Original Air Date
- December 31, 2025
Part 1 Begins
Super Show ID 1: Superhero Smash (0:10)
- Happy New Year’s Eve!
- You’re listening to Superhero Smash on WIUP FM 90.1
- A musical force for good!
- Featuring “The Best in Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore”
- I’m your host, Dr. Gian Pagnucci, a.k.a. The New Professor X
Heroic Episode Theme: Captain Cold Freezes the World Again! (0:30)
- The weather outside is getting cold again, so I figured this is the perfect time to talk about one of the all time great winter characters: Captain Cold
- Yes, Captain Cold has returned!
- I did an episode about Captain Cold last winter, but he’s such a great character, I just couldn’t pass up featuring him again
- Superhero Smash Back Issue Bin (Season II): Audio Issue #36: Captain Cold Returns (1/1/25)
- In this action-packed audio episode, Captain Cold freezes the Legion of Superhero Smash fans again!
- For this episode, I’ve found a whole bunch of cool (or colddd) new songs to listen to as the snow is falling outside
- Or, as U2 sings,
- “All is quiet on New Year’s Day
- “A World in white gets underway”
- What better way to start this cold episode?
Heroic Opening Song (5:36)
- “New Year’s Day” by U2
Super Show ID 2: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- You’re listening to Superhero Smash on WIUP FM 90.1
- A musical force for good!
- Featuring “The Best Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore” in the DC Cinematic Universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email the New Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash3000@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans
- And you can rest assured that no matter how much super cool stuff I talk about on the show, you don’t have to worry because this is a NO SPOILERS show!
- If you are enjoying today’s show, you can catch more Superhero Smash every Wednesday from Noon to 1:00 p.m. during IUP’s Winter Break on WIUP FM 90.1
Captain Cold Is Back in Cold Action! (2:00)
- The weather outside is getting cold again, so I figured this is the perfect time to talk about one of the all time great winter characters: Captain Cold
- I’m from Wisconsin, a cold weather state, so I’ve always loved Captain Cold
- Captain Cold is a supervillain from the Flash’s Rogues Gallery
- When The Flash became a series on the CW, Captain Cold was one of the series’ best villains
- As loyal Superhero Smash listeners will remember, I met Flash star Grant Gustin this past summer and he said Superhero Smash sounded cool!
- On The Flash, Captain Cold was played by the spectacular actor Wentworth Earl Miller III
- Miller also stared in the show Prison Break where he was also excellent
- On the Flash, Miller gave Cold both a sense of menace but also a sense of honor and dignity
- He was so popular that he was brought back for multiple episodes of The Flash and then joined the spinoff CW show DC’s Legends of Tomorrow for its first season
- Captain Cold was “kind of” a hero on Legends, although he never totally gave up his crooked ways
- That show featured a cast of time traveling superheroes including the Atom and the White Canary
- Here’s Captain Cold’s theme song from The Flash
Heroic Instrumental Theme Song (1:42)
- “Captain Cold” theme song by Blake Neely
The Superhero Smash Comic Book Vault (2:00): First Appearance of Captain Cold
- The Comic Book Vault Sound Effect (0:12)
- Captain Cold First Appearance: Showcase #8
- Publication Date: June 1957
- Publisher: DC Comics
- Writer: John Broome
- Artist: Carmine Infantino
- Infantino had a very distinct art style with often using sharp, angular lines
- I once met Infantino at Pittsburgh’s Steel City Con
- He also did art for the Marvel comic book The Invaders about the World War II exploits of Captain America, Submariner, and the original Human Torch
- Value on eBay today: $1,730 (CGC graded 2.5 on a 10-point scale)
- In his first appearance, Captain Cold, the Coldest Man on Earth, used his cold ray gun not to freeze the Flash, but to make the ground too icy for the Flash to run on it with his super speed
Cold Song #1 (3:33)
- “Cold” by Maroon 5
Part 1 Ends (@15 minutes)
Part 2 Begins (@15 minutes)
Super Show ID 3: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- Listen to Superhero Smash on WIUP FM 90.1
- A musical force for good!
- Featuring “The Best Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore” in the DCU, the MCU, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email the New Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash3000@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans
- If you are enjoying today’s show, you can catch more Superhero Smash every Wednesday from Noon to 1:00 p.m. during IUP’s Winter Break on WIUP FM 90.1
Secret Origin Story (2:00)
- Captain Cold was born as Leonard Snart
- Captain Cold’s origin story appeared in The Flash #182 (Volume 2)
- As retold on the DC Fandom Database, “Leonard Snart grew up with an abusive, hard-drinking father. Through his beatings, Leonard’s father taught him that emotion was a weakness, and that a cold heart would take him further in life. Leonard’s grandfather protected him and whisked him away to his ice cream truck. It was cold, but one of the only places Leonard felt safe. Only when he was older did he eventually run away from home. Through a life of crime, he was eventually caught and placed in jail by the Flash. Seeking to counter the Flash, Snart researched an article that theorized that the emissions of a cyclotron could interfere with the Flash’s speed. Using a stolen cyclotron, Snart constructed a gun which shot ice that reduced temperatures to absolute zero, and began calling himself Captain Cold.”
Cold Song #2 (3:05)
- “Cold Water” by Major Lazer and Featuring Justin Bieber and MØ
Captain Cold and the Secret Society of Super Villains (2:00)
- After many years of being foiled by The Flash and the other members of the Justice League, Captain Cold and the other DC villains finally decided to band together and form their own super team, The Secret Society of Super Villains
- This was a fun series that debuted in 1976, and I collected it as a kid
- I’ll give you a quick summary of the issue as retold on Wikipedia:
- “In the original story, Darkseid (demanding to be called the Director) founds the group under the title of the Brotherhood of Crime in a bid to hold the world ransom by stealing the world’s deadliest nerve gas. The group, made up of Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, Clayface, Star Sapphire, and a clone of the Manhunter, turns on their benefactor when the Manhunter raises the issue of Darkseid’s history of trying to enslave humanity. Darkseid is revealed to be an android. The Manhunter suspects Darkseid controls it from afar and suggests forming the Secret Society of Super Villains to combat Darkseid while pursuing their own goals.”
Cold Song #3 (3:49)
- “Bad Boys (Theme from Cops)” by Inner Circle
- Fade out early
PSA: Visit the IUP Kathleen Jones White Writing Center (0:30)
- Another heroic team using the power of peer review: The hard fighting tutors of the…
- IUP Kathleen Jones White Writing Center
- Shout-out to Dr. Dan Weinstein, the Director of the Writing Center and LLW Associate Professor
Cold Song #4 (4:19)
- “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson
Part 2 Ends (@30 minutes)
Part 3 Begins (@30 minutes)
Super Show ID 4: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- Listen to Superhero Smash on WIUP FM 90.1
- A musical force for good!
- Featuring “The Best Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore” in the DCU, the MCU, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email the New Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash3000@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans
- And this is a good time to give a Superhero Smash Super Shout-out to the students in the New Professor X’s English 281: Superhero Literature
- If you are enjoying today’s show, you can catch more Superhero Smash every Wednesday from Noon to 1:00 p.m. during IUP’s Winter Break on WIUP FM 90.1
Long Lost Hero: Citizen Cold (2:00)
- I’ve talked about The Flash movie on Superhero Smash several times
- The film was disappointing and a box office bomb
- But the film is based on an excellent comic book series called Flashpoint written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Andy Kubert
- There’s a 10th Anniversary Omnibus graphic novel available to read the full story
- In this alternate timeline, Barry Allen has lost his flash powers and he must team up with an alternate Batman, not Bruce Wayne, but Bruce’s father Thomas, to get his powers back
- This is the Batman character played so well in The Flash movie by Michael Keaton
- In this alternate reality, Leonard Snart has become a superhero called Citizen Cold
- He has the same costume, a blue winter parka with white trim, and a cold gun and he has become the main hero of Central City which is home to the Flash in the regular DC comic book stories
- Unlike the Flash, however, Citizen Cold sometimes kills his opponents
- Citizen Cold got his own 3 episode comic book mini series
Cold Song #5 (5:43)
- “Winter” by Tori Amos
The Original Mr. Snow Miser and Mr. Heat Miser (2:00)
- On the CW show, Captain Cold was often evil and self serving
- But Leonard Snart was more than just a criminal
- In the episode “Family of Rogues” from Season 2 of The Flash, Captain Cold’s father blackmails him into helping him commit crimes by threatening to kill Cold’s sister, Lisa Snart a.k.a. the Golden Glider, who had a gun that could turn things into gold
- On the CW, Lisa explained how bad it was to be a child of the cruel Lewis Snart: “The first time my father came after me, I was seven. The second time, I was eight. That’s when I learned a bottle hurts more than a fist. He used to say he was teaching us lessons. I must have been a slow learner because… the lessons never stopped.“
- Cold and the Flash have to team up to save Lisa from her father
- This revealed Cold’s good side, a side the Flash was always trying to help encourage
- Eventually, the Time Master Rip Hunter asked Captain Cold to join a group of superheroes to help him fight Vandal Savage who had conquered earth in the future
- The team was called the Legends (For official purposes DC’s Legends of Tomorrow)
- They had to travel through time preventing Savage from changing time
- So Cold was good and bad, hot and cold
- If you have ever watched the claymation version of The Year Without a Santa Claus, then you will remember there are two squabbling brothers named Snow Miser and Heat Miser, who embody these two temperatures!
Cold Song #6 (4:28)
- “Mr. Heat Miser” by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
The NEW Mr. Snow Miser and Mr. Heat Miser: Captain Cold & Heath Wave! (2:00)
- The CW’s The Flash had it’s own version of these two: Captain Cold and Heat Wave
- Of course Heat Wave had a heat ray gun to match Cold’s snow gun and Glider’s gold gun
- When Rip Hunter recruited people for the DC Legends team, he recruited mostly heroes, but also recruited both Captain Cold and his partner Mick Rory a.k.a. Heat Wave
- Interestingly Heat Wave was played by Dominic Purcell who also starred with Miller in Prison Break
- The pair did some good on the team, though they also kept scheming to steal ancient treasures as they traveled through time
- While they could be good, they also were often bad
- You might say, they were both hot and cold about heroism
- And if we had time, I’d play Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold,” but time is running short and the snow is piling up outside!
Part 3 Ends (@45 minutes)
Part 4 Begins (@45 minutes)
Super Show ID 5: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- Listen to Superhero Smash on WIUP FM 90.1
- A musical force for good!
- Featuring “The Best Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore” in the DCU, the MCU, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email the New Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash3000@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans
- If you are enjoying today’s show, you can catch more Superhero Smash every Wednesday from Noon to 1:00 p.m. during IUP’s Winter Break on WIUP FM 90.1
Captain Cold’s Heart Thaws–Super Romantic Interlude: Captain Cold & White Cannary (2:00)
- But before we leave Captain Cold ourselves, I better tell you about Cold’s other. favorite partner, the White Canary
- Over time, Captain Cold tried to leave his criminal ways behind
- His heart thawed a little
- This was especially true when he met another member of the Legends team, the White Canary
-
- The White Canary is Sarah Lance, played by Caity Lotz
- She was the sister of Diana Lance who is the Black Canary, played by Katie Cassidy
- At different times, both of the Canaries were lovers of Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow
- These heroes were all part of DC’s CW Arrowverse
- It began with the CW’s Arrow show, which for some reason DC was afraid to call Green Arrow after the title character, even though he had been around in the comics for decades
- The superheroes in the Arrowverse were slightly different from the comic book and movie superheroes
- Unlike Marvel, DC kept its TV heroes separate from its movie heroes, yet another poor decision by DC which ultimately led to the end of both the Arrowverse and the DC Extended Universe (DCEU)
- But on the plus side, the Arrowverse did give us a great Captain Cold and White Canary
- Both the White Canary and Captain Cold had suffered a lot in their pasts, and so they were naturally drawn to each other and, over time, a romance slowly blossomed between the two of them
Hot (or Maybe Cold?) Romance Song #1 (3:32)
- “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel
- This song gets a great comedic moment in the wonderful holiday film Elf
- That film was directed by Jon Favereua who also directed the first Iron Man movie in which he appears as Tony Stark’s assistant Happy
- There is controversy that surrounds the song, and I encourage listeners to read the excellent article from Rolling Stone writer Amelia McDonell-Parry:
- From some perspectives, the song’s lyrics can be troubling
- But, try grabbing your partner and singing the lyric as a duet with them, and I think you’ll find the song is actually quite fun
- Or just watch Will Ferrell sing it with Zooey Deschanel in Elf if you really want a good laugh
Is Captain Cold on Ice? (2:00)
- Captain Cold’s final television appearance was on the 100th episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (Season 7, Episode 3)
- Wentworth Miller III on far right in blue parka
- He also appeared in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” which was a crossover event that spanned the 5 CW DC televisions shows of the Arrowverse: Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow
- Meantime, Miller and Purcell are working on a new series, Snatchback
- Snatchback’s premise is described by IMDB as being about “a covert team of skilled operatives undertakes high-risk missions to rescue hostages from perilous locations worldwide, inspired by a real-life intelligence officer.”
- Good luck to Miller and Purcell on that new show
- As for Captain Cold? DC Studios Co-Chairman and CEO James Gunn has not confirmed if Captain Cold will appear in the DC Universe, but the character remains a fan favorite, so there’s hope
- I mean, Captain Cold is just too good to let go!
Cold Song #7 (3:45)
- “Let It Go” by Idina Menzel from Frozen
- Elsa has snow powers that make her a supeheroine, and Captain Cold would have loved her bad girl persona!
Super Show ID 6: Superhero Smash (1:00)
- Listen to Superhero Smash on WIUP FM 90.1
- A musical force for good!
- Featuring “The Best Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore” in the DCU, the MCU, and our U-niverse too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email the New Professor X using the address SuperheroSmash3000@gmail.com
- I love to hear from the Legion of Superhero Smash Fans
- And remember, while Superhero Smash is about the adventures of amazing individuals,
- “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
Happy New Year! (1:00)
- Here’s a new song I just discovered
- It’s a beautiful, quiet song by the always wonderful Mary Chapin Carpenter who wants us to dwell in all the possibilities of this coming new year
- You might close your eyes as you listen to the song and try to recall all the good moments from this past year
- Then, take a few minutes to jot down 3 of those good memories in a journal
- And, finally, write one way you will make 2026 a good year for you and one way you will make 2026 a good year for someone else too!
- Let’s make 2026 a year for doing good! That would really make it a happy new year, a Superhero Smash kind of year!
Super Show ID 7: Superhero Smash To Be Continued Next Issue! (0:30)
- Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel: Superhero Smash will be back for another exciting episode next week on Wednesday from noon to 1:oo p.m.
- Happy New Year, everyone, from the New Professor X!
Heroic End Credits Song (4:55)
- “New Years Day” by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Part 4 Ends (@60 minutes)
Cold Song #9 (3:40)
- “Hot N Cold” by Katy Perry
A Christmas Romance (0:30)
- Christmas may be over, but here’s a great Christmas song you probably haven’t ever heard
- I’ll play it now to conclude today’s show
- That way you can Shazam it to get it on your Christmas playlist for next year
Cold Romance Song #3 (3:33)
- “His Favorite Christmas Story” by Capital Lights
