Peter and Aubrey work through all 37 official MCU films on Peter's custom tier list tool, placing each from S down to D with no shortage of strong opinions along the way. The results are roughly what you'd expect from two Marvel fans who still remember opening-night midnight showings — Thor: Ragnarok and The Winter Soldier are untouchable, Eternals and Iron Man 2 are not. The episode also touches on the MCU's recent creative upswing (Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four), the ongoing wound that is Secret Invasion, and a pre-show check-in that includes Aubrey's genuinely harrowing week of tornado evacuations in Madison.

SHOW NOTES

• Check-in: Peter escaped a work trip in Austin early by paying $75 for a same-day flight change — no business casual required, shorts were involved. Aubrey's week involved actual tornado warnings in Madison, a mid-workday shelter evacuation with her kids, and baseball-sized hail; she later raced home with Hayden to beat a second tornado approaching from the west. Friday brought a school district preemptive cancellation and, fortuitously, weather pay.
• Episode setup: With Avengers: Doomsday trailer apparently shown at CinemaCon (not yet public), Peter thought it was a good time to tier-rank all 37 MCU movies using his custom tier list tool. He and Eden did a bracket format on The Middle of Culture previously, but Peter prefers the tier list because it doesn't force unfair head-to-head matchups.
• S tier (locked in): Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Peter notes The Winter Soldier is probably the best MCU film, even if not his personal favorite; No Way Home earns its S on pure emotional impact, despite Homecoming arguably being the tighter movie. Both agree Infinity War is the stronger film over Endgame.
• A tier highlights: Black Panther, Black Widow (Aubrey advocates for it; Peter concedes despite CGI complaints), the original Avengers, Civil War, Endgame, Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Guardians Vol. 1, Homecoming, Ant-Man, and Iron Man 1. Peter is bullish on both Thunderbolts ("hits emotionally a lot harder" than Fantastic Four) and Fantastic Four ("it's got the juice").
• B tier: Guardians Vol. 3, Wakanda Forever, Spider-Man: Far From Home, original Thor, Guardians Vol. 2 (Peter's least favorite of the trilogy, despite online discourse claiming otherwise), Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America: The First Avenger, Doctor Strange, and Shang-Chi — though Peter notes Shang-Chi gets docked for Marvel's failure to do anything with the character afterward: "My boy Shang-Chi deserves better."
• C and D tiers: Age of Ultron lands in C; Iron Man 2 in D ("you can't enjoy the experience of Iron Man 2 ever again"). Eternals earns a D with Peter suggesting he might genuinely prefer Iron Man 2 over a rewatch. Brave New World lands in D simply because neither of them has had any interest in watching it — the tier list as disinterest metric.
• MCU fatigue and cautious optimism: Post-tier-list conversation touches on the post-Endgame drop-off in quality and excitement. Aubrey recalls having a nightmare the night before the Endgame midnight premiere that they couldn't go see it — that's the level of hype she wants back. Both see Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four as signs of an upswing heading into Doomsday.
• Secret Invasion tangent: Peter revisits his custom-built tier list feature (a bonus below-D tier for truly irredeemable content) — originally created for DC's Black Adam, but Secret Invasion is the MCU equivalent. Six episodes and rage-quit; he says it soured him on MCU TV generally, leaving him behind on Loki S2, What If S2, Echo, and Daredevil Born Again.
• Tease for next episode: Aubrey mentions she already has an outfit planned to go with next week's topic.

Peter and Aubrey dig into the Project Hail Mary film adaptation — both are big fans of the book and came in with high hopes and specific anxieties about how it would translate to screen. They start spoiler-free with their history with Andy Weir's work and their first impressions of the casting, then move into a full spoiler breakdown of the story, the Grace/Rocky relationship, the practical effects choice for Rocky, and what the filmmakers got right (and wrong) about adapting the book. Peter notes no medical fact this week, and Aubrey closes with a brief Astro Fact about the Artemis II moon launch.

Project Hail Mary — Book Backgrounds

• Aubrey came to the book recently via a recommendation from Hayden, listened on Audible, and loved it — specifically calling out the audiobook's interpretation of Rocky's voice as a standout experience. Peter claims Andy Weir hipster status, having bought The Martian on Kindle before it was picked up by a publisher.

Andy Weir's Body of Work

• Peter gives a quick rundown: The Martian (great), Artemis (a letdown), Project Hail Mary (a major return to form). Both agree the book is worth reading even after seeing the movie — it goes much deeper into the science and the characters' inner lives.

Spoiler-Free Premise

• Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up alone in a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he's there. The story unfolds through present-day mystery and flashbacks, piecing together how humanity ended up in crisis — and how he ended up being the one sent to solve it.

Ryan Gosling as Dr. Grace

• Aubrey was skeptical going in, having mostly seen Gosling in pretty-boy leading man roles. First trailer changed her mind; the performance won her over completely. Peter agrees he's a better actor than his typecast reputation suggests.

Directors: Lord and Miller

• Peter felt reassured once he knew Phil Lord and Chris Miller were at the helm. Credits discussed: The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street, and their screenwriting work on the Spider-Verse films.

Rocky and the Practical Effects Decision

• Aubrey was relieved that Rocky — the film's alien character — was built as a practical puppet rather than pure CGI. Both agree it's the right call: the physical presence makes the central relationship feel genuinely earned.

Book vs. Film — Adaptation Discussion

• Both appreciate that the filmmakers understood that books and movies are different mediums. The movie streamlines and adds warmth; the book rewards readers with more depth. Neither feels like a substitute for the other.

No Medical Note This Week — Peter didn't have anything to share.

Astro Fact — Artemis II

• Aubrey notes the Artemis II moon launch, which had just taken off. Artemis III is planned to actually land on the moon — Aubrey's verdict: nothing ever goes to plan, so we'll see.

Peter and Aubrey do a mid-year check-in on their yearly themes — but first, Peter has to process something: Neurosis, his favorite band and a formative musical experience, just surprise-dropped their first album in nearly a decade on the spring equinox, and he has many feelings about it. The episode covers how both of their themes are going (fitness and peace for Aubrey; a flexible experimental framework for Peter), detours into the relative merits of Notion vs. dedicated apps, and closes with some genuinely good news: Aubrey is officially a published astrophysics author.

SHOW NOTES

• Neurosis surprise album drop — Peter opens the episode buzzing about An Undying Love for a Burning World, an unannounced album from his all-time favorite band Neurosis, released without warning on the spring equinox. He describes it as a life-dividing event: there's before Neurosis and after Neurosis.
• Neurosis backstory — A brief catch-up on the band: their last album was in 2016, then the Scott Kelly situation in 2022, then... silence. The new album adds Aaron Turner (of post-metal band Isis) and was recorded in three weeks in the Pacific Northwest.
• Fire in the Mountains festival — Neurosis was also revealed as the surprise headliner for this festival in Montana, held on First Nations land and raising funds for mental health and suicide prevention in First Nations youth.
• Yearly theme check-in — The main episode topic. Peter's theme is intentionally malleable — structured experimentation — and he's found mixed results: exercise started well, evening routine still shaky, creative output planning is a work in progress.
• Aubrey's theme: peace — Her theme centers on finding peace, and fitness has been the main vehicle. She's been locked in on a cut with her Apple Watch and the Athletic app since their last tracking-apps episode, and reports it's going well.
• Notion deep-dive tangent — Aubrey wants to use Notion to build a meal planning/recipe tracker as a creative project. Peter shares his own Notion journey, including his verdict: "I'd rather use five apps that full-ass what they do than one app that half-asses everything." He demos Mela, a dedicated recipe and meal-planning app, as an alternative.
• Learning sprints update — Peter's Q4 learning sprint spilled over (book prep took longer than expected, photography project hasn't started yet). He's also been doing some vibe coding. Aubrey's sprint got derailed by trying to finish her research paper.
• Aubrey's published astrophysics paper — Big news buried near the end: Aubrey is officially published as first author in an astrophysics journal. The timing just missed her grad school application window, but she's planning to reapply next year.
• Grad school rejection — Aubrey got rejected from the program she applied to and, understandably, went through a "no I hate you guys, I'm not doing math" phase before finding her footing again.
• Health note — Peter shares a study finding that a single dedicated chunk of exercise (e.g., one 5,000-step walk) produces measurably better outcomes than the same total steps spread throughout the day in small bursts.
• No Astro Fact this week — Aubrey flags it's coming next episode after she does a deep dive. Stay tuned.