Exploring ethical questions from Superhero movies and TV shows, sci-fi, and everything else geeks love
Latest episodes
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57 min
Wrap Up 2: Civil War
Who should answer when a hero’s save goes wrong, and to whom? In Lagos, Scarlet Witch pulls a bomb away from a crowd and it kills Wakandan students in a building nearby. Matthew Fo…
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1 h 08
Wrap Up 1: A New Lens
If you try to understand why someone did something terrible, are you excusing it? Matthew Fox and co-host Paul Hoppe, a poker player and writer, look back on what more than 400 epi…
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1 h 00
Women’s Baseball
Paul Hoppe’s mom checked MLB.com every day and never once stumbled on a story about the Women’s Pro Baseball League. Matthew Fox and Paul, a poker player and writer who watched the…
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1 h 03
Short Stacked and the MCU Battle of New York
Walking away from a bad table is easy advice when you have money to come back with. Matthew Fox and co-host Paul Hoppe, a professional poker player and writer, spend the hour on wh…
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58 min
Profiling
Every time you size someone up by their demographics, whether at a poker table or a police stop, you’re profiling them, and it’s worth asking why. On Superhero Ethics, Matthew Fox…
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1 h 08
I Quit: Sometimes You Don’t Have to “Do This All Day”
On this episode, poker player and co-host Paul joins Matthew Fox to argue that quitting isn’t a moral failure, it’s a skill; one poker forces you to practice on every hand and supe…
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54 min
The Odyssey: Myth on Film
Would you cheer for a hero who tricks a Cyclops but never sleeps with a witch? Classics professor Adam Kemezis joins Matthew Fox to dig into how Christopher Nolan's Odyssey reshape…
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47 min
Dolly Parton and 9 to 5
Dolly Parton let the world underestimate her for fifty years, then spent that underestimation as leverage every single time. Days after her death, comedian and "Make Me a Nerd" hos…
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1 h 00
Lanterns and the Ethics of Adaptation
“Lanterns” so far is more cop drama than cosmic weirdness, and comic book historian Jessica Plummer isn’t convinced the trade was worth it. She joins Matthew Fox to dig into the fi…
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56 min
Avatar Aang: Did We Need This?
Should a beloved story get a sequel twenty years later, and does anyone actually want it? Matthew Fox and Paul Hoppe take on Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, the new Avatar Studios…
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1 h 04
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Thanos says he “had to” sacrifice Gamora. Vader tells Luke it’s too late to turn back. Professional poker player Paul Hoppe joins Matthew Fox to dig into the sunk cost fallacy, the…
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1 h 00
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
What if the hero afraid of his own power is exactly what makes it easy to fear an entire population? Matthew Fox is joined by returning guests Will Freeland and Steve Stormoen of t…
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1 h 00
Evaluating Risk: Poker, Life, and Nick Fury's Nuke
What actually separates a poker player from a gambler? Professional poker player, coach, and writer Paul Hoppe steps in as Matthew Fox’s full co-host and the two spend this episode…
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1 h 10
Lattice and Writing
What happens once a society finds a way to turn a human body into an energy source, and decides that’s a good deal? Podcaster and TruStory FM co-founder Pete Wright joins Matthew a…
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1 h 06
The Crystal Shard: D&D, as Game and as Story
What do you owe to a culture that built you — especially when that culture is evil? Writer and poker thinker Paul Hoppe (ZenMadman) returns to Matthew Fox on Superhero Ethics to di…
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1 h 40
EPISODE 400!
What happens to a friendship and a podcast over ten years and four hundred episodes? On this milestone episode, Matthew sits down with longtime guest Paul Christopher Hoppe, poker…
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1 h 14
Supergirl
Did Supergirl earn her killing of the already defeated villain, or did the movie just tell us not to worry about it? Matthew Fox is joined by returning guest Jessica Plummer, comic…
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1 h 00
Pride (2014): When Thatcher Made Allies of Queers and Miners
In 1984, a group of London lesbians and gay men decided to raise money for striking Welsh miners, because Thatcher was going after both communities. Author Becky Allen joins Matthe…
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1 h 00
Spider-Noir: A Hero for the Wrong Reasons
"Ben's PTSD manifested as his alcoholism and his self-destruction as the Spider. ‘I'm just going to go out there and get punched in the face voluntarily, and maybe I'll do some goo…
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1 h 02
Masters of the Universe: He-Man and Nostagia Bait
He-Man was always camp. The loincloth, the harness, the flexing, the pink tunic, Masters of the Universe was masculinity as WWE spectacle.. The 2026 film knew this, it just couldn’…