CATWS Minutes 121-125: The Committee Cowardice Shell Game
August 24, 2026
Steve wakes up to Marvin Gaye and Natasha tells Congress where they can find her. Pete and Matthew love this ending and think it’s wrong.
Matthew Fox has been passionate about deep conversations about genre media since childhood, when watching the original Star Trek series with their mother often led to discussions about the ethical questions it raised.
Beyond podcasting, Matthew helps run a small nonprofit dedicated to breaking down barriers to computer science education for youth and also provides consulting services for nonprofits and small businesses.
Over time, their podcasting interests have expanded, launching a Star Wars-focused podcast in 2019 and frequently appearing as a guest or co-host on PandaVision and other shows. While ethical questions are not always the primary focus of their work, Matthew has a knack for finding them in nearly everything they watch.
They are the host and founder of both Star Wars Generations and Superhero Ethics, and co-host of Once and Future Parent on TruStory FM.
Steve wakes up to Marvin Gaye and Natasha tells Congress where they can find her. Pete and Matthew love this ending and think it’s wrong.
Matthew Fox and Paul Hoppe review Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender and ask whether a beloved story needed a sequel twenty years later.
Pierce loses everything, Fury pulls the trigger, and Natasha makes the biggest sacrifice play of her arc in roughly three seconds of screen time. Then Cap drops the shield, and gravity does the rest.
Professional poker player Paul Hoppe joins Matthew Fox to put poker, Thanos, and Vader on the table and ask why we can’t stop throwing good money after bad.
Matthew and Erin kick off their Ninth Jedi watch-through debating a lightsaber that won’t turn red, a tyrant’s defiant last words, and whether the Jedi are really gone this time.
Will Freeland and Steve Stormoen of Hype Is My Superpower join Matthew to work out whether Spider-Man and the Punisher actually disagree, and what Bruce Banner has to do with the X-Men.
Matthew and Erin break down both Ninth Jedi shorts scene by scene and ask whether a lightsaber that changes color like a mood ring can carry a whole new series.
Paul Hoppe, professional poker player and now full co-host, joins Matthew to work out how poker relates to gambling, and what Nick Fury’s decision to not nuke NY says about risk.
Cap finally gets to throw a good old-fashioned punch, Falcon flies the fight of his life, and in five minutes on the deck of the Insight, Natasha’s data dump quietly ends SHIELD as we know it. Plus: a deep dive into a lost Disney glider-suit movie and a real argument over whether Alexander Pierce believes his own villainy.
Podcaster and TruStory FM co-founder Pete Wright joins Matthew and Paul to talk about Lattice, his debut novella, and what it costs to refuse power you actually have.