We are proud to introduce the newest podcast in the Marvel News Desk network—AP Marvel! This show will be hosted by myself (Chris Compendio, @Compenderizer), MND’s Izzy Sio (@delirilyn) and our friend Anthony Paone (@thepizzataco). The mission of this podcast is to create a new space in the podcast realm, away from the usual shows about the news cycle and speculation. We want to talk about some deeper concepts in the MCU, including thematic and story elements in the movies and television shows, the fandom itself, and especially social and political themes that show up in the MCU. We don’t claim to be smarter or more knowledgeable than everyone else, and we’re still trying to find our voice as this podcast progresses, but we hope that this will inspire more discussions in this space. The origin of this podcast comes from this student-taught class, or a StuCo, that I created for Carnegie Mellon University. The class dissected the MCU and looked at it from different angles—the filmmaking perspective, the thematic perspective, and the fan perspective. Izzy and Anthony both taught the class during different periods of time after I graduated. We already have five episodes recorded, with a scheduled sixth one in the works. We aren’t bound by the news cycle, so we can record as we come and please, though of course, that will mean that the references we make could very well be out of date. We recorded our first two episodes back-to-back in Anthony’s apartment, gathered around a single microphone; forgive us if the audio quality isn’t the best in those two episodes. The first is about Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where we discuss its strengths and shortcomings when it comes to using real-life issues in surveillance and national security, along with thematic references to 1980s political thrillers to support its own story. The second is about Hawkeye and his underutilization in the MCU, and we discuss ways he could have been developed previously and how Marvel Studios could hopefully improve him in the future. Episode 3 has Cooper Hood (@MovieCooper), formerly of MCUExchange and now at ScreenRant as our guest, in which we talk about the relationship between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television; we contemplate, disregarding the logistical issues, how a movies-to-television crossover could work creatively. Episode 4 brings video game writer Sam Riordan (@justsamplease), who was very outspoken about some creative choices in Infinity War, to basically perform an “autopsy” on the movie; we talk about our own personal experiences in anticipating the movie in the days, weeks, months, and years leading up to it, before diving into what we eventually concluded to be a problematic final message by the movie. Episode 5 gets into identity politics, where Izzy and I talk about the debate over the Iron Fist casting with MND’s own Adam Barnhardt (@adambarnhardt), and we have our own debate on whether making Danny Rand Asian-American would have made any difference on the final product. We’re always looking for topic suggestions and cool guests, so please email me at chris@marvelnewsdesk.com. Our jazzy music theme is from Steve Molitor, and our logo is from our very own Izzy Sio. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast feed if any of that sounds interesting, follow us on Twitter @APMarvel, and be sure to give to our Patreon so we can keep making awesome content like this. We hope you’ll listen soon!