DCEU Blog - The Batman Gets A Sequel, CW Wield The Axe And More

It's been a hell of a month for DC fans. Some highs, interesting developments and possible disappointments, depending on your feelings for the CW side of things.

Thanks to CinemaCon, we now know for definite that The Batman will definitely be getting a sequel with both Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson confirmed to return.

The Batman has currently grossed over $750 million worldwide and even managed to pull in 4.1 million during it's first week on HBO Max.

The movie will also be available in DVD/Blu-Ray from June 13th.

Meanwhile The Penguin will begin filming  from June onwards, so expecting casting news in the next few weeks.

Bad tiding for the CW as both Batwoman and Legends Of Tomorrow have been cancelled and there's likely more axings to come.

Harley Quinn will not only return for it's third season on HBO Max during the summer but it'll be getting a spin-off focusing on Kite Man and other minor baddies titled Noonans.

Rahart Adams has been cast as Brody for the upcoming Gotham Knights show. 

Rumours are that the Constantine series for HBO Max will film from September onwards and will be eight episodes. Filming is expected for the UK and Morocco.

KJ Apa and Isabel May have been as the Wonder Twins for the HBO Max movie. Filming is due to begin in July.

Abrams and Coates long rumoured Superman movie will now not be a period piece and could feature Ultra-Humanite as the main antagonist. Emphasis on rumour.

Speaking of our favourite, Kryptonian, a younger version of the character will appear in The Flash movie. 

Kevin Conroy has written a story for the upcoming DCPride issue, due out the end of next month.

Susan Sarandon will now play Victoria Kord for the Blue Beetle movie. Filming has begun.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods will now be released on December 21st. Thanks to CinemaCon, Wonder Woman has also been confirmed for the movie.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom has had a test screening. It seems that Mera's role has been reduced, Arthur and Orm are teaming up and Black Manta has leveled up as a threat.

Charlize Theron might be bringing the Aqualad novel, You Brought Me To The Ocean as a series for HBO Max.

Yup, it's been a hell of a month. What will the next one bring us?

My Review of Superman And Lois 2x10: "Bizarros In A Bizarro World"

 

Written by  Brent Fletcher And Todd Helbing

Directed by Louis Shaw Milito

Lois: "Why are you here?"

Jon-El (re Jonathan): "For him."

After a month of the air and given that the previous episode was a Superman lite affair, this one had plenty of our favourite Kryptonian, albeit in a bizarro world not of his own. Yup, we finally got to see what this world was like that Ally was so desperate to merge with and some interesting creative choices were made here.

Notably with the boys themselves. It made sense for the Inverse version of events to have Jordan without powers and Jonathan not only having them, but abusing them too. Jonathan definitely had his daddy issues to work out and with his own father dead, he didn't mind taking some of them out on our Superman for good measure.

A big issue being a killer. Jonathan killed his own world's version of Anderson at Ally's behest before doing away with our version too, around the same the latter found a redemption of sorts. Oh and he's now on our world and quite eager to merge with our Jonathan as we got back to that cliff hanger from the previous episode.

Then there was the Inverse of Lois, who enabled her husband's recklessness and fame seeking until it became too much and she took Jordan away from him. She seemed to be as determined to save her family from Ally as ours does but wasn't really able to do anything about Jonathan getting under Ally's control. 

As for Anderson, I spent so much of the season actively hating his guts that his deaths actually surprised me in a pleasant way. Twice by Jonathan and also after he finally realised why Superman kept secrets from him. I have to admit, I actually wish he hadn't died now.

Last but not least, the Tal-Rho bits of this episode were great stuff. His excitement at being an uncle, marrying his version of Lana, getting swayed into Ally's cause and then realising he needed to let our Superman stop her. This show has found a brilliant way of utilising the character this season. 

- As expected, the opening and closing titles had fun going backwards to emphasis the bizarro nature of this episode.

- I'm surprised we didn't get Inverse versions of Kyle, John, Natalie and Sarah in this one but it might have been for timing or feeling they weren't needed.

- Jonathan got the classic Superboy look (one of them at least) but rejected the name. 

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off from Superman's viewpoint and the cliff hanger from previous episode too.

Bizarros In A Bizarro World understood the assignment and had fun with the results. A part of me wished the episode had been a little longer as I was enjoying watching the differences on display but there's a mission to stop Ally and somehow redeem Jon-El. I guess we should get on with both of those to be fair.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Doctor Who's "Legend Of The Sea Devils"

 

Written by Chris Chibnall And Ella Road

Directed by Haolu Wang

The Doctor (to Yaz): "I wish this would go on forever."

First of all, Happy Easter everyone and for the second time in the show's history, here's an Easter special, though unlike Planet Of The Dead, don't expect a reference to the event here. Instead we have something of a maritime adventure, which again isn't a first for the show.

It's deeply amusing that Chris Chibnall spent all of his first series avoiding past monsters to a blinding fault, only for his latter two series to feature as many of returning monsters as possible. This time, it's the Sea Devils getting an update as they serve as the only antagonists for this somewhat half baked story.

The Doctor, Yaz and Dan find themselves in an early 19th Century Chinese village and it's not long before desperate pirate Queen Madam Ching (Crystal Yu) has inadvertently released the leading Sea Devil (Craige Els) and incurred the wrath of young villager Ying Ki (Marlowe Chan-Reeves). However it doesn't take long for Ching to force both Ying Ki and Dan into becoming her new crew members while the Doctor and Yaz take a journey back a few hundred years.

Their journey gave the Doctor and Yaz a fair bit to mull over. Namely witnessing the Sea Devils forcing a deal with another pirate, Ji-Hun (Arthur Lee) and punishing him after he retaliated a betrayal. There was also the fact that Ying Ki held in possession an artifact needed for the Sea Devils predictable scheme while Madam Ching had her own reasons to get possession of Flor de la Mar treasure. 

The Sea Devils were overdue a return in a post 2005 and design wise, it's mostly faithful to their original look. Craige Els does a solid job as the lead Sea Devil but the story itself definitely felt somewhat all over the place with the resolution being somewhat hastily resolved for it's own good. It definitely could've done with an extra five or ten minutes.

As for our main players, Dan had some great moments with Ying Ki and Madam Ching as well as a phone call with a certain character but it was the Doctor and Yaz confronting their own feelings that dominated this episode. Regeneration is certainly on the Doctor's mind and this episode slightly hammered that point home. It also reminded audiences that any potential Doctor/Companion romance will always be doomed, so for me there's definitely no way that won't repeat with this Doctor and Yaz.

- This episode was a last minute addition to the schedule and the only one this series with a new co-writer.

- We learned that Dan is 42 in this episode and we got to briefly see Diane again, who seemed to be missing Dan.

- I'm genuinely surprised we didn't get a reference to the Silurians in this one.

- I figured out fast the Sea Devils took Ji-Hun's ship. The underwater scenes with the TARDIS did look good though.

- While the title for the final special wasn't revealed, a trailer did show the return of various characters such as the Master, Ashad/Cybermen, Daleks, Vinder, Kate Stewart as well as Tegan Jovanka and Ace McShane.

- Chronology: Both 1533 for Ji-Hun and 1807 for Madam Ching.

Legend Of The Sea Devils had the makings of an entertaining Easter special and while it certainly wasn't horrible as such, it was undeniably a very under cooked and rushed story. Unfortunately that's been an ongoing problem with this era but here's hoping the last story can end this era on a better note.

Rating: 6 out of 10