We don’t know when the movie is coming out, but we’re talking Black Widow! My cousin (to be) Ellie joins me to dive into questions like why this character is so important, to the team and to us fans, her death and how it was handled, our thoughts on the upcoming movie. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ellie McCreary is a senior at Creighton University studying psychology and philosophy. She likes listening to true crime podcasts, contemplating the meaning of life, and baking. https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/40511080/download.mp3 You can download the episode with a right click  ..read more

When talking about superheroes, and the choices they make or how they do what they do, a favorite topic is to wonder where they started, and how they’ve evolved from writer to writer, and from page to screen and back again. Today we kick off a special series in which Matthew will be joined by superhero history whiz Jess Plummer, as we trace the history and development of these caped characters. Look for new episodes about once a month. Today in our inaugural episode we’re going back to the beginning, and looking at the start of the golden age, from Superman’s first appearance, to the end of W ..read more

Who should Tony Stark answer to for Ultron? What about Scarlet Witch, for the events in Nigeria? Who should the Avengers be accountable to, and were the Sokovia accords reasonable? Paul and I discuss issues of accountability across many of the Avenger movies and wrestle with the age old question- Team Tony, or Team Cap.  https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/40056288/download.mp3 You can download the episode with a right click  and clicking “save link as” or subscribe by searching for Superhero Ethics on Itunes, or wherever else you find your podcasts. Want to continue the discussion ..read more

The Clone Wars TV show takes the well known stories of the fall of Anakin and the Jedi and gives them nuance, and moral complexity, and explores questions with relevance for our own world. What happens to peacekeepers when they become generals? What is the moral value of clones, and how were they treated? And what happens when people fight a war without asking why?  Star Wars fans and former guests Paul Hoppe and Jonah Kellman join me to dive into these questions and more as we look at the ethical questions from The Clones Wars TV show. https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/39791169/downlo ..read more

What happens to normal people, when others get powers? What rights do they have and are those rights respected? And when the people with powers push the non powered around- what happens when the non powered push back?   Paul and I talk about non powered people in powered worlds. We focus in particular on Avatar: Legend of Korra, season 1, and how it handles this question, but we broaden the topic, and cover a number of other stories. Whether you’re a hardcore Korra fan, or have never seen it, you’ll be able to follow the discussion. https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/37950867/download ..read more

While Ozark is a bit outside our normal topic- it certainly has a lot of villains with different ethical perspectives, all of whom are convinced they’re the good one! Stranded Panda extraordinaire Ashley Coffin joins me as we talk about each of the characters and difficult choices they have to make. Whether your love the show, or have no idea what’s going on, there’s a lot here to dive into! https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/35237442/download.mp3   Ashley Coffin is a nerd girl hailing from Philadelphia, Pa who loves all things Marvel. She is very into horror movies, has probably seen w ..read more

What’s more fun than taking an ethical system from one world, and trying to find how our favorite characters from other worlds fit into it. In this episode we start with the ethical color pie from Magic the Gathering, in which we look at ethics not in terms of actions, but motivations and mind sets. We explain the system and then focus on other characters. Even if you know nothing about MtG, if you like talking about how Tony Stark, Malcolm Reynolds, and Han Solo, all have similar ethical frameworks, this episode is for you!   https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/33290286/download.mp3 &nb ..read more

Why does James Bond keep getting women killed, and can you be a spy without it? Paul Hoppe is back to talk about the ethics of espionage, with a particular focus on the TV show, Burn Notice! Whether you’re a long time fan of Burn Notice, or never seen it, we dig into questions that apply across the genre, such as the ethics of getting others to do your dirty work for you, fighting for a client or particular mission vs. what may be ‘right,’  and how far into a secret identity you can go, before you lose sense of yourself. https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/31675594/download.mp3   Yo ..read more

Avatar: The Last Airbender is back on Netflix, and we’re talking about it, focusing on a story arc with incredible resonance with our own world;  Ba Sing Se.  What is it about denial, and closing your eyes to the problems of the world, that people find so appealing? How do you break through to someone who believes anything that contradicts what they’ve been taught, is a liar and a traitor? And how does this story line parallel the issues we face today, especially in the time since the killing of George Floyd.   https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/30248857/download.mp3   Yo ..read more

Stan Lee was a great story teller, but he never hid his strong convictions, or his desire to use the stories he told to give people a new way to think about the issues of his time. Nor did the writers of Black Panther, Avatar the Last Airbender, Star Wars, or so many of the shows we love. Matt and Jeff are back, and we had a great episode on the ethics of Star Wars planned- but with all that has been happening in our world in the last week in terms of the killing of George Floyd, and all that has happened since, we just felt like it was important for us to address that. So today we’re talking ..read more