The Legend of Korra - 2/5

This show starts off by making some interesting updates and changes to the established worldbuilding, but quickly loses its way. The characters are almost exclusively terrible and annoying, and the underlying world view the show is promoting is pretty toxic; the men are useless, bumbling idiots, the women are brilliant and effortlessly talented. Apart from a few interesting moments and story beats, it’s not worth watching.

Closest comparison: It’s like Avatar: The Last Airbender rewritten by the makers of Skull Island (2023).

Setting: Fantasy
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Comedy

Batman: Year One - 3/5

This movie is more grounded addition to the Batman mythology, a less fantastical prequel than many of the other entries. The story is solid and straightforward, pretty much what anyone with any knowledge of Batman would expect at this point, but with all the crazy interpretations out there it’s nice to have a standard by which to measure.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Batman by way of The Long Halloween.

Setting: Noir
Plot: Crime
Tone: Super hero

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - 2/5

The main problem with this movie is that none of the characters act like themselves. The overall story is mostly fine, but when all very popular characters behave in random or even bizarre ways it makes the twists that rely on previous knowledge of the characters pointless. The aesthetic is pretty cool, but the movie doesn’t make the most of it.

Closest comparison: It’s like Bad Blood by way of Hush.

Setting: Noir
Plot: Serial Killer Mystery
Tone: Super Hero

Invincible (Amazon, 2021) - 3/5

This show takes the Spider-Man high school drama, combines it with a broader Avengers-style narrative, and wraps it all up in the gore that is much more realistic to the physics at work. The story isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, but it keeps the audience sufficiently curious and pays it off decently well in the end. It certainly lags in the middle and a few of the main side characters are insufferable, but they’re not a big enough part to ruin it completely. If you can stomach the extreme gore, it’s a fascinating watch.

Content warning: extreme violence, extreme blood, extreme gore

Closest comparison: It’s like Spider-Man by way of Kick-Ass with a Dexter (2006) plot woven in.

Setting: Marvel-Adjacent Super Heroes
Plot: Super Hero Origin
Tone: Brutal Action