My Review of Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman - Rage Of Atlantis (2018)

 

Written by Jim Krieg And Jeremy Adams

Directed by Matt Peters

Aquaman: "Well, what are we waiting for? People need our help!"

A couple of months before Jason Momoa's solo outing as Aquaman hit the big screen, Lego had their own adventure with the character. Granted, it's more of a Justice League movie with Aquaman (Dee Bradley Baker) but it's the thought that counted.

In this movie, Aquaman's the King of Atlantis and in a serious relationship with Mera (Susan Eisenberg). He's also far too trusting of his half brother, Orm/Ocean Master (Trevor Devall). It's rather jarring as Orm did a bad job of keeping his resentment towards Aquaman at bay.

On the surface world and thanks to Lois Lane (Grey Griffin), Aquaman was something of a laughing stock during his altercation with Lobo (Fred Tatasciore). Then again, the rest of the League - Batman (Troy Baker), Superman (Nolan North), Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Cyborg (Khary Payton) and Jessica Cruz (Cristina Milizia) didn't fare much better.

The reason for Lobo being at the scene of that particular crime did play a much bigger role. For example, Orm was successfully able to remove Aquaman as Atlantis's ruler and took over the kingdom himself. He was also aided by Atrocitus (Jonathan Adams) and Dex-Starr (Dee Bradley Baker). Both characters emerge as the true villains of the piece.

Anyways, the League ended up on a different world with the water being in short supply and forged a reluctant alliance with Lobo. Mera succumbed the Red Lantern as did most of the Atlanteans and Orm learned pretty quickly that he was being duped by Atrocitus. Needless to say, Orm decided to switch sides as well.

There was fun to be had with Aquaman, his half brother, the remaining League members and Lobo working together to stop both Atrocitus and Dex Starr. It's a fun team with two characters getting to redeem themselves and Aquaman getting his Kingdom back.

- Other character appearances included Jimmy Olsen (Eric Bauza), Batgirl (Alyson Stoner) and Robin (Scott Neville).

- The ending set up that Gorilla Grodd was attacking Kathmandu.

- Jessica Cruz had a whole subplot about being able to control her ring and gaining self confidence. She's a newcomer to the Justice League.

- Chronology: Present day Atlantis, Dread Lake and a desert world with a red sun.

Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman - Rage Of Atlantis made a decent movie splash for the often ridiculed character. I did like the use of Atrocitus as a main villain in this one as well. The character was utilised well.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

Justice League (2001-2004) - Episodes 39-52 Reviews

Heading into the latter half of this second season, there was some surprise alliances, betrayals and oh, a little bit of Christmas cheer to boot.

Episodes 39-40: Eclipsed 

Ah, Eclipso. If you wanted someone to bring out the worst in nearly all of the Justice League, then he's the guy to do it. Trapped in an ancient lunar crystal called the Black Heart, it's discovery led to Eclipso's freedom and various Justice League members being possessed by him. Of course, The Flash managed to be resistant to his charms and it was the Flash that also saved his teammates from a weapon that would destroy both the Sun and the Earth. It's a pretty solid story. 6/10

Episodes 41-42: The Terror Beyond 

The first in a series of unlikely team ups, this two parter had Solomon Grundy working with Doctor Fate and Aquaman. The latter two need Grundy's help in taking down an ancient evil and Grundy's willing to go along with it for his own reasons. On the opposite side was Superman, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, who didn't like the idea of Grundy being used for Doctor Fate and Aquaman's plan. It's a strong story for Solomon Grundy, who's made into a more layered character with a poignant sacrifice to boot. 7/10

Episodes 43-44: Secret Society 

Gorilla Grodd had his moment back in the first season going up against the Justice League and now he's assembled a team. His team comprising of Giganta, Killer Frost, Sinestro, Parasite, Shade, and Clayface. They formed the Secret Society and they were also successful in capturing a quarrelling Justice League. I do find it interesting that throughout the series, we've had various takes on a bad Justice League with Shade being a consistent member in an ever changing team up. Grodd made for a good team leader before the Secret Society were inevitably defeated. 7/10

Episodes 45-46: Hereafter

Death of Superman, anyone? Yes, we're doing that but not quite. For the majority of this story, it was assumed by the Justice League that Superman has perished. This was after a new supervillain team composed of Metallo, Kalibak, Livewire, Weather Wizard, and Toyman. Instead he ended up in a different time zone where he teamed up with a reformed Vandal Savage to get back to his own time to reunite with his team and stop Savage in the present day. On the other hand, we almost had Lobo as a new Justice League member and he was rather fun in this story. 8/10

Episodes 47-48: Wild Cards

If Lex Luthor could get a returning villain story, then I guess Joker could too. Teamed up with Harley Quinn and the Royal Flush Gang, this story took place in Las Vegas where Joker's planted a lot of bombs over the Las Vegas Strip for good measure. There's a reference to an infamous Conrad Veidt movie that should make Joker fans smile as well as a nice attempt to give some backstory to the character of Ace. Honestly though, it felt like an idea that never got made for Batman: The Animated Series and was slightly retooled to work for here. 7/10

Episode 49: Comfort And Joy

I do love a good Christmas episode and I really, really loved this one. It's that time of year when even the Justice League are allowed to be off duty and as a result, we got three very satisfying stories. First of all, there was Hawkgirl and John Stewart choosing to relax by going to an alien bar and getting into a brawl. There was also snow fights and a kiss between the two of them. Then there was The Flash who wanted to get a popular toy for the kids in a children's home. This resulted in a rather team up with the Ultra-Humanite where the latter discovered his Christmas spirit. As for Superman, he brought Martian Manhunter home to Smallville and that contained two of the best scenes. The realisation that Superman still believed in Santa Claus and Martian Manhunter's singing at the end. I do wish we had gotten a Batman and Wonder Woman story but overall, this was a beautiful episode. 9/10

Episodes 50-52: Starcrossed 

The show started with a three part story, so it was fitting that it would end with one as well. It also started with an invasion, so ending with one would also be fitting. This time around, it was the Thanagarians with Hawkgirl's betrayal being revealed to the team. Hawkgirl has never been as prominent as she was in this story. There was her conflict in betraying the family she's made on Earth for the one she was born into. There was her burgeoning relationship with John Stewart and her past one with Hro Talak, who was pretty bad. As for the gang, they were captured, escaped, revealed their civilian identities, defeated the Thanagarians but also banished Hawkgirl. A bittersweet ending of sorts for the show. 8/10

I will hopefully get around to tackling Justice League Unlimited at a later date. 

Justice League (2001-2004) - Episodes 1-13 Reviews

Years ago, I reviewed Batman: The Animated Series, it's continuations as well as Superman: The Animated Series. This was imminent, so here goes.

Episodes 1-3: Secret Origins

The series opened with a three part story with the title group only forming properly towards the end of this. You've got Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Superman (George Newbern) on relatively friendly terms. Somewhat established as active players were The Flash (Michael Rosenblum), John Stewart (Phil LaMarr) and Hawkgirl (Maria Canals-Barerra). Then the events of this story saw Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg) leaving Themyscira to help out. As for the story itself, there was the introduction of Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly) and invaders from Mars that very nearly managed to take over the Earth, had it not been for our seven heroes. It's a strong opening story that established our heroes pretty well. 8/10

Episodes 4-5: In Blackest Night 

With the first story being more of a character set up, this second story was a two parter focused on John Stewart being on trial on Oa. His supposed crime? Apparently he blew up a planet and despite John protesting his innocence and The Flash being firmly in his corner. Of course, it's obvious that John didn't do but this story certainly kept him in the firing line for as long as possible. Eventually it was revealed that Kanjar Ro and the robotic Manhunters did the deed in order to steal a Green Lantern power battery. Not one of my favourites but a solid story. 6/10

Episodes 6-7: The Enemy Below 

With the first two stories exploring both Earth and space, it's nice that the third one went to Atlantis. Yup, we got Aquaman (Scott Rummell) and he was certainly an abrasive character, who clashed with the League. He's also happily married to Mera (Kristin Bauer), has a son named Arthur Jr. Then there's Orm (Richard Green). The latter was scheming to take over Atlantis, managed to nearly kill the Justice League and his brother, before the latter cut his own hand off to save his son and reclaim his kingdom. There's also a brief supporting role for Deadshot (Michael Rosenblum) in this one too. 7/10

Episodes 8-9: Injustice For All

If you're going to have a Justice League, then of course you need it's counterpoint. Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) knew that, so he enlisted Ultra-Humanite (Ian Buchanan), Solomon Grundy (Mark Hamill), Cheetah (Sheryl Lee Ralph), Star Sapphire (Olivia d'Abo), Copperhead (Efrain Figueroa) and The Shade (Stephen McHattie). Then the Joker (Mark Hamill) also inserted himself into the team. As a group, they nearly worked. They came close to actually taking out the Justice League but too much infighting and divided loyalties ultimately derailed them as a team. Lex not being a likeable leader also didn't help. 8/10

Episodes 10-11: Paradise Lost 

Ah, it was time for Wonder Woman to get some much needed focus. The start of the story had her going through her excuses for leaving Themyscira, only to find her mother, Hippolyta (Susan Sullivan) and the rest of the Amazons frozen as stone statues. Felix Daisy (Robert Englund) emerged as being responsible and he quickly forced Wonder Woman's hand in retrieving magical artificats for him. Eventually Wonder Woman needed to get help from the rest of her current team. As for Faust, he somewhat took a backseat when Hades (Jonathan Rhys-Davies) emerged as the bigger problem for both Wonder Woman and Hippolyta. The story ended on a very bittersweet note. 9/10

Episodes 12-13: War World 

My least favourite two parter so far. One one hand, I'm happy that we have a two parter that's very Superman focused. On the other hand, I just don't greatly care for Warworld or even Mongul (Eric Roberts) as a character. These Fight Club type stories don't really do it for me and this one didn't either. It's a fairly plodding story, even when Mongul played on Superman's morality in order to mess with Warworld's eventual successor, Draaga (William Smith). 5/10

Next blog I'll tackle The Brave And The Bold, Fury, Legends, A Knight Of Shadows, Metamorphosis and The Savage Time.

My Review of Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (2023)

 

Written by James Wan And David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick And Jason Momoa And Thomas Pa'a Sibbett

Directed by James Wan

Aquaman: "Four years ago I was basically unemployed, a wanderer with no home. But now I'm a husband and a father and I wouldn't have it any other way. Oh yeah, I finally got a job. I'm the King of Atlantis."

And so it ends. It's been a very volatile ten years. Fifteen movies and one TV series and one director's cut later, we've gotten to the finishing line for the DC Extended Universe. It's been a hell of a time.

In terms of sequels, this was something that took way too long to get here and now that it's here, was the wait worth it? I don't want to say "not really" but I can't entirely say "yes" either. Overall, this happened to be a sequel that's a sum of its parts.

Four years has passed since the events of the first movie. Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is still Aquaman and the King of Atlantis, though he finds the day to day council meetings extremely boring. On top of that, he married Mera (Amber Heard) and has become a father, the latter thing bringing him much joy and bonding as Junior started to develop his own powers.

Of course while fatherhood played it's role and spanned three generations, there are other themes that have a bigger prominence on display. Notably, the theme of the planet getting too hot. Yes, this movie has an environmental theme and it's pretty choppy in terms of how it's handled.

The cause of the extreme heating of course happened to be because of Black Manta/David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Since we've last seen him, he's gotten even more obsessed with destroying Aquaman and his team up with Dr Stephen Shin (Randall Park) as well as a pirate with second in command Stingray (Jani Zhao) and there's nothing he won't do to get his revenge.

This included uncovering the Lost Kingdom otherwise known as Nekrus and getting a hold of the Black Trident. The Trident which showed a lot of scary but noticeably that King Atlan (Vincent Regan) went to war and eventually imprisoned Nekrus as well as his tyrant brother, Kordax (Pilou Asbaek), the latter of whom spending most of the movie further corrupting Manta.

Anyways Mamta going all batshit crazy, stealing orichalcum to heat up the planet while badly injuring Mera did lead to Arthur having to team up with Orm (Patrick Wilson) and lets just say that the Arthur and Orm was the biggest strength of the movie.

As a pairing, both Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson played off each other very well. There's plenty of comedy as Arthur and Orm as well as the pair of them going over their differences, connecting as brothers and putting a stop to both Black Manta and Kordax.

In terms of villains, I hate to admit it but Manta who I liked better in the first movie felt a bit one dimensional here as did Kordax. Kordax's relationship with Atlan paralleled Arthur and Orm but wasn't anywhere near as compelling. Even Orm being briefly tempted to revert to his former ways before choosing redemption was better handled.

As for the rest of the main characters, Mera was largely sidelined and both Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) and Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison) hadn't a lot to do. There are slightly larger roles for Neureus (Dolph Lundgren), the Brine King (John Rhys-Davies) and Topo the Octopus. Even Shin and Storm the Seahorse have bigger roles than Mera in this one and no, Arthur Jr doesn't get killed off. It's a family friendly comic book movie after all.

- Vulko died off screen between movies while Karshon (Indya Moore) seemed to be in name only as a character.

- There's an amusing cameo from Martin Short as Kingfish, the ruler of the Sunken Citadel, a pirate haven.

- A mid credit scene had Orm on land enjoying a burger with a cockroach inside it. 

- Jason Momoa co-writing this certainly explained why more of his own real life personality seeped into his performance more than usual.

- Standout music: Deep End by X Ambassadors stood out the most as well as the use of Born To Be Wild.

- Chronology: Four years from the events of the first movie with Arthur revealing Atlantis to the surface world at the end of the movie.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom doesn't necessarily end the DCEU on a damp squib but it's hardly the high note it should've gone out on. It's not a bad sequel and might end up faring marginally better than Wonder Woman 1984 and Shazam! Fury Of The Gods but unlikely by much. Anyways, the DCEU is done and lets hope the DCU will fare better.

Rating: 7 out of 10

DCU Blog - October 2023 Edition: Mostly Rumours This Month

Yeah, it's a somewhat slow-ish month but with the actors strike possibly being resolved this week, I have a feeling the last two months will definitely deliver with advancements for the DCU.

For now though, a round up of some stuff and a lot of rumours. Some coming from the dceuleaks Reddit page.

One rumour that has popped up this month is that none of the Justice League actors will be reprising their respective roles for the DCU. Not really a shocker tbh.

A thirty something actor is being sought for Lex Luthor for Superman: Legacy. The film will also be shot in many locations according to James Gunn.

Blue Beetle has made 133 million at the box office, marking it as the lowest DCEU movie. 

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom has moved to December 22nd again.

Akiva Goldsman has recently stating the Keanu Reeves Constantine sequel is still happening but will be an Elseworlds project.

A potential film focusing on The Scarecrow is rumoured to be happening. It will be set in The Batman universe.

A series centred on The Question is also rumoured to be in development.

James Gunn has confirmed that Bat-Mite will not appear in the second season of Peacemaker.

To mark the anniversary of the first movie and a year from Joker: Folie A Deux, Todd Phillips released this lovely image from the movie.

Chris Mundy is rumoured to be the show runner of the upcoming Lanterns series. Hal Jordan will be older than John Stewart in the show.

A project adapting Tom King's Strange Adventures is supposedly in early development. Edi Gathegi will reprise his role as Mister Terrific in this project.

Waller is currently slated for a 2024 release on Max, but I'd be surprised if it does make that date. Maybe. 

Barry Sloane has been cast as Destruction for the second season of The Sandman for Netflix.

Batman: The Animated Series will stream on Netflix from November 21st for the UK and Ireland.

The fourth season of Superman And Lois will also have less writers due to budget cuts for the CW.

The final episode of Doom Patrol will stream on Max from November 9th.

That's it for this month, DC fans. Same time next month, yeah?

DCEU Blog - Movie Lineup Changed, Spin-Offs Ahoy And Oscar Love?

Well, this has undoubtedly been one of the most chaotic months for DC fans and that's putting it mildly. A roundup of things that have happened this month.

First of all, we've got movies being shifted around the place. Black Adam will now be released October 21st and Shazam! Fury Of The Gods has been brought forward to December 16th.

For 2023, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom will now open March 17th, The Flash on June 23rd while Blue Beetle will still open on August 18th and Batgirl to be confirmed on HBO Max.

The Flash has also had a test screening so there are rumours surfacing about certain characters fates. Take everything with a pinch of salt until a verified trade confirms anything.

Zack Snyder's Justice League won the Oscar for Fan Favourite moment for The Flash scene.

At this point in time, The Batman is nearing 700 million at the box office while US audiences can watch the movie again on HBO Max from April 19th.

Matt Reeves released a deleted scene featuring Robert Pattinson's Batman talking to Barry Keoghan's Joker at Arkham. 

Colin Farrell has officially signed on for his character's HBO Max spin-off, titled The Penguin.

Paul Dano will be releasing a six part Riddler: Year One comic from October, serving as a prequel to the events of the movie.

Sharon Stone will play Victoria Kord, the main antagonost of Blue Beetle with Raoul Max Trujillo as Carapax The Indestructible Man.

Rounding off the cast for this movie are George Lopez, Adriana Barraza, Elpidia Carrillo, Damian Alcazar, Belissa Escobedo, Bruna Marquezine and Harvey Guillen. Filming begins in April for the movie.

Meanwhile Batgirl is currently in it's final week of filming in Glasgow.

Rachel Zegler may have also hinted that a certain character will be appearing in Shazam! Fury Of The Gods.

Gotham Knights for the CW has it's main cast which includes Fallon Smythe (Harper Row), Tyler DiChiara (Cullen Row), Olivia Keegan-Rose (Duela), Oscar Morgan (Turner Hayes), Nadia Zaraili Robinson (Carrie Kelly), Anna Lore (Stephanie Brown) and Misha Collins (Harvey Dent).

The CW have renewed both The Flash and Superman And Lois for next season. The fates of their other DC shows will be revealed likely in May if not sooner.

James Gunn will play a version of himself directing a Thomas Wayne movie for the upcoming season of Harley Quinn with Harvey Guillen also voicing Nightwing. 

The current seasons of Peacemaker, The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow are on Sky Showcase/Max for UK viewers. DMZ was also recently released on HBO Max.

That's it for this month. Let's see what the next one will bring.

DCFanDome 2021 - Highlights

It's been a year and after setting records back in August 2020, DCFanDome came back fir a second round, shorter time and streamed on multiple platforms to deliver some of the biggest news items  and it certainly delivered alright. Here are the highlights.

The Batman (4/3/2022) might have been the last event of the evening but it was once again, the biggest hit of the bunch. The second trailer gave us more context for the movie's central plot between the Caped Crusader (Robert Pattinson) and the Riddler (Paul Dano) while also giving us more stuff with Penguin (Colin Farrell) and Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz). There's no denying that Matt Reeves has a future classic in his hands with this hotly anticipated movie.

Meanwhile Patty Jenkins confirmed once again that she will be directing the third Wonder Woman movie and Lynda Carter will reprise her role as Asteria in it.

The Flash (4/11/2022) also made something of a splash too as director Andy Muschietti unveiled some footage from the movie. The footage revealed a better look of the title character's new suit, the possible demise of the Justice League, glimpses of Sasha Calle's Supergirl and Michael Keaton's Batman along with two versions of Barry for the price of one. It looks very promising so far.

Elsewhere, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (16/12/2022) unveiled some concept art as well as the look of the new suit for Black Manta. Director James Wan also talked about the story being more of a globetrotting adventure, promising a much bigger scale for the aquatic hero.

As for Black Adam (29/7/2022), it got this event off to a good start. Dwayne Johnson certainly made his presence known and gave viewers a glimpse of the opening scene. Put it this way, you don't want to mess with this particular antihero. We also got a look at the symbols for Cyclone, Atom Smasher, Doctor Fate and Hawkman.

Meanwhile Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods (2/6/2023) also gave us glorious first looks of the Shazam family in action, Rachel Zegler's unnamed character as well as Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as villains Hespera and Kalypso. The movie also promised a bigger scale compared to the first one and it's definitely embracing the Greek mythology in a huge way.

As for Batgirl and Blue Beetle, sadly no release dates for these movies were announced and aside from some concept art for both, nothing too shocking was revealed here. The former movie will feature a Batman (yet to be confirmed which one though) while the latter will also factor Kord Industries and will likely Ted Kord as a mentor to Jaime Reyes.

On the animated movie and TV/streaming front, Catwoman: Hunted (18/2/2022) and DC's Super Pets (20/5/2022) were highlighted while Battle Of The Super Sons was revealed for a 2022 release. HBO Max also did a sizzle reel for the third season of Harley Quinn (another 2022 release) and released the first two episodes of the fourth season of Young Justice. Meanwhile it was confirmed that Batman: Caped Crusader and My Adventures With Superman would air in 2023.

Gamers also got to see new trailers for both Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, both slated for 2022.

HBO Max are going all in with DC content. They showed a first trailer for Peacemaker (13/1/2022), renewed both Titans and Doom Patrol for fourth seasons and even managed to snatch Pennyworth away from Epix and gave the show a third season, due to be released in 2022 as well as promo pics of limited series, DMZ. Netflix on the other hand did some behind the scenes feature on Sweet Tooth and released a poster of Gwendoline Christie's Lucifer for The Sandman. 

As for the CW, both Smallville and Supergirl received panels, we got sneak previews of upcoming stuff concerning The Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Stargirl and Naomi as well as a set tour with cast members from Superman And Lois.

Last but not least, Superman now has the phrase - truth, justice and a better tomorrow. Personally, I like it. 

All in all, a pretty strong second year for DCFanDome. The shorter time and multiple platforms to watch the event was a good way to improve on the first year. I'll definitely be watching again next year. What was your highlight from this year? Mine was The Batman of course. 

DCEU News: Aquaman sequel reveals casting, Penguin gets a spin off and more

It's been somewhat of a busy September and with DCFanDome set to make a big splash next month, here's a rundown of what this month revealed to us in the world of DC.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom not only revealed a new look for the title character but also confirmed that Patrick Wilson and Randall Park will be reprising their roles as Orm and Stephen Shin. On top of that, it was also confirmed that Vincent Regan will play King Atlan, Indya Moore will be Karshon, a telepathic shark and Jani Zhao will be new character, Stingray.

Meanwhile HBO Max's Aquaman: King Of Atlantis animated series will be released from October 14th.

Both Black Adam and Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods have wrapped production.

The Flash is set to finish production as filming is nearly done. Ben Affleck has shot his Batman scenes and Luke Brandon Field was cast in an undisclosed role.

A recent press release in relation to the 80th anniversary for Wonder Woman has again confirmed that Patty Jenkins will direct the third movie with Gal Gadot reprising the title role.

Batgirl production has begun and filming is due for November. Expect more casting news next month. Filming will take place in Glasgow.

HBO Max are going even further with Matt Reeves Batman universe as the Penguin will also be getting a spin off series. Colin Farrell is expected to reprise the role.

For those outside the US who want to listen to Jeffrey Wright's audio take on the Caped Crusader, the first two episodes are available on the HBO Max YouTube channel.

Another reminder that the Injustice animated movie will be released from October 19th.

Netflix released a sneak peek of The Sandman during their online event last Saturday. The series will be premiering soon. 

HBO Max revealed clips of Peacemaker in one of their upcoming trailers for new shows. The series will be released from January.

Batwoman's first five episodes will feature Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, Mr Freeze and an older Nora Fries as well as Professor Pyg.

Next month's blog will be earlier, slightly longer and will cover the events of DCFanDome.

My Review of Justice Society: World War II (2021)

 

Written by Jeremy Adams And Meghan Fitzmartin

Directed by Jeff Wamester

Wonder Woman: "War is a place for warriors, not a place for wishes."

Two things that have been getting a noticeable push DC wise in the last year have been both the Justice Society and the Multiverse and this animated movie decided to put both on the table with interesting results.

On one Earth, the Flash (Matt Bomer) finds himself in Metropolis on a date with Iris West (Ashleigh LaTrop), only to get caught up in a battle between Superman (Darren Criss) and Brainiac (Darin De Paul), only for things to get a lot more complicated for the speedster.

Yes, Barry winds up on a different Earth, in the middle of a battle in France, only to learn that he's landed during World War II and the Justice Society whom he's never heard of are trying to stop the Nazis from winning the war.

The group are lead by Wonder Woman (Stana Katic) and although she's initially mistrustful of Barry, it doesn't take too long for him to win her over and it probably helped that they had common ground, especially in terms of affairs of the heart.

With Diana Prince around, handsome Steve Trevor (Chris Diamantopolous) wasn't far behind and neither were his rather soppy proposal attempts either. I won't spoil things except to say what results in Barry and Iris's relationship taking the natural next step doesn't quite pan out for Diana and Steve.

As for the other Society members you've got Jay Garrick (Armen Taylor), Hourman (Matthew Mercer), Hawkman (Omid Abtahi) and Black Canary (Elysia Rotaru) and they're a solid group, though needless to say at least one of them doesn't make it out of the team and adventure alive but don't be surprised if they materialise in a follow up.

Also on the hero roster includes the mysterious 'Shakespeare' who's later revealed to this other Earth's Superman while Aquaman (Liam McIntyre) finds himself under the control of the main villain of the piece and eventually flees in disgrace, so he's a character in need of redemption in a follow up while a rather tortured Doctor Fate (Keith Ferguson) only appears to offer some cryptic clues and then disappear.

There are plenty of cool fight sequences, team dynamic moments (I especially loved the banter with Barry and Jay) and the mystery surrounding the Advisor (Geoffrey Arend) is interesting enough. I think he's possibly Vandal Savage but I could wrong. I assume follow ups will confirm his identity soon enough.

- This movie is clearly in the same universe started in Superman: Man Of Tomorrow and this ended with the Flash and Superman forming a certain league.

- Black Canary has a romance with a Detective Lance whom I'm sure we'll see in another movie.

- Nearly all the main cast in this movie have played other DC characters in other animated movies and live action shows.

- Chronology: World War II for most this movie, present day for the Metropolis scenes.

Justice Society: World War II is extremely enjoyable as a movie. While I'm sure another Justice group will materialise fairly soon in this new animated universe, I wouldn't mind another one for this crew before that happens.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) - SPOILERS INCLUDED

 

Written by Chris Terrio And Zack Snyder And Will Beall

Directed by Zack Snyder

Batman (re Steppenwolf): "I don't care how many demons he's fought in how many hells. He's never fought us together. Not us united."

This movie has created a lot of division over the years. For years, many were sceptical of it's existence, then sceptical of it ever getting a release but now that it's finally here, courtesy of HBO Max,  two questions need to be asked. Was it worth it and just how different is it to the 2017 theatrical version that was released instead?

The answer to the first question is a resounding yes. This definitely was worth the wait and the release is more than justified. As for the second question, well the core mechanics are the same here. Both Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) recruit Aquaman (Jason Momoa), the Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher), form a certain group, revive Superman (Henry Cavill) and try to stop Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) from joining the Mother Boxes in order to take over the world for his tyrant of a nephew, also known as Darkseid (Ray Porter). Some beats are very familiar but a lot are different.

Steppenwolf in particular is better served by this movie. He's actually far more menacing and brutal in his ongoing mission to atone for a previous slight he had done to Darkseid while chief torturer DeSaad (Peter Guiness) seems to take a bit too much pleasure in the conflict between nephew and uncle. Steppenwolf's fight scenes alone with the League look better, his defeat is far more humiliating and while Darkseid only appears in a handful of scenes, he's an excellent looming threat for the newly formed Justice League. Add a tantalising history lesson featuring various groups working together, including one Green Lantern, the Anti Life Equation set up and a CGI Granny Goodness and everything related to Apokolips is promising.

Then there's our heroes themselves. The best for me was of course the Flash and if you had doubts about whether Ezra Miller can carry a solo movie, this will put you at ease. Again he's trying to help his father, Henry Allen (Billy Crudup) get out of prison but he also has a brief encounter with future love interest, Iris West (Kiersey Clemons) and his humour feels more organic here. Not to mention his powers are showcased in one of my favourite scenes in the whole movie.

Then there's Cyborg. A lot of fans felt he was short changed in the theatrical movie and after seeing this movie, I definitely get why. A lot of his emotional scenes were needlessly cut and watching the heart breaking losses he suffers with losing both Elinore (Karen Bryson) and Silas Stone (Joe Morton) does make you realise how fantastic this character can be. The idea of Cyborg as a digital god is too interesting not to run with and it's a pity that we might not see more of him in the DCEU. I do hope something can be sorted behind the scenes.

Wonder Woman on the other hand is also someone better served here than in the theatrical version as well. Here we get to see a certain robbery play out far differently while her stance on reviving Superman is vastly different as well. She's also the one to deliver the killer blow to Steppenwolf and there's a poignant scene where she mourns the loss of her sisters. For those who prefer the warrior aspect of the character, this movie has you covered.

As for the Batman segment of the movie, it's also strong stuff. For me, this is easily Ben Affleck's best performance in the role and it's great seeing this Batman step up throughout the entire movie in order to connect with his new friends and take out Steppenwolf with them. As for the big hero cameo, it's none other than Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix) and he's here to warn that Darkseid is on the way and that he'll be there to help. I think most would've already guessed the cameo before watching this but it's a great way to end the movie. Alfred (Jeremy Irons) also gets some nice moments to shine here too.

As for Superman - well, I'm glad he's back, but it takes a long time within the movie in order to get him back in the game. A certain fight scene is played somewhat differently but there are some beautiful and emotional moments between the newly revived Kryptonian as well as with Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane), the use of the Black Suit and a nice second flight scene. I do have one other question: is Lois pregnant? Will an upcoming movie shed any light on that?

Arguably the weakest of the main hero stuff would be the Aquaman bits. There's nothing inherently bad, except for Amber Heard's diabolical take on a British accent for Mera but it's more that his scenes somewhat contradict the continuity to Arthur's own movie. Vulko (Willem Dafoe) doesn't really add much to proceedings either but it's a minor quibble though.

I do imagine that the highlight for a lot of people watching this movie would be the infamous Knightmare sequence and I gotta admit, as someone who didn't particularly care for Jared Leto's Joker, he does an excellent job when forced to team with a few certain survivors in Bruce's dream. There's also a better written version of the boat scene between Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) to enjoy here as well.

- The movie is dedicated to Autumn Snyder, who passed away during production of this movie. Zack Snyder talks about the fan campaign for AFSP at the start of the movie.

- For those who might find a four hour movie hard to sit through, breaking it into six chapters and an epilogue was a smart move.

- Ryan Choi (Ryan Zheng) taking over STAR Labs should set him up for a return in another upcoming movie.

- A physical release is due in summer for those who don't get to see it on streaming as well as black and white version later in the year.

- Standout music: Junkie XL's score was exceptional along with a stunning version of Hallelujah by Allison Crowe at the end credits.

- Chronology: Several months since the events of Batman V. Superman.

Zack Snyder's Justice League is a triumph. Yes, I had my doubts but I was genuinely surprised with how incredible this movie really is. Every main hero gets their moment to shine, Steppenwolf is a better realised baddie with Darkseid nicely set up for hopefully a future outing. Tonally, it hits all the right spots in all the right places. This is far superior to the theatrical version and while I don't know if Snyder's vision can be continued in the DCEU going forward, there's a lot to admire here.

Rating: 9 out of 10

DC - Upcoming Movie Dates Moved (& More Spin-Offs)

Yup, because 2020 and Coronavirus ain't done fucking with us, it seems that DC's upcoming movie slate has been dramatically changed yet again. 

Also as I write this blog, I'm psyching myself for even more changes because we really living in the worst of times all round, aren't we?

Anyways, let's get on with it, shall we?

The Batman, which had the absolutely glorious spot of October 1st 2021 has now been moved to March 4th 2022, due to Dune being pushed back a whole ten months. Given how perfect this movie was placed for a Halloween audience, this one stings the most. On the other hand, the movie has only resumed production (and will be filming exterior shots in Chicago this month), so I can see the extra time being a benefit to this one. Saying that, it's still the move that I'm most disappointed by, even though I know Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson are truly going to give us something special with this take on the Dark Knight.

As for The Flash, it's now going from June 3rd 2022 to November 4th 2022 and this one I'm not mad about. First of all, it has yet to go in production, we're months away from filming actually taking place  and having a wider gap from Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness could benefit it a lot. If anything, this is probably a smart move on DC's part. Right now, in terms of casting all we know is that Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton are confirmed with Billy Crudup in talks to reprise his role as Henry Allen. Over the next few months, we will get more and more exciting casting, so this one I can wait longer for. Not that there's a choice in the matter.

Last but not least (for now) to be moved is Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods. Gone is the November 4th 2022 release date (The Flash called dibs on that) and we've got a June 2nd 2023 release date instead. I was wondering when we'd get a DC movie announced for 2023 and now I've got my answer. I've seen people wonder if the movie will recast the kids, but truthfully I think the movie should just age them up. Again we are a long way off from learning anything about this upcoming sequel, which is due to start filming next year.

Also in unsurprising news, Black Adam has lost it's December 22nd 2021 date (now given to The Matrix 4) and currently doesn't have a new date. If I were to make an educated guess, I think it'll end up as summer 2022 movie, but that's not a certainty right about now. Meanwhile we did finally get casting for Hawkman with Aldis Hodge landing the coveted role, which just leaves casting for characters such as Adrianna, Cyclone and Doctor Fate to be announced. I'm sure those roles will probably be filled out and announced before the year ends. 

As for everything else, movie wise, it seems for now (and I emphasize for now) that Wonder Woman 1984 will still hit cinemas on December 25th 2020 and The Suicide Squad on August 6th 2021. I expect the former to be pushed to early/mid 2021 while nothing has been said on the upcoming Aquaman sequel, which again for now will remain in the December 16th 2022 release but again, I can see that being pushed to 2023. 

On a final note, it seems that not only are HBO Max going in with the Snyder Cut of Justice League, giving Matt Reeves a Gotham Central spin-off for The Batman but John Cena's Peacemaker will also be getting a spin-off. James Gunn will be writing and directing most of the eight episode series but if you're expecting this series to confirm the character's fate in the upcoming The Suicide Squad, there are rumours this series will be a prequel, so perhaps not. I'm not gonna lie, Peacemaker isn't a character I feel really warrants a spin-off but I'm curious enough to give it a try though.

Link: https://deadline.com/2020/10/dune-drifting-away-from-december-to-october-2021-1234591593/

Thoughts on the ever changing release patterns? Will this finally be it or do you expect more movements to happen in the next few weeks/months?

DCFanDome - Day 1 Highlights

Originally this was going to be a one day event but due to the demand and the fact that the DCFanDome site kept crashing, the wise decision was made to push the majority of the TV segment to a second day - September 12th.

In this blog alone, my coverage will focus on the movie side of things, but note that there also trailers for the games Gotham Knights (due in 2021) and Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League (due in 2022) that were also interesting as well as a trailer for the seventh season of The Flash CW show and spoilers for Titans upcoming third season. These will be looked at in the next blog.

Here, the focus is on upcoming movies and without further ado, here we go ....

Wonder Woman 1984 kicked off things in style with writer/producer Patty Jenkins and her cast of Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal all joining in to hype up the movie, due for theatre only release from October 2nd. The cast were also joined by Lynda Carter herself and it was an added bonus to an already lovely opening panel. The second trailer was also released with a proper look at Kristen Wiig in action as Cheetah and we can all breathe a sigh of relief that it's not a Cats style misfire. After waiting so long for this movie, it's nice to know we're closer to witnessing Diana's second big screen solo adventure. 

WW84 Final Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OASpkr_ljhw

The Flash then also made a splash, albeit a shorter one as of yet, filming for this movie will not commence until early next year in order to meet it's June 3rd 2022 date. We had director Andy Muschietti, writer Christina Hodson and lead actor Ezra Miller talk about some plot point and it continues to be clear that this will be a variation on the classic Flashpoint comic. Also revealed a few days before the event was that both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck will be returning to the movie as their respective versions of Batman while some concept photos show that Barry will also get a brand new suit made for him. You can also expect more casting to be confirmed over the next several months as the film gears up for production.

A little closer of course would be The Suicide Squad, still slated for August 6th 2021 and James Gunn made one hell of a splash here with the reveals. The new characters in this movie will be Peacemaker (John Cena), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Thinker (Peter Capaldi), Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Weasel (Sean Gunn), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Savant (Michael Rooker), King Shark (Steve Agee), Sol Soria (Alice Braga), TDK (Nathan Fillion), Javellin (Flula Borg), Tyla DuBois (Storm Reid), Flo Crawley (Tinashe Kajese), Mongal (Mayling Ng), Presidente General Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), Major General Mateo Suarez (Joaquin Cosio) while Taika Waititi and Julio Riuz's roles have yet to be disclosed. Appearing from the previous film are Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnanman). The roll card was a great way to hype up this movie and the behind the scenes look gave us a good taster of the chaos coming our way with this motley crew.

TSS Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8tWKJwyG6Y

Three months since HBO Max made a lot of fans happy and following his own fan panel a month before, this was the place where Zack Snyder could reunite with his JL members (minus Jason Momoa) and unveil the trailer for Zack Snyder's Justice League. I'll admit aside from a rather bland song choice, the trailer sold this pretty well and it's clear as day that we're going to be seeing something completely different to the theatrical release. This will now be a four episode series to be released on HBO Max in 2021 with deals for international airings to be sorted in the next few months. There will also be an option to watch this as a movie as well. Expect to see several characters that you didn't back in 2017 in this miniseries as well as expanded scenes for others too. 

ZSJL Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6512XKKNkU

As for Dwayne Johnson - you gotta admire the guy. He's a one man promotion machine and while I've had my reservations for Black Adam (due December 22nd 2021), this panel did give us some things to mull over. First of all, we had Noah Centineo's casting as Atom Smasher confirmed as well as the JSA members  Hawkman, Doctor Fate and Cyclone being confirmed for the movie with casting soon to come. We also got some concept art of the characters and concept trailers explaining Black Adam's backstory. 

Black Adam Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N73oTiIIJe0

And then we got the panel with the least amount of information and absence of it's leading star. We did however have director James Wan and Orm himself, Patrick Wilson but seeing as the sequel to Aquaman is the furthest away (December 16th 2022), I'm not surprised that not too much was revealed. We did learn the sequel will be a little more serious and relevant along with the promise of new worlds being explored but we're a while off before we get anything really juicy to go over.

Then there was Shazam! The cast were joined by comedian Sinbad and while we're also another while off from the sequel (November 4th 2022), we did learn that it will be called Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods and with filming due to begin in early 2021, casting information will probably start leaking towards the end of the year. Again, a rather short but decent enough panel. Of course the best was clearly being saved until last.

The Batman of course being the best and in news that will shock absolutely no one whatsoever, the most trending topic of the night with the  trailer trending on every platform. Let's talk about the trailer: it was incredible. Robert Pattinson is going to be a definitive take on the Dark Knight and Paul Dano's Zodiac Killer esque take on the Riddler is genuinely chilling to watch. Colin Farrell looks unrecognisable as the Penguin, Jeffrey Wright looks great as Jim Gordon and while I'm not keen on Catwoman's makeshift look, Zoe Kravitz seems to have the character's mannerisms down perfectly. It's also been revealed that Rupert Penry Jones will play a corrupt mayor in the movie and one of the Riddler's first victims while Barry Keoghan will also play Officer Stanley Merkel. The movie itself certainly has captured the moodiness and Gothic quality of the comics, with a bit of Gotham and Batman: The Animated Series added into the mix. Meanwhile the upcoming HBO Max series focusing on the GCPD will be set during Batman's first year while the movie itself will be based in his second year. So far, only 30 per cent of the movie has been filmed with production resuming next week but it's really looking amazing so far. October 1st 2021 cannot come fast enough.

The Batman Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g59rUQbVlIw

Those were the highlights of the first day of DCFanDome. Servers crashing and trailer leakage to one side, I think it was a bloody success. Day 2 - September 12th will have a lot to live up to, but I'll cover the highlights. 

CCXP 2019 - Birds Of Prey & Wonder Woman 1984 Soar (and other DC Movies spoilers)

Yeah, there's kind of a lot to cover here with both Birds Of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 dominating big time at Brazil Comic Con (known as CCXP) last week, but there's also some other DC movie related stuff I haven't covered in a while, so this blog is going to touch on nearly all of it as best as possible.

My life probably hasn't been what you think it has. We all have our struggles. 

On Sunday, both Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins took to the stage at CCXP and to say the panel for Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5th 2020) was a success would be underselling it but damn, it really was. The anticipation for this movie has been brewing for months and after eighteen months since it began filming, we finally got a trailer for the film and it damn well nearly broke the internet and gave us enough strong hints of the plot for Diana Prince's second solo outing. While we didn't see our villain Barbara Ann Minerva (Kristen Wiig) fully transform as Cheetah we certainly got hints of the main plot surrounding other baddie, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and the return of one Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) is definitely not what it seems. Embracing the 80's vibe with the styling and colour palette, we got to see some great stunts, touching reunions, hints of darkness, our titular heroine put through her paces and a flashback to Themyscira. Tonally this is definitely different from the first movie but not in a bad way whatsoever. I seriously cannot wait to see this movie and I love the tagline of A New Era Of Wonder Begins.

WW84 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfM7_JLk-84

Now three days prior, the Birds Of Prey (February 7th 2020) themselves took to the stage with all our main female cast and director Cathy Yan and the audience went wild for them. Back in October a trailer for this movie was released to general audiences and it was excellent. However CCXP got an exclusive second trailer, which will be released early next year as well as the opening scene to the movie. There's no denying that this movie has generated a certain degree of division and controversy as it's definitely playing around with usual canons but the general consensus was that the audiences loved what they saw and it seems like we're going to get an even amount of screen time for our characters, even Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn will be an unreliable narrator and a certain plot involving Ewan McGregor's Black Mask has been changed. As the tagline says though - Mind Over Mayhem. 

Birds Of Prey Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGM4uYZzfu0

Outside of the events of CCXP, there's also been the several news items over the last few months ....

Back in September and to coincide with filming, writer/director James Gunn announced the cast for The Suicide Squad (August 6th 2021), which will serve as a sequel and kind of reboot to the 2016 movie. The movie will see Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman and Jai Courtney reprise their roles from the first film but they will be joined by a lot of cast members, whose actual roles have yet to be properly disclosed, though Idris Elba is rumoured to be playing Vigilante. Gunn also pointed out not to get attached to a lot of these characters and we'll see both him and Matt Reeves at CCXP next year as they promote The Suicide Squad and The Batman (June 25th 2021) respectively.

Last month it was announced that for the first time in 2021, the DCEU will have three movies instead of the usual one or two from previous year. The third movie in question with a December 22nd 2021 release penciled in will be Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson/The Rock as the title villain turned antihero. Johnson wrote up a pretty passionate post on the character when announcing the movie, which will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a script written by Adam Sztykiel and will also feature characters such as the Justice Society of America. Filming for the movie will commence in July 2020. I have to admit to having mixed feelings on this one.As a character, I would've preferred Black Adam had debuted in a Shazam! sequel but there's no doubting that The Rock's mass appeal will ensure that this movie is a big hit for the DCEU.

The Rock's Black Adam Announcement: https://www.instagram.com/p/B42odCrFF42/?hl=en

As for the future of the DCEU - well, we've had some more casting announcements for The Batman (due to begin filming early next year) but that will get another blog dedicated to it later in the month. Aquaman's second movie will be coming out on December 16th 2022. However recently revealed was that a Shazam! sequel will now be released on April 1st 2022 while The Flash will also be released on July 1st 2022. There was also an announcement of sorts of a potential movie centering on the Amazons with Patty Jenkins producing and a third Wonder Woman may come out in 2023 or 2024. Currently Superman is still up in the air even though Henry Cavill clearly wants to play the role yet again while there might be a DC movie coming to HBO Max. Oh and there's another topic I've been avoiding but now seems the time to give it some attention, so let's power through this next bit, shall we?

Ah yes, the Zack Snyder Cut of Justice League. The thing that of course exists (that's not a debate, we've seen enough Vero stuff to know it actually exists) and has generated some of the worst (and occasionally best) examples of fan behavior. In the last few months, it's been a campaign that's intensified with some cast members (Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher) voicing their support on the matter and even the likes of Subway giving away 15,000 sandwiches to the homeless but whether or not the film will get a release is still very much up in the air. No one can say for certainty that it will or it won't but if it does, then HBO Max would seem the obvious place to release it before eventually giving it a digital and physical release. Either way, regardless of this Cut seeing the light of day, it's ever clear the WB and DC want to move on from Zack Snyder's era. Releasing Snyder's intended version would help with that for some fans but for everyone else, there's eight movies coming out in the next three years and several more in various stages of development, so in spite of a rocky start, the end result is the same: the DCEU is going nowhere.

Oh and #ReleaseTheSnyderCut so we really can move the hell on already. Which upcoming DCEU movie are you looking forward to and which one would you like to see in the future?