The Boys: The Big Ride

The incredibly brutal superhero parody “The Boys” returns for a second season. The corrupt and arguably psychotic version of the Justice League known as The Seven are still living the high-life, and Hughie and his small and desperate band are doing everything they can to bring them down. The next segment of the ugly story continues with “The Big Ride.”

Sandman: Dream of 1,000 Cats/Caliope

The Netflix adaptation of The Sandman has had a lot of surprises. One of them was that the first season ends with a bonus episode, a part of Sandman lore but having nothing at all to do with the storyline in the rest of the season. “The Dream of 1,000 Cats” and “Calliope” were both stand alone issues of the original comic run of Sandman, and their two stories make up this unique “extra feature.”

Titans: Brother Blood

The version of the character on the show so far is very different, but a lot more interesting in many ways. Sebastian, fated to become Brother Blood, has been an important character for this season. We see the transformation continuing in this episode, named for the man himself, “Brother Blood.”

Echo: Chafa

Marvel has a lot of interesting characters in their ever-expanding universe. One area they’ve been fairly lacking in is Native representation, although they’re working on it. Among their few Native characters is Echo, Maya Lopez. The MCU version turned up during the Hawkeye series, and now she’s off on her own adventure.

Gotham Knights: A Chill In Gotham

While it’s not a show without flaws, Gotham Knights has taken an original approach. They’ve drawn in different elements from a lot of different versions of the Bat-mythos, and made the interesting choice of opening the series with Batman’s death. They weave in a few other interesting bits with this episode, “A Chill in Gotham.”

Spider-Man: Death of the Stacys

Some comic book moments aren’t just memorable, I mean… they redefine everything. The Night Gwen Stacy Died and The Death of Captain Stacy are two of those moments. They didn’t just change Peter Parker’s life; they changed comics forever. These weren’t just superhero stories. They were tragedies, reminders that being Spider-Man wasn’t just about web-slinging…

Captain America: Brave New World

Brave New World brings the Captain America franchise to its fourth installment, which only Thor has managed to equal. While pretty much all MCU projects are connected to a greater or lesser degree, most of them can also stand alone. I’d argue you could enjoy this movie without having seen the rest of the MCU (although I’m not sure why you’d want to), but it ties most closely to the movies Incredible Hulk, Eternals, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+.

Doom Patrol: Nostalgia Patrol

Life at Doom Manor (they never have explained how the place got that name, have they?) has never been smooth, but it’s getting more and more rocky. Things get even stranger, and for this group that’s saying something, in “Nostalgia Patrol.”