A new featurette gives us a good look at the themes of the series, and the major players that Oz (Colin Farrell) are going to be going up against now that there’s a power vacuum left by the death of Carmine Falcone. Check this out:

Matt Reeves says about the series, “To me what was very important is this idea of the high and the low; the idea of the parts of the city that are insulated, and then the people who are struggling just day to day to get by. The Penguin is really looking at the profound corruption of Gotham. It’s kind of a dark American dream story, really.”

Multiple people have been comparing The Penguin to HBO’s hit series The Sopranos, and think this has become a new trend for comic book movies where they take a cult auteur classic and just give it a comic book twist. Probably the most glaring example of this is Joker which a lot of people say is just Scorsese’s King of Comedy and Taxi Driver but with a Batman flavouring.

Either way, The Penguin does look pretty interesting. Farrell has a very different take on the character, and it would be fun to see just exactly what Batman is missing when it comes to protecting Gotham. Not only do we have Oz in the spotlight, but the character of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) also looks like she can cause a lot of chaos, and it would be fantastic if she was able to do what very few shows do and become a mainstay in the comics depending on how good her character will be on this show.

The Penguin premieres on Max on Sept. 19.

Though it could be a while before we get the next season of Rings of Power or the animated War of the Rohirrim movie, the 30th Annual SAG Awards just gave us a fun little reunion between Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin). Watch this:

They actually callback to 20 years ago when Wood couldn’t be present during the SAG Awards, then we have some cheeky banter about Astin having Wood’s trophy and ‘casting it into the fire.’

Though this is the first time we’ve seen the duo officially onscreen together, Wood and the other Hobbit actors Dominic Mognahan and Billy Boyd have been sharing on social media that the actors do get together once in a while to catch up. Here’s a post back from 2022:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by •ᎥήiⒸ ภαᵍђＡ• (@dom_monaghan_)

For now, it does seem that Wood and Astin’s time with LOTR is long done, and it does seem the franchise is happy to just go backwards and tell stories of the prequels, what with J.R.R. Tolkien having written some pretty extensive lore on the subject. Should Frodo and Sam return, I imagine it will have something to do with what happens in the Age of Aragorn’s rule, but even then you can imagine all the angry LOTR purists refusing to have anything new added to their well-studied lore.

In the meantime, you can watch Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

As per an official announcement, the industry CEOs were said to have left the negotiating table, and it was said that their last offer was even smaller than when the strike first began. Here’s the post:

Our resolve is unwavering. Join us on picket lines and at solidarity events around the country and let your voices be heard.

One day longer. One day stronger. As long as it takes.

– Your TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee (11/11) pic.twitter.com/qV3cpHgsIy

— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) October 12, 2023

As it turns out, the companies had been refusing to agree with how the industry was going to deal with the use of AI moving forward. They were also said to have refused the increase of wages to keep up with inflation as well as changing the method in which profit is shared among everyone involved.

SAG even says in the thread that their proposed revenue share proposal would have cost the company less per subscriber, but the offers have been rejected, and the companies did not offer any counter proposals.

According to Variety, the studios had presented their latest offer last Wednesday, which SAG didn’t agree to. The AMPTP did release this statement:

“After meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction… We hope that SAG-AFTRA will reconsider and return to productive negotiations soon.”

By the end of the week, the SAG-AFTRA Strike would have lasted a hundred days; for context, the Writers’ Strike had lasted for 145 days.

We don’t know what the deal is going to be, but with the way the actors have been sharing their own stories about not getting proper compensation for work, AMPTP would do good to come back to the table and negotiate a fair deal.

No doubt, this sudden pulling of the rug from underneath the duo may have left a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to the DC franchise, but they say they are willing to work with the brand again under one condition. Talking to Deadline, Arbi explains:

“The only thing that we would say is that, if we can work with Warner Bros., we’d love to work for a DC project in the future; just one request is that the movie comes out. That’s the only request—streaming, or whatever, on the phone—but just, it comes out.”

‘Batgirl’ directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah would work with Warner Bros. again on one condition #RedSeaIFF22 @RedSeaFilm pic.twitter.com/raggG1pwPh

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 7, 2022

For now, there has been a rally online for #ReleaseBatgirl, with fans showing their support for Leslie Grace. We don’t know why DC pulled the plug on the project so suddenly, but some think that it was because they weren’t pleased with the film, or that they were leaning in on the idea that Keaton was going to be the main timeline Batman, an idea that was scrapped when new CEO David Zaslav took over.

We don’t know how much of the film has been finished, but we do know that production had wrapped already for months before the project was cancelled. Fingers crossed DC has a change of heart, especially with James Gunn at the helm, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

As of now, Batgirl has no release date.

Check this out:

Here’s your first look at the “Improvised” Flash suit #TheFlash pic.twitter.com/ouaA1rMppj

— The Flash Film News (@FlashFilmNews) December 4, 2022

While we’ve seen the new suit with the cowl, this is the first time we’ve seen most of the makeshift supersuit. The thunderbolt sprayed over the bat symbol was teased years before, but now we get to see that the ‘ears’ have been cut off the cowl, most of the suit is painted red, and some traffic stickers have been placed in some parts of the suit. I’m guessing the yellow bits on his head are supposed to headphones.

From Spider-Man’s homemade suit in Homecoming to Iron Man’s first suit that he built in the cave, I’m honestly a sucker for DIY superhero outfits. I love how they were able to make use of a Burton batsuit, and they gave it its own original flair that shows off the personality of the Flash.

Though Ezra Miller has been making some problematic headlines over the past few months, one thing remains constant with the test screenings, and it’s that audiences have had very positive reactions to the movie. Will The Flash eventually mark a new era for the DCEU, or will it go the way of Sony’s Morbius?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

The Flash is set to come to theaters June 23, 2023.

As teased by DC co-head James Gunn, we could be getting a Mister Terrific appearance soon. Here’s his post:

pic.twitter.com/FnevhW1bha

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) November 15, 2022

Gunn didn’t drop any other teases, but everyone is already excited about more DCEU heroes being introduced.

In the comics, Mister Terrific was a highly intelligent and physically accomplished human, and he was the creator of the high-tech T-spheres which he could control with his mask. He’s a member of the JSA and is considered as one of the smartest men in the DC continuity.

Already fans online are fancasting several actors they would like to take on the role from Lakeith Stanfield to William Jackson Harper. I still think that Kevin Hart would’ve been a great choice, but I think that DC would want to take the character a bit more seriously.

Though it’s great we could be getting a Mister Terrific movie, I think it means that DC’s intended first black superhero movie— Cyborg starring Ray Fisher— is officially scrapped. I don’t know if the new DC is willing to bring Fisher back in after his clash with Walter Hamada, but I’m hoping that Gunn and Peter Safran would be willing to give him a chance again as Victor Creed. After all, he was supposed to be in the Flash movie before he was written out of it.

For now, you can catch DC’s Black Adam now screening in theaters.

During a WB investor’s call (via THR), WB head David Zaslav has expressed his interest in more Harry Potter movies. Zaslav said, “We’re going to focus on franchises… We haven’t had a Superman movie in 13 years. We haven’t done a Harry Potter in 15 years. The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of the profits for Warner Bros. … over the past 25 years.” Zaslav also mentions author J.K. Rowling, “If we can do something with J.K. on Harry Potter going forward.”

Though I was a huge Potter fan, I think the initial idea to just make spinoff films based in the Wizarding World was the smart idea—the train just started going off the rails when they decided they should focus on the clash between Grindelwald and Dumbledore—something that was Rowling’s idea.

I think continuing Harry’s story could risk ruining it. Basically, a lot of people already don’t consider Cursed Child canon; I guess there just isn’t enough buzz since that property is a play and isn’t consumed en masse. Besides, listening to actors like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson talk about their time on the films—it looks like they’re not interested in going back to that movie franchise world.

For now, we don’t know how WB plans to move the Wizarding World forward, but after Secrets of Dumbledore, the franchise needs a major rework.

What’s great is, Snyder actually left a message for Cavill on the set of his upcoming film Rebel Moon. During an interview with the Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz (via THR), this was screened for Cavill:

https://twitter.com/MoviesThatMaher/status/1585418145434841088

Besides what Snyder was asking Cavill about shooting Man of Steel, Snyder ended his message with ‘I can’t wait to work with you in the future, and you are of course the greatest Superman ever.’

Cavill replied to the message with:

“He’s a lovely man, and I am enormously appreciative for everything he’s done for me. … Those are formative memories of mine, career wise. It is when everything changed. I remember them fondly. … Zack if you are watching … thank you, my friend.”

Already fans are wondering if Snyder has any future projects in the DCEU, but for now, it’s possible he could mean working with Cavill on a different project down the line. Though new DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran have different sensibilities when it comes to Snyder’s take on the DCEU, I think that there’s a lot of room for different, creative takes; especially since the ‘Marvel formula’ has now been fully exposed to the fans.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, catch Cavill in Black Adam now screening in theaters.

According to Variety, director Matt Reeves is yet to deliver a script for the follow-up to The Batman, and the next movie ‘will not hit theaters until 2025 at the earliest’.

This is certainly a huge bummer for a lot of fans, but I guess they can rest easy knowing that WB won’t be rushing this project, giving Reeves enough time to develop something that could be truly special.

If anything, rumors are going around that the multiverse that will be established in The Flash could lead to multiple Batmen existing at the same time. Rumor has it that we were supposed to see more of Michael Keaton’s Batman in the future, and while I don’t expect it, some are hoping that Ben Affleck has changed his mood about his Batman future. I mean, if Henry Cavill could return as Superman, why not his version of the Dark Knight as well?

We don’t know where a sequel for The Batman would go, but the film does tease a return to form for Batman, being the symbol of hope, rather than the cynical dark character that we’ve been getting with the last cinematic iteration.

Honestly, I just want to see Battinson get his own Robin. Is that too much to ask?

No release date has been set for The Batman sequel.

As per an official announcement, DC Studios will now be led by producer Peter Safran and The Suicide Squad director James Gunn. The two will serve as co-chairmen and CEOs of the DC franchise, and will answer directly to David Zaslav, WB Discovery head.

When it comes to their responsibilities, Gunn and Safran will be ‘responsible for the overall creative direction of the storied superhero franchise across film, TV, and animation under new unified banner.’

Zaslav says about the partnership:

“DC has among the most entertaining, powerful, and iconic characters in the world and I am thrilled to have the singular and complementary talents of James and Peter joining our world-class team and overseeing the creative direction of the storied DC Universe. Their decades of experience in filmmaking, close ties to the creative community, and proven track record thrilling superhero fans around the globe make them uniquely qualified to develop a long-term strategy across film, TV, and animation, and take this iconic franchise to the next level of creative storytelling.”

It’s certainly bizarre seeing Gunn become the co-lead of Marvel’s rival franchise. Though it seemed like he was only working with DC temporarily before he was re-hired by Marvel, he’s now solidified to work for the studio for four more years, and as the franchise head no doubt.

I wonder what Kevin Feige has to say about all of this.

We don’t know what DC plans for the future, but Black Adam is currently showing in theaters.

Waiting for the weekend to be over, Cavill has posted the official announce of his Superman return on IG:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill)

“The image you see on this post, and what you saw in Black Adam are just a very small taste of things to come,” says Cavill. He continues, “I want to thank you guys most of all. Thank you for your support, and thank you for your patience. I promise it will be rewarded.”

Cavill’s Superman status had been up in the air since Justice League 2017, but after some restructuring in WB (and surprisingly, some pushing from the Rock), he’s now set to come back and appear in future Superman projects. Fingers crossed he also appears in some other material, since the Rock seems to be so adamant to have a clash between Black Adam and Superman—that’s why he wanted Cavill back so bad.

If anything, a lot of fans are pretty happy that Cavill is returning. With so many debates about the quality of his Superman, I’m glad he’s going to have another stab at the character. I’m just hoping we get something not as bleak as Man of Steel, but certainly something more mature than Black Adam.

In the meantime, catch Cavill as Superman in Black Adam now in cinemas.

According to THR, Gunn is currently working on a ‘mystery movie’ for DC and ‘possibly more’. We don’t have any specific details about the project, but it’s said that he has teamed up with Shazam! producer Peter Safran for the project.

Seeing as Gunn has a penchant for slightly gross, found-family films, I have a feeling that his next DC project could go that direction as well. With DC having just as many super groups as Marvel, I can imagine Gunn being able to pick out any group of misfits that he can make an audience love.

That, or maybe he can go another direction this time, seeing as he’s only been making ensemble superhero films since 2014. I think a Peacemaker solo movie could be on the table, but maybe HBO Max wants to keep that as a series. A second season has already been greenlit anyway.

I’m just here hoping that Gunn manages to sharpen his humor with his next film. After the success of Guardians, I feel like some of his latter films haven’t been as clever when it comes to the jokes. Even Peacemaker wasn’t as funny as it thought it was at times.

No release date has been set for James Gunn’s mystery DC project, but you can catch the complete first season of Peacemaker now on HBO Max.

According to Deadline, Taylor-Joy has already wrapped work on Furiosa. We don’t have any more details on the film, but seeing as how much hype Fury Road was able to generate, we should expect some kind of huge announcement when the whole production wraps.

Here’s the synopsis for the film (via SFFGazette):

“As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus… Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.”

When we meet Furiosa in Fury Road, she’s already the ‘Imperator’ for Immortan Joe. Of course, she does conspire to save Joe’s wives from the fortress, and I guess this movie is going to show us why Furiosa had the drive to save those women despite thriving in the harsh conditions of Joe’s ‘kingdom’.

Besides Taylor-Joy, the movie also has Chris Hemsworth who will likely play the part of Dementus. We don’t have a look at him in the film yet, but I just love when Hemsworth plays a villain like in Bad Times at El Royale and Spiderhead.

Furiosa comes to theaters on May 24, 2024.

As per Deadline, Varma will be joining HBO Max’s Dune: The Sisterhood, and she will be playing Empress Natalya, described as, “a formidable royal who united thousands of worlds in her marriage to Emperor Corrino.” Besides Varma, other cast members for the show include Emily Watson (Chernobyl) and Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter).

Before you start wondering if anyone from the Dune films is going to be appearing on the show, it’s worth noting that Sisterhood will be a prequel, and will take place 10,000 years before Paul Atreides’ story. The synopsis reads:

The series will follow the Harkonnen Sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit. 

The series is also based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune which was written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Diane Ademu-John will serve as creator and co-showrunner alongside Alison Schapker.

With the Dune franchise expected to end with the second film in 2023, I guess WB is moving the right direction, trying to adapt as many stories as it can while the boat is still afloat. I guess HBO Max, like Disney+, does provide an avenue for spinoffs that are not as expensive as theatrically released material, but still have some relevance to the story.

No release date has been announced for Dune: The Sisterhood, but Dune: Part Two is set to hit theaters Nov. 17, 2023.

Check out the teaser for Velma:

Here’s the official description:

VELMA is an adult animated comedy series telling the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the unsung and under appreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang. This original and humorous spin unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers.

Unlike recent incarnations of Scooby-Doo!, this version of the canon promises to be a lot more violent, so you can expect Velma to be chasing down murderers and not just crooks in costumes. To really embrace the revamp of the show, they’ve also changed the race of several characters, making Shaggy black and Daphne Asian. Here’s a look at them:

First look at Shaggy, Daphne and Fred, voiced by Sam Richardson, Constance Wu and Glenn Howerton, in HBO Max’s adult-animated ‘VELMA’ series. pic.twitter.com/ehc4sbFGkg

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 6, 2022

Some fans are even speculating that Fred in this series is gay, but it’s too early to tell.

If anything, an adult take on the Scooby franchise has been dabbled with before. It was said that James Gunn’s original script for Scooby-Doo was a lot more adult, and even the film still had several adult references from Scooby and Shaggy smoking weed to Fred being a downright perv.

We don’t know how Velma will be different, but I’m excited to see how they twist the tried and true Scooby formula. Watch out for Velma on HBO Max sometime next year.

Watch this:

The first clip from ‘BATMAN & SUPERMAN: BATTLE OF THE SUPER SONS’ has been released. pic.twitter.com/yUqqVu5yci

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 5, 2022

The clip pretty much gives us exposition on the powers of 11-year-old Jonathan Kent, the son of Superman. While Superman has famously had powers since he was a kid, it looks like Jon is a late bloomer who is getting his powers slowly.

On the Batman side of things, we’ll be following his biological son Damian Wayne. Though he may not have the same story as Dick Grayson or Jason Todd, he does have a unique origin in that Batman has to teach him how to tone down his violence after being raised  in the League of Shadows by his mother.

Here’s the official description for the WB movie:

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons begins as 11-year-old Jonathan Kent discovers he has superpowers, thrusting the half-Kryptonian into the complicated world of Super Heroes and Super-Villains – who are now under attack by a malevolent alien force known as Starro! It’s a race against time as Jonathan must join forces with assassin-turned-Boy-Wonder Damian Wayne to rescue their fathers (Superman & Batman) and save the planet by becoming the Super Sons they were destined to be!

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons comes out Oct. 18.

Watch the Riddler audition here: 

Barry Keoghan’s audition for The Riddler in ‘THE BATMAN’ before he was cast as Joker. pic.twitter.com/S4LBKMxdn0

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 3, 2022

We don’t really have any dialogue for the scene, but it really seems that Keoghan has figured out a physical language for his Riddler, and a lot of fans have been pointing out inspiration from the Alex DeLarge character from Clockwork Orange.

If anything, the take is pretty far from the Zodiac-inspired version of the Riddler that Paul Dano plays, but the playful nature of the cane and suspenders if very ‘Joker’ and that’s probably why Keoghan got cast in the part.

We don’t know if WB wants to continue with Keoghan’s version of the Joker, but I do love the original take by Reeves in that the Joker’s permanent smile comes from a physical deformity that he was born with. With the Joker being relatively dapper in his takes over the years, I’m interested to see this all-new take on his origin and how it would relate to Pattinson’s version of Batman.

No details have been released for a Batman sequel yet, but I’m hoping that Reeves introduces several villains like he did with the first movie. Besides Joker, fans are hoping we could get an adaptation of Heart of Ice starring Mr. Freeze. Personally, I’m all for a project that I didn’t even know I wanted. I guess it’s up to Matt Reeves to find out what that is.

No release date has been announced for the Batman sequel.

Watch the Mob Pyscho trailer down here: 

Like every other season that we can expect from Mob Psycho 100, we once again have Mob trying to achieve some slice-of-life goal, but is constantly being stopped by his Shonen anime levels of power. This season, we now have Mob dealing with a high school crush, but will he be able to pursue any of that with all the psychic chaos going around?

If you haven’t checked out the series yet, now is probably the perfect time to catch up. If you liked the hit anime One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100 comes from the very same author ONE. Though One Punch does have a very detailed art style, I love the experimental feel of Mob Psycho 100 with its changing art styles and not-so-typical character design.

Here’s the description of the series:

“What’s his secret to busting ghosts while keeping prices low? Well, first, he’s a fraud, and second, he pays the guy who’s got the real psychic power–his student assistant Shigeo–less than minimum wage. Shigeo is an awkward but kind boy whose urge to help others and get along with them is bound up with the mental safety locks he’s placed on his own emotions. Reigen knows he needs to exploit Shigeo to stay in business, yet for better or worse he’s also his mentor and counselor. And he also knows whenever the normally repressed kid’s emotions reach level 100, it may unleash more psychic energy than either of them can handle!”

The third season of Mob Psycho 100 premieres on Oct. 5 next week.

This was posted on Grace’s TikTok (via @getFANDOM):

https://twitter.com/getFANDOM/status/1574545801107210240

We never really got a trailer for Batgirl, but based on what we can see here, Grace had worked a lot when it came to the action scenes for the film. There’s even one part where we see her jump backwards from a huge height, and I’m sure that would have been amazing to see with Batgirl fully costumed, complete with cape.

If anything, it seems like we got another #ReleaseTheSnyderCut situation in our hands, with the movie being mostly complete and only the studio refusing to have it finished. Though rumors are going around that the movie was terrible, hence the cancellation, there are also some saying that it was actually well-received, and it was only pulled because of some tax write-off that’s part of the restructuring of the new owners of WB.

With so much work put into the film, it’s such a waste that we won’t be able to watch Batgirl, but I am hoping that we’ll eventually get Grace’s Barbara Gordon on the big screen one way or another.

Batgirl currently has no release date.

Talking to PEOPLE, Ronan reveals, “I was supposed to do a cameo because I live in London and they were [filming] there.” As it turns out, Ronan couldn’t do the cameo because of commitments to The Outrun, so she had to turn the part down. She says, “There was a whole character I was going to play — another Barbie… I was gutted I couldn’t do it.”

Though Margot Robbie has been marketed as the ‘main’ Barbie of the film, word has been going around that the movie will actually have several other Barbies in the movie, all played by an actress of a different ethnicity. The same could also be said by Ken (Ryan Gosling), who is also rumored to have multiple clones of himself in what some are calling ‘Barbieland’.

We don’t know what kind of Barbie Ronan would have played, but it would be fun to see her be an Irish Barbie. With Barbie representing so many feminist ideals for different cultures, I’m curious if Ronan’s Barbie had some special Irish flair about her.

With a release set for July 2023, it will probably be a while before we get a first look at Barbie. I’m just crossing my fingers we get something before 2022 ends.

Barbie is set to come to cinemas on July 21, 2023.