Comic Book movies and TV shows are still going strong right now, with Sony-Marvel’s Venom: The Last Dance opening in theaters, while DC’s Batman spinoff The Penguin is earning major acclaim on HBO. Most superhero fans would agree that Venom 3 and The Penguin couldn’t be more different in terms of tone and subject matter; however, they do share something in common: breakout performances by lead actors (Tom Hardy and Colin Farrell, respectively), which are the heart of both franchises.

There’s also a dark weird connection between Venom: The Last Dance and The Penguin – specifically Episode 6, which aired during Venom 3‘s opening weekend:

Did You Spot The Same Actor In Venom 3 & The Penguin?

Actor Jared Abrahamson had quite a week for an aspiring actor: he played a bit role in Venom: The Last Dance as Captain Forrest, a member of Imperium; he also had a recurring role in The Penguin as “Squid,” a local shot-caller and drug dealer operating in the slums neighborhood of Crown Point.

Abrahamson was much more of a background character as Cpt. Forrest in Venom 3: he appeared in scenes as a right-hand-man to Imperium military commander General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor); however, in the film’s third act, the symbiote god Knull sends his Xenophage monsters to attack Imperium’s base at Area 51 resulting in the death or retreat of nearly ever Imperium team member. Forrest’s fate is unknown after the film (though is wiki lists him as “alive”).

RELATED: The Penguin Just Turned One Major Character Into A True Villain

The Penguin gave Jared Abrahamson a much bigger spotlight in Episode 6: his story arc with Penguin’s sidekick Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) came to a head when Squid finally leaned on Victor to set him up with an introduction to Penguin. When Squid goes so far as to threaten Victor with snitching to the cops or rival gangs, Victor takes the drastic step of shooting him in the neck. Abrahamson got a bloody death scene as he bleeds out in an alley – but it’s a performance that will definitely spice up his highlight reel! Not to mention the rush that Abrahamson is probably enjoying right now, having two high-profile projects out simultaneously.

Jared Abrahamson has previously appeared in the indie comedy On the Count of Three (starring Jarrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott); episode arcs in the Hulu series Letterkenny and Ramy, and Apple TV+’s The Changeling. He is probably best known for starring in Netflix’s time-travel sci-f-drama-mystery series Travelers (2016-2018).

You can also catch him in Venom: The Last Dance (now in theaters) or in The Penguin (airing on HBO and streaming on Max).

The post The Penguin & Venom 3 Have a Weird Connection Fans Probably Missed appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Happy new comic book day! It’s another major week in comics, and the ComicBook staff have come together to break down and review as many of the big comics releasing this week as possible. Now obviously this isn’t every single comic on stands, but we’re breaking down new releases from Marvel, DC, Image Comics, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Oni Press, IDW, Mad Cave Studios, DSTLRY, and more!

We’ve also carved out some additional space for three of this week’s biggest books, including The Amazing Spider-Man #60, It Happened on Hyde Street: Devour #1, and Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees #1, so if our smaller review here piques your interest, make sure to check out the full review for a much more comprehensive analysis of all three issues. As for ratings, we keep things simple with a whole or half number out of five, and you can check out some of our previous reviews right here. With all that said, let’s get to this week’s new comics!

DC

Action Comics #1073
Other than the Superboy subplot that is wedged in the middle of things (and that, at this point, feels like it should have been a backup story rather than a subplot), Action Comics #1073 is outstanding. The issue sees Superman come face to face with Aethyr but then in a surprising twist finds himself in a much more dire situation when his attempt to find the way home goes sideways and lands him in an entirely different idea of home. What really works here is the centering of the story around the idea of what Jor-El really did in the creation of the Phantom Zone prison while still delivering on some high-stakes action. As for the Supergirl backup story, we get a little bit more about the mysterious prisoner, but the overall story still feels like a puzzle box that is moving towards solution at an almost too-slow pace. It’s interesting, but it just feels like there could be more. – Nicole Drum
Rating: 4 out of 5

Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween #2
Batman: The Long Halloween The Last Halloween #2 continues the slow burn of the story kicked off with the first issue, but keeps things moving by adding interesting elements, such as the arrival of the FBI — who has their own agenda — and by having Batman miss an important clue along the way. The tone of this issue is much more consistent than the first, particularly with Robin, and that also gives this issue a bit more gravity to it and makes it a bit more interesting, both to those unfamiliar with the original The Long Halloween and those who know it chapter and verse. The art fits the overall vibe very nicely as well.
– Nicole Drum
Rating: 4 out of 5

Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees #1
DC has delivered the team-up I didn’t know I needed right in time for Halloween in a new one-shot special titled Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees. As the title suggest, the issue brings Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing together in a haunting and emotionally complex adventure that conveys a clearer understanding of Swampy and Ivy’s roles in the protection of the green and how the Parliament of Trees fits into that equation and how they perceive outsiders. Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees #1 keeps you hooked on the greater mystery and emotionally invested in the people in the center of it all the way through, and it’s an adventure you won’t want to miss.
– Matthew Aguilar (Read the full review here)
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Nice House By The Sea #4
James Tynion IV finds new layers as he continues to dig deeper not only into his characters but in the larger plot of Night House by the Sea as well. As things continue to open up and reveal the broader picture, questions still linger, making the entire thing all the more intriguing. Series art by co-creator Álvaro Martínez Bueno remains the high point of experiencing the series though as he not only captures specific moods and styles (this issue depicts security camera footage and actually making it terrifying). Jordie Bellaire’s color work also remains an MVP, elevating the already great images to new heights.
– Spencer Perry
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Marvel

Captain America #14
The most surprising thing about this Captain America run is that it’s somehow still going on. Issue #14 brings Thor and Spider-Man into the fold to try and give Steve some familiar faces to fight alongside. Their additions are more hurtful than helpful. Neither one of them are written particularly well, with Spider-Man feeling like the most frustrating of the two. This continues, month after month, to be one of the most baffling books in Marvel’s lineup.
– Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Namor #4
Namor is awesome. I tried to think of a more eloquent, intelligent way to phrase that, but that’s not necessary. “Namor is awesome” is exactly what needs to be said right now. This saga from Jason Aaron is already a gripping, complicated tale about a fallen king wrestling with his past in order to save the future of a people that hate him. Now we’re adding an entire army of sentient beings made of the seaweed and coral reef that have been relentlessly abused over the years? It just doesn’t get much better than this. An absolute bruiser of a book week after week. – Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 5 out of 5

NYX #4
NYX has been quietly putting together one of the more compelling corners of the X-Men universe, and it feels as if NYX #4 is the true boiling point that will shift the series into its next gear. Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly have successfully woven Ms. Marvel into the fabric of the X-Men saga in a natural and organic way, and her interactions with Prodigy and Sophie are major parts of why NYX #4 works so well. Kamala is the heart and soul of this book, but as we’ve learned with the character in the past, one of her most important powers is the ability to relate to others in a meaningful way and get through when most others can’t, paving the way for welcome turns and heartbreaking turns in equal measure. Artist Enid Balam and colorist Raul Angulo pull on the heartstrings throughout the issue in several key scenes, but they also deliver frenetic action sequences that take advantage of the cast’s dynamic power set. Also, Julian looks like an absolute powerhouse in several of these sequences, and that last page has my hyped for an anticipated and long awaited throwdown. NYX has carved out a unique identity within the X-Books and is really starting to hit its stride at the right time. – Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 4 out of 5

Phases of The Moon Knight #3
This has been a really great concept for an anthology story. The nature of Moon Knight makes for a story that can span numerous characters, time periods, and settings, and the series has done an excellent job of finding little corners where magic can come alive. Not every story is as good as the others, but they’ve all been enjoyable to some degree.
– Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 3 out of 5

Predator vs. Black Panther #3
Benjamin Percy has proven himself already to be well suited to writing these types of epic crossovers for Marvel. Percy weaves a tight narrative that not only respect the lore of Marvel’s hero and his home but also the larger Predator franchise, making them work together and mingle in a way that only works in comics. This issue features artwork by pencilers Chris Allen & Sean Damien Hill (with inks by Craig Yeung & Jonas Trindade and colors by Erick Arciniega) and that many cooks in the kitchen has resulted in some inconsistent art on the whole. Larger pages that deliver huge splashes and tell the story across unique fragmented images are the best, while the traditional pages often leave something to be desired. That said, Predator vs Black Panther continues to impress.
– Spencer Perry
Rating: 4 out of 5

Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku – Insurgency Rising #3
There’s a good idea at the core of Insurgency Rising, it’s just a shame the book itself can’t reach quite as high. It’s scattered, both in its writing and its art. There’s little consistency with these characters and none of it ever feels particularly new. This is unfortunately just another stab at trying to tell fresh stories in a period of Star Wars canon that has been exhaustively explored. – Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 2 out of 5

The Amazing Spider-Man #60
Zeb Wells’ Spider-Man run is one that has been met with some major controversy thanks to some of the wild swings that it took with its story. The writer introduced us to the now infamous “Paul”, gave Mary Jane superpowers, stepped up Tombstone’s game, introduced the most villainous Ben Reilly to date, and even sent Spidey spiraling into the underworld. For all the flaws that Wells’ run might have had, the creator goes a long way in his final issue to not only pay tribute to Peter Parker but give a worthwhile ending to nearly every plot point that he introduced over the years. – Evan Valentine (Read the full review here)
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Ultimate X-Men #8
Ultimate X-Men has some interesting elements and character beats that are a part of this new take on Marvel’s merry mutants but unfortunately, the series remains misplaced in terms of being the forefront of the Ultimate Universe in relation to the X-Men. Peach Momoko is able to give this series some really solid art but the story itself is one that just doesn’t resonate in the same way as its Ultimate counterparts. It feels…”off” in many regards in that it is a scattershot series that would work as an independent story but being the premiere Ultimate X-Men story hampers it. It just all feels extremely disconnected with its characters. This isn’t to say that it doesn’t have some noteworthy moments but they are not enough to right this ship’s trajectory. It’s really a shame but there are simply too many puzzle pieces that don’t fit here to truly make it stand toe-to-toe with the other Ultimates.
– Evan Valentine
Rating 2.5 out of 5

Wolverine: Revenge #3
One thing that I was expecting from Wolverine: Revenge, based on Hickman and Capullo’s first two issues, is plenty of blood and violence surrounding the Canucklehead. What I didn’t see coming was one of my favorite Logan and Deadpool interactions that I think I’ve ever read. In this alternate universe, Wade Wilson made a decision that means forgiveness might forever be out of his grasp, as Wolverine reminds him here. This story might not be “canon” but what the creative team is doing here might just give us one of the pinnacle Wolverine stories in Marvel history. There’s a lot to love in this tale of revenge and I’m beyond interested to see what takes place next when it comes to Logan’s journey, especially considering how this latest issue came to an end. – Evan Valentine
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Image Comics

Feral #7
The only thing that could make Feral more of a tension-filled affair has found its way into the series, and that comes in the form of three adorable little kittens. In Feral #7 the ice starts to subside and with it new dangers approach, and watching Elsie and Gigi try and navigate those unpredidtable dangers is as stressful as it is riveting. At this point I feel personally attacked by Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner, Tone Rodriguez, and Brad Simpson for how long I find myself forgetting to breathe as the story twists and turns, and that still didn’t prepare me for one truly unexpected cliffhanger by issue’s end. Feral continues to be must read each and every single month, and now the long wait for Feral #8 begins.
– Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 5 out of 5

It Happened on Hyde Street: Devour #1
While we are still getting to know the overall world of Hyde Street in the main comic, It Happened on Hyde Street: Devour #1 makes for a strong and impressive introduction to the lure of the world. By speaking to something that is so relatable and unfortunately common for many by taking on the obsession with being thin, Devour #1 reminds readers just how easy it is to succumb to the lure of a quick fix with no thought to the consequences. The result is a horror that maybe isn’t full of jump scares or gore, but settles right into the thoughts and is deeply uncomfortable less for the world the story inhabits, but for the world the reader actually exists in. – Nicole Drum (Read the full review here)
Rating: 5 out of 5

Kaya #22
Kaya concludes its journey down the Dragon Road in stunning fashion. The issue begins with Kaya’s portentous dream but from the moment she awakes onward, it maintains a fast pace as she, Jin, and their mysterious new ally Razel try to escape from Atrian pursuers. As always, Wes Craig impresses with his unconventional character designs and creative layouts but Tom Nopalitano’s lettering stands out in this issue for ably conveying tones, timbre, and meaning with emphasis, shape, and color. This issue’s plot feels a bit thin and also light on character development — Kaya and Jin begin the issue divided over how much they should trust Razel and they don’t budge any from those positions — but makes up for it danger and adventure as it successfully ramps up the tension as it leads into a situation where Kaya and company are stuck between a robot army and a haunted city. After the previous, much weightier arc, “Kaya and the Dragon Road” proves lighter and much more visceral, making for a nice change of pace in this gripping journey.
– Jamie Lovett
Rating: 4 out of 5

Violent Flowers #2
Violent Flowers #2 spends most of the issue explaining things before sending Carnelia after Erzsebet at a strange, supernatural party that doesn’t exactly go as planned. It is certainly an interesting take on vampire stories with a strange, sexy edge, but the issue is hampered by both a lot and nothing really happening along with some somewhat cliche dialogue during the confrontation. A bit of a cliffhanger closes the issue and pushes the story forward, but it is otherwise a bit of a mixed bag. – Nicole Drum
Rating: 3 out of 5

Other Publishers

Anansi Boys #5
The screwball comedy of it all intensifies in Anansi Boys #5 as Spider takes Fat Charlie’s place at work for the date and his lunch date with Rosie. Meanwhile, Charlie wakes up to find an unfamiliar woman with him in bed and his would-be mother-in-law at his front door. Charlie’s confusion and exasperation are appropriately inverse to Spider’s natural charm as he fills in for his brother in some helpful ways and some less so. There’s a bit of an unexplained plot hole in that Rosie’s mother never really explains why she showed up at Charlie’s home if she thought he’d be at work anyway — Perhaps she planned to slide the paperwork about the upcoming wedding under his door, but then why knock at all? — but there are also some sly artistic touches, with Graham Coates drawn every bit as small in Spider’s presence as Charlie once did upon entering the boss’s office. Setting aside the one plot tangle, it’s a charming issue with the art to match. – Jamie Lovett
Rating: 4 out of 5

Kill All Immortals #4
Finding interesting angles for immortal beings can be difficult, but Kill All immortals has an excellent angle that makes for a compelling read. Mixing this father/daughter rivalry and morality play with an organized crime saga is just really exciting stuff. These characters are fully realized and they fit seamlessly into the world that’s being created. – Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Night Club 2 #3
Who knew that all it would take is a change of scenery for Mark Millar’s style to actually feel fresh. The scribe continues to explore superhero tropes through the lens of a horror comic in Night Club 2 and since he’s not making sure to have a piece of shock value every other page there’s a nice rhythm to the story. Night Club 2’s real highlight however remains the artwork by Juanan Ramírez with colors by Fabiana Mascolo, as the pair have created a distinct look that combines pop-superhero artwork with moody grim horror. The result is stunning splash pages and reveals when you turn the page that makes your jaw drop.
– Spencer Perry
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

‘Patra #3
‘Patra #3 is part crime, part horror and while there is a lot of promise in the story of Patra hunting down the crazed killer Jeremy Jones, there’s a lot of character development and particularly dialogue between Patra and her sister that feels a little drawn out and very tedious when we could, at three issues in, already be getting further in the story. It’s also not quite clear yet what is really going on which is something that we should have some inkling about at this point. Still, the chase is interesting and if things ever really come together, it could be a cool story. Right now it’s just lot of extra that doesn’t fully come together. – Nicole Drum
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Power Rangers Across The Morphin Grid #1
Power Rangers fans have seen a number of their favorite Rangers appear in the comics, but with Power Rangers Across The Morphin Grid, they have a chance to see those characters written by the people that brought them to life on the screen. Across The Morphin Grid is a one-shot special featuring five stories from franchise favorites, including David Yost, Nakia Burrise (with JD Sutphin), Steve Cardenas (with Mat Groom), Walter Jones, and Meghan Camarena, and while some are stronger than others, they all capture the core elements that made their characters such favorites to begin with. Billy’s Metamorphosis takes a trip to the future with out of this world style thanks to Patrick Mulholland and Ellie Wright, while Tanya’s Heavy-Metal Rescue is a thrilling Alpha team-up with the stellar art of Tango and JP Jordan. In The Red by Groom, Cardenas, Anand Ramcheron, and Francesco Segala might be my favorite in terms of highlighting the underrated aspects of a Ranger. An Apple A Day is solid and has some fun moments, though the issue ramps up the fun with Camarena, Paulina Ganucheau, and Rebecca Good’s hilarious Chloe’s Chaos Kitchen, which is the type of HyperForce absurdity we’ve missed so much. Overall it’s a thoroughly entertaining one-shot that will delight fans of the franchise. – Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 4 out of 5

Red Sonja #15
While the art in Red Sonja #15 leaves a bit to be desired, story wise it’s an interesting read. I am admittedly jumping into this one blind, but the issue overall does a surprising job of getting the reader up to speed without being overly repetitive about what is happening and what Sonja is facing. There is also plenty of action to keep things moving as well as Sonja finds herself trying to run from death only to end up in a dire situation. There are seemingly real stakes here which makes it all that much more interesting. – Nicole Drum
Rating: 3 out of 5

Sonic The Hedgehog #74
Sonic the Hedgehog #74 brings the series’ racing arc to a satisfying climax. The villain is revealed, and the endgame is set in motion, but what’s charming is that it doesn’t fall entirely to the heroes. Regular folks doing their jobs and looking out for another also play a crucial role. Whether the idea that a villain’s wrongdoing being revealed would lead to their downfall or any real consequences is wholesome or naive will likely be determined by each reader’s level of cynicism. The artwork gives the issue a comic, cartoonish energy, with layouts providing the perfect timing for certain comedic bits and the story playing out at a lively pace.  As multiple points of tension hang in the balance and lives are on the line, Sonic and most of the book’s major characters spring into action, teeing up what’s shaping up to be a fun, kinetic, and dramatic finale. – Jamie Lovett
Rating: 4 out of 5

The post Comic Book Reviews for This Week: 10/30/2024 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Kelly Macdonald is the newest addition to HBO’s Lanterns series, and she may be playing the love interest for Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan. Lanterns is a live-action adaptation of DC’s Green Lanterns headlined by Kyle Chandler as veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and Aaron Pierre as the new recruit on the block, John Stewart. Macdonald is no stranger to HBO, having starred as Margaret Thompson on Boardwalk Empire during its run on the premium network. She earned an Emmy nomination for the role, and won an Emmy for her performance in the BBC TV movie The Girl in the Café.

Deadline reports Kelly Macdonald is playing Sheriff Kerry, who is “a no-nonsense woman deeply devoted to her family and close-knit town. Her resilience, shaped by a complex past that’s hardened her resolve, anchors her when the community’s secrets begin to surface.” Sheriff Kerry is believed to be a romantic love interest for Chandler’s Hal Jordan, who has been linked to Carol Ferris in the comics. However, it doesn’t appear that Macdonald is portraying a live-action version of Carol Ferris.

Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. The Green Lantern show has been compared to True Detective as far as the vibe that the creatives are going for.

Chris Mundy (Ozark, True Detective: Night Country) is the showrunner for Lanterns, with Mundy co-writing alongside Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, The Leftovers), and DC comic writer Tom King. King is an Eisner Award winner for his work on Batman and Mister Miracle, and his Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is being adapted into a feature film starring Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon).

Along with Boardwalk Empire and The Girl in the Café, Kelly Macdonald’s resume also includes the British comedy horror film The Radleys and the Netflix thriller series Department Q.

Lanterns is a part of the new DC Universe being built by DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The first project under the studio to make it to fans is the adult-animated series Creature Commandos, which has a premiere date of December 5th on Max. It will be followed by the Superman feature film directed by Gunn and starring David Corenswet. Future projects on HBO/Max include Season 2 of Peacemaker and an Amanda Waller solo series.

The post Lanterns TV Series Casts Hal Jordan’s Potential Love Interest appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC has delivered the team-up I didn’t know I needed right in time for Halloween in a new one-shot special titled Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees. As the title suggest, the issue brings Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing together in a haunting and emotionally complex adventure that conveys a clearer understanding of Swampy and Ivy’s roles in the protection of the green and how the Parliament of Trees fits into that equation and how they perceive outsiders. Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees #1 keeps you hooked on the greater mystery and emotionally invested in the people in the center of it all the way through, and it’s an adventure you won’t want to miss.

A Delightful Team-Up

Swamp Thing and Poison Ivy make for a compelling duo throughout the special, both in terms of their core personalities and in their relationship with the green. While there is a bigger story unfolding, this is just as much a character study of Swampy and Ivy, and their differing approaches play off each other extremely well.

G. Willow Wilson continues to work her Ivy magic, and the character has rarely felt more human, especially when contrasted by the patience and bluntness Swampy regularly displays. Ivy’s ability to act at a moment’s notice and her directness in that action is put up against the at times seemingly plodding nature of Swampy and the Parliament of Trees, and though assumptions are made when these two mentalities collide, fans will likely come away with a new appreciation for both characters and their approaches by story’s end.

Speaking of appreciation, plenty is reserved for artist Mike Perkins, colorist Mike Spicer, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Their Swamp Thing is a sight to behold, especially in regards to his facial expressions and how the team utilizes the shadows created by the vines that overtake parts of his face. Swampy can go from menacing to contemplative on a dime, and yet the more you learn about the character the more you realize it’s really the same tempered personality in all those instances.

[RELATED: Did The Penguin Just Tease Batman Villain Poison Ivy?]

The juxtaposition of personalities isn’t the only driving force however, as the exploration of what it means to serve and be a part of the green is also of great importance, and creates the space for some truly enlightening conversations. It’s not just Ivy and Swamp Thing having those conversations either, as a few other surprise characters are also found along the way, and each one has something unique to add to the discussion.

An Emotional Core

There’s one particular person at the center of all this discussion as the story progresses, providing yet another lens in which to view Ivy’s humanity and empathy, as well as Swamp Thing’s cold assessments. That’s selling him short in a way however, as it’s a matter of perspective, and Swamp Thing and the Parliament of Trees decided where they were standing long ago. There’s no clearly right answer to some of these questions, and that’s part of what makes how these characters react and which sides they choose so compelling.

The work from the art team on Ivy and Swampy is to be applauded, but so is their work on this particular element of the story. The haunting shadows and snow covered trees of the forest fade into equally dour flashbacks, even as the sun and bright lights try to pierce through. Those final pages are just as impactful if not more so, and will likely leave an impression on anyone, regardless of who they ended up siding with more.

I didn’t expect Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing: Feral Trees to leave that sort of impression, but it certainly did, and everyone should have a chance to experience it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Published By: DC Comics
Written By: G. Willow Wilson
Art By: Mike Perkins
Colors By: Mike Spicer
Letters By: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The post Poison Ivy / Swamp Thing: Feral Trees #1 Review – Haunting of The Green appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Joker: Folie á Deux may have bombed at the box office as well as with audiences and critics alike, but the follow up to 2019’s Joker has a fan in Quentin Tarantino. During an appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast (via Variety), Tarantino had high praise for Joker 2, commenting not only that he “really really liked it” but also calling the film’s director Todd Phillips the real joker for delivering a “f-ck you” to comic book geeks, Hollywood, DC, and Warner Bros as well.

“I really, really liked it, really. A lot. Like, tremendously, and I went to see it expecting to be impressed by the filmmaking,’ Tarantino said. “But I thought it was going to be an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn’t think worked like a movie, but that I would appreciate it for what it is. And I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie or that’s like a big, giant mess to some degree. And I didn’t find it an intellectual exercise. I really got caught up into it. I really liked the musical sequences. I got really caught up. I thought the more banal the songs were, the better they were. I find myself listening to the lyrics of ‘For Once in My Life’ in a way I never have before.”

“The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money — he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right?” Tarantino said about Phillips being the real “joker” of the sequel film. “And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the jack-in-the-box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you — is the comic book geeks. He’s saying f-ck you to all of them. He’s saying f-ck you to the movie audience. He’s saying f-ck you to Hollywood. He’s saying f-ck you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Bros. … And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker.”

[RELATED: No, Joker: Folie à Deux Is Not a Dark Knight Prequel]

Tarantino’s comments are a bit of a contrast to his thoughts about 2019’s Joker. The filmmaker previously said that the first film was “a little one-note” and made commentary about the film’s referencing of ‘70s films such as Taxi Driver, questioning at the time “Is this where we live now? Take great movies from the ‘70s and redo them as pop-cultural artifacts?” That said, he did have significant praise for the film’s talks how scene, which he praised at the time for its subversiveness — specifically “subversion on a massive level”.  Comparing the two reactions to the two films, it would seem that what Tarantino is most appreciative of with the Joker films are their approaches to the audience by not doing what one would expect – and sees him coming around to the idea that both films are, ultimately, good.

It would also seem that Tarantino is homing in on what, for some, is the real point of
Joker: Folie á Deux and that is to serve as an antidote for the hype around the film and the character, hype that started with the first Joker film and only seemed to intensify as expectation for the sequel grew. As we have noted before, the Joker sequel is as much social commentary as it is commentary on entertainment itself and the gap between reality and pop-culture obsession, especially with Joker. If nothing else, it certainly makes for an interesting lens with which to look at the film beyond what one may have expected – and one that may well ultimately see viewers revisiting their own thoughts about Joker: Folie a Deux, coming around to see the film as more than originally considered.

The post Quentin Tarantino Praises Joker 2 as “F- You” to “Comic Book Geeks,” Hollywood appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It was the Battle of the Century. Not 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, as the 96-page blockbuster was billed, but the competition between rival publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics. The Golden Age of comics, which began with the Man of Steel’s first appearance in the pages of Action Comics, saw the rise of such costumed characters as Batman, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Captain Marvel, the Human Torch, Wonder Woman, and Captain America. But it was during the Silver Age, in 1961, that Marvel Comics ushered in the Marvel age of comics with the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, and Spider-Man, challenging the “Distinguished Competition” for top spot of the comic book industry.

“The two (extremely competitive!) rival giants in comic books had agreed to join forces and publish the first-ever company crossover superhero team book of all time,” inker Dick Giordano wrote in a foreword to 1991’s Crossover Classics: The Marvel/DC Collection. “It would be the fans’ ultimate wish fulfillment.”

The tabloid-sized publication presented by DC and Marvel was touted as “the greatest superhero team-up of all time,” featuring the two publishers’ “centerpiece” characters: Superman and Spider-Man. “It took the better part of seven months to finish the project, having to get approvals from both companies, each determined to protect the integrity of its own characters,” Giordano recalled.

[RELATED: Marvel Ultimate Universe: One Year In is the Ultimate Crossover]

DC and Marvel’s collaboration was written by Gerry Conway and penciled by Ross Andru, who each worked on Superman for DC and The Amazing Spider-Man for Marvel, with inks by Giordano, lettering by the legendary Gaspar Saladino, and coloring by the prolific Jerry Serpe. Roy Thomas (who edited 1975’s MGM’s Marvelous Wizard of Oz #1, the first joint publication between DC and Marvel) served as a creative consultant, as did Marv Wolfman (co-creator of DC’s New Teen Titans and Marvel’s Blade). Finally, the issue was presented by DC’s Carmine Infantino and Marvel’s Stan Lee, who remarked of his relationship with Infantino: “Talk would turn to the one thing we both knew would someday have to happen; the one thing that all fandom was clamoring for. We knew we couldn’t keep our top heroes apart much longer.”

“Readers everywhere were demanding a team-up of the best of the old and the best of the new,” Lee wrote. “Superman, the first, most powerful, most famous caped crusader of all, and Spider-Man, the newest, most realistic, most popular wall-crawler on the scene today — both together, in one titanic, unforgettable adventure.”

The issue, priced at $2, was a major success. It would spawn a sequel, 1981’s Superman and Spider-Man, and future DC/Marvel crossovers: Batman battled the Hulk in a story by Len Wein and José Luis García-López. Super-teams the X-Men and the New Teen Titans crossed paths courtesy of Chris Claremont and Walt Simonson. Eventually, in the 1990s, DC and Marvel would bring together characters like Batman and the Punisher, Darkseid and Galactus, Green Lantern and the Silver Surfer, and Batman and the likes of Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Captain America.

For the first time in over 20 years, these stories and more are collected in the DC versus Marvel Omnibus, out now from DC Comics. The 1,096-page omnibus, which features a standard cover by artists George Pérez and John Kalisz (left) and a direct market variant full-wrap cover by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair (right), contains the following stories:

Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, DC Special Series #27, Marvel and DC Present: Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1, Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1, Darkseid Vs. Galactus: The Hunger #1, Spider-Man and Batman #1, Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1, Silver Surfer/Superman #1, Batman/Captain America #1, Daredevil/Batman #1, Batman/Spider-Man #1, Superman/Fantastic Four #1, Incredible Hulk Vs. Superman #1, and Batman/Daredevil #1.

However, the omnibus does not collect the 1996 crossover event series DC vs. Marvel / Marvel vs. DC, the four-issue series that pit the heroes of the DC and Marvel Universes against each other in the showdown of the century. That series, which culminated in a merger between the two universes under the short-lived Amalgam Comics imprint co-owned by DC and Marvel, will be collected in the companion omnibus DC Versus Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus. That book has been delayed and currently has a placeholder date of Dec. 31, 2024.

The post DC Versus Marvel Superhero Crossovers Return to Print for First Time in Decades: Omnibus Overview appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC fans are patiently waiting for the first Superman trailer, and they recently got some good news from James Gunn. It feels like a lifetime ago we got the announcement that James Gunn and Peter Safran were spearheading DC Studios and rebooting the DC Universe. The first motion picture in the pipeline is Superman starring David Corenswet. Filming for Superman wrapped over the summer, and now all that’s left is to wait for the anticipated trailer. We have no idea when the Superman trailer will be released, but Gunn did provide an update on the trailer’s status.

James Gunn responded to a comment on Threads asking about the progress of the Superman trailer and whether it was finished. “It’s not. I worked on it this weekend,” Gunn replied. As you can imagine, there were a lot of responses to that comment from Gunn, with fans asking if it’s the teaser trailer or full trailer, who is composing the music, along with asking Gunn not to spoil the entire Superman movie in the trailer. That’s become a recent trend with trailers, as they’ve started revealing more and more of the film and leaving very little for audiences to see in theaters.

When will James Gunn release the Superman trailer?

Since we know James Gunn has been working on the trailer for Superman, the next round of speculation moves to when will the trailer be released. We’re coming to the end of the year, and Superman won’t hit theaters until July 11, 2025. If we look ahead at the calendar, one timeframe does look like the perfect time for DC Studios to offer the first peek at the new Man of Steel.

The one day of the year that is almost defined by the sheer number of high-profile trailers revealed for the first time is Super Bowl Sunday. The game that decides the champions of the NFL draws one of the largest audiences each year, so studios make sure to pay top dollar to premiere trailers for their upcoming movies. Last year we had the first trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine. It makes the most sense for DC to drop the Superman trailer during the Super Bowl in order to have the most eyes on it as possible.

DC sleuths also think the Superman trailer could be released in December during CCXP. James Gunn didn’t confirm the suspicions, but he did give the comment a thinking emoji in response. So should we take that as a denial? It’s hard to say. Also, if the trailer for Superman does come at CCXP, there’s hope that DC releases it online so people not at the convention can also watch it.

When do you think we’ll see the Superman trailer? Let us know your thoughts on social media @ComicBook!

The post Superman Trailer Update From James Gunn Has DC Fans Hyped appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Rumors that pop star Dua Lipa had been signed to a multi-picture deal by DC Studios was debunked by Superman director and DC Studios co-chief James Gunn over the weekend. Reports suggested that the singer-songwriter had inked a “ten-year deal,” a phrasing that Gunn questioned in particular, noting that modern Hollywood contracts are almost exclusively concerned with the number of projects, not the duration of employment. Reports had claimed that Dua Lipa would play Zatanna, the backwards-speaking magician famous for her time with the Justice League and, more recently, her romance with inveterate magical bastard John Constantine.

Gunn, who has always been a vocal debunker of false reporting related to his projects, was quizzed on social media about the rumors. After admitting he hadn’t heard that one before, he quashed the report.

“Until this moment it was neither of those things but as of now it’s debunked as well,” Gunn said on Threads. “’10 year contract?’ Do they think this is the 1930’s? I’m a Dua Lipa fan, but no.”

No doubt there will be those who quibble with the phrasing, suggesting that Gunn didn’t actually say Dua Lipa didn’t sign a deal, just not the one reported. That’s likely a silly exercise, though. Gunn is well known for debunking fake news, but equally seems pretty good at keeping quiet when there’s some grain of truth to the story. Playing a little “gotcha” game with the internet doesn’t really seem like his style.

Zatanna is part of the Justice League Dark, and has therefore been attached to a number of aborted projects in recent years. Created in 1964, the character made her live-action debut in Smallville, portrayed by Serinda Swan. Before and since then, she has appeared in a number of animated projects and even some video games.

A number of projects that would have featured Zatanna have fallen apart since 2005, including two different iterations of planned solo movies, a Justice League Dark movie by Guillermo del Toro, and a Justice League Dark project that JJ Abrams was developing for Max before Discovery bought Warner Bros. and everything at DC changed. Reports at the time suggested that each member of the Justice League Dark would have had their own stand-alone Max projects (either films or shows), building to a collaborative Justice League Dark project in a model that echoed what Marvel had done at Netflix with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the other Defenders-verse shows.

The post James Gunn Debunks Rumor That Dua Lipa Has Joined the DCU appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Earlier this year DC and Upper Deck expanded their partnership in a major way, teasing a wave of new trading cards, tabletop games, and memorabilia, and the great news is that the partnership will be introducing its first products in 2024. There’s even better news though, as fans can get their first DC trading card set in November, as Upper Deck has revealed the first look and details for a special Batman 85th Anniversary set that will be dropping on e-Pack over the course of five weeks, and we’ve got everything you need to now right here, ComicBook had the chance to speak to Upper Deck Entertainment Director Travis Rhea all about the new all-encompassing Batman set, as well the first full Trading Card set DC Annual, and we even talked about the future and working with DC’s new Absolute Universe!

Batman 85th Anniversary Set

The first set as part of this expanded partnership will be the Batman 85th Anniversary set, and you can take a look at some of the cards featured below. The set will be released over the course of five weeks on the e-Pack platform, and will feature a host of iconic Batman characters, covers, vehicles, and more from the worlds of comics, movies, TV, and animation. The set will start rolling out on November 13th, and each week will see 10 new cards released through mid-December. As with many e-Pack cards, these are physical cards in addition to digital, and you can have them shipped to your home right after purchasing.

Funnily enough this set wasn’t actually part of the original rollout plan, but Upper Deck wasn’t going to let such a great moment in time pass them by. “Well, you know, for starters, we just couldn’t pass up the chance at jumping on a significant anniversary for Batman like that. It really wasn’t part of the original line plan, to be honest, but when Warner Bros. let us know that it was an opportunity and they showed us what kind of assets that we would be able to use, like, we, we just couldn’t pass it up,” Rhea said. “It’s really unusual for you to have a branding solution that allows you to dive into comics and animation and movies and TV, and not just characters, but vehicles. So we really did lean into that with this first anniversary set, and I feel like it’s really gonna turn out to be pretty great.”

“It’s a weekly pack launch. There’s five weeks, and each week kind of focuses on a different theme for Batman. Like one might be comic covers and another is going to be villains. Another is based on the film stuff, the, the live action stuff. We just keep it fresh as we go, but it’s really neat to see that cross section of one character, and if you’re going to choose one character, I mean, why not make it Batman, right? He’s. He’s got the deepest lore, so we’re super excited about that,” Rhea said.

[RELATED: Absolute Batman’s New Costume Turns Him Into a Walking Weapon, and Here’s Everything It Can Do]

Upper Deck also wanted to connect the Batman 85th celebration to their highly anticipated Skybox Metal Universe Batman set, and fans can actually grab a special #0 card for that set here. “But we also made it a tie-in. I mentioned it was not originally part of the line plan, so we decided to tie it into something that is and was part of the original plan. We’ve got Skybox Metal Universe Batman coming out next year, and so in this 85th weekly pack set, you can actually get card number zero for a preview card of that set as an achievement as you build your collection on this set,” Rhea said. “So we kind of thought that that was a nice little tease of the new set that’s going to come out next year while focusing on this anniversary.”

DC Annual

The first full set of this new era will be DC Annual, and taking a look at some of the early images, you can see that Upper Deck is featuring some very recent artwork and storylines. That’s pretty impressive when you consider this is the very first set and how much has shifted and changed in DC’s world throughout the past year.

“Well thank you for recognizing that, because that is always the challenge with an annual set is where do you cut it off, right? Like, at some point you’re going to have to cut it and start moving into production, but we want it to be as relevant and new and current as possible, obviously, since it’s an annual set,” Rhea said. “But that set, I think you’ll find has not only some relevant and new content, but it has a lot of familiar feel for annual fans. We didn’t want to throw out all the brand equity that we had with annual, so you’ll have some similar structure to the set and similar technology.”

“There’s definitely some lenticular cards in here and then some sketch cards, but we focused on making sure that the insert sets were very thematic to what DC has going on and will feel relevant and new. We’ve got some Dawn of DC in there, but also Beast War, and we’ll continue to do the rookies who are the rookie heroes and really try to tell that story of 23 and 24 as much as possible and then cut it and move on to the next one because there’s always all kinds of new content coming out from them,” Rhea said.

One thing Rhea is particularly excited to get to is DC’s Absolute Universe, which has taken the world by storm with Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman, and Absolute Superman is on the way very soon too.

“Like, I can’t wait to get to the Absolute stuff,” Rhea said, which led me to figure out how on earth Absolute Batman is going to fit on just one card. I proposed a six card format for Absolute Batman to truly capture the scale, and with a laugh Rhea said “Hey, can we steal that idea?” If it happens you heard it here first!

The DC Annual set will feature several different insert cards and variants to chase, including the Suspended Animation set, and there will be some truly rare cards to collect for those who seek a challenge.3 “So those are going to be tiered out with four different levels basically of rarity. Your most common, I think there’s around 20 different characters that are going to be numbered somewhere around 700, I think, I don’t know. And then they just get more rare from there to where I think the fourth level is somewhere around, I want to say it’s five. Only five characters and number to 100. So those, that one’s going to be like a collecting bonanza. Like people are going to be really interested in chasing that and building the whole set out. So that’s going to be really fun to watch,” Rhea said.

The Future

As for what’s next, the sky is the limit, and Upper Deck already has plans for years to come. That said, they want to be patient and really give each of these foundational sets their due, and they’ve been working DC extensively to make sure every set shines and is as current and relevant as possible.

“Oh yeah, I mean honestly, we have a calendar mapped out through 29 at this point, so we’ve got a lot of plans here, and obviously when you’re that far ahead, you gotta be flexible,” Rhea said. “And we don’t know all of the DC plans moving forward, but we are trying to keep in sync with the publishing team, at least from a planning point of view on a monthly basis. So as they start to focus on stuff, they let us know as far out ahead as possible and then we start to plug it in and readjust stuff in our calendar.”

“But the biggest challenge for us, Matthew, is really just being patient. Honestly, like we are trying to build this up but in the right way, and there’s also like the getting to know you period with the licensor and making sure that we’re hitting on all the right points for them for their brand. And so like, we want to start running but we know it’s not the right thing to do and it’ll really start to ramp up as we get into 26, but 25 is going to be amazing for this team. Like, we can’t wait,” Rhea said. “We’ve got several really key products that we think are going to hit in 25, and then like I said, just being patient and making sure that we ramp it up in the right way and not too much too fast that’s not authentic in nature.”

Will you be picking up the Batman 85th Anniversary set, and which DC character do you want to see spotlighted most in the future? You can talk all things DC and trading cards with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

The post Upper Deck’s Travis Rhea Previews Batman 85th Set, DC Annual, and Teases Absolute Universe appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Penguin has had viewers questioning one character who didn’t seem to fit with the show’s lineup of gangsters, psychopaths, and criminals: Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz). A key flashback in Episode 3 revealed that Victor was once a good kid from a good home (complete with a humble and hard-working father) – but also hinted that there were seeds of some burning ambition for a “better” life already smoldering inside of the boy. Victor has shown how much actual fire there is behind that ambition as he’s helped Oz Cobb/Penguin (Colin Farrell) wriggle his way through an underworld power vacuum – at least up to a point. The Penguin Episode 6 forces Vic into a corner where he has to finally cross the point of no return in becoming a villain.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS!

When Oz’s wars with Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown) went sideways (Episode 5), he had Vic relocate his mother Francis Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell) to an apartment in the third-world slums of Crown Point, where both Oz and Vic grew up. Unfortunately, Vic’s move-in didn’t go unnoticed: Squid (Jared Abrahamson), the local shot-caller spotted Francis, and – together with rumors about the new drug Bliss hitting the streets – discerns that Vic is The Penguin’s sidekick in a major new operation. Squid wants in, and leans hard on Vic to introduce him to the boss. Vic goes to Oz for help, but Oz already has too many problems to listen to another one, and basically tasks VIctor with solving the issue himself. Vic tries to give Squid the out of taking a bribe to leave the issue alone; instead, Squid throws the money back in Vic’s face with the counter-offer of snitching about Oz’s drug operation and hideout to the police or the Falcone/Maroni mobs. Victor pretends to acquiesce and take Squid to see Oz, before turning and shooting his long-time bully point-blank in the neck.

Victor’s first murder doesn’t go as cleanly as he hoped: Squid dies painfully and bloodily, staring at him the whole time. The only thing more haunting than the murder is what happens when Vic returns and let’s Oz know what happened: Penguin gives Vic the “fatherly” advice that when it comes to murder, “It gets easier,” a promise that will only pull Vic further into the depths of soul-sucking criminality.

In fact, the Karmic payback for Vic’s dastardly deed comes quickly: by the end of the epiosde Sofia Falcone tracks down Oz’s hideout in Crown Point, and finds Vic and Francis happily dancing the night away, celebrating Oz’s ascension to the head of his own mob. Now viewers are wondering if Vic has a big death flag planted on him, as ‘punishment’ for choosing the dark path. Then again, other fan theories about The Penguin speculate that “Victor Aguilar” could turn out to be one of Batman’s most notorious villains.

The Penguin airs episodes Sunday nights on HBO and streams on Max.

The post The Penguin Finally Turns a Major Character Into a True Villain in Episode 6 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Much of The Penguin has shown the varying rises to power of Oz and Sofia Falcone, who are both rather amazing at seizing the moment and turning bad things to their favor. The last few episodes have focused a heavy share of the attention on Sofia especially (played by the amazing Cristin Milioti), and while episode 6 of The Penguin does so as well, we also see a different side of Sofia’s life early in the episode, courtesy of a romance with its own share of twists. Spoilers are incoming for The Penguin’s sixth episode Gold Summit, so if you haven’t watched the episode yet you’ve been warned.

A Twisted Romance

Early in the episode the attention shifts to Sofia’s home, and we see her in the midst of a romantic night with someone off camera. We soon learn though that the night is now over, as turns towards that person to reveal it’s her therapist Dr. Julian Rush (played by Theo Rossi). She turns around and tells him “you’re doing it again…you’re scrutinizing).”

She walks towards him and we then learn he’s actually tied up in a chair. He says “I’m admiring you”, and she responds “are you hurt?”. The camera moves closer as she unties him and you can see what she’s referring to, as he’s clearly bleeding a bit from what seem like scratches on his shoulder and chest. He then says “I deserved it.”

As she walks away he says “are you bored with me already?” and she says “I have work.” He gets up to leave and says “When you find Oz, feel free to take advantage of my expertise.” Sofia smirks and then says Dom will see him out. That’s when she heads to the kitchen and encounters Salvatore Maroni (played by Clancy Brown) to talk about that man Oz.

[RELATED: The Penguin Episode 6 Ending – Will SPOILER Die?]

The One Who Believed Her

Sofia has been betrayed by many to this point, especially when she was imprisoned in Arkham Asylum and left to rot by Carmine Falcone. With the power the Falcone family wielded, no one was on her side, but Julian was different, and he’s been by her side since he got out of Arkham.

In past episodes we’ve seen their relationship start to become something different, with hints that there was more there than just a doctor and patient relationship. Julian has dug into her past trauma and helped her face it, and now she has gone from someone who is desperately trying to get people to believe she’s innocent to someone who is seizing power and leaning into that aura of fear.

This ties into their relationship in the present as well, as Sofia is clearly in the power position regarding their dynamic, and Julian saying things like “are you bored with me already” only furthers that notion. We don’t get any more looks at their relationship after this throughout the episode, but it will be interesting to see where it goes from here and how Sofia and Julian react to Oz moving forward.

The Penguin Episode 6 is now streaming on Max.

What did you think of the episode? You can talk all things DC and TV with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

The post The Penguin Introduces a Twisted Romance Into the Show appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Penguin Episode 6 “Gold Summit” just ended on a cliffhanger that has fans sweating like crazy, wondering what kind of tragedy could be coming in Episode 7. So far, the major characters of The Penguin – Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell), Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown), and Francis Cobb (Dierdre O’Connell) -have all managed to dodge a bullet, shank, or worse in the war for Gotham City’s Underworld. Until now, at least…

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW!

In Episode 6, Oz Cobb/Penguin finally got his big break to make a name for himself as a crime boss, after uniting Gotham’s rival gangs under a banner of blue-collar frustration. But while ‘Oz Mob’ was rising, Sofia Falcone doled out some unexpected mercy to Penguin’s main lady Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo) that came back to her in the form of a tip from Eve about where Oz may be hiding out in his childhood slum of Crown Point.

Meanwhile, over in Crown Point, Francis is coming apart over having to return to her old slum living ways, confusing past and present with greater frequency. To prove his worth to his “ma,” Oz seeks to get the power in the ‘Point turned back on (winter is coming!), by tracking down the crooked city official on Carmine Falcone’s payroll. Oz leans on the councilman to be Penguin’s patsy, and the guy bends to the blackmail, getting power diverted back to Crown Point. As the lights and heat come back on, Victor and Francs dance to celebrate Oz’s big successes – which is exactly when Sofia arrives at the apartment, gun in hand, realizing that Oz has kept the secret of his mother being alive, playing her once again.

Will Sofia Falcone Kill Francis Cobb or Victor?

To Cristin Milioti’s credit, she’s made Sofia Falcone such a deeply layered and complex character that it’s hard to read what she’ll do next. She owes Oz a big emotional blow to the heart for killing her brother – but as she explains to Sal Maroni earlier in the episode while tossing Oz’s apartment for clues, Penguin’s great advantage is that there’s seemingly nothing and no one he cares about. It won’t take Sofia long to discern just how deeply attached Oz is to Francis, and know what her loss could do to him; however, Sofia’s meeting Eve seems to highlight the distinction that she is hesitant to hurt women and further fuel the lie that she’s “The Hangman.” That said, Sofia’s harshest weapons are often her wit and her words; she didn’t just give Eve a pass in their conversational joust: she made Eve feel the shame of getting played by Oz, the same man that helped Carmine Falcone kill dozens of women – including friends of Eve’s. It was a way of undoing the spell of deception and manipulation that Penguin excels at – maybe that will be the same goal with Francis: not killing her so much as killing her love for her son.

Then there’s poor Victor, who just gave us all the necessary runway for his untimely death, after making the final ‘fall from grace’ of killing neighborhood thug Calvin (Ben Cook) in cold blood. By TV show standards, Victor is now fair game for moral punishment, since he’s decided to follow the example of his surrogate dad (Oz) instead of his real dad. The only things that may save Victor are Sofia’s belief that he’s still some kind of good-hearted innocent Oz is using – and her skepticism that Penguin doesn’t truly value anyone.

Fans must wait until next Sunday when The Penguin Episode 7 airs on HBO and streams on Max.

The post The Penguin Episode 6 Ending – Will SPOILER Die? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Through six episode of The Penguin, Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) has been desperately trying to fill the power void in Gotham City. The death of Carmine Falcone — and the destruction of the bridges into the city — left a unique opportunity for the criminals of Gotham to step up and become the new kingpin. Oz has obsessively chased that goal, throwing under the bus anyone and everyone possible to achieve the power he seeks. At the end of this week’s new episode of The Penguin, it looks as though the titular villain has finally made it happen. At the very least, he’s closer than he’s ever been.

WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the latest episode of The Penguin! Continue reading at your own risk…

The power struggle in Gotham City has been something of a roller coaster over the course of The Penguin, and Oz has been at the center of all the drama. He worked with both the Falcones and the Maronis to try and climb his way up the ladder, only to toss them both aside at the most opportune moments. Little did he know, he was creating a new monster, as Sofia Falcone rallied her father’s former members to create a new family: The Gigantes. Using that momentum, she made a deal with Salvatore Maroni to bring their families together, united with the sole purpose of taking Oz down.

This has left Oz in yet another precarious situation, especially after the gangs working with him started seeing their members killed by the Gigantes trying to send a message. All of this led to one of the final scenes of The Penguin‘s sixth episode, as Oz called a meeting with a majority of the gangs in Gotham.

[RELATED: Every Movie and TV Show Coming to Max in November 2024]

While they came to the meeting wanting vengeance, the leaders of the gangs end up going something surprising. They actually listen to what Oz has to say. And they all agree to continue working with him, making a massive Gotham City crime syndicate that Sofia and Salvatore will have a hard time standing up against.

The key for Oz in this big meeting is that he continued to push the same narrative he always has. The timing, however, is finally right, and people are in a position to hear him out. He talks about his history and how he made his way through the ranks, starting as a kid who had nothing and becoming a driver for Falcone before being allowed to take on any other responsibility. Unlike the traditional crime lords, who have always had wealth at their side, Oz understands the plight everyone else in Gotham City. He’s been through the hardest experiences the city can throw at someone, and he’s found a way to continue on. Now, those experiences have made him the most powerful man in Gotham.

The most interesting aspect of this entire situation is how Sofia and Salvatore might respond. They obviously aren’t going to take it lying down, so there will be something coming Oswald’s way in the near future.

The post The Penguin Episode 6 Introduces a Whole New Mob Syndicate to Gotham City appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Joker: Folie à Deux is having its last dance at the box office. After four weeks playing in theaters, the Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga-fronted musical sequel crossed the $200 million mark at the global box office this weekend. Domestically, Joker 2 grossed an extra $600,000 to bring its domestic cume to $57.8 million, per The-Numbers, for a cumulative total of $201.1 million worldwide. That’s a drop of about 72 percent from its third weekend of $2.1 million, when the Warner Bros. release had its theater count slashed from 4,102 theaters to 2,857 theaters.

With Joker 2 becoming available on digital this week, it remains on just 1,243 screens after 24 days of release. Its $37.6 million opening weekend was lower than superhero flops Morbius ($39 million), The Marvels ($46 million), and The Flash ($55 million), and the film suffered the worst drop ever for a comic book movie when it plunged 81 percent in its second weekend on Oct. 11.

To compare, the other R-rated comic book movie of the year, Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, earned $211.4 million domestically in its opening weekend — surpassing Joker 2‘s lifetime total gross in just three days.

[RELATED: How to Watch Joker 2 Online, and When You Can Stream on Max]

Another underperforming comic book sequel, Venom: The Last Dance, waltzed into theaters this weekend and topped the box office with an estimated $51 million. That’s a series low opening below Black Adam, which disappointed when the DC movie opened with $67 million over this same weekend in 2022.

Joker 2 ranked in 11th place at the box office, earning less than Neon’s Anora ($867,000) in its second week and the LEGO-animated Pharrell Williams biopic Piece by Piece ($720,000), now in its third weekend in theaters. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — which has consistently outperformed Joker 2 despite being in theaters for twice as long — added another $3.2 million to its domestic tally of $288.7 million after 52 days in theaters. Sony’s Venom 3 took the No. 1 spot, bumping Paramount’s Smile 2 to second place with $9.4 million, while Focus’ new release Conclave opened in third place with $6.5 million.

Why did Joker 2 bomb at the box office? With a reported budget of $190 million — not including an additional $100 million in marketing and distribution costs — it would have needed to earn at least $450 million before breaking even. 2019’s Joker earned over $1 billion worldwide against a budget of about $70 million, but such numbers were out of reach for a sequel that was rejected by critics and audiences alike: Joker 2 is at 32% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes and received the worst grade ever for a comic book movie from opening night moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.

Joker: Folie à Deux will be available to watch at home just before Halloween and will debut on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on Dec. 17.

The post Joker 2 Box Office Milestone: Folie à Deux Crosses $200 Million Globally After Four Weeks appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The series premiere of Creature Commandos is on the horizon, kicking off James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Universe with great fanfare. The adult animated series is planning to offer a violent and emotional take on the superhero team of the same name, which consists of an all-star cast of various monsters. The latest trailer for Creature Commandos, which screened at New York Comic Con earlier this month, showcased exactly what that will deliver — including an Easter egg to a surprising and niche corner of DC’s comic portfolio.

Midway through the new Creature Commandos trailer, as Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is introducing Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) to the team, The Bride (Indira Varma) can be seen reading — and then ripping up — a tabloid magazine. The magazine has the title Young Love, with the same title treatment as the DC romance series of the same name.

Originally published by the magazine publisher Crestwood/Prize beginning in 1949, Young Love was introduced as an attempt to capitalize on the success of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s massively successful Young Romance. The spinoff title ran successfully throughout the 1950s and 1960s, before Crestwood/Prize sold their catalogue of comic titles to DC. The publisher then carried the torch of Young Love for almost fifteen years, before shuttering the series in 1977. In that time, a number of beloved creators were involved with the series, including John Romita, Sr., Robert Kanigher, Mike Sekowsky, Gene Colan, and Barbara Friedlander. More recently, stories from Young Love have been reprinted in facsimiles, and the title inspired the 2017 Halloween-themed one-shot Young Monsters in Love (which, coincidentally, starred The Bride on its cover).

Just based on the snippet from the Creature Commandos trailer, it appears as if the in-universe DCU version of Young Love is more in line with a tabloid magazine. Either way, the inclusion of it in the series could have some interesting implications — for starters, it could allude to The Bride’s complicated romance with Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour). The Easter egg also illustrates the breadth of the DCU as a whole, with the ability to homage or include the publisher’s titles that aren’t just part of the superhero space. The modern acknowledgment of classic romance comics has been few and far between across the industry, outside of the enduring popularity of romance heroine-turned-superhero Patsy Walker / Hellcat.

Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option. The cast of Creature Commandos includes Steve Agee as Economos, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana, Anya Chalotra as Circe, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Sean Gunn as GI Robot & Weasel, David Harbour as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Indira Varma as The Bride, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Based on DC characters and produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation; additional executive producers include Peter Safran, Dean Lorey, and Sam Register; Rick Morales serves as a supervising producer.

Creature Commandos will premiere exclusively on Max on Thursday, December 5th.

The post Creature Commandos Trailer Reveals an Incredibly Specific DC Easter Egg appeared first on ComicBook.com.

As DC Studios ramps up its new movie and television universe, one of the more unexpected but highly anticipated projects focuses on the Bat family, and now it appears we have a release window for it. Earlier this year James Gunn announced a new animated movie titled Dynamic Duo, which will focus on the stories of two former Robins Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. Tonight Swaybox Studios Director Arthur Mintz spoke about Dynamic Duo at the 2024 Lightbox Expo, and during the Warner Bros. Pictures Animation panel he reportedly revealed that the film is eyeing a release in Spring of 2028 (via Inkevinsworld_).

More details will hopefully follow soon, but with a release window of 2028, it might be a minute before we actually get a real first look at what Swaybox is working on. That said, the initial description of an animated film that mixes CGI and puppetry was plenty to get fans excited about the possibilities, and the premise didn’t hurt either.

Dynamic Duo will be a coming of age story for both former Robins, and Mintz did drop one other tease for the project, saying that it would have huge action sequences that he compared to the scale of The Bourne Ultimatum (via DCUBrief).

The project was officially revealed by Gunn, who couldn’t be more excited about what Swaybox brings to the project and the premise. “Over the moon excited to announce the newest DC Studios/Warner Bros Pictures Animation greenlit film for theaters, DYNAMIC DUO, the story of Robin… or should I say, Robins, as in Dick Grayson and Jason Todd,” Gunn said. “The first feature film from the visionary Swaybox, a mix of animation, puppetry, and CGI, a script from the wonderfully talented Matt Aldrich, produced with our partners at Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. This is something special.”

There’s already a Batman and Robin-focused film happening in the previously announced The Brave and the Bold, though that one will feature Batman and Damian Wayne. With the addition of Jason and Grayson, that only leaves Tim Drake as the one Robin who isn’t figured into film or TV plans, at least not to public knowledge anyway. We’ll have to wait and see if that changes, and if any other Batman-centric characters join the mix.

Up first though is Creature Commandos, which will then be followed by projects like Superman, Lanterns, Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow, and more. So, what do you think of what DC is doing with Dynamic Duo? You can talk things DC with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

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McFarlane Toys is set to open up pre-orders for a strange Build-A-Wave series of DC Multiverse figures that are inspired by a poorly reviewed video game that launched on the Super Nintendo and Genesis in 1995. The game in question is Justice League Task Force, and the lineup includes figures of Superman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Batman that include pieces to assemble Darkseid.

If you ask us, this wave is worth picking up for Darkseid and the weird face sculpts and luxurious hair on Superman and Aquaman. It appears that they’ve come fresh from the salon to look their best in battle. Pre-orders for the figures are expected to go live starting at 9am PT / 12pm ET today, October 25th here at Entertainment Earth (free U.S. shipping on orders $39+ for a limited time) priced at $24.99. They should also be available on Amazon. Direct links will be added to the list below after the launch. UPDATE: links and an image of Darkseid added below.

• Superman Justice League Task Force Figure – See at Entertainment Earth / Amazon
• The Flash Justice League Task Force Figure – See at Entertainment Earth / Amazon
• Aquaman Justice League Task Force Figure – See at Entertainment Earth / Amazon
• Batman Justice League Task Force Figure – See at Entertainment Earth / Amazon

On a related note, McFarlane Toys launched a new line of collectibles dubbed “Todd’s Mods” earlier this week. They appear to be McFarlane Toys’ take on Funko Pops as limited edition, 4.5-inch posed vinyl figures. Wave 1 includes Batman, Swamp Thing, and Bane. Pre-orders sold out at Entertainment Earth (case versions are still available), but you can still pre-order them here on Amazon at the time of writing.

You can keep tabs on more of the latest McFarlane Toys releases right here.

The post McFarlane Toys Launches a Weird Justice League Task Force Darkseid Build-A-Wave appeared first on ComicBook.com.

2024 has been a stellar year for Green Lantern thanks to War Journal and the main series, but things are only getting better with two new additions to the franchise, and one just hit stores. That would be the new Elseworlds series Green Lantern Dark, which spins a new tale on a post apocalyptic world that is in dire need of a Green Lantern’s light. Thankfully there is someone answering that call, but they are probably not at all what you’re expecting, and that’s far from a bad thing. We’re here to break down who this new Lantern is, what she can do, and the dangerous world she finds herself in the midst of.

Readers meet the new Lantern courtesy of a young girl named Lunette, who believes with all her heart and soul in the legend of the Green Lantern. Some regard the Lantern as real, while others feel she is nothing more than a common myth passed on to help people feel less hopeless, but despite the doubt that surrounds her, Lunette is not swayed in the least.

Hope isn’t easy to come by these days in general, as the world has been plunged into long stretches of darkness. The issue starts with the story of how that came to be, with the world’s heroes fighting against the sudden and overwhelming darkness that threatened to consume the world. Though they fought valiantly, the heroes all fell…except for one. The Green Lantern illuminated the night with her piercing light, and was the lone opponent of the monsters that rose from the earth to feast on the living, including one of the most powerful incantations Grundy to date.

Who Is Rina Mori?

The first meeting between Lunette and the mysterious Lantern goes…well, rather badly, with the Lantern telling them all to run now that Grundy knows their location in order to have a chance at seeing another day. Lunette follows her and that’s when we learn that this mysterious person actually converses with her Lantern, as you see her responding to it after it accuses her of being scared.

Lunette confronts her about what she said and about possibly being depressed, which then leads to the revelation that the legend Lunette’s believed all this time isn’t exactly true. The Lantern reveals that where she goes, evil follows, as they are drawn to her flame. Lunette counters this by explaining she’s not a beacon for evil, but a lighthouse for those looking for safety.

This is where we finally learn the Lantern’s name is Rina Mori, as she explains she didn’t choose the mantle she now holds or the Lantern itself. She’s not a god to be prayed to or worshipped as the legends indicate, and she was just a child when all this was put on her shoulders. She’s just as lost as everyone else, but also too stubborn to die.

The Flame

Lunette’s words get to Rina later though, as she returns to help the village against the dark army that threatens to overtake it. Rina’s power is immense, as she lights up the battlefield and takes out a host of Grundy’s army from the sky. After a new wave of Grundy’s army moves in, Rina creates a massive shield that protects the entire village, and the twist on willpower here is more like magic, as she creates spells that are her wishes being willed into existence.

One last twist remains though for our new Lantern, as she reveals that all of the stories she told about the Lantern are what helped light her Lantern all this time. Lunette then stands beside a tired Rina as her shield evaporates from the strain, and soon we see both Lunette and Rina powered by the green light. Lunette’s lantern is now glowing green as well, but Rina reveals isn’t not the Lantern, but the fire inside, which accepted Lunette’s help in Rina’s moment of need.

That’s just the start of this journey, and we are sure to learn even more about what happened, what led to Rina’s role as Green Lantern, and what the future holds for both Lunette and Rina. In the meantime, let me know what you thought of Green Lantern Dark on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

The post DC’s Green Lantern Dark Reveals New Post-Apocalyptic Lantern appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Tom Hardy is suiting up for another box office run as Venom with this week’s release of Venom: The Last Dance – but is there a future for some of the other iconic roles he’s played? Before Venom, movie fans knew Hardy best from his roles as Batman villain Bane in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and as “Mad” Max Rockatansky in George Requel film Mad Max: Fury Road. Warner Bros. Pictures has continued to invest in both franchises, with Fury Road getting a spinoff prequel film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, while there are two new Batman films (The Batman: Part II, The Brave and the Bold) in the works, as well as Batman villain team-up movie featuring Bane and Deathstroke the Terminator.

Tom Hardy on Returning as Mad Max

While most fans may think of Tom Hardy as an actor who finishes with a franchise or a role and never looks back, Hardy maintains a surprising level of readiness to return to a franchise, if needed, and (more importantly) if called upon. That is the case with Mad Max – the only thing is, Hardy has heard any chatter about what’s next for the franchise:

“No I haven’t been told anything,” Hardy told ET regarding Mad Max, adding, “But obviously I’d love to do that.”

That answer is only half of what Hardy previously said: the actor may be willing to return as Mad Max, but earlier this year he flat-out told a Forbes reporter “I don’t think that’s happening.”

Tom Hardy on Doing DC’s Bane & Deathstroke Movie

The new DC Universe franchise relaunch is about to begin, with James Gunn’s Creature Commandos series arriving late this year, and Superman (2025) releasing in theaters next summer. With Gunn reinventing the DC brand the screen, and Bane now getting his own feature film, some fans have been recasting Tom Hardy as the character – even going so far as to say Bane & Deathstroke should also team Hardy with Zack Snyder’s DCEU Deathstroke actor, Joe Manganiello.

But while Tom Hardy is just as willing to make a return as Bane, he acknowledged that his role in The Dark Knight Trilogy was its own thing. The new DCU may be looking for a new kind of Bane – and Hardy thinks another actor deserves that shot:

“Oh hell yeah, love to [play Bane again]! But I don’t know if that’s for me. I did my run, you know? Like let someone else have a go!”

The Bane & Deathstroke movie is still early in development – no plot details have yet been revealed, nor is it clear how it will tie into Batman or other DCU heroes or villain projects currently being planned.

Tom Hardy is currently finishing his Venom movie trilogy in Venom: The Last Dance.

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Over the course of nearly a century, DC’s comics have added to the massive tapestry of pop culture in some fascinating ways. From characters to concepts to even mythologies and gods and entirely new worlds, DC has given readers a lot to explore, including rules for those worlds and realities, including words and how they’re used be it for magic or other purposes – and in the franchise’s new Absolute Universe, one of those words just got a significant and surprising limitation put upon it.

Spoilers for Absolute Wonder Woman #1 from Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire, and Becca Carey below! Only look if you want to know!

A good portion of Absolute Wonder Woman #1 is devoted to the unconventional new origin story of the Absolute Universe’s Diana Prince, who was raised in Hell instead of among the Amazons of Themyscira. More specifically, Apollo drops off a young infant Diana with Circe, confirming that she needs to deal with the baby however she sees fit. As Apollo explains it, Diana has been banished to Hell to punish the Amazons for their crimes, and in order to ensure that she isn’t reunited with her kind, Circe is now banned from saying the word “Amazon.” When Circe tries to, it is redacted out loud.

From there, Circe reluctantly raises Diana as her own daughter, helping mold her into the warrior who travels from Hell to Man’s World in the issue’s present day. In a poignant flashback moment juxtaposed with Diana’s present-day fight, Diana asks Circe to help her come to terms with who she really is. Although Circe can not say the word “Amazon,” Diana can, and she tearfully begins to embrace that this is part of her identity.

This twist with the word “Amazon” is interesting on multiple levels — for starters, it takes the Amazons’ usual seclusion from society to a whole other level, as Diana grows up into young adulthood unaware of her true heritage. Those circumstances also shape the version of Diana who we see in the present day, as she charges into battle in both recognizable and unrecognizable ways.

“I was worried people would think she was just going to be so dramatically overpowered, but I would say there are limitations to the magic,” Thompson told ComicBook in a recent interview. “She pays prices for that sometimes. It’s nothing unlimited. She’s also not a master magician. Like, she’s a witch, and she can do a lot of this stuff. She was raised in it, but she’s not, that’s not her primary skill set. Her primary skill set is still more Wonder Woman-based. I would also say that there are a few things that we will reveal where Diana has some very distinct disadvantages that maybe the magic helps compensate for or whatever. So I think, don’t worry about her being too overpowered. Just be excited about how creative we’re going to be able to get with some of these solutions.”

Absolute Wonder Woman #1 is now available wherever comics are sold.

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Absolute Wonder Woman shakes things up in huge way, and there’s a lot to get used to right from the opening pages. A new origin story brings with it new mythology, a new guardian, and new abilities, and that’s just in the first issue. We’re here to break down all of the big changes and what they mean for the future, and to do that we’ll be getting into huge spoilers for Absolute Wonder Woman #1 from here on out, starting with when we first meet Diana and why that’s important.

A New Origin Story

In the main line universe, Diana is brought to life by a prayer from Hippolyta to the Gods, and that actually could still be the case in the Absolute Universe. The first time we meet Diana is when Apollo brings a baby Diana to Circe. Circe has been imprisoned on the island of Hell by the Gods, and now Apollo brings her Diana, revealing that she’s been taken from the Amazons for their crimes against the Gods and is never to be returned.

Then Apollo reveals that not only have the Amazons had their last descendant taken from them, but the word Amazon has been banned, with Apollo removing the ability for anyone to say it. As for Diana, the Gods don’t care what happens to her, just that she’s not with the Amazons, and Circe is open to just letting nature take its course. That ultimately changes when Diana shows the ability to survive, even as a baby, and eventually Circe forms a motherly bond with her newfound daughter.

A Magical Skillset

In addition to the changes in her backstory, Wonder Woman has a legion of new tricks up her sleeve. Thanks to being raised by a sorceress, Diana is able to wield magic and utilize spells, and much of that comes courtesy of a magic pouch that she carries on her belt. She’s able to pull out prepared spells and items from the pouch, but she’s also able to conjure weapons, including a massive magical broadsword that makes her an even more formidable foe.

While the sword is effective on offense, it’s also a defensive force, as Wonder Woman shields herself from a powerful blast from an alien invader late int eh issue. We also see her power up her hand with magical energy and touch her opponent to seemingly burn them or some other effect, but she’s hit with a stray blast before we can see that take full effect.

While she doesn’t have her trademark bracelets, she has sturdy gauntlets in their place, and at one point uses them to reflect a blast back at her opponent. She also has the ability to fly and still possesses great agility and speed, though when she needs some help she also has the option to call in her skeletal Pegasus into the fray, which is simply an amazing visual. She has far more at her disposal though, as the very last page of the issue shows us Diana wielding a red-tinged lasso, presumably charged with magical energy, and we cannot wait to see that in action when issue #2 rolls around.

We had a chance to speak with Thompson ahead of the big debut issue, and she also provided some context regarding Diana’s magical abilities and what she is and isn’t capable of.

“I will say that while the magic of Wonder Woman, I haven’t really seen people saying this, so I probably shouldn’t bring it up and raise this issue, but I was worried people would think she was just going to be so dramatically overpowered, but I would say there are limitations to the magic,” Thompson said. “She pays prices for that sometimes. It’s nothing unlimited. She’s also not a master magician. Like, she’s a witch, and she can do a lot of this stuff. She was raised in it, but she’s not, that’s not her primary skill set. Her primary skill set is still more Wonder Woman-based.”

“I would also say that there are a few things that we will reveal where Diana has some very distinct disadvantages that maybe the magic helps compensate for or whatever. So I think, don’t worry about her being too overpowered. Just be excited about how creative we’re going to be able to get with some of these solutions,” Thompson said.

What did you think of Absolute Wonder Woman #1? You can talk all things DC and comics with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

The post Absolute Wonder Woman’s New DC Origin Explained, What Are Diana’s New Powers? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Superman (Vol. 6) #19. The Ultimate Killing Machine is Superman’s ultimate enemy. Decades after Doomsday wreaked death and destruction in a march to Metropolis that ended with the death of Superman in 1993’s Superman #75, the Man of Steel’s strongest foe has evolved once again in this week’s Superman #19 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora. The monstrous creature, who was sent to hell when he was destroyed during Dark Crisis, reigned over the dark domain as King Doomsday in 2023’s Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1 — a one-shot that ended with Doomsday pummeling the gates of hell itself.

Mirroring his first appearance in 1992’s Superman: The Man of Steel #17, each powerful blow brought Doomsday closer to freedom — and Superman closer to doom. After the events of Absolute Power — which saw Superman resurrect his black recovery suit after he was temporarily stripped of his powers — Superman #19 begins at “The End.”

Titled “The Many Deaths of Doomsday,” the issue opens with Superman and the Time Trapper in his domain at the End of Time. “Killing is never the answer,” Superman tells the hooded figure with the ability to manipulate all of time. “There must be another way.”

Time Trapper replies that Superman’s morals and ideals “meant nothing in your day,” and even less at the end of everything. “It has been said that everything dies, but we both know that is not true, don’t we, Kal-El?” he asks the Kryptonian. “Superman is forever. I am forever. Our conflict will never end.”

When Superman says that it will be different this time, the Time Trapper recalls the words of Tenzil Kem, a.k.a. the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Matter-Eater Lad: “As long as there is a Superman, there is hope in the universe for a better tomorrow. But here you are, the Last Son of Everything,” Time Trapper says. “If you won’t do what needs to be done… I will find someone who will.”

In present-day Metropolis, super partners Superman and Superwoman — a recently super-powered Lois Lane — encounter the new Doomsday. SuperCorp’s scientists deduce that Doomsday’s death and resurrection triggered his evolution into a hulking hellmonster, but before Superman and Superwoman can engage the creature in a fight, time suddenly stops.

“Have you told Lois yet?” Time Trapper asks. “That you will watch her wither with age and die? That you will outlive everything? All your family and friends will be like sand in an hourglass as they waste away. Forgotten to time.” Time Trapper taunts Superman further, telling him he’s witnessed timelines where Kal-El chose to live among the humans as Clark Kent. “A life without power. How selfish,” he hisses. “To deny the future a Superman.”

When Superman asks why he’s come to this time of all timelines, Time Trapper ominously warns: “Because this moment is special. The horror that happens next will decide the fate of everything.”

The Time Trapper has been known by many names: Death, Apocalypse, Eternity, Entropy, Time… and now Doomsday. “We have been enemies for a millennia, Superman,” the Time Trapper Doomsday says as he removes his hood, revealing a gaunt form. “But now I need your help.” Next: the future is doomed.

Superman #19, the first issue under the new DC All In initiative, is on sale now from DC Comics.

Here’s the synopsis for Superman #20, out Nov. 27: “Doomsday from hell! Superman and Superwoman investigate Lois Lane’s new powers as they deal with the unstoppable Doomsday… but when the mysterious Time Trapper reveals his ultimate secret, it shakes Clark, Lois, and the rest of the Super-Family to their core.”

The post DC Reveals Superman’s Future — and the Villain He Fights Until the End of Time appeared first on ComicBook.com.

John Turturro is done with Don Falcone. The Severance actor played Gotham City crime boss Carmine Falcone opposite Robert Pattinson in 2022’s The Batman, where he was shot dead by the Riddler (Paul Dano). Falcone returned, via flashback, in episode 4 of the HBO series The Penguin, this time portrayed by DC veteran Mark Strong (Green Lantern and Shazam!). It was initially reported that the role was recast due to scheduling conflicts, but in a new interview, Turturro explained he didn’t reprise the character in part because of the amount of violence against women in the Batman spinoff series.

“I did what I wanted to with the role,” Turturro told Variety about his turn as the Batman villain. “In the show, there was a lot of violence towards women, and that’s not my thing.”

Although Turturro’s Falcone strangles a woman in The Batman, and is revealed to have killed his daughter Selina Kyle’s (Zoë Kravitz) mother before the events of the movie, the violence “happens off-screen,” Turturro said. “It’s scarier that way.”

However, in The Penguin, flashbacks to 2012 revealed that the Falcone Don committed the Hangman murders he pinned on his daughter, Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who he had remanded to Arkham Asylum. She has since rechristened herself Sofia Gigante after learning that Carmine strangled her mother, Isabella Gigante, and staged her death as a suicide by hanging.

“You can’t do everything you want to,” Turturro added of his schedule, which includes the Pedro Almodóvar film The Room Next Door and the upcoming second season of Apple TV’s Severance.

“Initially, did we want to be able to have John come back and be Carmine Falcone? Of course,” The Penguin creator and showrunner Lauren LeFranc previously told EW of the recasting. “John’s a really talented actor and was exceptional in the film, but once we realized that his schedule wasn’t going to work out for our show, it became quickly about who has that sort of gravitas and ferociousness, that Mark Strong actually does have. It was really exciting to see how those scenes turned out because he was so seminal to Sofia’s story. We certainly weren’t going to not have Carmine in our story. We very specifically plotted Sofia’s arc to be interwoven with Carmine’s arc, as well.”

Addressing Turturro’s recent comments to Variety, LeFranc told TheWrap, “I completely respect an actor who doesn’t want to take on a role for whatever their personal reasons. I only want people to join our show who are excited and want to further the story we’re trying to tell. I think Mark Strong did a really fantastic job. He made the character his own and also really honored what John Turturro did.”

“To my knowledge it was due to scheduling conflicts,” she added of Turturro turning down The Penguin. LeFranc engaged in talks with Reeves, who directed The Batman and serves as executive producer on The Penguin, about how the show would “deepen” the depiction of Carmine Falcone as a killer and his violence against women.

“Carmine in the movie killed Selina Kyle’s mother and then does try to actively kill Selina, and also kills Annika — Selina’s friend,” LeFranc explained to TheWrap. “I think it’s been established, and Matt and I are in agreement on this, that Carmine’s a very violent man and has a violent streak against women.”

New episodes of The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell, premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.

The post John Turturro Reveals Why He Turned Down Returning as Falcone for The Penguin appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Happy new comic book day! It’s another major week in comics, and the ComicBook staff have come together to break down and review as many of the big comics releasing this week as possible. Now obviously this isn’t every single comic on stands, but we’re breaking down new releases from Marvel, DC, Image Comics, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Oni Press, IDW, Mad Cave Studios, DSTLRY, and more!

We’ve also carved out some additional space for two of this week’s biggest books, including Absolute Wonder Woman #1 and Iron Man #1, so if our smaller review here piques your interest, make sure to check out the full review for a much more comprehensive analysis of all three issues. As for ratings, we keep things simple with a whole or half number out of five, and you can check out some of our previous reviews right here. With all that said, let’s get to this week’s new comics!

DC

Absolute Wonder Woman #1
DC launched the absolute universe in grand style with Absolute Batman, setting expectations even higher for Absolute Wonder Woman, the next Absolute series up to bat. Despite that high bar, Absolute Wonder Woman quickly soared past on a skeletal Pegasus and left it in the dust. Writer Kelly Thompson, artist Hayden Sherman, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Becca Carey implemented seismic changes to Wonder Woman’s origin and world while still finding a way to retain Diana’s heart and soul. Absolute Wonder Woman goes so hard you can hear the soundtrack booming from the pages, and no one should miss the show. – Matthew Aguilar (Read full review here)
Rating: 5 out of 5

Action Comics #1072
Action Comics #1072 escalates things well, giving us both a backstory for Mon-El and Superman’s friendship, as well as revealing how he’s come to be in charge of things in the Phantom Zone as well as reveals the real threat that they’re facing and why Superman is there. It’s somewhat predictable in a sense, but it also feels very much like a set up for a classic Superman story in that we’re going to get a Superman who is challenged greatly on little resources with a lot at stake. That part of the story works well, though the side story taking place back on Earth with Superboy is still slow burning enough that it’s not really clicking with the overall story yet, feeling a bit like a distraction. As for the Supergirl story, I’m still not quite sure what’s going on there, but it’s interesting and the art in particular is enjoyable. – Nicole Drum
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Batman: The Brave and The Bold #18
There are four great stories in Batman The Brave and the Bold #18, but it’s the first one, “Doubt” from writer Christian Ward and artist Patric Reynolds that is just outstanding. Not only is the story just good — Batman taking on a villain named Doubt who is manipulating people using his voice — but the message of the story is superb. The art in this story also just blew me away. The other stories are also solid, though the Harley tale “Swipe Left on Scams” by Marguerite Sauvage is particularly humorous. Overall, very solid issue.
– Nicole Drum
Rating: 4 out of 5

DC Horror Presents… #1
DC Comics presenting spooky stories in its universe is nothing new, though this three issue mini-series is looking to up the ante with a mature readers’ only tag. Between the two stories featuring the Dollmaker and Wonder Woman, this anthology has plenty of creepy goodies for readers looking to see their superhero stories injected with a creepy aesthetic. While the Dollmaker story seems a tad confusing in terms of its ending, it makes for a blood affair from writer David Dastmalchian. The second story, focusing on Themyscera, is one that does well in both highlighting Diana’s backstory as well as making a bloodcurdling scenario for the Amazons. DC Horror Presents is a solid enough anthology for those looking for comics that are in the spirit of the season. – Evan Valentine
Rating 3.5 out of 5

Detective Comics #1090
Of DC’s All In relaunches thus far, Detective Comics’ is easily the most jarring. While Tom Taylor’s plot has the occasional bright spots, the overwhelming majority of it is bogged down by convoluted twists and turns and heavy-handed monologues. Luckily, Mikel Janin’s art is as excellent as ever, although his own coloring does cause some of the details to be lost. Morbid curiosity leaves me intrigued to see what’s next for this Detective run, but it is a massive change of pace following Ram V’.s recent run. – Jenna Anderson
Rating: 3 out of 5

From The DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives #4
Death in the Family: Robin Lives #4 concludes and if the previous issue felt like it was standing still, this issue feels like it’s speed running to a conclusion that can’t decide if it wants to tie everything up with a pretty little bow or have a wild (but not particularly well concealed) cliffhanger. Our narrator runs us through what happened the night Jason killed the Joker and the tidy cleanup that comes after, including some details about what Bruce does next that simply feel out of place for the character. It’s at times hard to follow and some of the ways things wrap up feel rushed and not like they were particularly well-thought out (there’s a reveal about the psychologist that seems a bit odd.) Overall, it’s an interesting addition to the overall Death in the Family story, but it falls a bit short.
– Nicole Drum
Rating: 3 out of 5

Green Arrow #17
Green Arrow delivers the end of an era and the dawn of a new one in a familiar, but brilliantly executed fashion. Joshua Williamson and Amancay Nahuelpan’s main story is a straightforward, but well-crafted tying of loose ends, adding some necessary narrative fuel to Oliver’s decisions in Absolute Power. Chris Condon and Montos’ preview for their forthcoming run is a stellar second chapter, with an artistic grittiness and unique sense of humor that will surely produce greatness in the future. Great job all around.
– Jenna Anderson
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Green Lantern Dark #1
It’s already evident from the very first issue that Green Lantern Dark is set to be something special and altogether unique for the Lantern mythology. As an Elseworlds title, Green Lantern Dark is able to take some bigger chances, and the team of writer Tate Brombal, artist Werther Dell’Edera, colorist Giovanna Niro, and letterer Tom Napolitano take full advantage. If you were hoping for some House of Slaughter and Something Is Killing the Children influences here, you’ll be happy to know they are fully accounted for. Brombal creates a new Lantern named Rina Mori that is as rigid and curmudgeonly as she is heroic, and the reasons for that outlook are already rich and complex just in the first issue. Meanwhile Dell’Edera and Niro couldn’t be a better fit for the dark and moody post-apocalyptic landscape this Lantern calls home, and there’s a sense of dread and unpredictability throughout the entire issue thanks to the brilliant artwork and the sense that anyone could meet their grisly fate at anytime. The mythology that’s here just scratches the surface, but it’s an outstanding introduction that has the potential to get even better from here. – Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 5 out of 5

Harley Quinn #44
Harley Quinn’s new All In creative relaunch is a pitch-perfect jumping-on point, one that sets Harley up for an entertaining and unexpected madcap adventure. Elliott Kalan’s sense of humor lends itself expertly to Harley’s quips and internal monologues, and brilliantly expands out her origin story while forging a fun story for the future. Mindy Lee’s stylish, expressive, and cartoony art accompanies it all with a fun flair, culminating in an epic new costume reveal. Don’t miss out on this issue, trust me. – Jenna Anderson
Rating: 5 out of 5

Nightwing #119
I would not want to be a creative team that has to follow in the footsteps of Tom Taylor and his legendary run on Nightwing, but writer Dan Watters and artist Dexter Soy are doing just that. Ultimately, Watters and Soy are attempting to use the landscape established by Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo to further flesh out Dick Grayson’s time in Bludhaven. Ultimately, this new issue doesn’t feel so much as a new beginning as a rehashing of what came before it. There’s fun to be had here, especially when it comes to elements like Dick and Babs’ back-and-forth chemistry and the meeting of Bludhaven’s underground villains, but there are other elements that feel like ground that is simply being retread. It’s tough to judge an initial outing for the follow-up to a legendary comic book run so I’m anxious to see what Watters and Soy have in store for the future, but for the first episode of a new era, it feels like a mixed bag. – Evan Valentine
Rating 3 out of 5

Power Girl #14
For the majority of issue 14, Power Girl trades in the heavy-hitting for some real detective work. She operates more like a sleuth than a superhero here, which shows a great side of her that we don’t get to spend time with very often. There’s also a real “it takes a village” vibe to this issue that highlights just how important all of Power Girl’s different relationships are to her character. Seeing all of her close allies working in tandem is a thing of beauty, and it only elevates her character.
— Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 4 out of 5

The Flash #14
The Flash #14 jumps into a new adventure post-Absolute Power, and there’s quite a bit to love in this latest chapter. Simon Spurrier shines a lovely spotlight on the Flash family, and seeing how they interact with each other is one of the book’s biggest highlights. Irey is a particular highlight throughout the entire issue, keeping Wally on his toes along with Linda and Jai. Vasco Georgiev, Matt Herms, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou bring those moments to life with style and bounds of personality, and it’s hard not to love the Family West after spending some time with them. When things do kick into another gear, the action is gorgeous, and the more animated style suits the action and the fantastical locale incredibly well. There were several moments where the dialogue felt a bit off, especially in the conversation between Barry and Wally, even with the awkwardness that is inherent to the scene. Still, it’s a great issue and a stellar start to a new adventure, and that last page hook has me impatiently waiting for the next issue. – Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 4 out of 5

Superman #19
After the events of House of Brainiac and Absolute Power, you might assume Superman would take a step back before ramping things up. That would be incorrect however, as Superman #19 hits the ground running and shows once again why Superman is on an all-time run. Few books are able to capture the classic essence a character and their supporting cast and still view them through a modern lens like Superman, something Williamson demonstrates with Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and crazily enough, Time Trapper throughout the issue. Yes, I said Time Trapper, and the twist there is bonkers in the absolute best way. Williamson takes risks and big swings but never loses the heart and soul of the character, and the same goes for Lois as she adapts to her brand new powers, which we still aren’t sure how she acquired. By the way, my God, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sanchez, and Ariana Maher are simply on a different planet. This book is absolutely gorgeous, whether it’s the dialed back greys and blacks of the daily planet, the vivid blues, reds, and yellows speeding through Metropolis, or the stark oranges, blacks, and greys of the Doomsday confrontation you’ve been waiting for, all of it dazzles at every turn. Superman hasn’t lost a step in teh slightest, and only bigger things are in store from here.
– Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 5 out of 5

Zatanna: Bring Down The House #5
Zatanna: Bring Down the House lives up to its name in its finale. The issue sees Zatanna breaking through the restrictive bonds placed on her by her father’s domineering and the aftermath of the trauma of losing him. This breakthrough is brought to vivid life through dynamic layouts and that place with the pacing of the form through unexpectedly asymmetrical compositions and larger-than-life, surreal visuals. The issue is all forward momentum, ramping up and up but never losing site of its emotional core, making it as cathartic to read as it is spectacular to look at. It all comes together as a brilliant, colorful climax that sees Zatanna finally coming into her full power, comfortable in her persona, and ready to shoot higher and take on new challenges. Mariko Tamaki has provided what should be a definitive text for Zatanna going forward. Even if you couldn’t care less for the character, Javier Rodriguez’ incredible artwork — punched up some eye-catching and thoughtfully considered lettering —  makes this issue a must-read. – Jamie Lovett
Rating: 5 out of 5

Marvel

Alien: Romulus #1
This reads a lot like most movie tie-in books, in that it doesn’t really add anything to the movie it’s tied into. The comic takes place between the events of Alien and Alien: Romulus, following the crew of the space station that the Romulus characters find dead upon arrival. Nothing in the story affects what we see in Romulus, nor does it really stand on its own all that well. It just feels like an excuse to put some xenomorphs in a comic after a successful movie. There are worse things out there to read, but it doesn’t come close to some of the good work Marvel has delivered with the Alien franchise. – Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 2 out of 5

Avengers #19
Avengers #19 feels like a prelude before the prelude for Marvel’s One World Under Doom, and as such it feels a little light on substance. The interactions between the Avengers as they enter a new group dynamic are the highlights of the issue, and Jed MacKay is already working magic with Storm’s addition to the team, both in how she directly interacts and the ripples her presence has on those around her. Storm is also the MVP when it comes to action sequences, and adds so much to the big team-up moments from Farid Karami and Federico Blee. Unfortunately, the bulk of the issue is focused on Doom asking questions you already know the answer to, and that’s true of the characters in the story as well. There’s no new ground covered in this interaction in regards to Doom or the Avengers, so it just feels a bit lacking compared to previous issues. It sets the table for what’s to come, and there are some great moments, but it’s not one of the stronger issues in the series.
– Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 3 out of 5

Conquest 2099 #2
Steve Orlando has carved out a really nice little storytelling space in the world of 2099. Conquest once again delivers a slew of great new character designs that bring beloved Marvel heroes and villains into the future. There’s nothing in this Conquest saga that lights the world on fire, but it’s both confidently and competently written, delivering a story that is constantly enjoyable. – Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Dazzler #2
Dazzler #2 isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but it’s a fun read that picks up the story from the very eventful kickoff of Dazzler’s world tour and sees her go on television — only for that to go a little awry as well. The issue has plenty of action, some solid art, and we continue that balance of pop culture reference and a solid mutant adventure. Oh, and we get another new Dazzler song and that alone is worth it. – Nicole Drum
Rating: 3 out of 5

Iron Man #1
Tony Stark has been dealing with a lot lately. On top of his “Avenging” duties, the man of iron got married to X-Men’s Emma Frost and saw his technology used to create a new generation of lethal, mutant-hunting Sentinels. Now, a new era is upon us for the Iron Man thanks to creators Spencer Ackerman and Julius Ohta who are giving Stark a battle that is taking place on multiple fronts. Luckily, there are plenty of elements here to throw some interesting curveballs at Tony while injecting new life into the story of Iron Man.
– Evan Valentine (Read the full review here)
Rating: 4 out of 5

Scarlet Witch #5
Scarlet Witch’s latest ongoing series continues to excel in form, function, and just plain fun. Steve Orlando’s script unites Wanda and Daredevil on an adventure filled with villains, flirting, and some genuinely cool moments. Lorenzo Tammetta’s art fits perfectly within the status quo of the series, rendering each moment with a delightful and stylish scrappiness. Overall, Scarlet Witch continues to be a profoundly satisfying book. – Jenna Anderson
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Spider-Boy #12
Now that everyone knows who Spider-Boy is, the toybox feels like it’s been burst open as Dan Slott gets to explore all of the new connections with the rest of the Marvel universe. That all starts with a Daredevil team-up in Spider-Boy #12, and much of that team-up is delightful, especially as Slott gets to explore some of their previously unknown history together. Daredevil’s “voice” seems off a bit early on but it evens out, and the introduction of Spider-Girl throws more intrigue into the mix as the issue progresses. Paco Medina, Erick Arciniega, and Joe Caramagna are as stellar as ever, and their style is a brilliant compliment to Daredevil and Bullseye. They take advantage of having both in the mix, but while the newcomers are great, they never overshadow Spider-Boy. While this isn’t the strongest issue of the series, it’s still delightful and sets things up for what promises to be a thrilling adventure. – Matthew Aguilar
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Spider-Society #3
Ironically, the most innocuous line of dialogue summarizes the whole of Spider-Society for me: “I hate repeating myself.” While the core conceit still has fun potential, Alex Segura’s approach continues to be bogged down by scene after scene of exposition and conversations, which unfortunately overwhelm the actual action that could and should be at the forefront. Ruairi Coleman’s approach to that action is lively at times, but a lot of the aesthetic potential also feels squandered. With just one more issue to go, I am uncertain if Spider-Society will successfully stick the landing. – Jenna Anderson
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Spirits of Vengeance #2
With the table setting of the first issue out of the way, Spirits of Vengeance can really kick things into a higher gear. Series writer Sabir Pirzada clearly has a love for classic Ghost Rider comics and their zany ideas by showing it with the setting of issue #2 (an Atlantean prison at the bottom of the ocean). Penciler Chris Campana gets the benefit of drawing a story with more moving parts than the inaugural issue, meaning more exciting and less static imagery. Spirits of Vengeance is still finding its place but with no shortage of ideas it’s shaping up to be a fun series. – Spencer Perry
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Incredible Hulk #18
Charlie is finally back in The Incredible Hulk and immediately Johnson reminds readers just how necessary the teenager is to this tale. Now she’s got even more agency and she’s put on the heroic protector shoes that Hulk and Banner have been wearing throughout the series. They fit her perfectly, as this Incredible Hulk run continues to evolve and find creative new ways to explore this beautiful and monstrous world it has built.
– Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 5 out of 5

X-Factor #3
X-Factor #3 is full of clever ideas. What does it mean when actual superheroes, particularly those for whom any military-industrial subtext is overt text, visit a fan convention? What would happen if a mutant had the gift of immortality but didn’t realize it until after they were 87? How does an Elon Musk-type dupe and take advantage of said military-industrial superheroes in the age of social media celebrities? However, the issue fails to unpack any of them to satisfaction. The convention is mostly used as a gag to set up the plot, and Granny’s origin is dispensed with succinctly, with plenty of black humor, perhaps to be further examined in future installments. The Elon Musk thing is central to the issue’s plot but fails to provide enough depth or enough barbed gags to do the concept justice. However, while these ideas could have benefitted from greater individual focus, what is here and done solidly enough to feel like X-Factor, as a series, is finding its footing The artwork is clean and the characters expressive enough to channel heightened ridiculousness of the material, and there are some great lines like, “The intelligence is artificial but the stupidity is genuine,” and the more opportunities the characters have to bounce off of each with banter, the more endearing this hodgepodge team becomes.
– Jamie Lovett
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

X-Men #6
X-Men #6 slows down the series’ pace for an issue devoid of action and is focused more on the characters and their choices, though some characterizations are either off or too familiar. New creative teams shouldn’t have to follow the narrative directions of those that preceded them. Still, it’s hard to imagine Magik getting away with playing the dumb brute who wants Beast to “do science” after being one of the Great Captains of Krakoa and widely considered one of the great strategic minds of the mutant community. Conversely, Beast’s current challenge of catching up to modern-day science now that he’s replaced the super-villainous Beast he grew into in a previous life is almost identical to the character arc young Beast underwent during the All-New X-Men era. Still, it makes sense enough that those unfamiliar with that run will likely be unbothered. The fill-in artwork by Metho Diaz and Sean Parsons is clear and clean compared to how cluttered X-Men typically looked, though there’s not much remarkable about it. Even Marte Gracia’s colors feel drab, given little to work with beyond factory walls and the glow of monitors. The slower pace of the episode allows the light to shine on the sheer density of mysterious subplots that Jed McKay has worked into the background of this book — adult onset mutants, Cassandra Nova’s return, an unexplained mutant disease, the Upstarts — and there’s not telling yet if any will come to a satisfying. This issue at least allows for a much-needed moment of reflection. — Jamie Lovett
Rating: 3 out of 5

Image Comics

Creepshow #2
Creepshow as an anthology movie and television series has worked well at delivering fast-paced, albeit light, campfire tales. In this latest comic book series, we still keep the strengths and weaknesses of the anthology series, for better and for worse. Of the two stories featured in Creepshow’s second issue, the star of the issue is its first outing. Depicting a quiet Halloween eve where Trick or Treaters aren’t all they appear to be, this story feels like classic Creepshow. Both stories in this issue are quite straightforward, though the artistic renditions work well at delivering its spooky aesthetic. Creepshow doesn’t break the wheel when it comes to laying out its creepy scenarios but if you’re looking for an ode to EC Comics this Halloween, Creepshow has you covered.
– Evan Valentine
Rating 3 out of 5

Moon Man #5
Moon Man continues to be defined by not only the same highs as previous issues but also the same lows. There’s instances where artist Marco Locati and color artist Igor Monti have a huge canvas to bask in the more powerful moments of the story and its major action beats, and though Monti’s unique style keeps things interesting visually there are times where the blocking of the images have major inconsistencies. The script, credited to Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi), Kyle Higgins, & Joe Clark, is still a timely and well-written one, but it does feel to be spinning its wheels toward a conclusion. – Spencer Perry
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Moon Is Following Us #2
The Moon Is Following Us #2 provides the background context missing from its debut. Though things play out more or less how one would expect based on how that first issue ended — Penny is trapped in perpetual sleep and her parents, with the help of an old wizard, are plunging into her dreams to try to help her wake — it’s still an intense thrill to read thanks to the densely packed artwork and fast pace. Tash, the wizard who guides Sam and Duncan into their daughter’s dreams, feels like a character pulled out of a Hayoa Miyazaki film, a wise but sorrowful old sage who floats into the story on a parliament of owls, as if out of a dream himself. The central conflict here is a primal one for any parent: How far would you go to save your child? Sam and Duncan are handling the situation differently. Watching that tension play out as they join a Resistance movement in a dream world where seemingly anything can happen should make for exciting reading as the series progresses. – Jamie Lovett
Rating: 4 out of 5

The Power Fantasy #3
There’s a lot worth talking about The Power Fantasy #3, and it’d be impossible to do it all justice in a condensed review like this. Trying to hit the highlights: the issue draws the clearest example of the series’ central metaphor, superpowers as avatars of the atomic age, with Valentina’s birth occurring on the same date as the first nuclear bomb test; there’s a fascinating tension brought out in describing Valentina as “moral” in contrast to Etienne being “ethical,” which feels like taking to the difference between being “nice” and being” kind” to a much grander scale (or perhaps that’s a misread, we’ll see); Caspar Wjngaard continues to impress, maintaining a consistently recognizable (and striking) style while shifting to match whatever each scenes’ era, particularly drawing on the seemingly simple, flower-powered innocence of the 1960s (when members of the cast were still young and innocent themselves) until that all goes up in atomic flames. The big reveal on the final page, with the subsequent timeline of major events in this alternate history, will only serve to stoke excitement for future installments of this excellent series. – Jamie Lovett
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Universal Monsters Frankenstein #3
Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #3 is a fantastic issue that follows Henry’s betrothed, Elizabeth, and the dark path all of this takes her down. One of the best things about this series — and this issue — is that it humanizes the story and peels back the layers of who and what the true monsters are. Without getting too much into spoilers, that is especially sharp here and this issue might just be the best one of this series to date. Also? The final page is just stunning. – Nicole Drum
Rating: 4 out of 5

Void Rivals #13
I can, and have, sang the praises of Skybound’s Energon Universe, depicting a shared universe that sees the Transformers and G.I. Joe sharing the spotlight. Of the titles that are helping to forge this new universe, Void Rivals feels like the “black sheep” of the stable, not to disparage it, but rather, to say that it feels like a story neither meant for Cybertronians nor Joes. The book almost feels like window dressing to the overall universe but it’s a fun enough ride that simply doesn’t hit the same heights as the main books leading the charge on the Energon Universe. Kirkman and De Felici work well together here but the series could use a little something extra at the end of the day. – Evan Valentine
Rating 3.5 out of 5

Other Publishers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3
The Hamato Clan reunion tour continues in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3, with artist Cliff Chiang joining series writer Jason Aaron for a Leonardo-focused issue. Aaron and his collaborators have done a stellar job of having each TMNT issue thus far bring about a situation in which the focal Turtle seeks or achieves what he believed he wanted most, illuminating important aspects of their character. For Raph, that was living in a prison, where a fight with someone deserving of a beatdown would never be hard to find. For Mikey, it was the fun and carefree lifestyle of a celebrity. For Leonardo, it’s the search for enlightenment, leaving his humanoid turtle brothers behind to commune with the flesh-eating turtles of the Ganges River. Chiang’s sharp linework and vibrant colors match Leo’s personality — not one of black-and-white morality, but of strong conviction nonetheless — and there are beautiful pages of Leonardo doing nothing but meditating over time. But as with his brothers, Leo’s past soon catches up, forcing him to conclude that this path is not for him. Strong characterization paired with sleek artwork makes for another strong issue.
– Jamie Lovett
Rating: 4 out of 5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #18
Erik Burnham’s style of writing not only evokes a clear era of TMNT but doesn’t stoop to pandering to a certain segment of the fan base, the entire series remains accessible for readers of all ages. Series artist Sarah Myer and color artist Luis Antonio Delgado also manage to capture that specific style of TMNT designs while also making the art work feel engaging and alive. TMNT Saturday Morning Adventure may not be what all fans think of when they ponder the series on the whole but it’s got the kind of heart, humor, and characterizations that made the Ninja Turtles into household names. – Spencer Perry
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Hunger and The Dusk: Book Two #3
It’s issues like this when you realize just how vast and wonderful a world Wilson has built with The Hunger and the Dusk. Both of its leads are largely missing from this issue and yet there’s no dip in quality or excitement. Everything going on in this story is completely engaging and it deepens with each page. – Charlie Ridgely
Rating: 5 out of 5

The post Comic Book Reviews for This Week: 10/23/2024 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

CW Network has released an official trailer for the final episodes of Superman & Lois. The series, which is currently airing an abbreviated fourth and final season, is the final vestige of CW’s decades of collaborations with DC, with the Superman & Lois finale now set to be the last DC superhero show on the network after more than 20 uninterrupted years of partnership between the two brands. The final season picked up after a cliffhanger at the end of Superman & Lois season three, beginning with the death of Superman after a battle with Doomsday. This week’s episode, which aired on Monday night, ended with the revelation that Superman was back.

As we reported already, Superman was saved via a heart transplant from Lois Lane’s father, General Sam Lane. After being shot and close to death, Sam sacrificed himself to Doomsday so that his heart could be used to revive Clark.

That human heart seems to be wearing on Superman somewhat, with signs of his powers fading and his hair turning gray.

“I think the way he comes back is really interesting because all of the sudden he has a 60-something-year-old man’s heart — and a human heart — that he’s working with,” series star Bitsie Tulloch told ComicBook recently. “So, it is a different person whose powers are…we don’t know what it’s going to look like [yet].”

The trailer sets up a conflict between Lois, Clark, and Lex Luthor — who, in this version of the story, has been pulling Doomsday’s strings. We also get our first look at a clean-cut Lex Luthor, looking more like the Lex you would expect.

Superman’s return means Lex has to go back to square one with his whole “kill Superman” plan — and it looks like in addition to Doomsday, Lex will be personally suiting up to get the job done, wearing a variation on the armor John Henry Irons wears. That’s a full circle moment, considering that before John Henry’s true identity was revealed, he was going by the name Luthor in the first few episodes of the first season.

Now that Lex knows Clark is Superman, and both of Superman’s sons have powers, it’s shaping up to be a battle royale in the final episodes of the series. As Clark is forced to face his humanity and his sons are struggling to live up to his reputation, don’t be too surprised if Clark ends up facing off with Lex while the Super-Sons take on Doomsday.

Superman & Lois airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CW Network.

The post Superman & Lois Midseason Trailer Sets Up Superman’s Final Battle with Lex Luthor and Doomsday appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The All In era of DC Comics is shedding new light on Batman’s origin story. One of the many titles to get a new creative team in DC All In is Detective Comics, with writer Tom Taylor and artist Mikel Janin taking over the Batman-focused series. Fans of the Dark Knight are surely familiar with how the deaths of Thomas and Martha at the hands of Joe Chill impacted Bruce Wayne’s life, sending him down the path to becoming Batman. DC doesn’t look to be changing what we already know about these events, but the Detective Comics team is adding an extra layer of intrigue to the story with its opening story arc.

*WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Detective Comics #1090. Continue reading at your own risk!

Detective Comics #1090 comes from the creative team Tom Taylor, Mikel Janin, and Wes Abbott. The story jumps back and forth from the past and the present, as we see Thomas Wayne saving the life of a 20-something male and his pregnant girlfriend who is 17-years-old in the past, and Batman confronting a mysterious antagonist in the present-day. But it’s the story from the past that’s the most relevant. An aide to Thomas Wayne informs him that the mother and child are going to live, though she came to the hospital with bruises she didn’t receive from the car crash. The implication is the boyfriend beat her.

The boyfriend is given a zero chance of survival, and Thomas is urged not to give the male any medication attention. However, Thomas made an oath as a doctor to try and save every life. The mother, Evelyn, also asks that Thomas take her baby away and to tell the father that she lost the baby. “You’re supposed to save lives,” Evelyn tells Thomas. “You’d be saving this one.” Martha Wayne eventually gets involved and tells Evelyn that instead of giving the baby up, she can provide means for them both to flee and escape their toxic relationship together.

Detective Comics #1090 ends with the enraged boyfriend fighting with security as he tries to leave the hospital with his face almost completely bandaged up. The male’s surgery was a success, and his facial burns should eventually heal, so Thomas doesn’t see any reason why the man should be kept against his will. And in a shocking reveal, Thomas tells a nurse to let security know that Joe Chill can be discharged.

Joe Chill’s impact on Batman, explained

Joe Chill is the mugger who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne in front of a young Bruce Wayne. As the story goes, the Wayne Family had just left a theater showing when they turned down a dark alley and were confronted by Joe Chill. After a brief scuffle, Joe Chill shot both Thomas and Martha as Bruce watched on. Seeing his parents murdered by a gun is why Batman is against them and has a “no guns” policy, and what started his journey to becoming a crimefighter.

There have been slight variations to Batman’s origin story over the years, which can be expected when a character like the Dark Knight has been around for over 70 years. Fans have watched versions of Batman’s origin in the comics, TV shows, movies, video games, and more, so even casual fans are familiar with it. But since everyone has heard of and knows the name Joe Chill, this development in Detective Comics has major ramifications for Batman.

One decision by Thomas Wayne completely changes everything we know about Batman

Thomas Wayne obviously didn’t know that saving Joe Chill’s life would wind up costing him his and his wife’s lives, but it’s looking like that’s exactly what happened. Men like Thomas and Bruce Wayne live by a strict code, and they’re so stubborn that they don’t want to budge from it. This is both good and bad, and in this case, it may turn out to be really bad for Batman.

There is also the question of how Batman will discover his father had a hand in that faithful night. The new mysterious villain Batman is tracking at the beginning of Detective Comics #1090 is probably tied to Thomas Wayne’s actions, and there’s also the introduction of Scarlett Martha Scott, a former chief geneticist at WayneTech who started her own wellness business. Scarlett is also more than likely Evelyn’s daughter, which makes her Joe Chill’s daughter too. It isn’t explicitly stated in the comic, but Bruce does say that his mother Martha helped Scarlett when she was a child in a Wayne shelter.

What did you think about the big Batman revelation in Detective Comics? Make sure to let us know your thoughts on social media @ComicBook!

The post DC Just Made a Major Change to Batman’s Origin Story appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC launched the absolute universe in grand style with Absolute Batman, setting expectations even higher for Absolute Wonder Woman, the next Absolute series up to bat. Despite that high bar, Absolute Wonder Woman quickly soared past on a skeletal Pegasus and left it in the dust. Writer Kelly Thompson, artist Hayden Sherman, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Becca Carey implemented seismic changes to Wonder Woman’s origin and world while still finding a way to retain Diana’s heart and soul. Absolute Wonder Woman goes so hard you can hear the soundtrack booming from the pages, and no one should miss the show.

Amazon in Hell

Thompson shakes up several major elements of Diana’s origin in the first few pages, and those changes shape the rest of the book in various ways. These changes are all intricately tied together, especially in regards to the word Amazon and how it is viewed by everyone involved, including Diana herself. The attention to that word and how it’s framed brings an importance to it that at some points has been lacking, and that is woven into an unexpected but brilliant story of family and motherhood.

To me that is the central piece that makes Absolute Wonder Woman so captivating. Thompson simultaneously builds up the daughter and the mother throughout the early parts of the story, and these early day moments from Sherman and Bellaire are simply stunning. The duo illustrates time moving forward in the same location over the course of several pages, and you can’t help but comb over every little detail and changing fixture as time progresses. The characters shine throughout as well, conveying the sincere love of a hesitant parent and the innocence and compassion of a brave and confident child. There are a host of shining moments throughout Absolute Wonder Woman, but these moments are the ones that will likely stick with me over time.

Amazon Magic

That said, when the situation calls for a more direct approach, Absolute Wonder Woman once again delivers in spades. Wonder Woman riding in on a skeletal Pegasus taking on an alien invasion with spells and swords sounds insanely cool as just as an idea, and spoiler, but it looks even cooler when brought to life on the page. As one might expect from a Wonder Woman forged in Hell, this Diana is a force of nature, unphased by soldiers, Gods, or massive alien threats. If aura was a person it would be this Diana, and adding in the chaos of magic only makes her that much more compelling, especially when those moments are given that extra punch from Carey’s excellent lettering.

That’s only an appetizer though for what issue #2 has in store, at least that’s the takeaway from that big final page. Granted, there’s a panel of just Wonder Woman staring a hole through her opponent that almost steals the show, so to call this book a visual tour de force feels like underselling it.

Absolute Wonder Woman brings a raw and unpredictable energy to Diana’s story, keeping some of the core elements that make Diana who she is while also shaking up so many of the tentpoles of lore and mythology that have surrounded her for so long. You’ll walk away with a new appreciation for who Diana was, who she knows herself to be, and what this world demands from her, and then watch in awe as the Amazon warrior moves through the world as the unstoppable and brilliant force she’s always been, just with a bit more of an edge this time around. Okay, perhaps a big edge this time around.

Absolute Wonder Woman is a must-read in every single way, and it doesn’t get much better than this.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Published By: DC Comics

On: October 23, 2024

Written By: Kelly Thompson

Art By: Hayden Sherman

Colors By: Jordie Bellaire

Letters By: Becca Carey

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After less than a month in theaters, Joker: Folie á Deux is waltzing onto digital platforms. Warner Bros. confirmed Tuesday that the DC film — which bombed at the box office and dropped to eighth place after just 18 days of release — will be available to rent or buy on digital starting next week. The studio also announced special features included on both the digital version and the 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD releases, including a new four-part longform documentary going behind the scenes of the musical Joker sequel starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

Joker 2 cost a reported $190 million — more than three times 2019’s Joker — and has grossed $192 million at the global box office since opening on Oct. 4. It debuted to the worst CinemaScore grade for a comic book movie before suffering the worst second-weekend drop in history, making Joker 2 one of the biggest box office bombs of all time.

Directed by Todd Phillips, the sequel finds Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love in Lee Quinzel (Gaga), but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.

Joker 2 Digital Release Date

You can rent or buy Joker 2 starting October 29 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), and more.

When Does Joker 2 Come Out on Blu-ray and DVD?

Joker 2 will be available to own on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD starting December 17. Warner Bros. will also release a limited edition steelbook, which includes the 4K UHD version of the movie, a Blu-ray disc, and digital code.

Joker 2 Special Features

The Joker 2 digital release and the 4K UHD and Blu-ray versions include the following special features:

Everything Must Go (4 Part Longform Documentary):
– Can I Have A Cigarette?
– Finding Lee
– A Hundred Films In One
– King of Nothing

The Character of Music

Live! With The Joker

Colors Of Madness

Crafted With Class

Joker: Folie á Deux Streaming Release Date

Joker 2 doesn’t have a release date on Max, and the movie isn’t listed among the titles that are new on Max in October 2024. However, Warner Bros. movies average 84 days before streaming on Max, which would indicate a Max premiere date of December 27.

Where Can I Watch Joker 1 Online?

You can stream Joker (2019) on Max (subscription required), TNT, and TBS. You can also rent ($3.99) or buy ($7.99) Joker on digital download via Apple TV+, Prime Video, and the Microsoft Store.

More movies new to own or rent on digital this week include Transformers One and The Wild Robot.

The post Joker 2 Digital Release Date Confirmed, and It’s Soon appeared first on ComicBook.com.

“From James Gunn comes the new DCU,” declared the New York Comic Con trailer for Creature Commandos, the first series from Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Studios. The Max adult animated series — which Gunn has described as an “aperitif” to the rebooted DC Universe that will officially get up, up, and away with Gunn’s Superman movie in 2025 — is the prelude to a new canon under DC Studios (formerly DC Films), but will reference certain events from the old continuity: the DC Extended Universe.

“Nothing is canon until Creature Commandos next year – a sort of aperitif to the DCU – and then a deeper dive into the universe with Superman,” Gunn announced last year. “Some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories and some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows and animated projects that have come from DC in the past. But nothing is canon until [Creature Commandos] and [Superman].” 

Gunn has since confirmed that Peacemaker season 1, set in the DCEU, isn’t canon with the DCU, but the upcoming second season of The Suicide Squad spinoff series will take place after the events of Superman in the new continuity. Confused?

“There are references to things that happened in the past, and those references then become canon in the DCU because we mention them,” Gunn explained during the DC Studios panel at New York Comic Con.

That includes John Cena’s Peacemaker killing Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag in 2021’s The Suicide Squad. Frank Grillo, who voices Rick Flag Sr. in Creature Commandos, will then reprise his role in live-action in Superman and Peacemaker season 2.

In addition to Cena’s chrome-helmeted anti-hero, Viola Davis reprises her role from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker as Amanda Waller in Creature Commandos. The seven-episode series is set post-Peacemaker and tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans, including the mermaid-like Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Frankenstein (David Harbour) and the Bride (Indira Varma), and Weasel and GI Robot (both voiced by Sean Gunn).

Gunn has also confirmed that Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes will be the Blue Beetle of the DCU, but the events of the DCEU-set Blue Beetle movie are not canon.

The Superman reboot is “the true foundation of our creative vision for the DC Universe,” Gunn said when announcing the DCU slate, titled Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, in 2023. Added Safran: “The DCU’s a multiverse, but we’re going to be focusing on one universe from that multiverse. And if something isn’t DCU, we’re going to make that very clear. So, strictly adult fare like Todd Phillips’ Joker, or kids animation like Teen Titans Go!, we’re going to make it very clear that those are DC Elseworlds, just the same way that they do it in the comic books.” That includes Matt Reeves’ The Batman saga, while the DCU will launch its own Batman franchise with The Brave and the Bold, about dynamic duo Batman and Robin.

The DCU slate includes Creature Commandos (December 2024), Superman (July 2025), and Peacemaker season 2 (TBA 2025). DC Studios will soon begin production on HBO’s Lanterns series, starring Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler as Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan, and the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow movie starring Milly Alcock as Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, slated for 2026.

Other announced projects include the Max series Waller, Booster Gold, and Paradise Lost, and feature films The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, and Swamp Thing.

The post James Gunn Explains the New DCU Canon – And How It References the Old DCEU appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Writer Chip Zdarsky has confirmed his departure from DC’s ongoing Batman series. DC announced Zdarsky would be the new Batman writer back in February 2022, taking over for Joshua Williamson. Together with Jorge Jimenez, Zdarsky charted the Dark Knight through several DC events while crafting compelling stories inside the pages of Batman, such as the Failsafe and Batman of Zur-En-Arrh sagas. But all good things must come to an end, and Zdarsky revealed that he will wrap up his run with Batman #157 in February 2025. This comes on the heels of DC announcing Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb are reuniting in Batman for Hush 2.

“I love Batman. It’s been a true joy working on the title. But some time in the spring I got the itch in the back of my brain to wrap things up,” Chip Zdarsky wrote in a post to his Substack newsletter. “Partly because Jorge and I were finishing up the giant Failsafe/Zur story, but also because my amazing Bat-editor Ben Abernathy had left for Transforming G.I. Joes at Skybound. I also had a terrifying workload in front of me and had to make some hard decisions about what needed to be prioritized.”

Zdarsky also revealed that he let DC know his plans to exit Batman around the time of the C2E2 convention in April. DC came back and asked if Zdarsky would be willing to stay on the title for one final story arc beginning in October, and he agreed. One reason he agreed was because he “wanted to do something special and contained” with his artistic collaborator Jorge Jimenez.

“I’m super proud of our final story, though scheduling issues forced it to go to biweekly, which meant Jorge sadly couldn’t draw it all,” he continued. “But then OTHER scheduling issues put it back to monthly, but what are you gonna do? Comics be comickin’. At some point we’re all at the mercy of things like ‘the financial quarter’ and ‘CEO MacGuffin has a plan.'”

Chip Zdarsky is leaving Batman just as DC is kicking off its All In initiative. DC is giving several ongoing series new creative teams while debuting new titles. There is also the debut of the Absolute Universe, which offers new jumping-on points for readers as DC’s most recognizable heroes get all-new origin stories from some of comics’ biggest creators. One of the new Absolute titles is Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta.

Zdarsky definitely left his mark on Batman, and will surely be missed by fans. The writer got the Batman gig after wrapping up a multi-year run on Marvel’s Daredevil ongoing series. While it’s sad to see Zdarsky leave Gotham City, there are still four months to go before we reach February and have to say goodbye.

The post DC’s Batman Writer Confirms Exit From Series (And Reveals Final Issue) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

James Gunn’s Superman (2025) will open the door to a whole new vision of the DC Universe franchise, meaning fans will be getting to know new versions of iconic DC characters. Casting actor David Corenswet as the new Clark Kent/Superman got a big reaction from fans of the old DCEU era, which had Henry Cavill as its Superman. There was far more unified praise over the casting of Rachel Brosnahan as the new Lois Lane. Fans have made it clear they like this recast, but how does former Lois Lane actress Amy Adams feel about it?

When speaking with Variety, Amy Adams (Man of Steel, Justice League) had nothing but love for Rachel Brosnahan, saying, “I love her. She’s gonna be great. Hopefully, the role will be infused with her sensibility and her natural humor and strength and wit. I’m really looking forward to it. I really like her… “I’m just a big fan of the franchise, always.”

Adams also made sure to emphasize her own outlook on acting, which is that no one actor owns a character – especially in a long-running franchise like Superman: “Coming from theater, a role never belongs to you,” Adams explained. “You just do a take on it. That’s how I feel about that franchise.”

The six-time Oscar nominee went on to wish director James Gunn well in his efforts to relaunch the Superman movie franchise and cleared up any misconception about how her time in the DC movie franchise came to an end: “I always understood they were moving in a more Justice League direction.”

DCEU fans can hold their heads high: Adams made sure to show respect to her Man of Steel and Justice League co-star Henry Cavill, and his performance as Superman: “Henry was a really brilliant Superman,” Adams said. “I offer every Superman luck and stuff, but I think he was great. I just wanted to say that. It’s so in his spirit.”

Cavill and Adams’ time as Superman and Lois has officially come to an end with the launch of DC Studios and the new DC Universe franchise – something that will forever leave fans divided, since many DCEU fans felt that Cavill’s Superman (and his relationship with Lois Lane) never got the full arc that director Zack Snyder planned for it.

Amy Adams’ DCEU Arc As Lois Lane Explained

Snyder’s epic three-part Justice League Trilogy would have made the life of Adams’ Lois Lane a major nexus point in the DCEU timeline. She would’ve been killed by Darkseid in Justice League II, turning Superman evil and creating the “Knightmare” timeline glimpsed in both Batman v Superman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Justice League III would’ve brought the entire story full circle, as Flash went back in time (twice) to warn Bruce Wayne/Batman of Lois’s death, helping prevent it so that Superman stays good and helps repel Darkseid’s invasion of Earth.

Superman (2025) has a release date of July 11, 2025.

The post Amy Adams Breaks Silence on Lois Lane Being Recast in the DC Universe appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Superman director James Gunn posted his reaction to an AI version of the upcoming trailer for the 2025 movie. Now, the trailer in question is not real in any way shape or form. Let’s get that out of the way. Gunn saw the “Superman” clip circulating on social media and decided to comment with three vomiting emojis. That makes sense, not only does circulating a clip like this produce misinformation that he has to waste time addressing now, but it also continues in the information ecosystem after this debunking. Quite simply, not enough people use Twitter to see this kind of correction. (This article could help in that regard, but honestly, even 20 of these might not do the trick.) As the rise of AI generated models has occurred, more and more of these fake trailers have made the rounds. Fans that don’t know what signs to look for or are just ill-informed and take them as gospel.

It’s hard to tell if the version of Superman in this clip is supposed to be David Corenswet or the former Man of Steel, Henry Cavill. The problem with a lot of these models is that they build a composite image of the subject requested based on all available information. So you could ask for the actor that’s playing Clark Kent in the 2025 blockbuster, and other older versions are still going to make their way in there. The imagery at play borrows heavily from Zack Snyder’s version of The Man of Tomorrow as well. So, there’s just a lot going on in a short clip that isn’t in any way, shape, or form real. We’re all a bit poorer for it in this case as the eventual Superman trailer is going to be special after the extended wait for a DC solo movie for their flagship character.

Gunn has argued in the past that his projects give VFX teams time to complete the tasks at hand without resorting to shortcuts or frying themselves trying to meet a deadline. “If you do some research you’ll see my films have always taken a different approach and I’ve always given my VFX artist-collaborators time to do their jobs properly, and the respect they deserve,” Gunn previously told fans on Threads. “And the quality of the VFX in those films is uniformly great because of it (and because my friends at Weta and Framestore and ILM and more are amazingly talented).”

“This is why we wrapped on Superman a year before release and why they’ve been hard at work on many shots for months before that,” Gunn continued. “This is why we start heartily editing during the shoot. It’s why I prepare so vigorously and why we only shoot finished screenplays. And Supergirl, which I’m not directing, is being handled the same way. I can’t praise the VFX artists that help us create magic enough.”

So, no, that Superman trailer isn’t real and the full trailer is going to look better than what the mockups floating around on the Internet do right now. Fans currently speculate that the first clip from the movie might make landfall near the end of 2024. Gunn has been in post-production on Superman for a little while now. All of this is gleaned from different information sources around the Internet. For now, DC movie fans can take solace in the fact that Gunn and his team have no interest in these kinds of models. After all that controversy with The Flash, that’s probably a good thing.

Have you been seeing these fake trailers around? Check out all the pop culture conversation over at @ComicBook!

The post James Gunn Responds to DCU Superman Trailer Created by AI appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Penguin Episode 5 “Homecoming” has truly taken things up a notch, by featuring some of the most gruesome death scenes we’ve seen in this show – or any comic book TV show, for that matter. The latest chapter of The Penguin picked up from the big twist of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) killing off her mob family and seizing control as the new don. Sofia’s power grab is just one element of Oz Cobb/Penguin’s (Colin Farrell) master plan that goes wrong: his triple-cross play against the Maronis also blows up in his face. By the time the dust settles, some bodies get dropped, in ways viewers are never going to forget!

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Getting Rid of the Competition

A big turn in Penguin Episode 5’s story happens when Oz kidnaps Taj Maroni (Aria Shahghasemi), the spoiled influencer son of mob boss Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown). Oz uses Taj as a hostage to negotiate for the return of the psychotropic mushrooms that create the hit new party drug Bliss – product that Sal’s wife Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo) stole from him.

The Maronis concede to an exchange of the mushrooms for their son but plan their own double-cross, ambushing Oz and his man with some additional gunmen hidden in the rafters. However, Oz has his own betrayal planned: giving Taj a kerosine shower before the exchange and then lighting the trail of liquid behind him on fire.

Nadia can’t stop the trail of fire from catching up with her son but refuses to let him go, leaving mother and son to burn alive, screaming. The most chilling part about the scene is how director Helen Shaver keeps the camera on Oz’s face the entire time, as we see a gleeful smile spread over his face, watching the horrific event. If we didn’t know who “The Penguin” was before… we do now.

New Don, New Day

Sofia spends most of the episode trying to both get out from under the murders she committed and secure her new place as the queenpin of her own crime family. Early on in the episode, it’s revealed that Sofia is keeping Falcone underboss Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) prisoner, to locate and secure the nest egg of money she knows her father Carmine Falcone amassed. Instead, Johnny appeals to Sofia on the strength of their family bond, and offers to help her grab the respect of the underworld, so they can lead the Falcone mob into a new era.

Johnny indeed gets the various Gotham mobs and syndicates to come to the table with Sofia. However, he’s blindsided by her sudden announcement that she’s ending the Falcone line and starting a new mob, under her mother’s maiden name, “Gigante.” Johnny dismisses Sofia in the middle of her speech, trying to wrestle control of the meeting – only to catch a bullet to the skull. Sofia dumps a bag of money into the blood pool as the entry fee to her new family. The table of gangsters all snatch up the literal blood money, while Vitis lies slumped on the table with a bullet hole in his head.

The Penguin is now, officially, the most violent and disturbing vision of Gotham City we’ve seen onscreen. It’s actually getting hard to see how fans of The Batman can go back to the almost-certain PG-13 rating of The Batman: Part II when Penguin is giving us R-rated greatness – that also haunts our dreams.

The Penguin is now airing on HBO and streaming on Max.

The post The Penguin Episode 5 Horrifies With The Batman Universe’s Most Gruesome Death Scenes Yet appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Following on the heels of a strong appearance at New York Comic Con, DC released a first look at some of the merchandise they will be releasing to promote the DC Universe’s first installment, December’s Creature Commandos animated series. Hailing from creator James Gunn, the series centers on a group of monsters who are put to work by Amanda Waller, essentially filling the Suicide Squad-shaped hole in her heart after Task Force X gets shut down. With actors who will play the characters across animation and live action, Creature Commandos doesn’t have the same hype behind it as Gunn’s Superman, but it gives fans a first glimpse at how Gunn intends to run his new cinematic universe.

The just-released first look at Creature Commandos merch not only shows off some of the t-shirts and apparel coming to DC’s own shop — where they’re up for preorder now — but also a number of Funko Pops and even a Weasel statue from McFarlane Toys. You can also find these items here at Entertainment Earth and here on Amazon.

The Funko pops, which you can order at the DC store, at Funko.com, or at some of DC’s partner retailers (we haven’t looked, but we’re guessing it’s Amazon and Hot Topic), include figurines based on Eric Frankenstein; The Bride; Weasel; Nina Mazursky; G.I. Robot; and Doctor Phosphorous.

As far as the clothing line goes, DC is double-dipping on things that the fans are excited about in the coming months — and it’s playing out in a kind of fun way. In addition to the first wave of merch for Creature Commandos, DC is leaning hard into a line of t-shirts, hoodies, and hats featuring their classic “bullet” logo, which is being reintroduced this month on comics and as the DC Studios logo.

Some of the t-shirts and mugs and hats just feature the DC bullet, but there’s also a couple of Creature Commandos shirts that feature the characters swarming around the logo itself. Other designs feature “floating heads” around the design of the logo in a way that feels like a retro team-book title page…and floating heads in three columns, not too dissimilar to how it might have appeared in a pre-2000s corner box on a comic book.

Everything listed is in the preorder phase. The Funko pops are $11.99, the Creature Commandos t-shirts are $25, and the DC logo collection ranges from $25-$45.

That Weasel collectable statue from McFarlane, showing off the character in all his hilarious hideousness, will run you $129.99.

The post DC Unveils First Creature Commandos T-Shirts and Toys appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from The Penguin episode 5. The Falcone crime Family is dead. Long live the Gigante-Maroni Family. Sunday’s “Homecoming” episode of The Penguin ended with Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) shooting and killing made man Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) after gassing Don Luca (Scott Cohen) and the Falcones, then embracing her late mother’s maiden name: Gigante. “As of today, my father’s legacy is dead, and we will never speak his name again,” Sofia said of the late Carmine Falcone. “From this point on, I am a Gigante — and this is a new Family now.”

Having learned that Oz (Colin Farrell) killed her brother Alberto (Michael Zegen) and has been pitting the Falcones and the Maronis against each other to get his new mushroom-based Bliss drug operation going and seize power, Sofia — rechristened as Sofia Gigante, head of the Gigantes — makes Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown) an offer he can’t refuse: end the war between the Families that claimed the lives of his son Taj (Aria Shahghasemi) and wife Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo).

“The Falcones don’t exist anymore. I am offering you an alliance. We join our Families, the Maronis and Gigantes, as a show of strength. We kill Oz. And then we take over the city,” Sofia says. “Together.”

“Notoriously, the Falcones and the Maronis are always at odds in the comics,” series creator and showrunner Lauren LeFranc explains in this week’s Episode 5 Insider. “I thought it was interesting, and seems right, to have Sofia — knowing that the Falcones have wronged her just as much as the Falcones have wronged the Maronis — to try to team up with Sal Maroni, to align the powers that they have to get Oz.”

It’s a change from Sofia’s comic counterpart, who is introduced in 1997’s Batman: The Long Halloween #6 as Sofia Falcone-Gigante. The issue sees Carmine Falcone’s daughter released from Gotham Penitentiary (rather than Arkham Asylum) as Batman unravels the mystery of the Holiday killer during a war between two rival gangs: the Falcones and the Maronis.

“She wants to own this part of her past that rejects this sort of dark patriarchy of her father,” says series executive producer and The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves. LeFranc notes that “in the comics, it’s Sofia Falcone-Gigante because she marries into a Gigante family. But I thought it was more appropriate to have her take her mother’s maiden name. That’s Sofia’s moment of taking back power and declaring herself to the world.”

“That’s such an excellent last twist of the knife into her father’s legacy,” Milioti adds. “To be like, ‘Your legacy ends with you, and I’m going to honor my mother, and this is going to be a matriarchal mob family.'”

A flashback to ten years earlier revealed Sofia was poised to inherit her father’s crime empire as head of the Family. But when Oz betrayed Sofia to her father (Mark Strong), Carmine framed her for his Hangman murders, faked her mental illness, and had his daughter remanded to Arkham for a decade.

New episodes of The Penguin premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.

The post The Penguin Boss Explains the Major Change to Sofia Falcone appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It’s wild looking at the fall 2024 television season and seeing both Marvel and DC shows getting acclaim as they enter their respective back halves. HBO’s The Penguin is getting phrases like “best of the year,” and “Emmy contender” thrown around; meanwhile, Agatha All Along is the dark horse breakout that many Marvel Cinematic Universe fans are pleasantly surprised to be enjoying so much. As the discourse about both series flows, there is one thing that is true about both of them, collectively: they are performance-driven shows, built on two very talented lead actors.

And with their respective levels of success and/or acclaim, Agatha All Along and The Penguin are proving that some new-age theories about entertainment are dead wrong, and the old ways are still true: franchises are built primarily on star power, not necessarily just the power of IP.

Let’s just step back and look at this: The Penguin and Agatha All Along were initially met with overwhelming skepticism. The question of why either show needs to exist was asked often and repeatedly, with the only real answer being the strength of the performances of Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb/Penguin in The Batman, and Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness in WandaVision. That didn’t seem like enough to justify spinoff series for two minor characters – but both Penguin and Agatha have been wise to take those central performances as foundations, and build on them with entire ensembles of acting talent.

Penguin is giving Sofia Falcone actress Cristin Milioti the breakout she’s long deserved, and all but locking her for the Emmys next year; it’s also earning praise for Rhenzy Feliz, a young actor who has been trying to break through in projects like Marvel’s Runaways. Agatha All Along is both reminding fans that Aubrey Plaza is a top-tier talent while breaking in new Marvel franchise talent like actor Joe Locke – who is just now breaking out with the reveal that he’s Scarlet Witch’s son Billy Maximoff, the magical Young Avenger known as Wiccan. Those standout supporting actors are also bolstered by many talented veteran actors, with a list that includes the likes of Clancy Brown, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mark Strong, and Michael Kelly for Penguin, and Debra Jo Rupp, Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata and Ali Ahn for Agatha All Along.

The buzz on both shows makes it undeniable that the individual performances and character interactions are taking precedence over any in-universe ties, crossovers, or cameos. Now granted: by the time Penguin and Agatha both come to an end, one or both shows may get the biggest signal boost from some kind of late-game crossover or game-changing reveal for the franchise. Yet it feels like Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc and Agtha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer (no dots to connect there…) are much more interested in focusing on complex and layered characters, created by actors who have the talent to deliver on them.

Marvel Studios and DC Studios are hopefully taking note that the old star-driven franchise model isn’t yet as dead as many declared it to be. Loyalty to an actor and their performance as a character will get audiences to engage with even the most unlikely IP concepts. Farrell and Hahn’s now-proven ability to go from supporting roles to carrying shows also proves that no casting should be taken frivolously, as any breakout performance is potentially a new spinoff project of some kind. For the actors, it should be well-earned validation (and future leverage) that the craft is still a valuable commodity.

The Penguin airs Sunday nights on HBO and streams on Max. Agatha All Along streams on Disney+.

The post The Penguin & All Along Prove Superhero Franchises Are Driven By Actors, Not IP appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Batman and Robin won’t make their debut in the new DC Universe until The Brave and the Bold, but the dynamic duo are already filling out their rogues’ gallery. DC Studios dropped the new Creature Commandos trailer during its New York Comic Con panel on Saturday, and in it, fans got their first look at the shape-shifting mud-monster Clayface in the DCU. The footage also revealed a glimpse of a second Batman villain: Gotham City crime boss Rupert Thorne, who is tied to the origin of another member of Batman’s rogue’s gallery, the radioactive Dr. Phosphorus (voiced by Alan Tudyk).

DC Studios co-chief James Gunn announced that Benjamin Byron Davis will be voicing Rupert Thorne in Creature Commandos, the seven-episode Max Original adult animated series written and executive produced by Gunn. The actor, who is best known for his role as the gang leader Dutch van der Linde in the Red Dead Redemption video games, also appeared in Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the Gunn-produced The Miracle of Phil and The Belko Experiment.

Davis joins just-announced cast members Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), and Linda Cardellini (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) in undisclosed roles. Creature Commandos is the first series set in the new DCU that will continue with Gunn’s live-action Superman movie in 2025.

Thorne first appeared alongside the atomic-powered supervillain in 1977’s Detective Comics #469, which introduced the character as corrupt city council chairman Boss Rupert Thorne — one of the most powerful men in Gotham City. Dr. Phosphorus’ origin story revealed he was once Dr. Alex Sartorius, who was convinced to sink his life savings into Thorne’s power plant and was turned into living phosphorus when he was exposed to the reactor core’s radioactive sand.

Blaming the council for his transformation, he irradiated the Gotham reservoir, and Batman felt Dr. Phosphorus’ burning touch for the first time when the Dark Knight tracked down the combustible culprit who poisoned the city’s water supply. After a run for Mayor of Gotham City, Thorne is imprisoned in Blackgate Penitentiary when Batman saves him from a vengeful Dr. Phosphorus.

Andy Muschietti (The Flash) is attached to direct The Brave and the Bold, described as an “unusual father-son story inspired by Grant Morrison’s comic series” that introduced the Damian Wayne Robin as the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. The movie, which is separate from The Batman film saga starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, is also set to include other members of the extended Bat-family.

DC Studios’ Creature Commandos — featuring the voices of Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Indira Varma as The Bride, David Harbour as Frankenstein, Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, and Sean Gunn as Weasel and GI Robot — is streaming December 5 on Max.

The post The New DCU Casts Another Batman Villain appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Penguin Episode 5 features a cameo appearance from a pivotal character we met in The Batman (2022), and a lot of fans may have missed it! Episode 5 of The Penguin “Homecoming” had to deal with the game-changing twist of Episode 4 (SPOILERS!) that saw Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) murder nearly all of her crime family in a bid to seize power. Well, The Penguin treats the death of the Falcone family with the gravitas it deserves – meaning the Gotham City Police Department shows up in force to deal with it.

The Penguin Episode 5 Brings Back The Batman’s Chief Bock

Matt Reeves’ movie made it clear that Batman (Robert Pattinson) has a pretty uneasy relationship with the GCPD. While Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) treated Batman as an ally and fellow detective, his superior Chief Mackenzie Bock (Con O’Neill) was vehemently opposed to the masked vigilante being involved with a police investigation.

Bock only got the spotlight for a couple of scenes in The Batman; he’s primarily featured in the sequence after The Riddler blows up D.A. Gil Colson during Mayor Don Mitchell Jr.’s funeral. Batman is knocked unconscious by the explosion and taken to police headquarters; he wakes up to Bock, Gordon, and a gang of cops surrounding him, and immediately gets into it with Bock, who accuses Batman of having Colson’s blood on his hands. Bock and Gordon get into it a bit when Gordon steps up to defend Batman, but the chief ultimately lets Gordon talk to Batman one-on-one – which sets up Bruce to make a wild escape off the roof with this flight suit. By the end of The Riddler’s attack, Chief Mackenzie is one of the noble city officials left holding together a city that’s literally drowning.

The Penguin Episode 5 conveys a lot of history (and some great onscreen chemistry) with Chief Bock’s cameo. The policeman comes to the Falcone estate to personally supervise the crime scene and investigation – interest that Sofia Falcone weaponized against him. Bock goes fishing for a lead, questioning the “luck” that Sofia wasn’t in the house when the “accident” happened, because she was having a sleepover with her niece Gia in the greenhouse. Sofia easily dodges that hook and throws out her line of inquiry about what Bock is doing there – prying into his motivation to come and survey the demise of her family and the fall of their criminal organization. Sofia gets even darker, suggesting that Bock is secretly so pleased with the deaths that he and his officers will share photos of the crime scene and celebrate at their cop bar – before selling the gruesome images to the press. Bock doesn’t bite the bait either, leaving Sofia with sarcastic condolences before departing.

The Penguin continues to do a precise job of peppering in tie-in elements and unexpected character cameos that remind us the show is set in The Batman Universe and is reacting to events and mythology established in the first film. It manages to achieve that immersive effect without shoehorning heavy-handed name-drops or callback exposition, and (so far) the show has managed to feel relevant and interesting without having an appearance from Batman himself. If the back half of the season keeps that trend intact, Penguin will stand as a shining example of how to do these franchise universe spinoffs right in a TV format.

The Penguin airs Sunday nights on HBO and streams on Max.

The post The Penguin Episode 5 Brings Back A Pivotal Character From The Batman appeared first on ComicBook.com.

James Gunn is recruiting four more actors into the monster-sized Creature Commandos cast. The DC Studios co-head debuted a new trailer for the Max adult animated series at New York Comic Con on Saturday, revealing an extended look at the first series set in the new DC Universe. In the “hyperbolically violent” footage, Task Force X founder Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) enlists Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) to lead monsters incarcerated in the Non-Human Internment Division: Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), The Bride (Indira Varma) and Frankenstein (David Harbour), Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), and Weasel and GI Robot (both voiced by Sean Gunn).

In addition to Steve Agee reprising his role from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker as Economos, with Maria Bakalova (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) voicing Princess Ilana and Anya Chalotra (The Witcher) as the Wonder Woman villain Circe, Gunn announced four new additions to the cast: Michael Rooker, Linda Cardellini, Peter Serafinowicz in undisclosed roles, and Benjamin Byron Davis as Gotham City-based criminal Rupert Thorne. (Here’s everything Gunn revealed about the new DCU at NYCC.)

Rooker is a longtime collaborator of Gunn’s, appearing in his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy as Yondu and as short-lived vigilante Savant in 2021’s The Suicide Squad. The actor also featured in the Gunn-directed Slither and Super, as well as Brightburn, which Gunn produced, and The Belko Experiment, written by Gunn.

Cardellini played Velma in 2002’s live-action Scooby-Doo and 2004’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, both written by Gunn, and she voiced Lylla the otter in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It was her second role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after playing Laura Barton, wife of Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, in Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye TV series and Avengers: Endgame.

Serafinowicz, who played the Denarian Garthan Saal of the Nova Corps in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, is also known for his roles in Shaun of the Dead, John Wick: Chapter 2, and the title role as the superhero The Tick in the live-action comic book adaptation.

Davis, best known for his role as the gang leader Dutch van der Linde in the Red Dead Redemption video games, is another Gunn regular who appeared in the Gunn-produced short The Miracle of Phil and The Belko Experiment before portraying OrgoCorp guard Bletelsnort in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. His other live-action roles include Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Borderlands movie, and episodes of Gilmore Girls, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles, How I Met Your Mother, and Parks and Recreation.

Like his comic book counterpart, the Tudyk-voiced Dr. Sartorius is transformed into a radioactive, atomic-powered supervillain by the corrupt Rupert Thorne. He’s the second Batman villain to be revealed for the series after the new trailer showed Flag Sr. battling the shape-shifting Clayface.

“You’re going see where everybody came from, their origins, and it’s terrifying,” Tudyk teased during the DC Studios panel. “There’s moments where you are shocked and horrified and moved, and then, by the same characters, can make you laugh, and then also make you cringe because they’re so violent and screwed up.”

Gunn wrote and executive produces the seven-episode Creature Commandos, about a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. The DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation series is also executive produced by Peter Safran (The Suicide Squad), Dean Lorey (Max’s Harley Quinn), and Sam Register (Batman: Caped Crusader), with Rick Morales (Young Justice) serving as a supervising producer. Creature Commandos is streaming December 5 on Max.

The post James Gunn’s Creature Commandos Casts Four Marvel Actors appeared first on ComicBook.com.

James Gunn previewed the DC Studios slate at New York Comic Con on Saturday, where the DC Studios Co-Chairman and CEO teased that the new DC Universe is “beyond what any of us expected.” The panel, which marked the first major update since co-heads Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled their plans for Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters in 2023, brought the latest on the projects spanning phase one — including the Max adult animated series Creature Commandos and Gunn’s Superman movie, described as the “true start” of the new DCU.

Read on for all of the announcements and highlights from the DC Studios panel.

Creature Commandos Cast and Trailer

The first series set in the new DCU, Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. “Congress said we can’t use human prisoners,” the Viola Davis-voiced Amanda Waller says in the new Creature Commandos trailer that debuted during the panel. “These a-holes aren’t human.”

Written by Gunn, the new seven-episode series from DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation features the voices of Zoe Chao (The Afterparty) as Nina Mazursky, David Harbour (Marvel’s Thunderbolts*) as Frankenstein, Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) as The Bride, Alan Tudyk (Firefly) as Dr. Phosphorus, Steve Agee (Peacemaker) as Economos, Maria Bakalova (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) as Princess Ilana, Sean Gunn (The Suicide Squad) as GI Robot and Weasel, Frank Grillo (Captain America: Civil War) as Rick Flag Sr., Anya Chalotra (The Witcher) as Wonder Woman villain Circe, and Davis (Suicide Squad) as Amanda Waller.

It was also revealed frequent Gunn collaborators Linda Cardellini (Scooby-Doo, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) and Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad) will guest star, and that Congorilla, the Golden Gorilla, and the Batman villain Clayface are among the characters who will appear in the series.

Creature Commandos premieres December 5 on Max.

The DCU Aesthetic

Creature Commandos and “every single project out of DC Studios is going to be its own thing” in terms of aesthetic, Gunn said, adding that tones will differ between Superman, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and HBO’s Lanterns series, which Gunn has likened to a True Detective-type mystery. “It’s a connected universe, but we’re not imposing any overall aesthetic.” 

Executive producer Dean Lorey described the aesthetic of Creature Commandos as “Eastern European” in style. “We were looking to do something that was sort of grounded, but with some style to it,” Lorey said. “It’s got a lot of really dark, dark tones. The palettes are really cool. But as you can see, it’s very action-oriented. It sets itself apart from, say, [Max adult animated series] Harley Quinn and those kind of shows. It feels more adult.”

“It is an adult show, and it has all the adult things. One of those things is sex,” Tudyk added. The Creature Commandos tone is in line with Gunn’s R-rated The Suicide Squad and the TV-MA Peacemaker.

“Maybe the one thing that this series has in common with Harley and to some extent, Kite Man, even though those are pretty clearly comedies, we took them seriously dramatically,” Lorey said. “We took the relationships very seriously when there was a death or anything like that, but we wanted people to feel it. So that was a little bit of a crossover because this gave us an opportunity to more fully do that than we could do in a pure comedy.”

The New DCU Canon

While Creature Commandos is an aperitif to the new DCU canon that will officially begin with Superman in 2025, Safran and Gunn’s DC Universe will reference the events of the DC Extended Universe. “There are references to things that happened in the past, and those references then become canon in the DCU because we mention them,” Gunn explained.

One such canonical event is the death of Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag in 2021’s The Suicide Squad, which was referenced in Peacemaker season 1 and will be considered canon in Creature Commandos and Peacemaker season 2. Grillo will reprise his role as Rick Flag Sr. in live-action, first in the Superman movie before the sophomore season of Peacemaker later in 2025.

“He’s a major character in Peacemaker season 2. We wanted to cast people who could play those characters live action — at least for the major characters,” Gunn said. “We have ideas for other things, and a couple of these people may appear in other media as other characters soon.”

Although the new DCU canon will reference things that happened in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker — which were initially set in the DCEU, spanning 2013’s Man of Steel through 2023’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — fans won’t have to be caught up on the old mythology. “This is first and foremost about story. We don’t want anybody to come to Creature Commandos going, ‘You have to watch The Suicide Squad to understand what happened in Creature Commandos,'” Gunn said. “We want people to be able to come in this blind and then be totally excited about it.”

In addition to Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, DCEU characters who will carry over into the DCU include John Cena’s Peacemaker and Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle.

Peacemaker Season 2

The second season of Peacemaker is “a very different season,” Gunn said, describing it as “very magical.” Gunn recently revealed the first look at a mysterious new character, and shared that he has “a way in” to connect the DCEU and the DCU. “It won’t be confusing.”

Gunn, who serves as showrunner, directed the premiere and shot an episode the night before NYCC. Superbad and Nobody Wants This director Greg Mottola “directed two of the best Peacemaker episodes ever,” Gunn said of episodes two and three of season 2. “John Cena has, honestly, I’ve never seen anyone who has gotten so much better [acting] in such a short amount of time. He was great in the first season. This season, he owns it and he’s amazing.”

Superman

Gunn confirmed that “it won’t be too long” before the first Superman movie trailer, “but it also won’t be too soon.” The first film of the new DCU is set to fly into theaters on July 11, 2025, and stars David Corenswet (Twisters) as Kal-El/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Lex Luthor, and an ensemble cast that includes Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Edi Gathegi (For All Mankind) as Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus) as Hawkgirl, Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho, Nathan Fillion (The Suicide Squad) as the Guy Gardner Green Lantern, and María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Authority’s Angelica Spica, a.k.a. the Engineer.

Tudyk, who voices the radioactive supervillain Dr. Phosphorus in Creature Commandos, also has a secret role in Superman as a different character. A prolific voice actor who has voiced animal sidekicks in the Disney animated movies Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Encanto, Tudyk may be voicing Krypto the Superdog. Gunn recently revealed the first look at the Kryptonian canine inspired by his rescue dog, Ozu.

“Krypto, that’s been something that’s just been amazing. We’ve been working with him in the edit. He’s an incredible part of the story to me personally,” said Gunn. “When I was writing the screenplay, he came in and kind of changed everything up.”

Gunn’s Superman movie wrapped filming in late July and is now “deep in the process of editing.”

Corenswet is “going to f—ing blow people away,” Gunn added. “He is the movie star that everyone just dreams he could possibly be. I don’t think anyone really understands the depth of this guy’s talent dramatically, comedically. He’s the best physical action star I’ve probably ever worked with… I feel good about it, and I’m really hard on stuff, so it’s been fantastic.”

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

The second movie in the DCU is Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which stars Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, one of the few survivors of the destruction of the planet Krypton. Based on the eight-issue series of the same name by writer Tom King (Batman) and artist Bilquis Evely (Wonder Woman), Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya and Cruella) is directing from a script by Ana Nogueria.

The Supergirl movie is “a completely different, unique take on a superhero,” Gunn said, adding that Nogueria “came in, and she pitched the story to me of Supergirl, and it was just one of the best pitches I’ve ever heard, and she immediately wrote it. She came in with the first draft that was great, and it’s just gotten better and better. Then Craig has been incredibly easy to work with, and I can’t wait for that to come out.”

It was also revealed that the movie, which will begin filming in January 2025 in the UK, is currently screen-testing actors for the role of Ruthye Marye Knoll, the alien girl who puts a bounty on Krem of the Yellow Hills (played by The Old Guard‘s Matthias Schoenaerts), and embarks on a star-spanning adventure across the galaxy with Supergirl and Krypto to avenge her slain father in the comic book.

HBO’s Lanterns

Gunn provided an update on Lanterns, which follows new Green Lantern recruit John Stewart (the recently cast Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. HBO is producing the series in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios.

Pierre, best known for his roles in TV’s Krypton and Netflix’s Rebel Ridge, “is somebody who I’ve wanted to work together with for a long time,” Gunn said. “People don’t know, but he was almost cast as Adam Warlock [in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3]. He’s an amazing actor, and I just really admired him from the beginning of his career. Seeing him read with Kyle was one of those miraculous moments. I don’t care what they’re saying, I just love what they’re saying together.”

The live-action Green Lantern TV series was conceived during a summit with the DCU writers’ room, which includes Gunn, Drew Goddard (Marvel’s Daredevil), Jeremy Slater (Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight), Christina Hodson (The Flash movie), Christal Henry (HBO’s Watchmen), and comic book writer Tom King, who co-wrote Lanterns with Chris Mundy (Ozark, True Detective) and Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers).

“When we first started the DCU, the first couple of weeks of heading this out, we got together with a group of writers, and Tom King was one of those writers, and we were in this room, and we came up with sort of this concept for Lanterns,” Gunn said. “It’s a much more very grounded series, a very real series, which is a strange thing to say about a Green Lanterns show. But it’s going to be something like nobody’s ever seen before.”

Gunn added that Mundy, Lindelof, and King are overseeing Lanterns, which is preparing to shoot and “it’s been amazing.”

DC Studios’ Creature Commandos premieres Dec. 5 on Max; Superman opens only in theaters July 11, 2025.

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Buried in the trailer for Creature Commandos is a very brief moment where we get to see Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. in the midst of a fight, one where he appears to be on the losing side of things. Though it appears on screen for just a few seconds, the other combatant in the moment is clearly none other than Clayface, sporting his signature muddy appearance while also transforming his appendages into simple weapons that he can use to attack. Check out a screenshot of the moment below

Clayface, like many comic book villains, has actually been a moniker used by many characters. The original version of Clayface was actually created back in 1940 by Batman co-creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane who unleashed Basil Karlo on the world back in Detective Comics #40. In recent years the character has taken on more of an anti-hero persona in the pages of DC Comics rather than his traditional villain roots, and considering the direction of the Creature Commandos show it’s possible that his appearance in the show will be one where he turns down a spot on the team since he’s technically a human.

The introduction of Clayface in the Creature Commandos trailer does confirm that the character has a place in the DCU since James Gunn has already confirmed that actors will play their roles not only in animation but in live-action. It’s unclear where in the DCU Clayface might get the chance to pop up again, though naturally the announced Batman movie in the DCU, The Brave and the Bold, seems like a potential spot for him, it seems almost more likely that Clayface is getting used in Creature Commandos because there are no other plans for him in the DCU.

Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option. The cast of Creature Commandos includes Steve Agee as Economos, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana, Anya Chalotra as Circe, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Sean Gunn as GI Robot & Weasel, David Harbour as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Indira Varma as The Bride, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Based on DC characters and produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation; additional executive producers include Peter Safran, Dean Lorey, and Sam Register; Rick Morales serves as a supervising producer.

Creature Commandos will premiere exclusively on Max on Thursday, December 5th.

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Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong is coming back for a new sequel, and the follow up is promising even more characters and kaiju will be wrapped up in the clash between superheroes, supervillains and giant monsters. Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong made its debut last Fall as fans got to see how the Monsterverse and DC Universe would collide with the unexpected crossover. With the final issue of this new collaboration between DC Comics, Legendary Comics, and Toho International releasing earlier this Spring, the team up has proven to be such a hit with comics fans that it’s coming around with a new entry.

Announced during the Jim Lee & Friends panel during the New York Comic Con 2024 convention this weekend, will be an official sequel crossover that will be making its debut on shelves some time in Spring 2025. The sequel will bring back the creative team behind the first series, writer Brian Buccellato and artist Christian Duce, and rather than Godzilla and Kong making their way into the DC Universe as seen in the first series, DC’s heroes and villains will be heading into the Monsterverse this time around instead.

What to Know for Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 will be primarily set within Legendary’s Monsterverse with teased appearances from Titans such as King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra. Skull Island has been teased to be a key location for the upcoming sequel, and Suicide Squad member Killer Croc is being teased to grow to a Titan size in order to face off against the giant monsters in the sequel’s story as well. But as far as how many issues there will be or what other characters will play in the story, it’s still very much a mystery as of the time of this publication.

This is a much different kind of crossover than seen with the first miniseries as well that had the members of the Legion of Doom tap into the Titans in Legendary’s MonsterVerse. Opening a portal to that world, Godzilla, Kong, and a few of the other Titans broke their way into cities like Metropolis as Superman, Batman, and the other DC heroes tried everything they could to take on their massive new foes. It was part of Lex Luthor’s plan to finally find something strong enough to take down the Justice League, but ultimately did work out like they expected.

What’s Next for the Monsterverse?

The Monsterverse has also been growing as well. The follow up to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is currently in the works for a scheduled release on March 26th, 2027. The official title for the sequel has yet to be announced as of the time of this publication, however. The last significant update outside of its release date was that I Am Mother director Grant Sputore has signed on to direct the sequel following Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire director Adam Wingard’s exit from the franchise.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings writer Dave Callaham has also been tasked to write the script for the new film, but there has yet to be a big update since the initial staff and date had been set. With so many more Toho monsters in the Godzilla franchise, and even more potential original creations from Legendary’s Monsterverse, there are all sorts of stories that could come from this increasingly massive world filled with even more giant monsters. Coupled with comics, and the sky is the limit for these stories.

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DC has been busy at New York Comic-Con with a number of major announcements across its main universe line, but the Absolute Universe got some love as well, including new up-close looks and details for Absolute Green Lantern and the latest addition to the line Absolute Martian Manhunter. Bringing Absolute Martian Manhunter to life is the creative team of writer Deniz Camp (making his DC debut) and artist Javier Rodriguez and the new series will hit comic stores in March of 2025.

Martian Manhunter will join the Absolute Universe wave two lineup, which also features Absolute Flash and Absolute Green Lantern. Speaking of Green Lantern, we got more details on Absolute Green Lantern from the team of writer Al Ewing and artist Jahnoy Lindsay. Ewing revealed how Scott Snyder convinced him to join the Absolute line, and between the cover and what was said in the panel, we know that Jo, Hal, John, and Guy will all have some sort of role in the series.

“You’ve seen me when I do big stuff, I’m doing big stuff in this one… Part of the thing of this book is, you think you know what Green Lantern is. You do not know what the Green Lantern is in the Absolute Universe. First time anyone sees it, there’s a giant Green Lantern that has crushed a town. The Green Lantern in the book is an object,” Ewing said (via DCU Updates).

A Truly Different Martian Manhunter

As for Martian Manhunter, Camp took to social media and shared some behind-the-scenes details on the series and their approach, and it’s difficult not to get hyped about it. On X Camp wrote, “This is probably the most radical reinvention of the absolute line so far, and I think it’s testament to the atmosphere of creative freedom that the editors and @Ssnyder1835 have fostered on this line. He was also this books greatest champion.”

“Basically, @Ssnyder1835 and I had a 3 hour long phone call where we talked about life, our ambitions, etc. He explained what he was doing with Absolute and basically said pick any character outside of the big 5 (which were taken). The whole DCU was on the table, & I picked MMH,” Camp wrote.

“But a condition of doing the book, from the start, was working with @javiercaster. don’t get me wrong, the opportunity is amazing, the whole absolute team is so supportive, the freedom is incredible and an honor, but I think Javi is one of the great artists in comics today And have wanted to work with him for ages, and wrote him into the pitch, before anyone contacted him, or we had ever talked or met or anything,” Camp wrote. You can check out some new images from both Absolute titles in the gallery below.

Are you excited for Absolute Marian Manhunter and Absolute Green Lantern? You can talk all things comics and DC with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

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The DC Universe is about to get a lot more monstrous. On Saturday, as part of the Creature Commandos panel at New York Comic Con 2024, DC Studios unveiled the second full trailer for the series, ahead of its premiere on December 5th. The series, which is written and executive produced by James Gunn, will be the inaugural project within Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU of movies and television shows, which will also include Superman, Lanterns, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and more. Check it out in the player below

Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option. The cast of Creature Commandos includes Steve Agee as Economos, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana, Anya Chalotra as Circe, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Sean Gunn as GI Robot & Weasel, David Harbour as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Indira Varma as The Bride, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Based on DC characters and produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation; additional executive producers include Peter Safran, Dean Lorey, and Sam Register; Rick Morales serves as a supervising producer.

“It was great, and it was really different in the sense that James Gunn had written all of the scripts before we started shooting,” Lorey explained to ComicBook in a recent exclusive interview. “Usually, I’m one of the writers on a show, even if I’m running it. But James had fully written the scripts. They were great scripts. Everybody was really, really excited about them. So the process went into production quicker than normal, because there were scripts that were ready to go. And we were really lucky to get voice cast that [we have]. I think the Harley voice cast is great, and Kite Man, and I think the Creature Commandos voice cast is easily the equal of those. It just was a pure pleasure to be working with James, who had such a very clear vision of what he wanted the show to be. He really knows that world. He knows it backwards and forwards. So just in terms of making the show, it’s been a pleasure, and everybody has been great to work with. I think it’s going to be a significant release. I don’t know if people really know what they’re in for yet, but it’s fantastic. We’re so proud of it.” 

Creature Commandos will premiere exclusively on Max on Thursday, December 5th.

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Straight from New York Comic Con today, DC Comics has announced the long-awaited return of their creator-owned comics label Vertigo, this time set to be called DC Vertigo. The imprint was previously home to some of DC’s biggest comic titles of all time including the likes of Sandman, Preacher, Y: The Last Man, and Fables, and has been dormant since January of 2020 when DC began to consolidate its publishing imprints. At the time Vertigo transitioned into the DC Black Label imprint, which became where more mature and adult-oriented stores for the DC heroes were published rather than creator owned comics.

With the news of Vertigo’s return, DC Comics has also confirmed the first title that will kick off the DC Vertigo imprint, and it’s one that is already being published, The Nice House By The Sea by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. DC will publish upcoming issues of the series under the label, and republish its predecessor, The Nice House on the Lake, as a Vertigo title in the future.

What does DC Vertigo’s return mean for DC Black Label?

“It’s back,” Chris Conroy, an executive editor at DC that oversees the Black Label, Milestone, and Sandman Universe labels, wrote in a post on X referencing the Vertigo announcement. “New books to be announced. Some surprises from the archives coming as well. This is my editorial dream come true.”

Conroy confirmed on Twitter that the return of Vertigo doesn’t mean that DC Black Label is going away. In fact, Conroy revealed that the two will continue, with both publishing their own specific types of comics.

“DC Black Label continues, with some red-hot stories for DC’s superhero characters still on the way for years to come. Vertigo puts us back into the creator-owned business in a very big way. Yes, I’m running both; no, I haven’t lost my mind yet.”

DC did not confirm any other titles that would be released under the new DC Vertigo banner, but fans can almost certainly expect not only new titles but brand new editions of classic stories featuring the brand new DC Vertigo logo.

Why is DC Vertigo returning a big deal?

The original version of the Vertigo imprint was started back in 1993 by editor Karen Berger, kicking off with six titles that were already being published and which transitioned into being Vertigo titles, including: The Sandman, Hellblazer, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, and Shade, the Changing Man. These titles would become staples of the Vertigo imprint for years despite many of them originating from DC proper.

What Vertigo started as, and developed into further, was a place for weirder and more mature comic ideas to get published by a mainstream publisher. Notable creators got a major break into American comics with their work from Vertigo as well, including Garth Ennis, who penned Hellblazer and later co-created Preacher for the imprint. In addition, it was also where some creators would go to foster their original ideas having previously worked only on superhero titles for Marvel or DC, such as Brian K. Vaughan who would co-create Y: The Last Man under Vertigo and also pen Swamp Thing for the imprint.

The return of Vertigo under DC’s banner of publishing arms is a sign that they’re not only interested in telling stories that don’t immediately feature the characters they already on, but hopefully that they’re eager to foster talent in comics that hasn’t yet gotten their foot in the door at one of the two major publishers.

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James Gunn is already working on the anticipated second season to Peacemaker, but that’s not the only Peacemaker project he’s working on. Today DC announced that Gunn will be a story consultant on the new five-issue series Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante/Eagly Double Feature, which is helmed by the creative teams of Tim Seeley and Mitch Gerads (Vigilante) and Rex Ogle and Matteo Lolli (Eagly). The series ties right into the show as well, as it is set between Peacemaker seasons one and two, giving fans an idea of what is in store when the second season hits Max in 2025, though it also deals with the fallout from season one, including the disappearance of Peacemaker.

In the Vigilante story, Adrian heads to Peacemaker’s house to hang out but finds that Chris and Eagly are gone. He assumes the worst, thinking they’ve been taken, so he suits up and starts with his local criminal community to figure out where they are, and there will likely be quite a bit of bloodshed as he looks to find answers. Making this all the more ironic is that Chris and Eagly are not captured at all, but on vacation in Alaska, with Chris simply forgetting to ask Adrian along.
 
“I’m in my Vigilante era,” said artist Mitch Gerads on the Vigilante (without Peacemaker) half of the double feature. “I have 100 Taylor Swift friendship bracelets to trade—they’re in Vigilante colors and say ‘Vigilante S***.’ Come find me at NYCC and join the fun.”
 
“Awkward. Clueless. Possibly psychotic. Obsessed with destroying furniture. That’s Mitch Gerads,” said writer Tim Seeley. “Oh…wait? You mean you want me to describe Adrian Chase, Vigilante? Oh, sure. He’s the coolest dude ever and he smashes so many chicks. Also, he’s a great friend, and definitely not a serial-killing busboy. Peacemaker is lucky to call him “bro,” and Mitch and I are lucky to continue his horrifically violent adventures at DC Comics.”

On the Eagly side of things, we see things from Chris’ point of view as they vacation in Alaska. Unfortunately, things do go sideways when everyone on their plane is gassed and knocked out. When they wake up they are being hunted for sport by a mysterious group of supervillains, which is not at all what this vacation was supposed to be. Thing is, the villains don’t know what they’ve gotten into either, as none of them expected for Peacemaker to be one of the people they were hunting.
 
“When [DC editor] Katie Kubert asked me to do a short for DC’s Strange Love Adventures, I was stoked to write a Peacemaker story,” said writer Rex Ogle on the Eagly (and Peacemaker) half of the double feature. “So getting to dive back in and play with this iconic antihero again (and in a miniseries this time!) is a total dream. Part of what makes him so great is that at his core, Peacemaker is a hopeless optimist. He wants the world to be a better place, not just for himself, but for others. He doesn’t always go about achieving peace in the right way, but he brings an incredible levity to the violence that is already ever-present in our world. And sometimes we need to laugh at the bad—so we don’t break down and cry.”
 
“Bringing Peacemaker and Eagly to life in a comic is like unleashing chaos and heart on every page,” said artist Matteo Lolli. “Rex was able to both capture their funny bond and make for a perfect mix of action and humor. Drawing Peacemaker is obviously a blast, but capturing a character that doesn’t speak? Not easy. And what if this character happens to be a bird to whom nature gave by default a stern and angry look? That’s a whole other challenge, and I wasn’t sure I could deliver it without the right kind of script. Luckily for me, Rex did a fantastic job with it. It’s pure fun to see their unpredictable dynamic unleashed in this new adventure.”
 
“I write a ton of books and graphic novels for middle grade and young adult readers, which I love,” continued Ogle, “but there’s nothing quite like returning to my comic book roots to work on something where I can unleash my inner creative beast. Writing Christopher Smith lets me do just that—go buck wild—not just with some good ol’ fashioned violence, but with humor and unnecessary nudity. Peacemaker lets me live the dream of writing stories I wanted to read as a kid.”

Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante/Eagly Double Feature! features a Vigilante story by writer Tim Seeley, artist Mitch Gerads, and letterer Pat Brosseau, and an Eagly story by writer Rex Ogle, artist Matteo Lolli, colorist John Kalisz, and letterer Pat Brosseau, with story consulting by James Gunn. The first issue will hit stores in March and will carry DC’s Ages 17+ content descriptor for mature readers. It will also have main covers by Gerads.

Are you excited for the new Peacemaker double feature? You can talk all things DC and comics with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

The post Peacemaker’s James Gunn Working on Vigilante and Eagly Double-Feature at DC appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC had several huge announcements to share during New York Comic-Con, though there is one announcement in particular that almost stole the show during the Jim Lee and Friends Panel. That’s partly because no one really thought we’d ever get a sequel to one of DC’s biggest Batman stories over the past few decades, but that’s exactly what’s happening, as Lee announced that Hush 2 is actually happening. The sequel to DC’s smash hit Hush will feature the return of Jeph Loeb, Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair, and they even showed off some artwork from the anticipated sequel.

That artwork features a fully colored page featuring Batman gliding in the air towards an unknown objective, which we quickly learn is a group of thugs down on the street. Then we see Hush moving some pieces around a board, and the pieces are of the different Bat family heroes, including Batman and Huntress. On the second page of the artwork we see Batman descending out of the sky to take out those thugs, but as Batman keeps some of the other thugs at bay, the person he’s caught starts to have some sort of chemical reaction around his face, almost looking as if it’s melting off.

While two of the pages don’t feature colors yet, but they already look fantastic, and somehow the news gets even better. In addition to the announcement and the artwork, DC revealed that a Hush 2 prelude will be happening in the pages of the upcoming Justice League Unlimited #1, which will be hitting stores on November 27th. The actual Hush 2 storyline will begin in March 2025 with Batman #158, and the timing works out brilliantly for those who either haven’t read the original story or just want to read it again ahead of the sequel.

That’s because DC is reprinting the original Hush series as Facsimile Editions, and this will roll out starting in January 2025 with Batman #608 and Batman #609. We got more detarils on these in the latest DC Connect, and you can find the official desctipions or both below. Als of note, DC is celebrating the Hush 2 announcement with special shirts, and to get them you’ll need to scan the special DC Shop QR Code.

BATMAN #608 FACSIMILE EDITION
Written by Jeph Loeb
Art by Jim Lee
Cover by Jim Lee
Foil variant cover by
Jim Lee Blank sketch cover available
$3.99 22 pages Variant S4.99 (card stock) ON SALE 1/1/25
Batman attempts to bring an end to the vile kidnapping of an innocent child. But suddenly, all hell breaks loose… The first chapter of “Hush’— the landmark storyline where the superstar talents of Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb ushered in is a bold new adventure in the life of the Dark Knight, that set a new standard for Batman stories for years to come.

BATMAN #609 FACSIMILE EDITION
Written by Jeph Loeb
Art by Jim Lee
Cover by Jim Lee
Foil variant cover by Jim Lee
$3.99 22 pages Variant S4.99 (card stock) ON SALE 1/15/25
Pan 2 fan favourite “Hush”. Storyline by the Batman team of Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb a full facsimile edition. Lying near death, Batman must turn to the least likely person in the Bat family for help, the Huntress! Meanwhile, Catwoman continues to hunt down the mysterious individual responsible for wreaking havoc in their likes — a path that leads her back to Poison Ivy.

Are you excited for a sequel to Batman Hush? You can talk all things DC and comics with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

The post Jim Lee Finally Returns to DC’s Batman for Hush 2 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Love is about to be in the air for DC’s heroes and villains. On Friday, as part of DC’s January 2025 solicitations, the publisher announced DC’s Lex & the City #1, a new one-shot tied to Valentine’s Day. Released just a few weeks prior to the holiday on Wednesday, January 29th, the 80-page anthology will feature a number of stories involving love in the DCU. Lex & the City follows previous pun-filled Valentine’s Day one-shots Love Is a Battlefield, Harley Quinn Romances, and this year’s How to Lose a Guy Gardner in Ten Days. Exact creative teams and titles for the stories in Lex & the City are unknown at this time.

Lex & the City is just one of several major announcements from DC’s January 2025 solicitations, including a new Aquaman series and The Atom Project, starring both the Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi incarnations of The Atom as well as Captain Atom.

DC’S LEX AND THE CITY #1

Written by BRENDAN HAY, SINA GRACE, DAVE WIELGOSZ, CHARLES SKAGGS, CALLIE C. MILLER, MAGGIE TOKUDA-HALL, and more!

Art by HOWARD PORTER, SERG ACUÑA, STEPHEN BYRNE, LISA STERLE, LESLIE HUNG, and more!

Cover by AMANDA CONNER

Variant covers by SAOWEE and SOZOMAIKA

$9.99 US | 80 pages | Variant $9.99 US (card stock)

ON SALE 1/29/25

It’s Valentine’s Day, which means that love and heartbreak are sweeping every city in the DCU! This anthology collects eight stories of heroes and villains looking for love in the big city (which practically feels like its own character!). Lex Luthor laments over the one that got away—the big, ever-elusive Metropolitan man, Superman! Raven and Beast Boy embark on a romantic scavenger hunt across San Francisco (which just might be a trap)! And Damian Wayne runs a dating-advice gauntlet through Gotham City, organized by none other than the dating master himself, Tim Drake! Gather your gal pals, pour yourself a cosmo, and hit your nearest comic shop—DC’S LEX & THE CITY is coming this January!

DC’s Lex & the City comes just months before Lex’s next live-action cinematic appearance, with Nicholas Hoult set to portray the character in James Gunn’s Superman movie in the summer of 2025. Superman tells the story of Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned. Superman, which is written and directed by Gunn, will also star David Corenswet as Clark Kent / Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen.

“I have been working out,” Hoult revealed in an interview with Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum earlier this year. “There’s that bit in All-Star Superman where he talks about his muscles being real and hard work and all that. I kind of took that as a little bit of a fuel for the fire.”

As mentioned above, DC’s Lex & the City will be released wherever comics are sold on January 29, 2025.

The post DC Announces New Valentine’s Day One-Shot With the Best Title Ever appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC’s Absolute Batman has already been nothing short of a bonafide phenomenon, with its debut issue earning multiple print runs and a lot of conversation from fans online. Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s series sets out to reimagine the lore of Bruce Wayne / Batman in an entirely new context — and pretty soon, we will have even more backstory from that. On Friday, as part of DC’s January 2025 solicitations, the publisher unveiled the first details surrounding that month’s Absolute Batman #4. Written by Snyder with art by guest artist Gabriel Walta, the issue is expected to reveal even more details around Bruce’s origin story, and what ultimately led him to take up his one-man crusade against the crime of Gotham City.

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #4
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by GABRIEL WALTA
Cover by NICK DRAGOTTA
Variant covers by YASMINE PUTRI and FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA
1:25 variant cover by JAMES HARREN
1:50 variant cover by JORGE FORNÉS
$4.99 US | 24 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 1/8/25
Absolute Batman has established himself as an extremely large force to be reck-oned with. But how did he get to this point? How did he push himself? And how did the tragic events of his childhood, and the advice of his father, shape the man who he became…literally? Guest artist Gabriel Walta joins for this essential origin issue of Absolute Batman to explore Bruce Wayne’s past, and his inevitable future to go BIGGER. Don’t miss this pivotal issue!

As Absolute Batman #1 revealed, the inciting incident for Bruce’s career as Batman was a class field trip to the Gotham Zoo alongside his father, schoolteacher Thomas Wayne. The field trip, as it turns out, was a prize that Bruce won as a child in a student engineering competition, in which he created a collapsable bridge resembling a bat wing. When a gunman attacked the zoo, Thomas rushes Bruce and the kids into the bat exhibit, instructing his son not to open the door for any reason. Just like Earth-Prime Bruce’s situation with Joe Chill, we are not able to clearly identify the gunman, and it is implied that Thomas died in the fray.

From there, Bruce grew into a troubled teenager, but attempted to turn his life around by accepting a prestigious football scholarship. After seemingly faking an injury the first week of the season, Bruce then focused his studies on a litany of subjects, so he could return to Gotham prepared to fight for his city. As he does so, the issue also reveals that Bruce’s mother, Martha Wayne, is still very much alive and is a social worker. Given this information, it will be particularly interesting to see what Absolute Batman #4 further adds to the tapestry — whether it is just new details about his relationship with Thomas, or some insight into his self-made crusade in learning the skills necessary to become Batman.

As mentioned above, Absolute Batman #4 will be released wherever comics are sold on Wednesday, January 8th.

The post Absolute Batman’s “Pivotal” Origin Story Teased by DC appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The world of Green Lantern has been rather busy as of late thanks to the events of DC’s Green Lantern Civil Corps Special and this week’s Green Lantern #16, but things are only going to get more complicated from here. In the newest DC Connect (#54), fans get the first details on the next big milestone for the Green Lantern franchise, which will take place in January 2025’s Green Lantern: Fractured Spectrum #1. The new one-shot will be written by Green Lantern writer Jeremy Adams and drawn by V Ken Marion, and those who pick it up will meet a new type of Lantern. These new additions are known as Fractal Lanterns, and it seems these new Lanterns are a direct result of Thaaros’ tampering with the Emotional Spectrum.

If you’ve been following along with all the chaos recently, the Green Lanterns have been dealing with the corruption and spy tactics of Thaaros, who was able to install his own people in seats of power and fool much of the cosmic authorities in the process. In his route to power, Thaaros had the Central Power Batteries destroyed, taking the power for himself and for his growing army.

Fractal Lanterns

That seems to be tied to what is being described in the new Fractured Spectrum one-shot. The description says these new Fractal Lanterns are “beings that manifest uncontrolled parts of the emotional spectrum”, and since the Central Power Batteries fulfilled that purpose, it is likely that some of that energy has started to have some rather chaotic effects across the universe.

This is likely not to affect the Green Lanterns though, as it’s been established in the pages of the main series that there was a second Power Battery located on Earth. In recent issues, Hal has worked with Jadestone (the now heroic Amazo Lantern from Absolute Power) to get all the Lanterns new rings from the new Battery, but as of now, that hasn’t happened with the other Corps, and thus we are having issues like this. Granted, that’s just a guess on my part, but it seems pretty likely, right?

You can check out two covers from the new Fractured Spectrum one-shot above and below, and you can find more details on the anticipated special in the official description below.

GREEN LANTERN:
FRACTURED SPECTRUM #1
Written by JEREMY ADAMS
Art by V KEN MARION
Cover by FERNANDO BLANCO
Variant cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
Foil variant cover by FERNANDO BLANCO
$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)    
ON SALE 1/8/25    

Following the events of the Civil Corps, a new era in Green Lantern mythology begins! Once again, Oa has become the epicenter of the Green Lantern Corps, bringing justice to the furthest corners of the galaxy. But a new threat has emerged: beings that manifest uncontrolled parts of the emotional spectrum have randomly appeared throughout the universe. Dubbed “Fractal lanterns,”  Hal and a reformed Green Lantern Corps set off to police this strange new phenomenon while uncovering a sinister plot that could eliminate the very essence of sentient life

Are you excited for Green Lantern: Fractured Spectrum #1? You can talk all things DC and Green Lantern with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

The post Green Lantern: Fractured Spectrum Reveals New Type of Lantern appeared first on ComicBook.com.