…Moving on to the DC Extended Universe now and it seems that Warner Bros. is starting to step up the promotion for November’s Justice League, and stepping up the promotion for the return of Superman. Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel featured on a new promotional poster for the DC ensemble this week [check it out here], along with a character poster alongside Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) [see here]. Meanwhile we also got a Superman-less Japanese poster [see here] and a new banner [see here], and actor Joe Morton (Silas Tone) has revealed that the film will address the resentment that Vic Stone feels towards his father for turning him into Cyborg, as well as confirming that the Cyborg solo movie is still happening around “should start sometime around 2020…”
…Ben Affleck has also been talking about Justice League, promising that it will feature a “more traditional” verison of The Dark Knight: “He’s put in this position of having to reach out, find other people, convincing them to do something. Part of the drama of the movie is the question of whether or not the team is going to come together. It’s very different from the tenor of the last movie. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice departed a little bit from the traditional Batman. He started out with all this rage directed at Superman, because of his coworkers who had died in the fight Superman had with Zod. He was holding on to a lot of anger, in a little bit of an irrational way. Whereas this is a much more traditional Batman. He’s heroic. He does things in his own way, but he wants to save people, help people. This is more in keeping with the canon of how Batman’s usually been portrayed, and how he’s portrayed vis a vis the Justice League in the comics. This is more the Batman you would find if you opened up your average Batman comic book…”
…Casey Affleck sparked more speculation this week when he claimed that Ben had decided against reprising the role of the Caped Crusader for The Batman, only for both Afflecks’ reps to subsequently dismiss the comments as a joke…
…It looks like Patty Jenkins is close to officially signing on for Wonder Woman 2, and is set to receive a bumper payday which will make her the highest-paid female director in Hollywood, and ” in line with any other [male] director who has performed at this level” after the near-$800 million haul of this year’s solo blockbuster. Meanwhile Walmart has unveiled its Collector’s Edition Blu-ray for Wonder Woman, which includes a replica of Diana’s tiara…
…As production on Aquaman continues down under, a few new set photos have arrived online this week giving us another look at the armored Atlantean soldiers who presumably work for Patrick Wilson’s villain Ocean Master; check them out here and here…
…Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg is now turning his attention to the DCEU, and this week he gave an update on the Shazam! movie, as well as discussing what comic books he’s reading in preparation: “There’s a script, it’s the next DC movie to shoot. There’ve been variations of the script, like before I came along, where… you know, variations where Black Adam was in and out and, you know. But now, this is about Shazam. I’m taking it all in. Some of those really old ones are quite fun, when he’s, like, fighting Hitler. Stuff like that. No, cause he’s been around since the 40s for, like, as long as Superman. So there’s a lot to read and that’s also interesting because he sort of has a couple of different origin stories or a couple of different takes on it. You know, you have the most recent sort of Geoff Johns version and then you have Ordwell version and then you have those really old versions…”
…Rounding up some DC TV news and this week has brought us our first look at Teen Wolf actress Crystal Reed as Sofia Falcone in the upcoming fourth season of Gotham [see here] and it’s also been announced that we have two new cast additions in Marina Benedict (Prison Break) and Benjamin Stockham (About a Boy) [find out who they’re playing here]; Band of Brothers‘ Kirk Acevedo has been cast for a season-long recurring role as Arrow season 6’s big villain Richard Dragon / Ricardo Diaz; and it’s been revealed that former Jessica Jones actress Susie Abromeit is set to play Ray Palmer’s (Brandon Routh) mother in an 80s-set episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, where Ray will also find himself driving a DeLorean…
…It seems that sex scenes are starting to become a bit of a tradition in the DC Universe Animated Original Movie series. Batman and Batgirl got down to it in Batman: The Killing Joke, and now we’ve got a clip from Batman and Harley Quinn which sees Harley desperate for some Dick (Grayson) as she makes a play on Nightwing; watch the clip here…
…The first trailer has arrived online for the animated movie Batman vs. Two-Face, the follow-up to Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, which sees Adam West in his final performance as the Bright Night alongside Burt Ward as Robin, Julie Newmar as Catwoman and William Shatner as Two-Face. Watch the trailer here, while the official synopsis reads: “As the sequel to the 2016 hit animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, the all-new Batman vs. Two-Face finds Batman and Robin back in classic 1960s action, protecting Gotham City from some of the most nefarious villains in comics history. But when the mutilated master of multiplicity, Two-Face, begins staging a daring crime wave across Gotham, the Caped Crusaders must work double-time to discover his mysterious secret identity before they can halt his evil-doing – all the while combating the likes of Catwoman, Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Bookworm, Hugo Strange and King Tut…”
…Be sure to check out my article on The Early Adventures of the Animated Batman, which traces the Caped Crusader’s appearances between 1968 and 1986; meanwhile, Teen Titans Go! fans may also want to take a look at Funko’s upcoming Rock Candy figures, Mystery Minis and Plushies [check them out here]…
…American Honey star Sasha Lane has become the latest addition to the cast of Hellboy, signing on to play the character of Alice Monaghan. Lane joins a cast that includes David Harbour as Hellboy, Ian McShane as Professor Broom and Milla Jovovich as the Queen of Blood, while rumours suggest we’ll also be seeing the characters of Abe Sapien and Major Ben Daimio of the B.P.R.D., Gruagach, Baba Yaga and King Arthur and Merlin…
…And finally, it looks like we may have our first casting on the Russo Brothers’ upcoming small screen adaptation of Valiant’s Quantum and Woody superhero comic, with Joel McHale (Community) said to be in talks to play Woody, “a wisecracking, womanizing slacker, who along with his straitlaced adoptive brother, is granted unpredictable superpowers from a pair of energy control bands they find while investigating their father’s death. The two are now stuck with each other — they must “klang” the bands together every 24 hours or their powers will kill them.” Expect more casting news soon.
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.
