…We’ve had a look at a couple of DCEU collectibles this week, with Sideshow unveiling its Harley Quinn Suicide Squad figure [see here], and Hot Toys released a batch of images for its battle-damaged Armored Batman from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice [see here]…
…On the press tour for his new film Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan has revealed that he’s working on 4K remasters of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Meanwhile, he also offered some praise for Wonder Woman, and revealed he’s enjoying the DCEU as a fan, but is unlikely to return to the superhero genre: “I did [see Wonder Woman] and I loved it. I mean, I watch the films. I enjoy films very much as a moviegoer these days. I spent 10 years of my life dealing with one of the greatest characters in popular fiction. It was a great honor and a privilege to work with that, but there’s a time to pass it on to new people…”
…Turning to the small screen and TV Guide unveiled its various Comic-Con covers this week, featuring The CW’s superhero shows Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl, along with the newest addition, Black Lightning; take a look here…
…Speaking of Black Lightning, we’ve had a new image from the upcoming series featuring Cress Williams’ Jefferson Pierce building his new suit, while the actor also spoke about his character: “The bare bones details are that he’s a metahuman, meaning he was born with these abilities, and discovered them as a child. He created, with the help of a friend, Black Lightning, and was fighting crime in his community for quite a few years before he hung it up for his family. As we pick up the story, he has hung up his suit for about nine years, and then circumstances cause him to pick it back up again. He’s a strong leader in his community, so when he first wore the suit, he was a teacher, so he was trying to uplift his community through education, but he was also on the streets as a hero. For the sake of his family — his wife wanted him to come home safely every night — he decided to put that side away, and has since become a principal. He’s done a lot of good through education, but there’s also something lacking on the streets. Because of that, he gets pulled back in. His family gets tied up into it and simply his daughters are in direct danger, which forces him to step up…”
…We’ll no doubt be getting a trailer for the sixth season of Arrow at SDCC next weekend, but in the meantime, we’ve had our first look Juliana Harkavy’s Dinah Drake suited up as the new Black Canary; check out the image here, along with EP Wendy Mericle’s comments on the character’s evolution. Meanwhile, Marc Guggenheim has stated that we should expect to see “a different version of Oliver” when the show returns this this October, while Ollie himself Stephen Amell has announced that Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson will be returning in season 6, as well as revealing which villains from The Flash he’d like to see the Green Arrow going up against…
…With production underway on season four of The Flash, we’ve had our first set photos from the premiere episode ‘The Flash Reborn’, which feature a pretty big spoiler relating to Wally West [check them out here]. Meanwhile, it’s also been rumoured that three new villains will be introduced in The Thinker, The Elongated Man, and The Mechanic…
…Gotham star David Mazouz has been chatting about Bruce Wayne’s journey in the fourth season of the Batman prequel show, stating that: “Bruce really is taking on this vigilante persona and all the things that go along with that. Whether it be creating another persona, a public persona, that’s also definitely going to be a major part of Bruce’s journey this year. His relationship as this other person. Batman is coming. Absolutely. Another thing I was worried about was we were going to get to Season 4 and the writers were going to go, ‘You know, I think we took it a little too far too fast. Let’s backtrack.’ And the exact opposite happened. The trajectory is just continuing in that direction. I would say, I would know it’s accelerating in that direction. It’s not going to stop.” Meanwhile, Mazouz also revealed that Camren Bicondova’s Selina Kyle will follow in Bruce’s footsteps by evolving into Catwoman in season four, and Sean Pertwee expressed his interest in seeing a cinematic version of the show…
…The cover artwork to the DVD release of Batman and Harley Quinn arrived online this week, revealing that the next instalment of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line will be an adaptation of the 1989 graphic novel Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, a Victorian-era Elseworlds-style take on the Dark Knight which sees him on the trail of the infamous murderer Jack the Ripper…
…Netflix has snapped up the rights to Gerard Way’s superhero comic title The Umbrella Academy, announcing development on a 10-episode series set to premiere in 2018. The Umbrella Academy follows a dysfunctional family of superheroes that come together in order to solve their father’s possible murder. “I am thrilled that The Umbrella Academy has found a home at Netflix,” said Way. “I couldn’t think of a better place for the vision Gabriel Ba and myself had when creating the comic, and cannot wait for people to experience that world as a live action show.” Read more on the official announcement here…
…Disney-Pixar revealed the first details on The Incredibles 2 at D23 yesterday, with Brad Bird revealing that Holly Hunter’s Elastigirl will be the main focus on the movie, as well as confirming the returning of Craig T. Nelson as Mr. Incredible, Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone and Sarah Vowell as Violet. Huck Milner will take over the role of Dashiell, who was voiced by Spencer Fox in the original. John Lasseter also announced that it will pick up “one minute” after the first movie, while the first promo artwork also arrived online [see here], as did an ‘Edna Mode Retrospective [watch it here]…
…Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has revealed that Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen was originally envisioned as a follow-up to Guillermo del Toro’s movies, only for del Toro and Ron Perlman to pass on the opportunity to return: “I would’ve loved to see Guillermo do his third movie and finish that story. But over the years it became very clear that wasn’t going to happen. About three years ago the producers, the screenwriter Andrew Cosby, and I all started working on this new story. Del Toro didn’t want to have anything to do with it, he wasn’t going to direct. He was offered to be a producer, and Ron wouldn’t do it without Guillermo. So we originally started trying to tie it to the del Toro universe and continue those movies. But once we had Neil Marshall, we thought, ‘Why are we going to try and continue that universe?’ Because a del Toro movie is a del Toro movie, and you don’t want to try and hand a del Toro movie to someone else. Especially someone as great as Neil Marshall. So that’s when it went from being this continuation to being a reboot. It’s exciting to have another director. It’s exciting to take another path, to take that material and give it another leaning…”
…And finally, with Spider-Man: Homecoming receiving acclaim for its ‘John Hughes does superheroes’ approach, Henry Bevan has revisited Sky High, the first teen superhero hybrid. You can read his article here.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
Originally published July 15, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
