Our weekly round-up of all the latest superhero news and talking points, including Shazam, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gotham, Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, Supergirl, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Widow, The Incredible Hulk, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Big Hero 6, X-Men: Apocalypse and more…
He’s been teasing it for months, but now Dwayne Johnson has finally revealed that his mystery DC role is none other than that of Black Adam, with The Rock set to portray the villain in Warner Bros.’ Shazam movie. Johnson broke the news on Twitter, after which it was revealed that the movie is being penned by Darren Lemke (Jack the Giant Slayer) and will be produced by Warner subsidiary New Line, with president Toby Emmerich suggesting that it may be separate from the planned DC Cinematic Universe: “It feels to me like Shazam will have a tone unto itself,” says Emmerich. “It’s a DC comic, but it’s not a Justice League character, and it’s not a Marvel comic. The tone and the feeling of the movie will be different from the other range of comic book movies. [It] will have a sense of fun and a sense of humor. But the stakes have to be real…”
…Preceding The Rock’s Black Adam announcement, it was revealed that Warner Bros. has registered several DC related domains, covering the Shazam movie alongside Justice League, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. As it happens, the registrations can be traced back a decade, although it does seem all but certain that the three remaining movies will all feature alongside Shazam as part of Warner’s scheduled DC slate through to 2020…
…Before we get to any of those movies, there’s the small matter of 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and this week has given us some high quality set photos of Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, as well as a few snaps of Jesse Eisenberg on set as Lex Luthor, albeit with a towel covering his head [see here and here]. While those didn’t really offer much in the way of a clue as to whether Eisenberg’s Luthor will or will not be sporting hair, and image has been doing the social media rounds showing the actor with a new hairstyle that looks suspiciously like a wig [judge for yourself here]…
…Coinciding with the news that Netflix has snapped up the video on demand rights to the upcoming Batman prequel series Gotham (for a hefty $1.75 million per episode), a batch of images from the pilot episode has arrived online, which you can check out here (although the majority of them we’ve already seen over the past few months), along with an Oswald Cobblepot promo here and a new TV spot here. Gotham is set to premiere on FOX on September 22nd, with Channel 5 airing the show in the UK…
…The CW has stepped up the promotion for the returning Arrow and new sister show The Flash this week by releasing new trailers for both shows, which we have for you here, as well as a batch of images and a TV spot for Arrow’s season three premiere, and a new poster and images for the pilot episode of The Flash. It has also been announced that Arrow has secured its main villain for season three, with Matt Nable (Riddick) set to portray the iconic DC villain Ra’s al Ghul, while The Flash is set to deliver a Prison Break reunion, with Dominic Purcell joining the previously cast Wentworth Miller (Captain Cold) in the role of fellow Rogue Mick Rory, a.k.a. Heatwave…
…NBC’s Constantine has also added another familiar DC face to its recurring cast, with Emmett Scanlan (The Fall, Guardians of the Galaxy) securing the role of Jim Corrigan, the future Spectre. Constantine’s incarnation of the character is described as “a homicide detective in New Orleans who is plunged into Constantine’s world of occult horrors. Furthermore, Corrigan is someone who is obsessed with justice, and who doesn’t let police procedure or red tape stop him from putting away the bad guys, even if the bad guys turn out to be inhuman…”
…While DC fans have those four shows to look forward to this upcoming TV season, it seems that Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El could soon be heading to the small screen too. According to a report, Warner Bros. is “actively pitching” a Supergirl TV series, which has Michael Green (producer on Smallville and Gotham, as well as co-writer of the Green Lantern movie) attached. However, according to a conflicting report, Green is not involved with the project, but rather Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Flash), DC CCO Geoff Johns and Ali Adler (No Ordinary Family), while The CW was apparently the first network WB pitched, although they decided to pass…
…On the animated front, DC Entertainment has released six new DC Nation shorts this week, with a trio of Green Arrow episodes which we have for you here, and a trio of Creature Commandos episodes which you can watch here…
…Click below to continue onto the next page for Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Widow, The Incredible Hulk, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Big Hero 6, X-Men: Apocalypse…
Originally published September 6, 2014. Updated March 19, 2020.
