The Simpsons: "Bart the Bad Guy" Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out Warning: this review contains full spoilers for The Simpsons: Season 31, Episode 14. For more Simpsons news, find out what to expect from the new short film premiering with Pixar's Onward and why actor Hank Azaria will no longer voice Apu. [poilib element="accentDivider"] As nice as it is to know the X-Men and Fantastic Four can finally start appearing in the MCU, Disney's recent purchase of 21st Century Fox raises all sorts of concerns about a massive, monolithic corporation becoming that much larger. With that in mind, it's been refreshing to see the folks in charge of The Simpsons are unafraid to bite the hand that feeds them, making fun of their new corporate overlords at every opportunity. The fact that many of the biggest names in the MCU are not only content to be spoofed, but willing to actively participate in said spoofing, suggests that maybe the House of Mouse isn't entirely un-receptive to constructive criticism. And if that makes for an unusually strong installment of The Simpsons, so much the better. I always get a kick out of seeing The Simpsons make fun of superheroes and comic books, mostly because it's not a path the show treads all too often. It's one of the rare areas where you don't immediately get hit with a feeling of "been there, done that." The first 10 minutes of "Husbands and Knives" is among the best Simpsons content of the 21st Century exactly for this reason, giving us classic gags like "Watchmen Babies in... V for Vacation." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-simpsons-spoofs-marvel-in-bart-the-bad-guy-photos&captions=true"] "Bart the Bad Guy" doesn't necessarily stand out in that regard. This episode doesn't really serve as the scathing takedown of the MCU and superhero genre fans might be expecting. But that clearly wasn't the goal in this case. The writers seem to realize that they're hardly the first to lampoon the MCU and the current superhero monoculture. Heck, The Simpsons isn't even the first animated sitcom to introduce an Avengers ripoff team dubbed The Vindicators (Rick and Morty says hello). The fact this episode spoofs Avengers: Infinity War more so than Endgame shows how long the lead time for these episodes is and how futile it would be to try and be as timely as something like South Park. Instead, "Bart the Bad Guy" focuses less on superhero movies themselves than the spoiler culture that surrounds them. That allows the show to dust off one of the oldest tropes in the Simpsons playbook - Bart being torn between torn between good and evil as he pranks the town - and make it feel fresh again. This is actually one of the better Bart-driven episodes in recent memory. Watching him torment Vindicators fanboys like Principal Skinner and Comic Book Guy is very entertaining, particularly with the Comic Book Guy scene drawing on Fellowship of the Ring's big Galadriel scene. The rest of the family are used sparingly but effectively. We get another reminder that Lisa's high-minded ideals sometimes take a backseat to her more selfish desires, while Homer's utter indifference to superhero movies makes him both an amusing foil and a fitting ally to Bart. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-simpsons-take-on-avengers-endgame-in-new-poster-for-mcu-crossover-episode-ign-news"] Bart's arc veers in a surprisingly heartfelt direction over the course of this episode, as two ruthless Disney execs (voiced by Joe and Anthony Russo) trick him into thinking his actions have doomed an entire universe. It may be silly and more than a little over the top, but Bart being given his hero's test and passing it is a genuinely touching moment. That's followed up by a pitch-perfect parody of the ending to A Christmas Carol, as the pop culture nonsequiturs continue all the way to the finish line. Again, Bart being tempted by evil and redeeming himself the end is something we've seen countless times over the past 30 years, but this episode manages to find a novel way of retelling that story. And even if this episode is fairly light on MCU humor, the impressive voice cast is worth the price of admission alone. Kevin Feige delivers a disturbingly dead-on impression of Josh Brolin's Thanos as he plays the evil tyrant Chinnos. I actually had to double-check and make sure Brolin himself wasn't part of the cast. The Russos are plenty entertaining in their brief roles as the Disney executives (kudos for the use of "When You Wish Upon a Star" when their bomb is deactivated). Taran Killam is also a hoot as Airshot, a character who seems more Hugh Jackman parody than Jeremy Renner. And if that weren't enough, we even get an unexpected Joe Mantegna appearance as Fit-Fat Tony butts heads with Spoiler Boy.

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