DCU Blog - July 2024 Edition: SDCC Highlights And More

Well, July certainly turned out to be a very busy month for DC. Various things confirmed in the press and also at SDCC itself. Buckle in folks.

The second trailer for Joker: Folie A Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga was released last week, further solidifying the jukebox musical format. In theatres from October 4th. Harry Lawtey will play Harvey Dent in the movie.

Filming for Superman (2025) has now completed. Will Reeve, the son of Christopher Reeve will appear in the movie. The movie will be released July 11th 2025.

Casting for the roles of Ruthye and Krem have started for Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow. The movie starring Milly Alcock as Supergirl will begin filming later this year. The movie will be released June 26th 2026.

DC Studios unveiled their new logo. It's basically the same as the one from 1976-2005.

Kumail Nanjiani has been heavily rumoured for the role of Booster Gold in the DCU. The fact that James Gunn hasn't denied it is interesting. An announcement must be imminent.

Lanterns will now go to HBO as well as Max. Hal Jordan will be older than John Stewart in the project. Casting for the roles has begun.

The Penguin will air on Max and HBO from September 19th. It'll take a place a week after the events of The Batman. Colin Farrell will reprise the role for the sequel, due to film in early 2025 for an October 2nd 2026 release. Mark Strong is a recast Carmine Falcone.

The first trailer for Creature Commandos was released last weekend, confirming the December 2024 release on Max.

All 10 episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader will be released on Amazon Prime from August 1st. Hamish Linklater will voice Batman while Minnie Driver will voice a female version of The Penguin named Oswalda Cobblepot.

Joel Kinnaman will reprise his role of Rick Flag Jr in the second season of Peacemaker. Details as to how have not been revealed.

The third season of My Adventures With Superman will introduce Superboy and a bald Lex Luthor. 

The fifth season of Harley Quinn will be released on Max from November. Spin off series, Kite-Man: Hell Yeah! is currently airing on Max. 

The first trailer for the fourth and final season of Superman And Lois was released during the weekend. It'll premiere on the CW from October 17th. Tom Cavanagh will appear in the final season.

Paradise Lost is circling it's lead writers. Circe (Anya Chalotra) will be a main cast member in Creature Commandos.

The Sandman has added Ann Skelly, Ruari O'Connor, Indya Moore, Douglas Booth, Freddie Fox, Laurence O'Fuarain, Clive Russell, Jack Gleeson and Steve Coogan to the cast as Nuala, Orpheus, Wanda, Cluracan, Loki, Thor, Odin, Puck and Barnabas respectively. Boyd Holbrook and Jenna Coleman will also return as the Corinthian and Johanna Constantine for the second season.

In some bad news, the Arkham series will no longer be going ahead. So far, it's the only DCU project to have been cancelled.

Those are the highlights of this month. So far, this year has been shaping up nicely for DC.

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "The Red Sowing"

 

Written by David Hancock 

Directed Loni Peristere

Rhaenyra: "With these dragons, peace will be restored."

You get a dragon and you get a dragon and the rest of you get barbequed by a dragon. In general, that's pretty much the main plot of this episode. Oh boy, did this one really have fun with the dragons in this episode.

Last week we had Seasmoke taking the initiative and claiming the lovely Addam as his dragon rider. Rhaenyra wasn't initially pleased with this development until Addam made it abundantly clear that he intended to serve her cause. Then she was very happy with the idea and it was Jace who had misgivings.

To be fair to Jace, it's not like his misgivings were totally unjustified. While Addam established himself quickly as an ally to Rhaenyra, can the same be applied to both Hugh Hammer and Ulf White? Both men do seem more interested in self service than anything else. Saying that, the former claimed Vermithor and the latter got claimed by Silverwing.

The auditions to be a dragon rider certainly brought out desperation on both parts, but only casualties on one side of the thing. Rhaenyra's plan just about managed to work and there was something genuinely gratifying in Aemond's realisation that the Blacks now had an advantage over the Greens. He was more than quick to get himself and Vhagar out of dodge, pretty fast.

Going to the Greens this week, Aemond not only had to deal with the opposite building up their dragon riders but Otto still hadn't materialised back at the Red Keep and Larys was working behind his back to speed up Aegon's recovery. For once, Larys did the right thing. Aemond's a tyrant in the making and Aegon now seems like the lesser of two evils. It's funny how this season has turned out for these two brothers.

As for Alicent, well this wasn't an episode where she did a lot. In fact, now that she has absolutely no influence among her own family, she went to the woods to have a swim and clear her head. I want to feel bad for her, but she's brought about her own misery, so nope.  She's own her worst enemy.

Speaking of characters who continue to ruin it for themselves, that's also been Daemon's lot this season as well. Aside from another Viserys hallucination, Daemon really suffered the consequences of being a condescending berk to the newly in power Oscar Tully. The latter certainly made him pay for it by forcing Daemon's hand in cleaning up his mess with the Brackens and Blackwoods. Daemon did have it coming though.

- Jace made his disapproval of Mysaria fairly clear in this episode. We didn't get any further Rhaenyra/Mysaria either.

- Rhaena definitely has abandoned The Gay Abandon (very clever, Lady Jeyne) in order to claim her own dragon.

- Speaking of dragons, we learned that Tessarion has taken towing so we're getting closer to meeting Daeron. 

- Bit of a strange alliance formed between Larys and Jasper in this episode. Both of them recognise Aemond is a problem for them.

- Corlys was not only proud of the fact that Addam became a dragonrider but he also promoted Alyn as well. About time he acknowledged them.

- Chronology: Exactly from where the previous episode left off.

The Red Sowing was brilliant with it's main dragon plot, culminating in that fantastic final scene. Saying that, both the Daemon and Alicent scenes were the weakest of the bunch and the former especially has lost their mojo this season. Now, onto the finale. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

 

Written by Ryan Reynolds And Rhett Reese And Paul Wernick And Zeb Wells And Shawn Levy

Directed by Shawn Levy

Deadpool: "This is what I'm talking about: big slow-motion action sequence, who knows if you live or die? Let's fucking go!"

Wolverine: "Let's fucking go."

The most anticipated movie of 2024 and after getting myself reacquainted with the first two movies, I was hyped to see this one. Really hyped and it was a meeting that I didn't know I needed but one I was glad to see play out. Of course I'm talking about Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) finally meeting up.

Of course, it doesn't happen straight away in the movie. First, there was our katana wielding mercenary for hire killing off a bunch of TVA agents while actively looking for Wolverine and boy, didn't Deadpool seriously want to hook up with the cantankerous Canadian. There's even a scene where a bartender would ask if the two were going to fight or fuck. Spoiler alert: they don't but don't let that put you off.

By the time Deadpool finds the right/worst Wolverine in the Multiverse for a mission needed to save his world from dying, the rather toffee nosed Mr Paradox (Matthew Macfayden) decided to send the pair into the void. Let's just say he had a world controlling scheme he didn't want the pair to interfere with.

The void, shamelessly ripping off Mad Max and being gleeful in refetencing that did introduce main villain Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). She's Professor X's twin, enjoys toying with whatever the TVA dump into the Void when she's not feeding Alioth and like the rest of us, she does have a limit to the amount of chatter from Deadpool. 

The best thing about the Void would be the fact that it's primarily a Multiverse dumping ground. You might get Chris Evans briefly reprising his role as Johnny Storm but other cameos are better served. Even Aaron Stanford's Pyro had some decent screen time, in spite of being a resentful subordinate to Nova. Betraying her though didn't end well for him.

The best cameos of course are the ones with Laura/X23 (Dafne Keen), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Blade (Wesley Snipes) and Gambit (Channing Tatum). I enjoyed all four characters having to work with Deadpool and Wolverine and Laura especially got one hell of an emotional scene with Logan that paid off later in the movie.

Of course when we weren't going through multiple versions of Wolverine, there was multiple versions of Deadpool to contend with. They're all entertaining but Mary Puppins/Dogpool was my favourite of the bunch and I would've been happy had we gotten more screen time with her. She was also the only version that every Deadpool (and Wolverine) seemed to like. Best new MCU character? Definitely yes.

As for Deadpool and Wolverine, the chemistry between both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman was off the fucking charts. Every moment, regardless of context worked beautifully and while the villains and resolution to main threat were a bit slap dash, I think most will let that slide and just embrace the sheer insanity of these two characters working together.

- The credit scenes really did seem like a solid goodbye to the FOX Marvel Universe. There was a lot of jokes at FOX's expense.

- Cameos from Blake Lively and Nathan Fillion as Lady Deadpool and Deadpool worked fine. I even liked Henry Cavill's brief scene as a Wolverine variant to boot.

- Other appearances included Happy Hogan (Jon Favreux), Sabertooth (Tyler Mane), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), as well as stand ins for Psylocke, Lady Deathstrike, Callisto, Azazael, Toad and Bullseye.

- Between movies, Wade and Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) broke up but seemed to be getting back together again. 

- Standout music: N-Sync's Bye Bye Bye, Eric Carmen's Make Me Lose Control and of course, Madonna's Like A Prayer.

- Chronology: Six years since the events of Deadpool 2. It's also Earth-10005.

Deadpool & Wolverine undoubtedly will be the most fun you'll have with a movie this year. I'm not saying it's the best movie or even best MCU movie but it's the most fun you'll have with a movie for this year. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman more than delivered with this one.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

SDCC 2024: The MCU Goes Doom!!

I think that's punny enough but yes, with Deadpool & Wolverine dominating the box office, the MCU thought they might as well extend that to SDCC as well.

Let's start with the biggest news drop of the night. Not only did we get Robert Downey Jr back in the MCU movies for the next two Avengers movies but there was a twist. Nope, we didn't get him back as a variant of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Instead we got him for Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom and Downey Jr certainly dressed for the occasion. 

I have to admit, I have mixed feelings on the casting. I get why some are viewing it as a desperate move on the MCU's part and I definitely feel they could've bagged a hot high profile actor for the role. Perhaps it might work though as it's certainly gotten people paying very close attention now that these upcoming movies are pivoting away from Kang (Jonathan Majors).

Speaking of the movies, they're titled Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars with the Russo brothers returning to direct them. Both movies will also be written by Steve McFeely and will be released May 1st 2026 and May 7th 2027 respectively.

The second biggest buzz from the MCU panel was of course about a certain family. Now titled The Fantastic Four: First Steps and keeping it's July 25th 2025 release, the main cast showed up to Hall H and exclusive footage was unveiled. 

The footage showed the foursome - Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) in space suits, Reed teaching a science class and a futuristic setting, in spite of the movie being set in the 1960s. 

Over the last few months, the cast was rounded out to include Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Gardner), Galactus (Ralph Ineson) as well as Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich in undisclosed roles. Matt Shakman is directing the movie, written by Josh Friedman (having done rewrites from a script by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer).

Last but not least, there was panels for both Captain America: Brave New World (February 14th 2025) and Thunderbolts* (May 2nd 2025). Neither hit quite as big as the other panels did but there was something delightful in watching Harrison Ford embrace playing Red Hulk in Hall H while Giancarlo Esposito's character was revealed to be Seth Voelker/Sidewinder. Those first two panels were definitely modest with both movies nearer to release. Of course with D23 around the corner, expect some bigger news for the MCU to be released.

I'll cover the D23 news next month but overall, a good level of news came out last night at SDCC for the MCU. What was your favourite reveal?

SDCC Highlight - Dexter: Original Sin AND Dexter: Resurrection Announced

If you couldn't get enough of Dexter Morgan, well, you're about to get Miami's infamous serial killer twice over.

First of all, let's break down the cast of upcoming prequel series, Dexter: Original Sin. Who is playing who exactly?

Dexter Morgan (Patrick Gibson) - Forensic Intern

Sergeant Harry Morgan (Christian Slater) 

Deb Morgan (Molly Brown)

Captain Aaron Spencer (Patrick Dempsey)

CSI Chief Tanya Martin (Sarah Michelle Gellar)

Detective Angel Batista (James Martinez) 

Detective Maria LaGuerta (Christina Millian)

Detective Bobby Watt (Reno Wilson)

Vince Masuka (Alex Shimizu) - Forensic Analyst

The 10 part series will be set during 1991, following the young Dexter Morgan embarking on his double life. Oh and a certain Michael C. Hall not only appeared at SDCC with the cast of Dexter: Original Sin but he'll be doing the voiceover of Dexter's inner voice. Of course that wasn't the only surprise revealed last night.

Not only do we have a prequel series to delve into but how about another sequel show to boot? Yes, I know Michael C. Hall's version of the character was killed off at the end of Dexter: New Blood but death apparently won't keep this bad boy down.

Titled, Dexter: Resurrection, the series will somewhat revive the character for a present day setting with filming slated to begin soon for a summer 2025 release. Aside from being set in the present day, details on the sequel series are a bit vague for now but expect some major casting news to be revealed over the next few months. 

Like a lot of people, I was a big fan of the original Dexter series, even if the last few seasons were lacking. I thought Dexter: New Blood was a near return to form. The news of two new shows, I do have some mixed feelings on. It could be a case of spreading the IP too thin and trying to create a franchise where one wasn't needed but at the same time, both have strong enough hooks that maybe it could work. I mean the original series has managed to be a streaming hit, so there's definitely a new generation who will likely give both shows a go. I'll be watching and reviewing both upcoming shows.

Dexter: Original Sin will premiere on Showtime and Paramount+ from December 2024 while Dexter: Resurrection will premiere in summer 2025.

Wonder Woman - Episodes 14-17 Reviews

After a first season on ABC, it was time for the show to make several changes as it entered it's second season, including a move to CBS. Let's dive in, shall we?

Episode 14: The Return Of Wonder Woman 

It wasn't just a change of networks that befell this series. Nope, we had a name change to The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman and gone was the 1942 setting in favour of a 1977 one instead. Still though Lynda Carter remained as Wonder Woman while Lyle Waggoner was now playing Steve Trevor Jr, the son of the Steve Trevor from the first season. Waggoner does nothing to differentiate between father and son, even though the son was revealed to be a government agent at the IADC (Inter-Agency Defence Command) with Joe Atkinson (Norman Burton) serving as a head figure of sorts. Diana's meeting of Steve Jr played out exactly like her meeting with his father with The Queen (Beatrice Straight) being resigned to her oldest daughter heading back to Man's World yet again. The terrorists of the week wanted to destabilise Latin America and Steve Jr ended up being kidnapped and cloned before being rescued by Wonder Woman. It's a near redux of the opening pilot/TV movie with a few little differences. Not bad overall though. 7/10

Episode 15: Anschluss '77

Yeah, this series might have transported itself to 1977 but it really cannot leave World War II behind and this episode alone was all about another group of baddies wanting to go back to that era. Taking place in San Rafael, Cordova, you had Fritz Gerlich (Mel Ferrer) wanting to establish a Fourth Reich, complete with a clone of Adolf Hitler (Barry Dennen) at the ready for this scheme. There's a minor subplot with Diana being in danger in the caves that ended up exploding with Steve Jr also not clocking the coincidences of Diana and Wonder Woman not being in the same room. It's an okay episode but I was hoping a new time period would move the show away from Nazi schemes. I guess not. 6/10

Episode 16: The Man Who Could Move The World 

I have to admit that while I do wish the show would move past World War II, this episode actually did something less clichéd and much more needed. It actually dared to examine the trauma that war had on a person with one of the few sympathetic antagonists the show introduced. The antagonist being Ishido (Yuki Shimoda), who believed that Wonder Woman's presence in his childhood during the war led to his older brother's death. This led to him gaining telekinetic power via a machine that he used to kidnap Steve Trevor (and the doctor helping him) in order to try and get revenge on Wonder Woman. While it was obvious that Diana wasn't responsible for Ishido's brother dying (mainly because the brother turned out to be alive), I did like that there was an attempt to make Ishido into a more rounded character. He even managed to get a redemption story and a reunion with his brother. Oh and I'm loving the snarky computer at the IADC as well. 8/10

Episode 17: The Bermuda Triangle Crisis

This was an episode where got a case of last time and first time. With the former, this would be the last time in which we would see The Queen Hippolyta on the show but the first time that Wonder Woman would use her tiara as a communication device and show off the blue body suit costume. The main crisis of the episode revolved around Diana's worries of the IADC setting up a base camp near the Bermuda Triangle and nearer to Paradise Island. Yes, there was some bad guys in the mix with Steve Jr's and Diana rescuing a captive soldier and the latter pretending to reveal secrets in order to facilitate an escape. Steve Jr's admiration of Wonder Woman has become so overt that even Joe Atkinson has noticed it. 7/10

Next blog I'll tackle the episodes Knockout, The Pied Piper, The Queen And The Thief and I Do, I Do.

Doctor Who - SDCC 2024 Highlights: New Spin Off Confirmed, Details For Christmas Special and Series 15

Yup, after sitting out last year due to the writer and actor strikes, this year Doctor Who came to play at San Diego Comic Con in Hall H. The highlights as follows.

First of all, we had showrunner Russell T. Davies and series stars Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson aka, the 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday at the infamous Hall H (moderated by Josh Horowitz) while also doing press interviews. There was talks of other franchises (both Star Trek and Star Wars), past Doctors that both Ncuti and Millie would like to see and even the talk of other Doctors appearing through CGI (though I'm not sure how serious RTD was about that one). Of course, there were far bigger highlights tonight at Hall H.

After months of speculation, the biggest reveal was the announcement of a spin-off, which has been titled as The War Between The Land And The Sea. As you can see, its very familiar casting. 

- Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient are reprising their roles as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Cristofer Ibrahim. They will be regulars.

- Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw will play new regular characters for the show. Previously they played the roles of Midshipman Frame and Letitia Jones during Russell T. Davies first run of Doctor Who.

- The show will be five episodes, written by Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams. The latter directed the episodes 73 Yards and Dot And Bubble.

- Expect a massive battle with UNIT and the Sea Devils as the latter dramatically reveal themselves to humanity, causing an international crisis.

- Filming will start from next month with the show slated to air on BBC and Disney+ in 2025. The show will be made by Bad Wolf, BBC Studios and Disney Branded Television. 

I have to admit that while I was hoping a certain former companion would return for this show, this is a good cast line up. With filming happening next month, I expect more names will be revealed as cameras start rolling.

As for the upcoming Season 2/Series 15 of Doctor Who, a few tidbits were also revealed during the hour long panel.

- Ruby will be suffering from some PTSD when she returns. It's likely the fourth episode will be her returning episode of the next series.

- Varada Sethu's character will be Belinda Chandra. Is she related to Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra)? Time will tell. Will she have a connection to Sethu's other character,  Mundy Flynn? We'll see.

- Jonah Hauer-King's character (rumoured to be called Conrad) will be connected to Ruby. Filming from last year did reveal him to be a love interest.

- We can expect to see more of Anita Dobson's mysterious Mrs Flood in the next series.

- Another episode will have musical moments in the upcoming series.

- Don't expect the return of Strax (Dan Starkey) any time soon.

- Ncuti Gatwa really wants to meet the Daleks. Here's hoping he gets his wish next series.

Last but not least, we got something for upcoming Christmas special, thanks to a recorded appearance from Nicola Coughlan. What can we expect from Joy To The World?

- Nicola's character is called Joy and she's from 2024 London. The Doctor is going to have a significant impact on her life.

- There are scenes in 1940, 1962 and 1953. Scenes involving a train journey and a Mount Everest expedition.

- The Doctor seems to be looking for the right person to give a ham and cheese toasties and a pumpkin latte to. Joy seems to be the one to get his attention.

- There's a Silurian hotel worker who appeared in a scene where the Doctor and Joy first meet each other in Joy's hotel room.

- The episode's written by Steven Moffat and directed by Alex Pillai.

Overall, a good selection of information revealed at SDCC, hinting that the show's future is in good hands. 

Doctor Who will return with Joy To The World on Christmas Day on BBC1, iPlayer and Disney+. Series 15 will air in early 2025.

My Review of The House Of The Devil (2009)

 

Written And Directed by Ti West 

Samantha: "This one night changes everything for me."

Having completed To West's X trilogy recently, I went back somewhat earlier into his career and found this movie. If you've seen a certain episode of Inside No. 9, then this movie would be rather familiar to you.

You've got a young woman named Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue). She's a college student who has recently managed to find herself somewhere to live but she's struggling to make ends meets. So far, so familiar. Then an opportunity presented itself.

The opportunity being a phone number on a flyer which Samantha rang at the nearest phone box. At the end of the line was a mystery man named Mr Ulman (Tom Noonan), who had a job offer for Samantha. After some initial crossed wired, Samantha accepted the babysitting gig but her best friend, Megan (Greta Gerwig) voiced concerns about Samantha's new job.

Samantha really should've listened to Megan. Not only was the Ulman residence in the middle of nowhere but Mr Ulman and his wife (Mary Woronov) were obviously creepy. Not to mention the fact that they were exactly truthful about the fact there wasn't a child but Mother (Danielle Noe) to babysit instead.

Had Samantha been smart, she would've left with Megan and had the latter also been smart, she wouldn't have gotten killed by that other guy (A.J. Bowen). Of course, a movie set in the middle of nowhere with a creepy family was going to have some bad stuff happen. 

Yes, with the title of this movie, we got some old fashioned devil worshipping with poor Samantha being terrorised by the Ulman clan and barely getting out of the house alive. There's a decent level of creepiness when the Ulmans plan for Samantha was made clear and the end scene proved that they were successful too.

- Lena Dunham voiced the 911 operator while Ti West also briefly appeared as a teacher.

- Some of the behind the scenes antics that happened with cast and crew for this movie would inspire Ti West's next one, The Innkeepers.

- Standout music: The Fixx's One Thing Leads To Another and Greg Kihn Band's The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em). 

- Chronology: 1983 Connecticut for the duration of the movie and during a full lunar eclipse.

As a movie taking on the topic of Satanic cults, there's a fair bit to enjoy with The House Of The Devil. The scares and gore are nicely spaced out with some really creepy moments and you've got a sympathetic lead character. For one of his earlier movies, Ti West did well here.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Burned By Paris

It's been a while since I've done one of these but again, a look at most of the recent things I've watched over the past few weeks.

Bridgerton: I enjoyed the first half of the third season and the second half had a lot to live up to. Did it manage to do so? I'd say it actually did as the remaining four episodes not only had Penelope and Colin go full steam ahead with their nuptials along with the very public reveal of Penelope being Lady Whistledown. I do feel the Whistledown was almost too easily resolved with the Queen but the Polin love story worked overall. Other highlights in the second half included Francesca's continued expansion as a character as well as tapping into Benedict's bisexuality. Bring on the next season.

Interview With The Vampire: I'm not sure if releasing the second season during the summer was a wise idea on AMC's part but on the other hand, how fucking good was this season overall? The big flashback episode with Daniel was amazing as was Claudia's death and the deconstruction of Louis and Armand's relationship. While I do think that Lestat could've been reintroduced into the main action quicker, when he did return, it was a much welcome jolt to this season. Santiago made for such a horrible baddie that his comeuppance was truly satisfying and yes, Daniel became a vampire. Great stuff overall.

The Bear: Yes, I watched the third season in two days. While not as good as the first two seasons (I found the opener very sluggish), there was still a lot to recommend. Specifically episodes such as Napkins and Ice Chips, both of which are likely Emmy contenders next year. The guest stars being utilised pretty, especially the likes of Will Poulter and Olivia Colman in the finale but I do feel that Carmy as a character hasn't progressed and some of his scenes with both Sydney and Richie often felt repetitive this season. Not to mention the neverending threat of the restaurant getting closed down. Other than that, it's still worth watching.

The Boys: Season 4 of this superhero show certainly got more political than ever before and to the point where the type of people who often missed the point of Homelander as a character, realised they were the very people being lampooned. Anyways we got two new supes with Firecracker and Sister Sage being strong additions, A-Train showing character growth with The Deep and Black Noir II doing the exact opposite. Homelander got worse, Ashley freaked out more, Ryan flip flopped as did Victoria Newman. As for the good guys, Butcher hallucinated a former comrade, Frenchie briefly had a boyfriend, Kimiko spoke her first word, MM had massive anxiety, Hughie got traumatised repeatedly and Annie had to deal with rivals wrecking her life and her powers being on the fritz. Oh and characters from Gen V popped up. Certainly wasn't a boring season. 

The Jetty: Ah, Jenna Coleman. It's been a while since we last had her on our screen and this four part BBC detective series served as a reminder of how compelling an actor she can be. Ember Manning turned out to be a complicated character, navigating her relationships between her mother and daughter while also trying to resolve a case from her teenage years. I'll admit the flashbacks were a bit confusing to begin with and the podcaster had some heavy handed dialogue in parts but as a series, I thought it got stronger in the second half with a surprise twist that worked well. Could it come back for a second series? I don't see why not.

• Luke Thompson fans rejoice. Netflix have announced that Benedict and Sophie will be the love story of the fourth season of Bridgerton in 2026.
• The Boys fifth and final season is currently being written and will be released on Amazon in 2026. Season 2 of Gen V will premiere in 2025.
• Interview With The Vampire Season 2 will air on BBC2 from August 1st at 9pm. AMC have renewed the show for a third season.
• The fate of Chucky currently remains in flux. An announcement on its future should be soon.
• Filming for the third season of House Of The Dragon's third season has been rumoured for later this year.
• Welcome To Derry will air on HBO as well being streamed on Max as will Dune: Prophecy.
• Kim Cattrall has confirmed she will not be returning for the third season of And Just Like That. However, Mehcad Brooks, Jonathan Cake and Logan Marshall-Green will recur in the new season.
• Maura Tierney has joined the cast of Law And Order.
• Grey's Anatomy will add a new gay male character for it's upcoming twenty first season.
• Tatiana Maslany and Cory Michael Smith will lead the horror comedy series, Nightbeast for Amazon.
• Julia has been cancelled after two seasons by Max.

Wonder Woman - Episodes 9-13 Reviews

To cap off the first season, I look into an alien two parter, a formula, a trip to Texas and Steve Trevor the would be movie star.

Episode 9: Judgment From Outer Space: Part 1

Now, this was a turn up for the books. A two part story where the main attraction was an alien named Andros (Tim O'Connor) and wait for it, he's not the villain of the story. Even better was the fact that Andros not only quickly realised that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman were the same person but he was genuinely enamoured with her as a person and didn't reveal her secret. His mission was to observe humanity and report to an Intergalactic Council that were mistrustful of humans. Of course there's another Nazi scheme with Andros ending up captured but another noteworthy aspect was Diana and Steve actually having conflict over Andros during one scene. 8/10

Episode 10: Judgment From Outer Space: Part 2

Picking up from the previous episode, Andros got captured by the Nazis and Wonder Woman headed off to Germany in order to rescue him. Then she ended up getting captured by the Nazis herself while Andros tried to see both perspectives between the Allies and the Nazis. Then the latter showed their true colours and Steve stepped up to prove the selflessness of the Allies. Along with the fact that Intergalactic Council almost came close to taking out humanity. While not as strong as the opening part, the resolution was decent enough with a nice final scene between Wonder Woman and Andros, hinting at a future meeting between the two. 7/10

Episode 11: Formula 407

After an alien two part, it was back to another familiar scenario. Although this time, the action took place in Argentina with both Wonder Woman and Steve looking for a scientist (Nehemiah Persoff) to pick up a formula that can make rubber tires as strong as steel. It didn't take long for the daughter of the scientist to be kidnapped and of course, both Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor also found themselves being tied up for some of the episode. Eventually things did resolve themselves with the daughter being rescued, while both Diana and Steve also had admirers of their own. 7/10

Episode 12: The Bushwhackers

After an adventure, it was time for a trip to Texas for the penultimate episode of the first season. With this episode, you've got a cattle rancher Hadley (Roy Rogers). He's a good guy, looking after several adopted kids and it's both him and the children (though his son was initially duped by the main baddie) who help both Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor against the baddies of the week. This episode also debuted a different look for Wonder Woman that's more modest while the kids also rescued her at one point where she was overpowered by the baddies. 6/10

Episode 13: Wonder Woman In Hollywood 

For the first season finale, how about a trip to Hollywood? Despite the title of the finale, it's actually Steve Trevor and several other soldiers that are actually the focus of a propaganda film by director Mark Bremer (Harris Yulin). However, it's revealed that the propaganda film itself was actually a ruse by Bremer in order to kidnap the soldiers and transport them to Germany with the troubled Jim Ames (Robert Hays) coerced into capturing Steve. On the plus side, not only was Wonder Woman there to rescue Steve and the soldiers but Wonder Girl/Drusilla returned and Ames himself stepped up against Bremer at the right moment. It's a good first season finale but also the last time in the show you'd see any of these characters, except Wonder Woman for the next season. 8/10

Next blog I will tackle The Return Of Wonder Woman, Anschluss 77, The Man Who Could Move The World and The Bermuda Triangle Crisis.

My Review of The Watchers (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan

Darwin: "Try not to die."

Mina: "I thought they said you couldn't talk."

Catching up with some summer horror themed movies and yes, I've stumbled upon this American/Irish production, helmed by the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan. It's a debut feature and it's something alright. Let's dive in, shall we?

Our protagonist of the piece would be an American woman named Mina (Dakota Fanning). Mina found herself in Ireland, specifically Galway where fortunately, we're mostly spared the grotesque outdated stereotypes that American productions tend to do when filming in Ireland. Of course Mina's not just visiting the Emerald Isle.

Nope, Mina's been assigned by her boss to transport a golden conure parrot named Darwin to a zoo near Belfast and it's enough route that things got a bit crazy for Mina. Crazy in the sense that not only did she and the parrot wind up in a creepy woodland but also crazy that she ended up in a glass room in said creepy woodland with three others for company.

The others being a young wife named Ciara (Georgina Campbell), only man in the group, Daniel (Oliver Finnegan) and mystery older woman, Madeline (Olwen Fouéré). All four are there to entertain mystery night creatures known as The Watchers in scenes that looked like they could've been audition pieces for the Druid Theatre. 

Of course, Mina's savvy enough to try and ask questions and even savvy enough to try and get Daniel to help her escape The Watchers. Granted, they're a creepy bunch, largely obscured by the night scenes and when the group do escape, it's Daniel that ended up being the first to be killed off. He's given a fairly grisly demise.

As for The Watchers themselves, they're fairies/changelings unable to withstand the daylight. Except for Madeline, who more or less orchestrated everything throughout the movie and had a grudge against humans, despite being half human herself. It's an okay reveal as Mina managed to use her smarts in order to broker a truce and save herself.

By the end of the movie, Mina's essentially not only gotten herself out of a sticky situation with The Watchers but she also managed to even reconnect with her twin, Lucy (Dakota Fanning). As for Madeline, she's very much keeping to her side of the bargain as well.

- John Lynch also had a supporting role in the movie as Professor Kilmartin, whom Madeline had been romantically involved with.

- The movie's based a book of the same name by A.M. Shine.

- For the UK and Ireland, this film's called The Watched.

- Chronology: Mid 2000s, in both Galway and Belfast. The movie was partially in Galway as well as Dublin and Wicklow.

Overall, I found The Watchers to be an okay experience. It's diverting for its length, though plodding in parts but there's a decent enough atmosphere surrounding the whole thing. It's not an amazing debut but not would be it an awful one either.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "Smallfolk"

 

Written by Eileen Shim

Directed by Andrij Parekh

Rhaenyra: "It is my fault, I think, that you forgotten to fear me."

I've got to say, we should all be thanking Mysaria. In the absence of Rhaenys and apart from Jace and Baela, she's really proven her worth as Rhaenyra's Mistress of Whispers. She knows how to get things done and she outdid herself this week.

Mysaria's scheme of sowing dissent amongst the smallfolk against the Greens, coupled with Rhaenyra generously giving supplies of food worked an absolute treat this episode. Not only are they starting to think the Blacks are better but both Alicent and Helaena got a very public dressing down of the very folk that current Regent Aemond has no concern for.

Rhaenyra this week certainly had her mixed successes. Mysaria's plan might have worked beautifully in giving her an advantage but Jace's one certainly needed work. All I can say is that Steffon Darklyn didn't deserve to get incinerated by Seasmoke but alas, he did. Saying that, Rhaenyra and Mysaria getting more intimately acquainted was a turn up for the books (also not in the actual source material).

Getting back to Seasmoke though, he wanted to choose his own rider and the lovely Addam found himself gaining a dragon without even having to do anything for it. I love that Seasmoke actively pursued Addam and wouldn't take no for an answer in this instance. Rhaenyra, you just got yourself a worthy ally. Just go with it.

Back at the Red Keep, when she wasn't getting fish flung at her by the smallfolk, Alicent got another reminder of how her crappy parenting became her undoing. Aemond had absolutely no problem removing her from the small council and he's become an even bigger bastard since being named Regent that Aegon II has suddenly looked like a better alternative.

It's tremendously hard to sympathise with Alicent when her brazen stupidity has brought about her own downfall. I did feel a bit bad when she had to listen to Gwayne tell her how kind Daeron was compared to her other sons. The show's really trying to set Daeron up as an ace for the Greens sleeve next season, aren't they?

Going back to Aemond for a bit, how this season has made him viler than Aegon II took some doing. He's definitely going to do something reckless in the last two episodes that will backfire on the Greens and no-one, including Alicent or Criston can rein him in. He also didn't appear happy when it was revealed that Aegon would recover as well.

Last but not least, it's really time to get Daemon out of Harrenhal and that's in spite of my enjoyment of characters like Alys and Simon Strong. The hallucinations this week included Viserys, which I liked, especially when Daemon did something he should've done during the first episode. Also, how could I not love seeing Matt Smith and Paddy Considine giving such brilliant performances.

I guess the plus side of this Harrenhal escapade this week was the fact that not only did Daemon get his wish with Grover Tully finally dying (no doubt by Alys's hand) but the Greens are also about to head there. If that doesn't liven up this strand in the last two episodes, nothing will.

- Corlys appointed Alyn as his ship's first mate. Alyn keeps cutting his hair to hide his true lineage. At this point, he needn't bother.

- Gotta love Rhaenyra finally slapping one of her council members. It's about time they were reminded who was boss.

- Yes, the dog appeared again in the episode as did the likes of Hugh, Kat and Ulf White.

- Looks like Rhaena will be getting herself a dragon in the form of Sheepstealer. Originally it was Nettles in the book but we're not getting the character for the show.

- Other stuff that happened in the episode included Alicent nearly being married to the Greyjoys, the Beesburys plotting revenge, Aemond wanting to align with the Triarchy as well as the return of Jason Lannister.

- Chronology: Not long from where the last episode left off.

Smallfolk was a stronger episode, compared to last week and one with plenty going on for the Black and the Greens. Even Daemon's story in spite of being the weakest gained some momentum here but it was the Rhaenyra/Mysaria scenes that were the highlight along Seasmoke and Addam.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman 2x10: "My Adventures With Supergirl"

 

Written by Josie Campbell And Brendan Clogher And Jake Wyatt

Directed by Diana Huh 

Superman (to Kara): "I know what it's like to be alone. To search for a place you belong but home isn't a place. Home is the people who love you, so come back to us, Kara."

I can definitely say that this second season has not only maintained the standard of the first season but has gone above and beyond. For this finale, I think we got one of the loveliest depictions of family that we've had in a Superman property.

At the end of the previous, it appeared as though Brainiac had not only defeated both Superman and Supergirl but it looked like he was about to enslave Metropolis. Of course, Superman and Supergirl were still alive, so Brainiac had to work harder in order to bring both of them down.

For Superman, it was giving him some home truths about the last days of Krypton and with Kara, it was preying on her insecurities. It almost worked with Kara falling victim to Brainiac's power but Superman, Lous and Jimmy were the ones to bring her back to the side of good. Let's just say, Superman's speech about home really struck a chord, a big one for Kara. Adding both Lois and Jimmy in that scene made it even better.

As for Brainiac's defeat, it was glorious to see. Having both Superman and Supergirl, the citizens of Metropolis, Daily Planet, A.R.G.U.S. and even some past villains such as Heat Wave, Silver Banshee, Livewire and Intergang working together for a common cause. Now this was the type of inspiration that Superman can really have with the right writing.

Capping off the season, Brainiac and Kandor are out of the picture and Kara has settled into Metropolis. It was great seeing Jonathan and Martha essentially adopt but the last scene with Superman, Supergirl, Lois and Jimmy all flying off together to save the day. It was a great way to end this season and would've served as a great series finale had the show not been renewed for a third season.

- Amanda Waller found herself on the run by the end of this episode. I did like her "complicated" reunion with Sam.

- Lex might have lost control of the Metallos but he did set up LexCorp and gained Deathstroke as an ally.

- Supergirl's new suit was very much the same as Superman's. I'd fix the shoulder pads on both tbh.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Overall, the second season has been a blast and My Adventures With Supergirl was a great ender for a very enjoyable run of episodes. I'm really glad that we're getting another season of this show.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Wonder Woman - Episodes 4-8 Reviews

In this blog I tackle the first two part story, a brainwashed gorilla, an Irish terrorist and of course, the danger of a two dollar bill.

Episode 4: The Feminum Mystique: Part 1

It's early season and already, it was time to have a return to Paradise Island. Mostly for the recasting of Hippolyta, this time played by Carolyn Jones and even more so for the introduction of Diana's younger sister, Drusilla (Debra Winger). Drusilla's been tasked with Diana back to Paradise Island but the reunion between sisters took something of a different turn. Mostly down to the presence of scientist Peter (Frank Charles), whom Drusilla took a shine towards. Of course when General Blankenship got kidnapped by main baddie of the two parter, Captain Radl (John Saxon), we got Drusilla take her older sister's example and become Wonder Girl.  It's a pity that Wonder Girl ended up being easily captured on her first mission. Plus side, we did get to see the reverse of Diana's transformation and Etta had a nice scene about being lonely. 8/10

Episode 5: The Feminum Mystique: Part 2

The second part of this story and when the Nazis hadn't figured out about the fakery behind the XPJ-1 fighter jet, there was also Steve getting knocked out by yet another mole in Washington DC. Of course the best scenes of the episode involved Paradise Island. Drusilla got duped into admitting that the island existed and about a previous metal named Feminum as well. It didn't take long for the Nazis to end up on the island, enslave the Amazons (Diana included) but grossly underestimating Hippolyta ended up being Radl's undoing and I liked seeing the more assertive Amazon's working together to get back their island and wipe the Nazis memories of its existence. As a two parter, I enjoyed this one. Drusilla's introduction was great and I liked the sisterly rapport with both her and Diana. 8/10

Episode 6: Wonder Woman vs. Gargantua

Loosely based on the idea of popular villain Giganta (but not actually featuring the character), this was an interesting gamble of an episode. You've got the titular character, Gargantua, taken from his home in Africa and brainwashed by Nazi agent and animal behavioural specialist, Erica Belgard (Gretchen Corbett). There was an attempt to capture a defected agent and also poor Gargantua being used in order to defeat Wonder Woman. Fortunately, this episode was where Diana's compassion for animals came nicely into play as she was able to break the brainwashing of Gargantua. On paper, this could've been a very silly episode but it actually managed to ground itself well enough with Erica being a pretty despicable guest baddie and Gargantua being sympathetic even when nearly killing Wonder Woman. Robert Loggia also appeared in this episode as Hans Eichler. 7/10

Episode 7: The Pluto File

Potentially the weakest of the bunch, we took a break from Nazis, only to have an Irish terrorist, dubbed "The Falcon" (Robert Reed). The Falcon's main mission involved stealing a formula designed to produce man-made earthquakes in order to level Washington, DC. This also means Wonder Woman working with the formula's inventor in order to stop The Falcon. Another plot included many characters getting infected by the bubonic plague and this was where The Falcon suddenly developed a conscience. As I said earlier, I found this to be the weakest one. 5/10

Episode 8: Last Of The $2 Bills

Anyways, back to Nazis for this episode and this time we've got Woton (James Olson) with the memorable eyes attacking both Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor at the beginning of the episode. Then back in Germany, he's selecting two agents to surgically alter as the Bureau of Engraving and Printing chief, Hank Miller (David Cryer) and his fiancée Maggie (Barbara Anderson). The plot of the week involving using the $2 bill in order to cripple the US government and when the plan invariably failed, the episode ended with the $2 bill being taken out of circulation. There's some good action scenes in this one, the use of a certain building last seen in Batman 66 and a moment where Steve got to save an agent from nearly being blown up. Not to mention, Etta's subplot about a $1.50 set of photos was oddly amusing. 8/10

Next blog I'll tackle the episodes Judgment From Outer Space Parts 1 and 2, Formula 407, The Bushwhackers and Wonder Woman In Hollywood.

My Review of Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths - Part Three (2024)

 

Written by James Krieg

Directed by Jeff Wamester

Earth-12 The Joker: "I must say, Batsy, I'm flattered. The end of the world, and you want to spend it with me? I didn't know you cared!"

Earth-12 Batman: "I care, Joker, about Gotham. About justice! And if it has to end, at least I go out like this... being Batman!"

I think years ago and had both Arrowverse and the DC Extended Universe not played out the Multiverse concept, something tells me that this trilogu ender might have gone down better with DC fans. Instead, it seemed to be less of an event and more of a whimper for some fans.

It's a shame because after a very sluggish second part, I actually thought this third part was something of an improvement. Following the Anti-Monitor getting even more powerful and universe shattering, there was a bleed in the universe. A version of limbo where two versions of Superman, Lois Lane, Hawkgirl and John Stewart were able to find and rescue Wonder Woman.

Meanwhile Lex Luthor and his assembled villain corner of Joker, Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy and Two Face had Psycho Pirate captive and used him in order to broker a deal of sorts with the Anti-Monitor.  It wouldn't be Lex if he wasn't trying to manipulate a cataclysmic situation to his advantage. Oh and he trying to figure out a weakness for the Anti-Monitor. See, he's not all bad.

Then there was Supergirl working through her guilt of killing The Monitor, various characters (including the Losers) fighting off invading dinosaurs before there was a more concentrated effort to get some answers. That meant Batman, Wonder Woman, Doctor Fate and John Stewart taking a trip to Earth 18 in order to retrieve John Constantine.

For proof that you really needed to have caught between parts in this saga, once Constantine got sobered up, Batman learned very fast that Constantine manipulated The Flash into killing Darkseid as a baby. Yup, Constantine well and truly fucked up as it turns out that a Multiverse without Darkseid isn't a good one to have.

On the plus side, at least Supergirl (and Psycho Pirate) made a heroic sacrifice to take out the Anti-Monitor while Martian Manhunter and Nightshade got a hold of a machine with the ability to grant wishes. Constantine wasn't quite enough to get it working but Wonder Woman sure as hell was. Remember, it's a Crisis and multiple deaths were always going to be on the menu.

By the end of this movie, The Spectre showed up as the Multiverse ended and the Monoverse began, thus potentially ending all the animated continuity for now. Nearly everyone threw themselves into the Monoverse, except for The Question and Constantine. The latter was expecting punishment for royally fucking up the Multiverse but instead, he was offered hope. My feelings towards this trilogy to one side, I'm really happy the final shot was given to a young Wonder Woman on Themyscira. 

- The movie was dedicated to Kevin Conroy (1955-2022). My quote for this movie is the exchange between Batman (Conroy) and Joker (Mark Hamill) from Batman: The Animated Series.

- We saw the ending of both the Justice League animated worlds, including Super Friends.

- There was flashbacks to both Justice League Dark: Apokolips Wars and Constantine: The House Of Mystery. We saw the Justice Society one last time and some of the Titans.

- Despite being the end of this particular animated continuity, there will be more animated movies not set in the DC Universe to come, starting with Watchmen: Chapter One from August 13th.

- Aww, poor Darkseid being killed when he was only a year old. Next time, John, think your plans through. 

- Chronology: Eight months have passed between the second and third parts of this trilogy.

I know it's been a divisive trilogy and I would argue that the Arrowverse handled it better but I actually liked Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths - Part Three. It provided a solid ending to this particular continuity, gave certain characters their moments to step up and had fan pleasing cameos (minus their outcomes). Moving forward, I'd maybe avoid big universal plots for a long time and focus on smaller scale stories and adaptations. 

Rating: 7 out of 10