My Review of Peacemaker: "Another Rick Up My Sleeve"

 

Written by James Gunn 

Directed by Greg Mottola 

Peacemaker: "Best dimension ever!"

Ah yes, three episodes into Season 2 and Christopher Smith still thinks that the grass is greener on the side. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with this other world. This wasn't the episode for that. It's coming though.

However in this world, there's another notable difference. Rick Flag Jr (Joel Kinnaman) happened to be very much alive and also in a relationship with Emilia Harcourt. He's also a lot on the bumbling side of things and was very intimidated by Christopher stopping ARGUS to pay a visit to Harcourt.

Speaking of Harcourt, this version's certainly less abrasive than our one but she's also wary of Christopher. Clearly the other version hurt her, leading to their break up and Emilia being with the less threatening Flag Jr, whom she doesn't seem that into. 

I'm ambivalent about the whole Peacemaker/Harcourt pairing but I liked this episode exploring all sides of their mutual attraction to each other. Watching Chris and Emilia 2 working through issues while the Sons of Liberty tried to blow up was actually pretty entertaining.

I can see why Chris is getting more drawn to this world. His chances with Harcourt are less complicated than his own version, he's being hailed a hero and admired by the public and he's got a fantastic relationship with Keith. Keith did show the odd moment of suspicion but genuinely seemed touched by Chris admitting to missing him.

As for our world antics, Economos nearly got away from Sasha Bordeaux and Fleury but instead wound up in a team with Judomaster (Nhut Le) and Eagly's new nemesis, Red St. Wild (Michael Rooker). I kind of have new respect for Economos treating Red with pure contempt. I'm also here for him betraying ARGUS to help Peacemaker and Eagly.

- Opening flashback revealed that in our world Rick Flag Jr was also dating Emilia Harcourt as well as June Moone. That would make both movies canon to this series.

- This is Michael Rooker's third DCU role, following roles in both Creature Commandos and Superman (2025).

- Leota also grilled Emilia about her feelings for Peacemaker in our world while Economos had to quiz Adrian on spiders. He's also a fan of crows.

- Both Rick Flag Sr and Eagly were absent from this episode.

- Standout music: Ozzy Osbourne's Dreamer and Shining's Animal.

- Chronology: Flashback was two hours before the events of The Suicide Squad.

Another Rick Up My Sleeve somewhat gave away the big spoiler of the episode and I kind of wish we had seen a bit more of Rick Flag Jr but it's an enjoyable episode and it had some nice moments. Peacemaker's dealing with the Sons of Liberty in particular was good.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

DCEU Blog - DC Studios Gets It's Leaders, The Flash Meets Red Death And More

October certainly didn't disappoint with some major DC updates unveiled. As usual, it's an exciting and volatile time to be a DC fan, depending on whatever news hits first.

The biggest news item would be that DC Studios finally has it's head guys. Step up, both James Gunn and Peter Safran. The former will tackle the creative side while the latter will tackle the business side. 

Both men will work with various creatives and characters being prioritized include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Harley Quinn.

Rumoured projects include a sequel for The Flash movie to be written by Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom scribe David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick.

Bruna Marquezine has confirmed her Blue Beetle character is named Jenny, though other places have said she was called Penny in the movie.

Not only did Henry Cavill finally reprise his Superman role in Black Adam but he also stepped away from The Witcher and a sequel to Man Of Steel is in development. He's really back guys.

As for fans of The Batman, the sequel likely won't hit theatres until 2025 but not only will The Penguin HBO Max series start filming next year but the Arkham show has announced Antonio Campos as it's showrunner.

Joker: Folie A Deux has added Harry Lawtey to it's ever growing cast. Filming begins in November for the sequel to the 2019 mega hit.

It seems for now that the Zatanna film has been scrapped. Yup, don't expect anything to emerge from JJ Abrams WB contract.

The first half to the fourth season of Titans will premiere on HBO Max from November 3rd. Expect the second half in 2023.

The first half of the fourth season of Doom Patrol will premiere on HBO Max from December 8th. Expect the second half in 2023.

Jeremy Irvine and Finn Wittrock have been released from their contracts from the Green Lantern series as has the showrunner. The show will now be redeveloped to focus on John Stewart.

The ninth season of The Flash will see Javicia Leslie appear as Red Death. Meanwhile Jon Cor's Chillblaine will be a regular and Richard Harmon will appear as the Owen Mercer version of Captain Boomerang.

Filming for the first seasons of both Gotham Knights and Dead Boy Detectives has taken place. Expect some more news on both shows fairly soon. 

Patty Jenkins has confirmed that the script for the third Wonder Woman movie has been completed.

That wraps up the big stories for this month. Let's see what the next one brings.

DCEU Blog - Wonder Twins Deactivated, Gotham Knights A Go And More

Well, we are definitely living in some murky times with DC as certain projects are getting the axe, others are unknown and one we probably didn't need has gotten the go ahead. Let's break it down, shall we?

Wonder Twins went from announcing it's leading cast to being dropped in the ace of a fortnight. The movie will no longer go ahead. The budget was reported to be 75 million, which David Zaslav felt was too much for a streaming movie.

Amber Heard has admitted that her role in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom has been reduced to ten minutes of screen time while the movie itself will have both Arthur and Orm working together.

Though yet to be confirmed, it's likely that Batgirl will now be a theatrical release. Jacob Scipio has confirmed he will be playing mob boss Anthony Bressi in the movie.

Filming outdoors has confirmed the costume reveal for Blue Beetle. Carlos Ponce, Jon Z and Mercy have also been added to the cast.

Black Adam's first trailer will be released on June 8th while Funko Pips have revealed the first look of the villain Sabbac, played by Marwan Kenzari.

The comic tie in for The Flash has been put on hold until closer to the movie's release in 2023.

HBO Max are considering a project focusing on Amanda Waller to be written by the Watchmen series writers as well as executive produced by James Gunn and Viola Davis.

Seth Green will now voice the role of Thunderbolt for the upcoming season of Stargirl. The third season will air in the autumn and have a murder mystery storyline.

It seems the while scripts for the Constantine and Madame X series have been submitted, there's rumours that the WB and David Zaslav are getting frustrated with JJ Abrams lack of movement with his DC projects.

The CW have picked up Gotham Knight for a series, but the show will debut in 2023, along with the next seasons of The Flash and Superman And Lois.

The current seasons of both Superman And Lois and The Flash will conclude on June 28th and 29th, respectively.

Naomi has been cancelled after one season.

A rumoured casting call for the upcoming The Penguin may see the limited series featuring a version of Clayface.

That's it for this month. Oh and be sure to check out the 2022 DC Pride, released today.

My Review of The Suicide Squad (2021) - SPOILERS INCLUDED

 

Written And Directed by James Gunn

Bloodsport: "We're all gonna die."

Polka Dot Man: "I hope so."

Bloodsport: "Oh for fuck sake."

The fact that we have a sequel to this band of baddies but not the biggest superhero group in DC comics for the DCEU certainly will go as one of the strangest things to happen in a movie franchise but here we are.

If you're familiar with the first movie, you'll know the drill with this loosely based sequel. Government agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) has assigned Task Force X for another dangerous mission and this time, two groups are needed for this particular task.

The first group to land in the mystery of Jotunheim for the mission Project Starfish include returning members Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Boomerang (Jai Courtney). This time around they're joined by Savant (Michael Rooker), TDK (Nathan Gillion), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Weasel (Sean Gunn), Javellin (Flula Borg) and Mongal (Mayling Ng).

It doesn't take long for the majority of the first group to get annihilated, following a team member's betrayal and some of the deaths in question really do take advantage of the R rating of this movie. Of course, Amanda Waller is smart enough to have a second group.

The second group comprising of Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) and Peacemaker (John Cena) are somewhat more success in a few aspects.

As characters they're largely explored in more detail as well as united fairly quickly with Flag and Harley and its largely this group who enlist the unwilling help of mad scientist and metahuman, the Thinker (Peter Capaldi) in order to take out villain of the piece, Starro (Taika Waititi). 

Starro as a villain definitely is a success. The CGI looks perfect, the character feels genuinely intimidating, the effects of its victims are sold perfectly and the group effort in order to defeat it works perfectly. 

Of course there are other villains. The Thinker is suitably repugnant as was the dictator General Luna (Juan Diego Botto) and right man Mateo (Joaquin Cosia). Not to mention, Waller's own motives about Project Starfish and the depths Peacemaker will go to for his aims as well.

In terms of characters, the highlights of course for me were Harley, Ratcatcher 2 and her adorable pet rat, Sebastian, Polka Dot Man, King Shark and Bloodsport. Those five stood out the most and the ones that I'm glad made it out of the movie alive. Flag showed improvement but Waller not as much and I hate to admit it but Peacemaker did grate at times. Hopefully his spin off will even the character out.

- Sean Gunn, Steve Agee and Taika Waititi all got to play more than one role each in this movie. I did not care for Gunn's take on Calender Man.

- Harley's look in this movie is without a doubt the best look she's had in the DCEU so far and the most comic accurate.

- Mid Credit scene: Weasel actually survived the events of the first attack. Odd choice of character to keep alive.

- Post Credit scene: Waller's aides Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) found themselves tasked with a comatose Peacemaker, setting up the latter's spin off for HBO Max.

- Standout music: grandson's Oh No and Rain (with Jessie Reyes), Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues and Jim Carroll Band's People Who Died.

- Chronology: Not really specified to be honest but I'm going to assume the present day. 

The Suicide Squad is definitely a crazy romp. James Gunn definitely used the fact that he was unrestrained in what he could do to his utmost advantage and there's plenty of crazy shit that happens here. Not everything works but the majority of it does and its safe to say that Gunn will have a long future in the DC universe after this movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10

DCEU News: Castings for The Flash, Zatanna Movie In The Works And More

It's that time of month and with DC, there's some interesting developments on the horizon.

The Flash: It's been confirmed that Kiersey Clemons will reprise her role as Iris West while Ron Livingston will replace Billy Crudup as Henry Allen. Meanwhile Maribel Verdu will play Nora Allen, Ian Loh a younger Barry Allen while Saoirse Monica-Jackson and Rudy Mancuso have been cast in undisclosed roles. Filming will begin next month in the UK with a November 4th 2022 release date in mind.

Emerald Fennell will also be penning the upcoming Zatanna movie which will be produced by JJ Abrams and linked to the upcoming HBO Max projects involving Constantine and Justice League Dark. The movie will also get a theatrical release.

Static Shock movie will be written by Randy McKinnon and produced by Michael B. Jordan and Reginald Hudlin.

An Hourman movie is also in development with a script co-written by Gavin James and Neil Widener.

Black Adam will now be released on July 29th 2022 and Pierce Brosnan has been cast as Doctor Fate. Filming begins in May in Atlanta.

Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods has cast Helen Mirren as Hespera, who will be the main villain for the movie. Filming begins in May with a June 2nd 2023 release scheduled.

The trailer for The Suicide Squad, due for release in theatres and on HBO Max from August 6th 2021 confirmed that Starro as the main villain and Sylvester Stallone as the voice of King Shark. Spin off series, Peacemaker has also gotten an early second season renewal, although it's first is currently filming and won't debut on HBO Max until January 2022.

Following the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Warner Media CEO Ann Sarnoff has confirmed there are no plans to work with the director on any other upcoming DC projects and has also confirmed there are no plans to release the David Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad. Needless to say, this has not gone down well with certain fans. Oh well.

Wallis Day has been cast as an altered version of Kate Kane for the second half of Batwoman's second season. Whether she remains beyond an initial arc remains to be seen.

Jordan Fisher as been cast as Bart Allen for the seventh season of The Flash. However in this version, he will be the son of Barry and Iris and will debut in the 150th episode.

Kaci Walfall has been cast as Naomi for the upcoming CW series. There's also rumours of a Ghostmaker series in the works as well.

So, we've got some interesting times ahead in the DC Universe.

DC TV Series Update: New Looks & Potential Future Shows In The Making

I was going to wait a little bit longer to do this one but with so much news coming out over the last few weeks in relation to DC TV and streaming content, I thought I might as well do a blog right now. Warning this may be edited tomorrow when other stuff emerges later today.

With DCFanDome disappointingly didn't give us a first look as to what Javicia Leslie's Ryan Wilder would look like as Batwoman, last month a nice series of photos emerged to unveil the new look that Ryan would have and if you spotted some set pics, it also looks like Ryan will have a Batmobile of her own as well. I like the bigger emphasis on red with the gauntlets and the cape compared to Kate Kane's look in the first season and the choice of wig works pretty well to boot. Viewers won't have much longer to wait as the show returns to the CW from January 17th with a brief trailer giving us a tiny glimpse of Ryan in action. 

First Season 2 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5__G4rXil8

With the third season in production (and rumours of a fourth season also in the works), HBO Max didn't waste too much time in unveiling Curran Walters new look for Jason Tood as the Red Hood will be coming to Titans in quite a big way. The character will not only serve as the main antagonist for the first half of the season but Red Hood is also poised to get his own spin-off while Blackfire (Damaris Lewis) will serve as a main villain for the second half of the forthcoming season. Castings for new characters such as Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake and Scarecrow have yet to be confirmed but you can expect some new looks for Beast Boy (Ryan Potter) and Starfire (Anna Diop) as well as a more focused team when the show does return in 2021.

In an unexpected turn of events, the pace for Peacemaker has seriously picked up, almost out of nowhere.  Filming for the eight part spin-off of The Suicide Squad is set to start in January 2021 and the main cast will not only see John Cena reprise the role of the titular character but he'll be joined by his movie co-stars Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee, also reprising their roles as Dr Emilia Harcourt and John Economos respectively. Also joining the cast will be Chris Conrad as Adrian Chase/Vigilante, Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo and Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith. James Gunn has written all eight episodes for the upcoming HBO Max series and will direct some of them as well.

Meanwhile for those of you wondering if the CW were going to pick any more DC content, well you're in luck (depending on your standpoint with CW DC content) as there seems to be plans afoot for a Black Lightning spin-off, focusing on the character Painkiller ( Jordan Calloway) with a backdoor pilot being filmed as part of the main series upcoming fourth season. I stopped watching this show after it's first season, so this news slightly threw me off. I'm not against the character getting a spin off and I might watch the pilot episode out of curiosity, but don't expect much or any coverage on here. Black Lightning's fourth season will premiere on the CW from February 8th 2021. It also has been confirmed that this will be the show's final season as well.

If Painkiller getting his own series wasn't surprising, how about the CW giving a series to a character who has yet to make her debut in the comics? For a while there's been a lot of hype for Brazilian Wonder Woman, Yara Flor (created by Joelle Jones) in the upcoming Future State event series (January/February 2021) and the CW have decided to quickly get in there by commissioning Wonder Girl, which will focus on Yara Flor and will be done from Queen of the South executive producer/co-showrunner Dailyn Rodriguez and Berlanti Productions.

The synopsis for the upcoming series ....

Written by Rodriguez, Wonder Girl centers on Yara Flor, a Latina Dreamer who was born of an Amazonian Warrior and a Brazilian River God, learns that she is Wonder Girl. With her newfound power must fight the evil forces that would seek to destroy the world.

This is showing a lot of confidence for a character who DC readers have yet to meet and while it's potentially risky, I have to commend the CW for taking the risk though. It'll be interesting to see the casting for this upcoming series but with both this and Painkiller getting potential shows, I have a feeling that Supergirl might not be the only CW DC show we lose in 2021.

Wonder Girl Press Release: https://deadline.com/2020/11/wonder-girl-tv-series-latina-lead-yara-flor-dailyn-rodriguez-greg-berlanti-productions-the-cw-1234616503/

Meanwhile November 17th came and went and Zack Snyder held a breakdown of the trailer for fans on his Vero account for Zack Snyder's Justice League. The trailer was uploaded again with a few new scenes in black and white but we're still no closer to a confirmed date for the upcoming miniseries. It was confirmed a few weeks ago that Jared Leto will reprise his role as the Joker for the new cut. I'll provide a link for the new cut of the trailer below.

ZSJL Trailer (B&W): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3OyBdkrDTk

That's a rundown of some of the upcoming DC shows that both the CW and HBO Max will be producing over the next year. There's more info to come, especially regarding a certain Cut and a bunch of Green Lanterns. 

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?

A Glimpse At The DCEU's Future (Rumours, Spoilers, Speculation, etc) - EDITED

The last few weeks and following the release of Shazam! in the cinemas, it seems that the future of the DCEU will be having more shake ups as developments on further movies, including casting speculations have surfaced.

The Batman: After months of effective radio silence to the point where some people feared this movie was going to be scrapped/delayed, could we be close to finding out who will succeed Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight? It seems so, apparently. According to the latest rumours, the likely candidate to don the cape and cowl will be Robert Pattinson but other sources are also claiming that Nicholas Hoult is in with a chance of playing the Caped Crusader as well. Between the two, I think I'd prefer Pattinson, but either way it's starting to feel real now. Other rumours surfacing about Matt Reeves movie will be that somewhere between two to six villains will appear in the film, among them Catwoman and Penguin as well as filming to start in London in late 2019. After so much delay and little information, we're finally getting the goods on this one. (June 25th 2021).

It's now been confirmed that Robert Pattinson is Batman with his casting finally confirmed. The reaction seems to be rather positive so far and other rumours are surfacing that both Robin and the Riddler may also be appearing in the movie. More casting details should emerge fairly soon.

The Suicide Squad: Right now, this movie doesn't know whether it wants to be a straight up sequel, reboot or spiritual successor as James Gunn (also rehired by the MCU to complete his Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy) is planning to bring back most of the big hitters from David Ayer's 2016 hit - Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang) and Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) while adding new players into the mix. Initially Idris Elba was cast to replace Will Smith as Deadshot but will now play a different role in the movie. David Dastmalchian and Daniela Melchior have been cast as Polka-Dot Man and Ratcatcher, while John Cena has been also cast in an undisclosed role. The movie will also feature Peacemaker, King Shark and an unknown alien female character and could be pulling from the Onslaught story arc. (August 6th 2021).

New Gods: Yeah, I haven't been really too bothered about this one but it seems after months of nothing that some progress has been made with this one as well. First of all, Ava Duvernay is still directing the feature and she's got a co-writer in the shape of Tom King. The latter has been a writer for DC comics for a while having penned Mister Miracle (which will be handy for this one), Batman and the rather polarising Heroes In Crisis event series. Both of them have been pretty hit and miss in their creative endeavors but perhaps they might make for a decent match with this particular project and unlike a certain Scarlet Speedster, at least we're slightly closer to this movie actually happening in the next few years. (Date TBC).

- Joker (October 4th) released a trailer last month, generating a pretty positive reaction. There are rumours of a controversial plot twist in the movie that will go against usual mythology for the character.
- DC Vertigo have released a trailer for upcoming crime drama, The Kitchen, starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss. The movie will hit cinemas August 9th.
- Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5th 2020) has seemingly confirmed that Pedro Pascal's character is actually Maxwell Lord. Patty Jenkins also has ideas for a third movie, which will be set in the present day.
- Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) (February 7th 2020) will feature the Joker in a flashback sequence, though for now it seems that Jared Leto will not be reprising the role, but a body double instead.
- Aquaman's sequel has been confirmed for a December 16th 2022 released. The Trench are also rumoured to be getting a movie, due for release before the sequel.
- Shazam! will also be getting a sequel, though no date has been set yet for it.
- According to Dwayne Johnson, Black Adam could be going into production next year. I got to admit, I still have my doubts about this one actually happening.
- It seems both Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher's contracts have ran out this month, leaving their future in the DCEU in doubt.
- Other rumoured movies for development in the last few months have been Gotham City Sirens and Plastic Man to name but a few. Supergirl is also being rumoured to begin filming in the first quarter of 2020, though a director has yet to be confirmed.
- Right now, there isn't any hope for crossover events with other movies as each movie will continue to be it's own thing for the time being.

Well, I think that covers everything for now but the next few weeks and undoubtedly, SDCC 2019 should be interesting in revealing more of what the future holds for the DCEU.

DCEU - Big Changes Announced

Following the success of Aquaman clocking in over 1 billion worldwide last week, the future of the DCEU and general movie universe seems to be on the up. Here's what we can expect in the next three years.

Shazam: Due out on April 5th, we've already had a trailer and several set pics and some behind the scenes photos for this entertaining romp starring Zachary Levi and Asher Angel as Billy Batson/Shazam respectively, going up against Mark Strong's Dr Sivana. Recent spoilers have indicted that as well as meeting the Shazam family, we'll also be seeing the Deadly Sins in this movie, which even director David F. Sandberg has alluded to being as a superhero version of Big.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJCbtNZ18O8

Joker: Due out on October 4th, this film has finished filming and over the last few months, not only did we get a brief glimpse of Joaquin Phoenix transform from struggling comedian Arthur Fleck to the Clown Prince of Crime himself but the cast has also filled out too. Joining Phoenix in this film are Frances Conroy, Robert DeNiro, Zazie Beeetz and Marc Maron to name a few. Brett Cullen will be playing a more antagonistic version of Thomas Wayne while Dante Pereira-Olson and Douglas Hodge will be playing Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth respectively.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x0mwDykMfI

Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn):  Yep, it's one long title and this month, it finally began filming with a February 7th 2020 release date confirmed. The movie will see Margot Robbie reprise her role as Harley Quinn, now free from the Joker and allying herself with Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett Bell) and Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in order to protect Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) from Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and serial killer, Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina). Rosie Perez also stars as an older Renee Montoya and a brief trailer was released this week to give people a sense of what Cathy Yan's movie will be like tonally. There's also rumours that we might be getting a trilogy here, which will also bring in Gotham City Sirens to the table as well.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrQTDDbti1Y

Wonder Woman 1984: The sequel to the much loved 2017 film has been pushed back to June 5th 2020 and while that's a bit of a bummer, it does give them more time to touch up some of the special effects they'll need for Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) no doubt. The movie will see Gal Gadot and Chris Pine reprise their roles as Diana Prince and Steve Trevor respectively in an 80's setting while Pedro Pascal, Natasha Rothwell, Ravi Patel, Gabriella Wilde, Kristoffer Polaha, and child actress Oakley Bull have been cast in undisclosed roles. Fans of Hippolyta (Connie Nielson) and Antiope (Robin Wright) should be delighted that both characters are back for this movie while director Patty Jenkins is already hinting at doing a third movie set in the present day.

The Batman: After months of silence, WB and DC set social media trending last night but not only finally confirming that Ben Affleck will no longer be playing the Caped Crusader but that Matt Reeves movie will have a June 25th 2021 release date and that his movie will be  detective story that will feature various members of Batman's Rogues Gallery to boot. I liked Affleck in the role but having a new Batman is the right move here and Reeves movie will clearly be a further break from the Snyder era of the DCEU, which isn't strictly a bad thing either. Also going by a recent interview, I get the impression that Matt's movie will be influenced by the likes of The Long Halloween and Hush, albeit an original story though. Really cannot wait for this movie. There will be another blog next week on characters I'd like to see appear in this one, some of whom are overdue a big screen outing.

The Suicide Squad: A couple of months, it was more or less confirmed that former Guardians Of The Galaxy director, James Gunn would be taking over for the sequel of David Ayer's divisive 2016 hit. Now, it's confirmed that Gunn will not only helm the movie, which is being touted as reboot with mostly a new cast but that the movie will also be released August 6th 2021. Personally I'm iffy on this one but I am hoping that Gunn at least keeps both Deadshot (Will Smith) and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). As for whether or not Margot Robbie will reprise her role as Harley Quinn, that seems to be up in the air for now.

Batman Beyond: This month, the popular spin-off from Batman: The Animated Series celebrated it's 20th anniversary and with Terry's adventures continuing in the current Rebirth comics, it seems that an animated movie (with an Asian-American voice actor in mind, casting wise) is being touted for 2022 while DC's Super Pets will be released in May 21st 2021 as well. Out of the two, another adventure for Terry is the more appealing but it's nice to see that following the surprise success of Aquaman that DC are finally pulling out the stops again. We're still a bit away from getting anything concrete on New Gods or The Flash movies but I'm sure we'll know in due course what's going on with them.

More Information: https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/01/30/dc-films-new-batman-and-suicide-squad-movies-get-release-dates/#ebe4e6535921

So what do you think, DC fans? Pretty exciting stuff ahead, am I right?