a demo though? How would they have been able to produce thousands of cars in such a short amount of time?

Phaneron

Herb had given instructions to his team to build whatever Homer wants, thinking it would be a success. More than likely the plant produced the one seen while production continued on the rest. Herb had too much faith in Homer and his ideas.

Ssiscool

Big difference between a "demo" or prototype car compared to a launch car. The dealers must have stock available of the launch car so people can actually buy them straight away.

stiiggy

Question: Why did Thor let Cap have some of his drink that he said mortal men can't have. I know that Cap's super soldier serum makes him stronger, but he's still human.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: By mortal men, he probably just means ordinary. Since Cap has super powers, Thor doesn't consider him ordinary (plus the we learn in Captain America: The First Avenger that his advanced metabolism prevents him from getting drunk). Since Thor also relents and allows the WWII veterans to partake in the drink as well, it's safe to assume he doesn't consider it to be deadly for humans to have.

Phaneron

Answer: Cap now has a superhuman metabolism, as shown in the first Cap movie when he was unable to get drunk after Bucky died.

LorgSkyegon

25th May 2019

Boy Meets World (1993)

Janitor Dad - S4-E6

Question: When Chet and Verna are arguing about Chet getting a job, visible in the background is a painting of what I believe is an oak tree on a yellow background. Does anybody know the name and/or artist of this painting? My Grandparents used have a painting similar to it (if not the same one) and it also looks very similar to (and possibly the inspiration for) the cover art for the debut album of the band Days of the New.

Phaneron

Answer: I learned the answer to this one today. It is "Tree of Life" by Garé Barks.

Phaneron

Question: Why did Eddie try and pull the trailer up with the car? Wouldn't it have made more sense to use the trailer's own power?

Answer: He might not have had the keys to start it. He might not have known if the damage inflicted on it by the T-Rex had made it inoperative. It could also be simply down to fear! Would you like to be behind the wheel of something that is falling off a cliff, because I sure as hell wouldn't! If it suddenly started to fall faster, it would take far less time to jump out of the car than what it would to get from behind the wheel of the trailer, get up on the dashboard and jump through the broken window.

Answer: Half of the trailer is hanging off the cliff and the other half is slipping. He needs the weight of the car to try and anchor the trailer while the car's reverse motion pulls the trailer away from the edge.

Phaneron

Answer: I believe you are talking about the medal. That is one of the medals from the end of A New Hope (Star Wars) that was given to Luke and Han. Presumably it is Han's medal.

Answer: It's a medal similar to the ones Han and Luke received at the end of "A New Hope." Whether it's a new one, or Leia was in possession of one or both the medals that belonged to Han and Luke respectively is unknown.

Phaneron

It is Han's medal which Leia had saved. It says so in the novelization.

Answer: No other lightsaber in the films was shown to have a yellow blade, so this is one she constructed herself.

Phaneron

17th Mar 2020

Batman Forever (1995)

Question: If Bruce had backed Edward's invention, would Edward have still done what he did in the movie (using the device to grow smarter, try to outdo Bruce etc)? Or did Bruce spurning him cause him to do that?

Answer: It's hard to say for certain. If Bruce had approved of the project, there would have been a lot more volunteers and oversight of its production, which would have alerted Bruce of the device's side effects, at which point he or one of his underlings would order its production to cease. Edward would still feel spurned and motivated to continue his work, but without the resources of Wayne Industries at his disposal, he may have a more difficult time seeing his plan through.

Phaneron

Question: Why did they try to outrun the Dutchman? Wouldn't they have known that Jones had the power to summon the Kraken? The first ship that Will thinks is the Dutchman, Jack prods Gibbs who tries to cover it up by saying "Must have been a foul at the reef" So Jack and Gibbs both know that the Kraken destroyed this ship (Bootstrap even tells Jack that Jones' leviathan is after him) The crew member Will speaks too says it was something beneath them with a foul breath, then the Dutchman appears nearby. When Will is on the Edinburgh, the Kraken attacks again with the Dutchman nearby. At the very least you'd expect Will to be able to put two and two together that every time the Dutchman is near, so is the Kraken! Wouldn't he have warned everyone about this?

Answer: Their best chance is to reach land or at least shallow water, as the Kraken cannot attack them in either area. If they engage the Dutchman or stay in open water, they risk the Black Pearl being completely destroyed.

Phaneron

17th Mar 2020

Watchmen (2009)

Question: Did this movie have some sort of point? That genocide of several million to prevent war was a good idea? That and how did they avoid being sued considering Batman's got an Owl Man, a Spider Woman was in existence before this spider super heroine and the white masked guy seems to be a take on The Question.

Rob245

Answer: Why would they be sued? DC own both the DC comics properties and the Watchmen characters.

Answer: You forgot where DC ended up owning Captain Marvel claiming he was a Super Man ripoff and how Marvel sued the name away from the character.

Rob245

Answer: There is no "spider super heroine" in this movie. Silk Spectre has no superpowers, so I'm not sure where you're getting the connection to Spider-Woman from. Watchmen is a DC property, as are Batman and The Question, who was acquired by DC several years before the Watchmen graphic novel was published, so there would be no plagiarism lawsuits in response. The point of the movie, much like the graphic novel it is based on, is to illustrate the dangers of nuclear tension and war, and how regular people pay the price of the actions of contentious governments.

Phaneron

And to show that someone who is supposedly super-smart is also usually super-insane.

lionhead

Answer: I mean as in Bob Kane suing since Owl Man's sort of like Batman.

Rob245

Bob Kane undoubtedly received royalties for creating Batman, but the character is owned by DC. It's not as if he had the right to start his own comic book company and take Batman away from DC, so even if he felt slighted by Nite Owl II having some similarities to Batman, he would have no legal grounds to sue for it. Furthermore, characters would have to be blatant ripoffs in many ways in order for comic book companies to be able to sue over. Marvel and DC have many characters that are similar in powers, appearance, etc, but those similarities are usually so superficial that they can be dismissed as homages or parodies and it would prove difficult for one company to sue the other over it. A really good example would be Deadpool who was practically created as a parody of Deathstroke. The only case I can think of where a lawsuit had enough merit to go to court was Marvel suing Awesome Entertainment for redesigning Fighting American into a shameless ripoff Captain America.

Phaneron

6th Mar 2020

The Mask (1994)

Question: Why would he have to steal the money from the bank? Given everything else he makes.

Answer: While under the influence of the mask, Stanley repeatedly gets revenge on people that have wronged him. The Mask wouldn't even need to create money out of thin air to get into the club since he could just use his powers to get in, so since he feels that he is mistreated at the bank, he robs it.

Phaneron

Answer: Nothing he makes while The Mask is permanent, and when separated from him reverts or disappears, as we see with the piece of pajama. If he made money, for example to get into the club, then immediately after giving it to the people and walking inside, it would vanish, probably causing him then to be thrown out. As Phaneron said, in addition, by robbing the bank to get it, he also strikes back at one of those he feels mistreats him.

22nd Jan 2005

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Question: I've watched this movie several times, and there is no foul language in this film yet the MPAA rated this film PG for language. Why?

Answer: And the man shooting the cow.

Answer: It's rated PG for "parental guidance" suggested due to some thematic elements.

Toolio

Answer: Uncle Rico trying to sell breast enlargement supplements to various women including a teenager undoubtedly factored into the final rating.

Phaneron

Answer: They do say "ret**ded" and things like "Freaking Idiot."

Show generally

Question: Hank bears no resemblance to his father, but strongly resembles his mother. Bobby bears no resemblance to Hank (or seemingly Peggy), but bears a strong resemblance to Hank's father. Is it actually possible for a person to bear such a strong resemblance to one of their Grandparents if they are only getting half their genes from that Grandparent's child and that child bears no resemblance to that particular parent?

Phaneron

Answer: It's also said genetics plays a part here. You can look like an ancestor more than a parent. I myself look nothing like either of mine nor do any of my 3 siblings: older brother, older sister, younger sister.

Rob245

Chosen answer: The short answer is "yes", it is possible to resemble your Grandparent even if your parent doesn't resemble your Grandparent. The old adage is "it's not like mixing paint", meaning combining genes doesn't always get the same result. It's why full siblings don't always look exactly alike even though they have the same genetic makeup. I look next to nothing like my paternal grandmother but I have a child that greatly resembles her.

BaconIsMyBFF

Is it a mistake then that Hank's Japanese half-brother strongly resembles him, and by extension Hank's mother, or is that still a small possibility?

Phaneron

Sort of. These are animated characters, and the style of animation isn't particularly detailed. The resemblance between the two is played up for laughs. But there are plenty of real life examples of people that aren't related at all but greatly resemble one another. Famous examples are Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem, or Will Ferrell and Chad Smith.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: In Jesse's parents house, the height chart is scrawled on the door frame. Did they move back into the family home?

Answer: Unless I'm forgetting the show mentioning them moving, I believe the Pinkmans stayed in the same house. The house Jesse lived in and later bought under their noses after their expensive remodel was Jesse's aunt's house.

Phaneron

10th Feb 2020

X-Men 3 (2006)

Question: Why exactly did Magneto lead the Brotherhood and Omegas to San Francisco to destroy the cure facility? Couldn't they have just simply chosen to not take it?

Answer: The cure has been weaponized at this point and they don't want it forced on other mutants or themselves.

Phaneron

2nd Feb 2020

Constantine (2005)

Question: When they enter Midnight's bar, the bouncer shows them a card. What is that about? What is the objective there?

Answer: They only allow people in the club that have psychic abilities. The entrant has to correctly identify the character on the card to be allowed in.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: In the alternate ending of Final Destination 3, a newspaper blows by, revealing Kimberly and Burke ran into each other at a hardware store and a Camaro (belonging to Evan) ran through the store, knocking them into a nearby woodchipper. Kimberly's coat was tangled and was snatched into the machine. Burke attempted to save her, and both were dismembered.

lartaker1975

How come Thomas didn't die first in the sequence of death? He was the first to be killed in the car wreck?

Death was working in reverse order. The last person to die in the premonition was the first person to die in the real world.

Phaneron

Answer: No, Thomas wouldn't have died first because it was explained that Death was going backwards since everyone that died in the first movie made some people miss their death date, so he had to tie up the loose ends.

27th Jan 2020

General questions

When I was a little kid I checked out a Batman graphic novel from the library. It had a lot of his rogues gallery in it, most if not all of whom were killed in it. I specifically remember Catwoman being shot and her dying words were along the lines of "Batman, I'm so cold." Batman then kissed her before she died. Does anyone know what the name of this graphic novel/storyline is?

Phaneron

Answer: All Stars #17?

Based on my Google search results, "All-Star Batman" is a more recent publication. The year I read the book in question was probably 1993, so it was probably published in the late 80s or early 90s.

Phaneron

I believe the answer should have been DC Super-Stars #17. That issue features the death of the Earth Two Selina Kyle as part of the origin story of her daughter, Helena Kyle (The Huntress).

BaconIsMyBFF

Someone on Reddit guessed it was Batman Annual 15 (Armageddon 2001), and based on the panels that are pictured on the website of the link they provided, it appears to be that one.

Phaneron

That's not it either, unfortunately. I specifically remember Killer Croc being in this, because it was the first time I ever heard of him, and he didn't debut until 1983, six years after DC Superstars #17. I think Batman killed Joker at the end out of revenge for Catwoman. With so many other characters being killed in it, I'm pretty certain it was an Elseworld story and not connected to whatever the main DC universe is or was at the time.

Phaneron

8th Oct 2018

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Answer: Sandman is a fugitive who is on the run. It is more than likely that his name has appeared in the news at some point. His daughter and her illness would likely have also been mentioned as well. Seeing as how Eddie worked at the Daily Bugle, it shouldn't have took long for him to put two and two together.

Casual Person

The symbiote (which turned Eddie into Venom) usually has its previous owner's memories. So Eddie might have known about Sandman's daughter through Peter's memories.

But Peter doesn't seem to know he had a daughter and shows surprise when he's told of her at the end.

Rob245

Supposedly there is a deleted scene where Venom finds out about Sandman's daughter but it was cut for time, so it ends up creating a little bit of a plot hole in the final film.

Phaneron

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