How ‘Superman’ Sets Up the New DCU

It’s out in the open: Right from when it was revealed, it was common knowledge that Superman marked the beginning of a colossal new cinematic and TV universe based on DC Comics, led by screenwriter and director James Gunn. Although Superman is the only original member of the Justice League in Gunn’s movie, it does feature other DC characters, such as Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, and Guy Gardner (who are collectively known as “The Justice Gang”), as well as hints at enduring aspects of DC lore, like Maxwell Lord (portrayed by actor Sean Gunn, James Gunn’s brother), a frequent associate of the Justice League who occasionally acts as a villain.

What insights does Superman provide regarding the fresh DC Universe? What follows next? How will Supergirl and Clayface expand upon Superman’s storyline? To uncover these details and more exciting revelations, be sure to watch our latest DC video that delves into Superman (alongside the announced film schedule from DC Studios) and elucidates how this revamped Superman lays the foundation for the upcoming cinematic universe. You can find it here:

If you enjoyed the video about James Gunn’s interpretation of Superman and how it lays the foundation for the new DC Universe, don’t forget to explore more of our videos down below! We have a variety of topics such as an analysis of Superman’s ending and post-credits scene, a deep dive into Tim Burton’s abandoned Superman project, and insights into James Gunn and DC’s challenges with the Batman film. You can find even more content over at ScreenCrush’s YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe so you won’t miss our future episodes! Currently showing in theaters is James Gunn’s take on Superman.

’80s Foods We Wish They Still Made

Bonkers

During the 1980s, this gummy fruit candy was widely available in stores. It gained fame for its peculiar advertisements, which often showed an unglamorous woman with glasses debunking misconceptions about Bonkers (it wasn’t gum!). These commercials were known for depicting giant fruits raining down on her relatives, adding to their bizarre nature. Remarkably, despite the strange appeal of these advertisements and the popularity of Bonkers throughout the decade, its sales plummeted significantly in just a few years, eventually leading to production discontinuation entirely. The most popular flavors of Bonkers were grape, strawberry, and my favorite, watermelon, which took advantage of the candy’s two-tone design, featuring a green exterior and a chewy red center.

C-3PO’s

If you grew up as a first-generation fan of Star Wars, it’s likely that you are familiar with this breakfast cereal. During the era of Return of the Jedi, C-3PO figures were part of the merchandise wave and were quite popular in the mid-1980s. Although the cereal itself was unremarkable — its oat, wheat, and corn pieces resembled two squashed Cheerios and had no Star Wars connection — the boxes were highly coveted. The backs of these boxes featured cut-out masks of popular characters, which kids would wear rather than eating the cereal. As a result, many pantries throughout the galaxy ended up storing stale cereal for months on end.

Disney Pops

At Disney Parks and retail stores worldwide, Mickey Mouse Ice Cream bars continue to be a beloved treat from the past. However, during the 1980s, Disney also sold ice pops in various stores. These fruit-flavored popsicles, available in grape, cherry, and orange flavors, were shaped like Mickey, Donald, or Goofy. I’m not sure why they were discontinued, but the demand for Disney-themed popsicles is still high today! Almost anything would make me happy if it meant having a grape-flavored Donald popsicle again.

Ecto Cooler

As a film enthusiast and nostalgic beverage connoisseur, let me tell you about an iconic drink that transcends the boundaries of ordinary movie tie-ins – Ecto Cooler. This refreshingly citrusy, vibrant neon-green beverage made its debut in the late ’80s, riding the wave of popularity for the beloved Ghostbusters animated series. Despite the series’ eventual cancellation and the hiatus in Ghostbusters movie productions, Hi-C continued to produce this elixir well into the early 2000s.

Fast forward to recent years, and Ecto Cooler has made a comeback, gracing shelves around the releases of Ghostbusters reboots and legacy sequels. The demand for this sugary nectar remains insatiable, with fans often reselling bottles for sums that would make any ghost green with envy – yes, I’m talking about figures ranging from dozens to hundreds of dollars. Now, isn’t it eerie how a simple beverage can stir such passion?

Five Alive

Discussing citrus-based drinks, if you’re not fond of drinks associated with Ghostbusters, another option is Five Alive. The name derived from the five juices within the drink: orange, grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, and lime. Unfortunately, it was discontinued in the U.S. during the 1990s, but apparently, it’s still available in Canada. If you happen to visit our northern neighbors, could you pick up a carton for me? I’d really enjoy a glass of Five Alive right now.

Fruit Corners Fruit Bars

In the 1980s, the launch of Fruit Roll-Ups ignited a wave of popularity for fruit snacks that lasted throughout the decade. Companies like Fruit Corners, who initially produced Roll-Ups, along with their competitors, rushed to cash in on the seemingly healthy market for kids’ junk food, which seemed almost too good to be true given the “fruit” in its name.

During this time, I, a person living through those days, tried every imitation of Roll-ups that came out. In my opinion, Fruit Corners Fruit Bars were the cream of the crop. They combined the essence of a Roll-Up with the shape of a granola bar. The initial selection of flavors included strawberry, cherry, grape, and orange-pineapple. I’ve been on a quest for decades to find a replacement for the taste of the cherry Fruit Bars, and today, That’s It Apple and Cherry bars come pretty close.

Fruit Wrinkles

If Roll-Ups were excessively flat and Fruit Bars took on overly geometric forms, there was also an option called Fruit Wrinkles, which resembled jelly beans. Advertisements for this product highlighted its higher fruit content and lower sugar levels compared to similar products. They also emphasized the presence of more wrinkles in these snacks.

However, as fruit snacks started adopting more intricate shapes, reminiscent of popular children’s media, simple options like Fruit Wrinkles gradually lost their appeal and eventually disappeared from the market.

Giggles

In recent times, Oreos dominates the sandwich cookie market, almost monopolizing an extensive section of the snack aisle filled with numerous flavors, including Sour Patch Kids Oreos which was the last straw for me. However, during the 1980s, the sandwich cookie market was more varied. One of the key players was Giggles, cookies similar to Oreos but containing both chocolate and vanilla cream filling, along with a smiley face cookie (available in either vanilla or chocolate flavors). Frankly, given that Oreos are constantly introducing around 60 new flavors each week, it’s surprising they haven’t created one with a vanilla and chocolate center. The idea is quite appealing.

Hostess Pudding Pies

Hostess continues to dominate the snack food industry, recognized for their vast variety of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, and other individual cake offerings. Despite this, their pudding pies from the ’80s, which were available in Vanilla or Chocolate versions and were incredibly popular, are hard to find nowadays.

One possible explanation for their disappearance could be their high-fat content and unhealthy ingredients. For instance, a single serving of their cherry pie, as stated on their official website, contains eight grams of saturated fat and 25 grams of added sugars – that’s half the daily recommended intake. On the other hand, they were so delicious that many people might argue the health concerns are irrelevant.

Jell-O Pudding Pops

In the 1980s, there seemed to be an overwhelming fascination with pudding. Was it because other desserts weren’t available? Regardless of the cause, pudding was ubiquitous. It came in cups, pies, and even pop form. Jell-O invested heavily in promoting their Pudding Pops line. They offered vanilla, chocolate, or swirl flavors, and constant advertisements starring Bill Cosby. (They’ve held up remarkably well, I assure you.) According to Wikipedia, Jell-O sold an astounding $100 million worth of Pudding Pops in a single year. However, people eventually tired of this treat, and the line was discontinued.

Kudos

Do you recall the popular snack, Kudos? In the 80s, it was a top-selling granola bar. Initially, there were three flavors: Chocolate Chip, Nutty Fudge, and Peanut Butter, all produced by Mars. They fell into a unique category, being somewhat healthier than regular candy bars but not as organic as typical granola bars. They were truly delicious, and they deserved recognition for their invention. Kudos to the creator! The production continued until the 2010s when unfortunately, they were taken off the market.

Mr. T Cereal

During the 1980s, particularly in the mid-part, no celebrities occupied a more puzzling or dominant part of pop culture than Mr. T, mainly due to his roles in “Rocky III” and “The A-Team,” and his distinctive appearance with a mohawk, denim attire, and an oversized collection of gold chains. This popularity among children led to an unusual animated television series where he was depicted as a gymnastics coach, helping his students solve mysteries.

Subsequently, the character from this show graced the box of a widely sold cereal by Quaker, available between 1984 and 1993. The cereal pieces were designed in the shape of Ts and were made of corn and oats. (Interestingly, these cereals played a pivotal role in the opening sequence of Tim Burton’s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” ensuring its popularity for years to come.)

O’Grady’s Chips

A victim of the 1980s potato chip rivalries: O’Grady’s, a brand that boasted about its thicker-cut potatoes and stronger cheese flavor compared to regular chips. Devotees still rave about their Au Gratin chips, claiming they were significantly tastier and cheesier than any other chip on the market today.

In the heat of the potato chip battles during the 1980s, O’Grady’s was a casualty. This brand prided itself on its thicker sliced potatoes and robust cheese flavor (a rather ambiguous claim). Fans maintain that their Au Gratin chips surpassed any contemporary competitor in terms of taste and cheesiness.

Peanut Butter Boppers

This Reddit user perfectly describes the charm of these snack items: “Boppers were essentially granola bars without the granola, but with all the tasty elements. As a devoted fan of peanut butter, I still yearn for Boppers. Indeed, they were those crunchy logs filled with creamy peanut butter, and I believe it’s high time they made a comeback. While their original manufacturer, Nature Valley, provides a recipe for making homemade Boppers on their website, you might want to try your hand at it until the real thing returns.” Amen to that!

Product 19

In the ’80s and ’90s, a unique cereal with a red box and an unclear origin (it was often said to be the 19th recipe created by Kellogg’s), named Product 19, was a common sight in supermarket cereal sections. In the ’80s, Kellogg’s marketed it as having more vitamin nutrition than any other cereal, but consumers might not have guessed that from its taste. Nowadays, if people ever bought cereals for their nutritional value, those days are long past, and Product 19 was discontinued permanently in 2016.

Quackers

For several decades, kids have delighted in the crunchy, cheesy taste of Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish crackers. In an attempt to rival this product in the 1980s, Nabisco introduced Quackers, which, as their name suggests, resembled ducks rather than fish, but maintained a similar cheese flavor. (Interestingly, they also offered a sour cream and onion version that was surprisingly tasty.) However, by the late 1980s, Quackers had vanished once more, leaving Goldfish to swim solo in the snack market again.

Slice

In intervals every few years, Pepsi introduces a new lemon-lime soda to challenge Coke’s Sprite and other competitors. At present, they sell Starry; previously they marketed Sierra Mist, and before that was Slice (which was initially a replacement for Teem). A few years following its launch, Slice expanded its flavors to include Mandarin Orange and an Apple variant. (Opinion: There are not enough apple-flavored sodas.)

When it debuted, Pepsi emphasized that Slice contained 10% fruit juice, positioning it as a more natural choice compared to other lemon-lime drinks. This strategy was successful initially but later, they altered the drink’s composition, significantly reducing the juice content. Despite this formula change and numerous package designs and slogans throughout the 90s, Slice persisted until Sierra Mist replaced it in Pepsi’s product portfolio during the early 2000s.

Sunkist Fun Fruits

Surprisingly, it seems we haven’t run out of memories yet, regarding defunct fruit snack ideas! The Sunkist Fun Fruits and Wrinkles were quite alike in terms of size and shape. These delicious treats came in cherry, orange, strawberry, and grape flavors. Despite the brand name being Sunkist, these weren’t actually produced by them; instead, they were made by Leaf Confections, who acquired the rights to use the Sunkist name to lend an air of genuine citrusy taste to their product. Presently, General Mills is responsible for manufacturing modern Sunkist Fruit Snacks.

Tato Skins

As a true movie buff of snack-time classics, let me tell you about my all-time favorite potato chips – Keebler’s Tato Skins from the ’80s. Unlike any other chip on the market back then, they were made using whole potatoes with skins intact, giving them a taste that was remarkably close to a baked potato. They came in four delightful flavors: Original, Sour Cream & Chives, Cheddar & Bacon, and Bar-B-Que.

Fast forward to today, and there’s a product on the shelves that somewhat resembles those beloved Tato Skins (they go by “TGI Fridays Potato Skins Snacks”). But for those of us who cherished the original, nothing beats the authentic taste of the classic Tato Skins. They may not be as easily found today, but when I close my eyes and take a bite, I can still taste the magic of the ’80s potato skin revolution!

WWF Superstars of Wrestling Bars

In the 1980s, when Hulk Hogan and his fellow WWF wrestlers were at their peak of popularity among kids, it was an opportune moment to cash in on the wrestling craze by launching a branded food item – the WWF Superstars Ice Cream Bars. These frozen treats consisted of vanilla ice cream between a vanilla cookie and a chocolate layer, with the cookie top bearing the image of popular WWF characters like Randy Savage (the “Macho Man”) and Ted DiBiase (“Million Dollar Man”).

Although these ice cream bars were initially produced to profit from the wrestling trend on Saturday morning television during Hulk Hogan’s prime, they genuinely tasted good, and their production continued long after the WWF’s popularity had waned in the early 1990s. Fond memories of the bars sparked a brief revival in 2020 when Good Humor introduced “WWE Super Stars,” which were similar conceptually but featured new wrestlers like John Cena and Roman Reigns on vanilla ice cream sandwiches (not pops, unfortunately). They tasted well but didn’t remain on store shelves as long as the original WWF ones.

2025-07-15 22:27

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