Original Air Date
- August 8, 2023
Part 1 Begins
Hero Song (4:05)
- “Superheroes” by The Script
Superhero Smash (0:30)
- Featuring the best in “Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore”
- Focusing on current superhero movies and popular culture events
- I’m your host, Dr. Gian Pagnucci, a.k.a. The New Professor X
- Playing great music about superheroes as well as music that is featured in superhero movies and shows
- Also talking about comic book history and heroism
- But no matter what cool stuff I discuss on the show, you don’t have to worry because this is a NO SPOILERS show!
Special Radio Guest Star (1:00)
- Dr. Alex Romagnoli
- Dr. Romagnoli is Interim Associate Dean of the School of Education at Monmouth University
- He also is the co-writer with me of Enter the Superheroes: American Values, Culture, and the Canon of Superhero Literature
- Coming up a little later in the show
Audio Episode Theme: The Defenders (2:00)
- Marvel’s Netflix superhero team: The Defenders
- Daredevil: 3 fabulous seasons
- Alex is a huge Daredevil fan, so he’s the perfect person to talk about one of Marvel’s greatest characters
- Jessica Jones: 3 intense seasons
- Luke Cage: 2 powerful seasons
- Iron Fist: 2 seasons of, meh
- The Defenders: 1 spectacular season
- Lots of great music across the various series
- And, since Daredevil fought a lot of ninjas in the show, we may will throw in a little talk about the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie as well
Instrumental Theme Music (1:05)
- “Daredevil Main Title” by John Paesano and Braden Kimball from the Daredevil Original Soundtrack Album
- Daredevil is played by Charlie Cox in the series
Collector’s Item Classic Comic Book (3:00)
- Daredevil first appeared as Matt Murdock in Daredevil #1
- Publication Date: April, 1964
- Publisher: Marvel Comics
- Writer: Stan Lee
- Artist: Bill Everett
- Value on eBay today: $3190 CGC 3.5 out of 10.0
- Coming up, we’ll be talking with my special guest star Dr. Alex Romagnoli who owns a copy of Daredevil #1
- Matt was the son of Battlin’ Jack Murdock, a boxer
- Matt became a great fighter and in Daredevil we often get to see him training at Fogwell’s Gym
- So in honor of those two great boxers, I thought we should play one of the all time great fighting songs of all time
Defenders Song 1 (4:05)
- “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
- The theme song for Rocky III where Sylvester Stalone as the title character fought Clubber Lang, the larger than life Mr. T
Show ID: Superhero Smash (1:00)
- WIUP FM 90.1
- Alternative music for the MCU, the DCU, and our U too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
- Lots of great shows coming up
- I would love to get your input
- English Professor and superhero expert Dr. Alex Romagnoli is coming up next
PSA 1 (:30)
- Freedom of the Press
Part 1 Ends (@15 minutes)
Part 2 Begins
Special Radio Guest Star (5:00)
- Dr. Alex Romagnoli
- Interim Associate Dean of the School of Education at Monmouth University
- Co-Author with me of Enter the Superheroes: American Values, Culture, and the Canon of Superhero Literature
- Alex talk a little about why Daredevil is your favorite character
Secret Origin Story (3:00)
- Matt grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, a poor part of New York City
- He was a little kid on his way to school when he saw a truck careen out of control right toward an old man who was crossing the street
- Without thinking, Matt ran and pushed the old man out of the way, saving his life
- But the truck crashed and doused Matt with a mixture of chemicals
- This caused Matt to go blind
- Later, though, he discovered that all his other sense were heightened
- And he had also developed a kind of bat like radar that let him navigate the world around him
- Matt’s father is pressured by the mob to throw a fight, but he refuses and is then murdered by the mob for not cooperating
- In the comics this prompts Matt to become the superhero Daredevil
- He goes after the criminal The Fixer who was behind the murder
- Matt puts on a devil costume, originally yellow and red but eventually changed to all red in Daredevil #7
- When Matt dressed as Daredevil confronts The Fixer, The Fixer is so scared of the frightening Daredevil that he has a heart attack and dies
- Daredevil goes on to be known as “The Man Without Fear” as he faces any danger to bring evil doers to justice
Defenders Song 2 (3:42)
- “For You” by The Calling from the Daredevil movie that starred Ben Affleck as the hero
Station ID: WIUP FM 90.1 (1:00)
- Alternative music for Indiana County and beyond
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
- I’m back with our special guest, superhero expert Dr. Alex Romagnoli
Special Guest Star: Alex Romagnoli (5:00)
- Alex, in the Netflix show, we learn that a character named Stick trained Daredevil to be such a great fighter
- Stick first appeared in Season 1 of Daredevil and was played by Scott Glen
- Stick and Daredevil’s lover Elektra both join the fight in The Defenders show to stop the Hand, an evil army of ninjas
- The Hand is being led by Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra pursuing a plot to gain immortality
- Alex talk a little about this team of superheroes, the Defenders
Defenders Song 3 (1:09)
- “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas
- Jack Black sang a version of this great song in Kung Fu Panda
- Fits with Iron Fist, fighting the Hand, and the movie we are going to talk about next
Part 2 Ends (@35 minutes)
Part 3 Begins
Final Thoughts from Our Special Guest Star: Alex Romagnoli (5:00)
- Alex, we can’t finish without having you talk about another superhero team, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Their new movie just came out on August 2nd
- It’s an animated comedy following in the tradition of making the Ninja Turtles into child friendly characters
- Tell us about what the Ninja Turtles were like in the comics and about the movie we have never gotten to see
TMNT Song (1:02)
- “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Main Title” from the Ninja Turtles TV show
Part 3 Ends (@40 minutes)
Part 4 Begins
Romantic Interlude (2:00)
- I have just enough time to talk about the love story between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage
- In the Netflix shows, they do develop a kind of troubled relationship
- In the comics, they eventually get married
Defenders Song 3 (1:09)
- “Jessica Jones Main Title” by Sean Callery
- Jessica Jones is played by Krysten Ritter
Romantic Melody (2:12)
- “Bulletproof Love” by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad and featuring Method Man
- Luke Cage is played by Mike Colter
PSA (2:00)
- Steel City Con coming up this weekend, August 11-13, in Pittsburgh
- Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of Star Trek fame, will be there
- Also from the CW show Smallville Tom Welling who played Clark Kent and Laura Vandervoort who played Supergirl
- And Billy Dee Williams who played Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars movies and Andy Serkis who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies
- And if you are lucky, you might even bump into me there, the host of Superhero Smash
To Be Continued Next Issue (1:00)
- Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel–The final Superhero Smash show featuring ALL THE SUPERHEROES; it’s going to be my own Contest of Champions
- Songs with Stephanie is coming up at noon
- Contact me, the new Professor X, via email: SuperheroSmash2023@gmail.com
- And remember (even though we’ve been talking about supervillains)…
- “You don’t need superpowers to be a hero. The only thing it takes to be a hero is the courage to do what’s right when someone needs your help.”–Gian Pagnucci
End Credits Song (3:15)
- I wrote about Daredevil’s friend Foggy Nelson in the book edited by Alex and our friend Sandy Eckard
- Foggy is played by the marvelous Elden Henson in the Daredevil series
- The book is titled The Human in Superhuman
- When Foggy first meets Matt in college, he doesn’t care that Matt is blind
- Matt is grateful for that because he hates being treated differently by people because of his blindness
- So I thought I would play a song that celebrates that people are always so much more than any physical limitation they might have
- “Pinball Wizard” by The Who
Part 4 Ends (@60 minutes)