20 - Superheroes Ruined My Life

Never the Twins Shall Meet

What’s more terrifying than a supervillain? A superhero, of course! In our twentieth (!) episode, we’re taking a look at the dark side of superheroes through the novels Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots and The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente. Topics include descents into villainy, misogyny in comic books, and whether the Joker pays his minions a fair wage.

Other Media Mentioned:

• Sword Stone Table edited by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington
• She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
• Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
• Arcane (2021) on Netflix
• Die by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans
• A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
• The Conductors by Nicole Glover
• What We Do in the Shadows (TV show)
• The Boys (TV show)
• Watchmen by Alan Moore
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice dir. Zack Snyder
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 dir. Marc Webb
• Episode 10, X-Men X-travaganza
• The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont
• Batman: The Animated Series
• Birds of Prey (2020) dir. Cathy Yan
• Harley Quinn animated series
• Harleen by Stjepan Šejić
• Netflix’s Daredevil TV show

Content warnings: mentions of violence, murder, medical horror and body horror, an abusive relationship, suicide, death of a child, and drug use.