5 Best YouTubers for Film/Comic Theory

J.E Stanway
Sep 17, 2018
3 min read

If you’re heavily invested in film franchises (as am I), no doubt you like to indulge in film theories about your favorite movies and characters.

There are a ton of sources for these- blogs, magazines, even Instagram and Facebook posts. The most popular place however, is YouTube, the land of the truly nerdy people who take their fan lives way too seriously- aka, one of the best places on the internet.

Below are a few of my favorite YouTubers, most of which I’ve heavily binge watched until 3 am, and trust me- the sleep deprivation was worth the answers I needed about Infinity War.

1) TheSuperCarlinBrothers

This is probably my favorite YouTube channel outside of The Animation Squad (which I’ll cover in another article). John “Jay” and Ben Carlin cover all things regarding Marvel, Star Wars, Disney and Pixar (especially Pixar). Jay films on Tuesday and Ben on Thursday, so there’s always a ton of content to look forward to! They both come up with pretty convincing theories, and probably know more about the Disney Princess franchise than Disney itself. One of the running themes through their channel is further adding to The Pixar Theory as new films come out. They are well versed in all things Incredibles.

They also tell terrible jokes all through their videos, which is only a plus in my opinion.

2) The Film Theorists

DISCLAIMER: I do not endorse all the content on this YouTube channel, nor have I watched all their videos. This article is based off of the clean content I've seen from it.

Most people know Matthew “MatPat” and Stephanie Patrick from The Game Theorists, which is equally as entertaining, if not a niche market for people who don’t own a PS4 (PS3 for me and boy do I wish it wasn’t so).

MatPat covers a lot of the stuff that TheSuperCarlinBrothers do and much more. However his theories are based off of scientific facts, which make a lot of his videos difficult to argue with. I’m sure a big part of my fangirling has to do with us both being ex theatre students, but hey, its not everyday a girl finds a kindred spirit.

3) NerdSync

Scott Niswander is an avid comic book reader and superhero fan, and his channel reflects this extremely well. He mostly covers videos concerning DC and Marvel comics, as well as the movies by their sister film franchises.

He’s done a few conspiracy theories about comic book origins, which I’ve rewatched vigorously and are extremely well researched. Despite his videos mostly revolving around The Caped Crusader and the Superman “L” conspiracy, they usually end up with a surprisingly inspirational and moving message. I find that’s a very unique thing about his channel- the videos are funny and you can nerd out really hard, but Scott tends to unravel the deeper meaning “between the panels.”

If you’ve never really read comics, NerdSync is probably the best channel for you to watch to learn more about them. Thanks to Scott (and a since deceased documentary on Netflix) I may not have read a lot of comics, but I know a lot about comics.

4) Captain Midnight

Captain Midnight mostly covers film and comic reviews/theories about Marvel and DC, and his videos are very well done and come from an interesting point of view. He’s definitely a harsher critic than the above mentioned channels, but his videos always give you something to think about. He tends to dive into why certain films were done a certain way, and how they will affect the future of their franchise. The channel is done in a video essay format so they have a bit more of a serious tone. Nevertheless, his theories and reviews are intelligent and intriguing, and his channel in my opinion is very underrated.

5) ScreenRant

DISCLAIMER: I do not endorse all the content on this YouTube channel, nor have I watched all their videos. This article is based off of the clean content I've seen from it.

ScreenRant is a channel of well researched videos and very dry humor. Like the above channels, they mainly cover franchise films, and recently introduced a new series called Theory Battle, where the two main guys on the channel debate which film theory of theirs for a film is more likely to be true (though let’s be honest, none of our nerd theories usually come true). The channel is pretty entertaining and Ryan, one of the main guys on the channel, is always good for a laugh.