…Moving on to the DC Extended Universe now and it’s been another week of rumour and speculation with regards to The Batman, although we did get some official news late last night, with Warner Bros. making an offer to Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes) to succeed Ben Affleck in the director’s chair, with the deal said to be all but done. The news came hot on the heels of two conflicting rumours, one of which claimed that the script could be set for a page-one rewrite, pushing back the planned release to 2019, and the other claiming that wasn’t the case, and everyone is “very pleased” with the latest draft from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League screenwriter Chris Terrio. The former also claimed that Jared Leto’s Joker featured in an early draft alongside Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke, but again, that could just be more guesswork being passed off as insider information…
…We’ve posted a couple of Dark Knight-related articles on Flickering Myth this week which you may want to check out, with Samuel Brace coming up with ‘Two Ways to Make Batman Great Again‘ and Tony Black looking at ‘The Batman Films That Never Were‘…
…And speaking of Batman movies that never were, rapper Coolio has revealed that he agreed to appear in Batman & Robin as the leader of a motorcycle gang as he was apparently told he’d be portraying the Scarecrow in Joel Schumacher’s aborted Batman Unchained (a.k.a. Batman Triumphant): “The only reason I did that part was because they promised me the villain part in the following Batman. Which they didn’t do because Joel Schumacher – they fired him. Me and him didn’t get along that great anyway… [In] the next Batman the villain was supposed to be the Scarecrow…”
…As we await the next trailer, this week brought us a new image from Justice League to tide us over, with a still featuring Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg ready for battle, along with confirmation that Cyborg himself is the third Mother Box, and a possible new synopsis. Meanwhile, director Zack Snyder spoke about his excitement over bringing the Justice League together and getting to explore the various character dynamics: “One of the more rewarding aspects of creating Justice League was having fun exploring the dynamic between this diverse group of larger-than-life characters with disparate backgrounds, ethics, and unique perspectives all trying to come together and work as a team. It not only offers an opportunity for great drama and complex relationships, but it also often results in great fun. It’s an exciting concept to explore and it only gets better when you add the component of our incredibly talented cast – their chemistry really adds to that dynamic…”
…While Zack Snyder has come in for a lot of criticism for the tone of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, second unit director Damon Caro has revealed that it was always the plan for BvS to adopt such a dark and gritty tone, leading to the “rebirth of hope” with Justice League: “On Man of Steel, in [Zack Snyder’s] head he had the storyline treatment of where they were going to go, and at the beginning of BvS it was even richer and deeper. The arc was BvS was the midway point and the darker movie. Hence what happens at the end; the whole tone of it was darker. If you play your story all at one level, there are no peaks and valleys, there’s no life. The great stories, the Greek tragedies, even life we have to be knocked down before we can build our way up. Justice League was always the rebirth of hope and the rise. People try to say that it’s a response to the backlash, and I’d definitely say that criticisms were heard, but it’s not like we threw everything out and started with a blank slate. It’s a bit like Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back? Dark movie! But then Return of the Jedi is the rise and the rebuilding of hope…”
…In other Batman v Superman news, Zack Snyder shared a rather interesting twelve-minute before and after VFX video to social media this week showcasing the impressive CGI work on the film [check it out here], while we also got some previously unreleased behind-the-scenes images of the shooting of the warehouse fight scene [see here]…
…While Marvel was winning the Super Bowl with its Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 spot, all DC fans had to enjoy was the release of an extended international TV spot for July’s Wonder Woman, which consisted solely of previously seen footage from the Amazon Princess’ solo debut; watch it here…
…In one of piece of DCEU-related news, Haley Bennett (The Girl on the Train) sparked speculation that she could be in the frame to play Catwoman alongside Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in Gotham City Sirens, sharing an image of the character, as well as a photo of herself sporting a new Selina Kyle-like hairstyle…
…Turning to the small screen now and you can read Martin Carr’s review of this past Monday’s Supergirl ‘The Martian Chronicles’ here, while we’ve also got a trailer, promo and images for the twelfth episode ‘Luthors’ [see here and here], along with a synopsis for the fourteenth episode ‘Homecoming’ featuring the return of Dean Cain’s Jeremiah Danvers [see here] and a new poster with the tagline ‘Relationship Status: Super Complicated’ featuring Melissa Benoist’s Girl of Steel and Chris Wood’s Mon-El [see here]…
…Check out Jessie Robertson’s review of Tuesday’s episode of The Flash ‘Untouchable’ here; the show is taking a break this coming week, but we’ve got a trailer, promo and images for the following week’s ‘Attack on Gorilla City’ [see here and here], along with a synopsis for the concluding chapter of the two-part arc, ‘Attack on Central City’ [see here]…
…DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is also taking a break this week, but you can see a trailer, promo and images for the next episode ‘Camelot/3000’ here and here, and read Jessie’s review of this past Tuesday’s ‘Turncoat’ here…
…Over at Star City, you can find Jessie’s review of this week’s episode of Arrow ‘Bratva’ here, and we also have a trailer, promo and images for this coming Wednesday’s ‘Spectre of the Gun’ [see here and here], along with a synopsis for the following week’s ‘Fighting Fire with Fire’ [read it here]…
…Be sure to read Rachel Bellwoar’s review of this week’s second episode of the workplace comedy Powerless ‘Wayne Dream Team’ here, and you can find a promo and a batch of images for the third episode ‘Sinking Day’ here and here…
…On the DC animated front, Warner Bros. has kicked off the 2017 superhero season with the release of The LEGO Batman Movie! In his ★★★★ review, Thomas Harris states: “It’s a full-blown attack of the senses, blocks whizz by at speed, jokes are thrown-of which almost all land-and if it is to be nothing more than an advert for LEGO, it’s one hell of an advert”, while Rob Kojder’s ★ ★ ★ ★ review describes it as “a genuine love letter to all things Batman… consider it your first contender for 2017’s Best Animated Feature.” We’ve also had some rather brilliant promos this week, which sees LEGO Batman interacting with the cast of The Big Bang Theory [watch them here] and The CW’s superheroes [see here], and you may also want to take a look at Henry Bevan’s latest op-ed ‘LEGO Batman Is The Hero Hollywood Needs Right Now‘…
…And finally, we’ve also had a trailer for the long-awaited Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, Warner’s next instalment in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. The feature is set for release in the Spring, and features a voice cast that includes Kari Wahlgren as Starfire, Sean Maher as Nightwing, Brandon Soo Hoo as Beast Boy with Christina Ricci as Terra and Miguel Ferrer as Deathstroke. Watch the trailer here.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
