It's no secret I love Marvel. My husband and I have one of the largest Funko Marvel collections. Our daughter's name is even Marvel. So I was beyond stoked to finally get some time to chat with one of my favorite nerd writers, Russ Milheim, all about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, he has been covering the MCU for our website for a few years now when he took over the reins from the OG Jesse Rolufs. We start the conversation off with what we are obsessing over. Russ has recently gotten rid of most of his Marvel Funkos and has moved onto Hot Toys. The lack of Funkos has made for an empty house, so he's been Nerdy Re-Decorating. I've personally gotten myself addicted to The Crown lately, and even Andy's been enjoying it. But let's get back to this podcast's real topic, the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the MCU.

During the early part of its history, the MCU was meant just to mean the movies, but it's come to mean anything that is Marvel over the past decade. Unlike DC Comics, where shows and television are separate, Marvel, for the most part, has tried to keep things working together in one universe. When prepping for this podcast, it was quite awesome to see how hard we've come since 2008 when Iron Man appeared on the scene. The Nerd and Geek power was just beginning to re-build with things like Dark Knight, Harry Potter, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy being released. Did we ever expect it to be this complex and amazing? Heck no, but we are glad it did. Iron Man, though was the start of it all, but Incredible Hulk really had us taking a step back. It really took Iron Man 2 and Thor to get my trust back after the horrid movie that was Incredible Hulk. Russ does point out, though, that Iron Man 2 wasn't that great. Mostly this is because it was trying to set up so much in the MCU. Both of us agree that WandaVision sort of did the same thing for Phase 4 with Agatha. It's really is amazing to see how all these things are webbed together and intricately planned. Russ and I talk in-depth about how all these different phases, plans, and easter eggs just make fans more and more interested. This results in Marvel becoming more and more tightened-lipped since comic book fans can easily try to figure out which direction the studio is going simply based on the thousands of comic storylines available. Marvel is known for silencing its actors, having no cellphone policies on set, and have NDAs with huge consequences.

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About Our Guest: Russ Milheim
You Can Find His Work at TheGameofNerds.com or TheDirect.com
Chat with him on Twitter or Instagram @Russmilheim