To star in comic book adaptations is to know you’re about to face some big challenges. It’s not always guaranteed that a production will take off, whether it’s because of staying true to the original material or even the depth of the plot on screen. Josh Brolin has become one of the most memorable actors in comic book movies, bringing characters to life across different franchises. Whether it’s playing the ruthless Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the scarred bounty hunter Jonah Hex, he’s always been praised for his versatility when it comes to playing heroes, anti-heroes, and villains in these kinds of adaptations.

But not all of his films have had the same level of quality or success, ranging from massive hits to completely forgettable flops. Each one had its highs and lows, but which one was really the best and worst of his career?

7. Jonah Hex

Anyone who thought Brolin had only been in the MCU is mistaken. An adaptation of the DC comics, Jonah Hex (2010) had Brolin in the titular role. The plot follows the ex-soldier of the same name who becomes a bounty hunter, haunted by his violent past and gifted with supernatural abilities after a near-death experience. The US government soon hires him to stop Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), a terrorist planning to use a weapon of mass destruction. Although it’s a very good premise for the big screen, when it comes to the script, everything was a mess.

Despite a renowned cast that includes Megan Fox and Michael Fassbender, the film suffered from criticism for its plot and even the shallow development of the characters – behind-the-scenes issues and numerous rewrites contributed to this. With an estimated budget of $47 million, Jonah Hex grossed only about $10.5 million worldwide, making it a box office flop. Many have said that Brolin does his best, but it’s not enough to give the film something to stand for.

Jonah Hex is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

6. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

[RELATED: Josh Brolin Shares Condition for Bringing Back Thanos in Avengers: Secret Wars]

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) was released as a sequel to the original 2005 film. Here, Josh Brolin played Dwight McCarthy, a private detective who finds himself once again involved with Ava Lord (Eva Green), a woman who manipulates him and drags him into a world of betrayal and violence. However, its success wasn’t great compared to its predecessor, largely because it contained unpublished plots written especially for the sequel and thus didn’t follow the comics’ original material one hundred percent.

Despite bringing together a very stellar cast and maintaining the iconic visual aesthetic, critics pointed out that, although the film was faithful to the tone and visuals, it still lacked more innovation in the narrative. The long gap of nine years between the two films may have contributed to the loss of the initial impact on audiences as well. Besides, Brolin’s role is still quite small, so it’s certainly not one of his most outstanding productions.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is available to stream on Starz.

5. Deadpool 2

Another sequel that Josh Brolin acted in was Deadpool 2 (2018), one of the films that most entertained audiences. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) faces new challenges after suffering a personal tragedy right at the start of the plot. The story revolves around his attempt to protect the young mutant Russell (Julian Dennison) from the time traveler Cable (Brolin), who seeks to eliminate the boy due to catastrophic future events. This is a high point production for the actor, as, in general, Merc with a Mouth adaptations have always done well.

The film was very well received by critics and audiences, maintaining the usual acid humor and breaking of the fourth wall that characterized the original, as well as adding more emotional layers. The chemistry between Reynolds and Brolin is one of the highlights, with Cable serving as a serious counterpoint to the main character’s irreverence. However, the movie’s proposal ends up being less ambitious in terms of narrative compared to the great epics of the MCU.

Deadpool 2 is available to stream on Disney+.

4. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Of all the incredible four Avengers films, one that gets the least love is Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), even though it is one of the greatest films in the MCU. Here, Brolin only appears in the post-credits scenes as Thanos, but it’s the moment that sets the stage for the chaos and danger that would come later. Bringing together Earth’s greatest heroes, the Avengers must face the threat of Ultron, an AI created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner with the intention of maintaining world peace. However, he ends up interpreting his mission in a distorted way, deciding that humanity is the greatest threat to peace and devising a plan for its destruction.

The production is the first time we’re introduced to characters like Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his sister, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), who would become a fundamental part of the franchise. It grossed more than $1.4 billion at the box office worldwide but also received some mixed reviews, with criticisms such as an overloaded narrative and flaws in the rhythm and cohesion of the story. It’s still a good start to introduce the whole plot of the Mad Titan and the Infinity Stones, though.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is available to stream on Disney+.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn’s trilogy for Marvel is one of the best projects, and certainly the first Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) movie stands out as the best of them. The plot introduces us to Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), a space adventurer who, after stealing a mysterious orb, finds himself the target of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), a fanatical villain with plans to destroy the universe. To escape, the hero forms an unlikely alliance with four misfits: Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel). Brolin’s role as Thanos is small but significant.

This is another film that explores irreverent humor, charismatic characters, and a nostalgic soundtrack. The production is, to this day, one of the most successful in the MCU and considerably broadened the scope of the studio’s entire universe of superheroes. It’s also very easy to fall in love with characters who, compared to others, were less well known – they became favorites of many through the film. It’s an excellent movie in Brolin’s career, and his presence, although short, fulfills the role of establishing connections that would become very important later on.

Guardians of the Galaxy is available to stream on Disney+.

2. Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame (2019) is the culmination of more than a decade of interconnected narratives in the MCU. The film is the last with the original line-up of Avengers, revolving around a time-travel mission in which the heroes left behind by the Blip return to key moments in their own timelines to collect the Infinity Stones before Thanos does. With a totally impactful and unforgettable plot, Brolin’s participation is essential, especially at the end with the iconic battle between him and a host of heroes.

The movie broke records with over $2.7 billion at the worldwide box office, making history. Applauded for its ability to balance intense action with emotionally profound moments, it’s a satisfying conclusion to a variety of characters developed over the years. However, if you really consider the productions of Brolin’s career, this isn’t exactly what made him shine. Endgame is certainly the climax of an epic saga, but in this particular ranking, putting it second seems like the right thing to do.

Avengers: Endgame is available to stream on Disney+.

1. Avengers: Infinity War

When it comes to Josh Brolin’s best comic book movie, Avengers: Infinity War (2018) certainly takes the prize. This is because the production combines being one of the most relevant and memorable in the MCU with the size of the actor’s role in the narrative. The film is the third in the Avengers franchise and brings together an array of heroes. The story basically begins with Thanos and ends with him. In search of the Infinity Stones, the plot is divided into multiple groups of characters trying to stop him from completing his goal of decimating half the world’s population.

The movie serves as a precursor to its acclaimed sequel and is definitely a milestone in the history of cinema for the shocking success of the villain at the last minute. Brolin’s performance is fundamental in driving the whole story, almost acting as the central engine for everything to be cohesive. Not far from Endgame‘s success, Infinity War also surpassed the $2 billion mark at the box office, proving to be the actor’s best project in terms of adaptation.

Avengers: Infinity War is available to stream on Disney+.

The post All 7 Josh Brolin Comic Book Movies Ranked Worst to Best appeared first on ComicBook.com.

NOTE: This article was originally published in 2016 as a review and discussion of Batman v Superman’s Ultimate Edition, when it was originally released. The article below remains as originally published.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will never stop being debated. Director Zack Snyder presented us with an event that many had long waited to see (Batman on the movie screen alongside Superman), but he did so according to his own unique vision – for better or worse. Seemingly the latter though, because since Batman v Superman hit theaters, it’s suffered massive criticism for what is supposedly a convoluted and overly grandiose storyline. The home release of Batman v Superman: The Ultimate Edition sparked that debate all over again.

While Batman v Superman’s Ultimate Edition may not fix all of the problems with Batman v Superman‘s story, it does present a much bigger – and yet, more precise – a thematic arc that arguably takes a gimmicky superhero team-up, and elevates into a socio-political metaphor not only fit for the times, but eerily predictive of where things would soon be headed.

Here’s Why Batman v Superman Is Smarter Than You Think.

True Edition

For the purposes of this discussion, we need to be clear: as far as I’m concerned, Batman v Superman: The Ultimate Edition is the only version of the movie worth discussing. Sure, people often try to argue that a “special edition” or “director’s cut” of a film doesn’t constitute the “real” version of the movie; that only the theatrical cut is considered canon. That may be a fair point, but I’m not here to argue canon. In evaluating Batman v Superman‘s merit as smart cinematic work, I need the whole of Snyder and Co.’s vision, and not (as will be discussed later) what Warner Bros. cut together to sell in theaters.

So, from here on out, this discussion will be in reference to Batman v Superman: The Ultimate Edition. If you have not seen that version of the film, and find the theatrical cut to be so unforgivably bad that you can’t give the film a second look, then there’s nothing for us to discuss: you simply dislike this movie.

For those who have seen both versions, or are at least open to another interpretation of the film they saw, let’s break this down.

The American Now

The first thing to realize about Batman v Superman is that it’s not just a comic book movie. This is not just a parable about how Batman and Superman came to respect another after having clashing ideas of what heroism is; that’s certainly part of the story, but it’s not the major thematic subtext which drives it. To understand the thematic narrative of Batman v Superman, one must first look back at Man of Steel.

Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot was met with just as much controversy as Batman v Superman – particularly for its final act, in which the city of Metropolis is decimated in a battle between Superman and the Kryptonian militants led by General Zod. That “Battle of Metropolis” rattled and angered many viewers, who felt that Superman allowing such an excessive level of destruction in Metropolis was both uncharacteristic of his character and in a larger sense, was a cinematic exploitation of Americans’ post-9/11 fears. It was no surprise, then, to learn early on in Batman v Superman‘s development that the film would use the controversy over The Battle of Metropolis as the catalyst for its Batman vs. Superman conflict.

Many fans are able to discern Snyder’s answer to his critics in BvS‘s story, but writer Chris Terrio’s script is woefully underappreciated for how it takes the Battle of Metropolis 9/11 comparisons and extends them into a full-fledged socio-political commentary, as embodied by two of the biggest icons in Americana mythology. It plays like this:

Batman is the right-wing hawk reaction to 9/11. He represents an America that prefers security over civil liberties; the Bush-era mentality of stopping threats pro-actively before they can threaten close to home; He believes in severe (i.e., morally dubious) punishment of criminals; uses military-grade hardware to casually annihilate enemy combatants; and the movie is none to shy about pointing out that Bruce Wayne belongs to the wealthy elite, while The Batman preys on the poor and destitute of Gotham. In short: Batman is the darker and more militant version of America, as scarred by the tragedy of 9/11. He is, as Alfred clearly states, the cruel end result of unchecked rage and feelings of powerlessness (like many felt after 9/11). Batman’s actions – inspired by those feelings – end up starting as misguided a war as… well, you get it.

Superman, on the other hand, isn’t so much a character in the story as he is a symbol – and that symbol is of the more left-wing, liberal American ideal. Superman represents the classic American ideas of hope, justice, and morality for all people; he believes it is his job to police the world and protect the defenseless, no matter their nationality; and in his Clark Kent guise, he spends most of the film trying to defend the civil liberties of the criminal branded by The Batman – a person who, to Clark, represents the poverty and desperation behind Gotham’s criminals, empathy that he faults Batman for not showing to those he punishes so harshly. Clark is also none to shy about pontificating about the role of media and the civil responsibilities of journalists – a far cry from the “bumbling geek” persona of Christopher Reeve, but a clear metaphor.

As the film demonstrates, none of the ideas Batman and Superman represent are infallible. Batman’s rage and need for retribution have him start the wrong kind of war, allowing greater threats to foster. Superman’s actions, though noble in intent, cause political turmoil on a global level; his (excessive?) empathy and concern with maintaining moral high ground in the eyes of the American public, media, and government prevent him from stopping a horrific terrorist attack; and his obsession with judging the other side of the aisle (Batman) stops both him and his political opponent from seeing the true threat facing them both. By the time both parties finally become aware, the situation has grown into a (literal) monster, and it costs the sacrifice of Superman to slay that monster.

In the aftermath, we see a world and a former political rival all transformed by the loss of the noble ideal (Superman), inspired to do better so that the ideal is not truly lost forever. It’s almost eerie how resoundingly accurate a theme it is for the present moment, and that accuracy extends to the much-hated villain in this thematic opera.

Lex Luthor

Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor was one of the most universally criticized parts of Batman v Superman. But while the character is eccentric and downright weird, his role in the thematic narrative is actually pinpoint on the mark.

If Batman and Superman represent the two clashing political ideologies of a post-9/11 America, Lex Luthor is (clearly) the embodiment of the insidious opportunists who exploited (and still exploit) the turmoil of a post-9/11, war-torn world for personal gain. His criminal empire and machinations may seem vague and confusing narratively, but thematically, Lex’s schemes actually invoke references to so many ugly things that have thrived in the post-9/11 world: arms dealing, human trafficking, an unchecked military-industrial complex, political lobbying, bio-weapons development, corporate corruption – the list goes on.

The real point is: Lex is the businessman opportunist shark looking for personal gain by pitting two political ideologies against one another. Reading that back, Terrio and Snyder deserve a crystal ball and a gig as fortune tellers, more so than ridicule, given where American politics has steered us today (I’ll just leave it there…).

On a more personal level, Lex confesses to a childhood of abuse at the hands of his father, an East German man who felt powerless from having to submit to the will of tyrants. For Lex, Superman is a threatening new socio-political paradigm, in which he, Lex (the top 1%), will experience a profound loss of power and control – something that Lex cannot accept. While criticized for its convolution, there is a sort of intelligent real-world parallel to how this bombastic tycoon manipulates events in foreign nations, in the prison system, politics, and stokes the fears of the public.

Sure, Eisenberg arguably may kill a lot of the smart metaphor to his character with an overly eccentric performance, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s an interesting framework the filmmakers have set up – and one that’s deeper than most people give the film credit for. Batman v Superman is in many ways the story of how America has become violently divided in a post-9/11 world, and (at least on paper) Lex Luthor serving as the unseen hand nurturing that division makes sense both thematically and characteristically. As does the turn that unravels Luthor’s carefully guided plan…

The Martha Moment

Given the thematic framework we’ve identified, let’s talk about Batman v Superman’s much-hated, much-debated climactic turn:

When the violent fight erupts between Batman and Superman (those two halves of American political ideology) all sense of reason and communication has been lost. These two men, heroes, each see “the other” as the symbol of something that must be fought: Batman hates the uncontrollable threat that is Superman, while the Ultimate Edition makes it much clearer that Batman is the intolerant bully that Clark/Superman knows all too well (remember Man of Steel?) – a bully that must be stopped by “a fist.” Batman v Superman tried to add an ambitious level of thematic grandeur to its titular battle, and therefore, a great deal hinges on the resolution of that battle.

Everyone who has seen the film knows “The Martha Moment” by now: Batman is about to impale Superman to death with a Kryptonite spear, but is stopped when Superman utters the phrase “You’re letting him kill Martha!” When Lois Lane elaborates that Martha is Superman’s mother’s name, Batman remembers his own mother, Martha Wayne, and he and Superman become instant pals.

Here’s the thing: The Martha Moment isn’t a bad idea within the thematic framework of the story (it’s even kind of clever since a lot of comic book fans probably never connected the thread between Marthas Kent and Wayne). But even though it’s smart in concept, the moment is executed quite poorly, and the whole thematic payoff nearly collapses as a result of that mishandling.

It’s a problem of dialogue, really: Superman saying lines like “You’re letting him kill Martha,” or “Save… Martha…” are so clunky and false, since no son that I know ever refers to his mother in times of desperation by her first name. There’s enough built into the character of Batman (and his thematic symbolism) that a line like “You’re letting him kill my mother,” would have just as much impact, and, more importantly, thematic resonance (Lois Lane could’ve easily supplied the “Martha Kent” name that sealed the connection).

The whole idea of “The Martha Moment” is that there is common ground these two heroes (i.e., warring political ideologies) find, and it’s something personal, not ideological. That’s the entire thematic payoff of the story – the larger takeaway that we, the audience, are supposed to incorporate into our real lives. Yet, because it’s handled in such a clunky manner – with inauthentic dialogue, and Ben Affleck forced into overly-dramatic gravitas (“Why did you say that name!“) – the most important thematic turn in the film falls painfully flat, no matter which version you are watching.

When it comes to writing and dialogue, the devil is truly in the details. With a slight revision, Batman v Superman may have stuck its thematic landing.

Comic Book Roots

Let’s not forget where this all sprung from: right from the start of BvS’ production, director Zack Snyder let it be known that Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns storyline (in which an older Batman comes out of retirement for a more brutal campaign against crime) would be direct inspiration for Batman v Superman. What is once again underestimated is how much of a socio-political commentary Dark Knight Returns was for its time – and just how well Snyder emulates that in his film.

Dark Knight Returns was written in the Cold War mid-80s era of Reganomics, the War on Drugs, and fear of nuclear winter; Miller used constant “cut scenes” of media news segments (the rise of the 24-hour news cycle), as well as personal anecdotes from third-party citizens, which all help to flesh out the character and phenomenon of The Batman.

Obviously, Batman v Superman exists in a much different world than the one Dark Knight Returns was written for, but the Ultimate Edition makes it clear that Snyder attempted to honor the spirit of Miller’s story, with the multiple asides to other characters, anecdotal stories, and media broadcasts – all of which frame the question of who Superman is in today’s world. Miller’s story was also unapologetically political, and Snyder clearly sets up from the beginning of the Ultimate Edition (in a much longer segment of the Lois Lane incident in Africa) that politics are a definite part of his film, as well (hence the aforementioned political metaphors).

This is all to say: Not only is Batman v Superman a generally smarter film than many give it credit for being, it’s also a pretty smart adaptation of one of the most respected Batman stories out there.

Does BvS Deserve Another Chance?

No.

Yeah, it might seem strange that after 2000 words of arguing otherwise, I would arrive at this conclusion. But here we are.

The bottom line is that I do believe Batman v Superman is a much better movie than people are giving it credit for being, but only in terms of its depth and ambition. As I already said, the execution of those ideas wasn’t the strongest, resulting in major issues like The Martha Moment, or the confusing nature of Lex’s plot. And in all this analysis, there still is the glaringly simple fact that the theatrical version of Batman v Superman takes all this depth and ambitious storytelling described above and mangles to high hell until it’s something unrecognizable.

More to the point: it seems as though Warner Bros. trimmed away the very subplots and characters that helped to convey the more politicized thematic message of the film; purposeful reduction so that audiences wouldn’t have to sit through (or think beyond) anything more than a basic superhero team-up story. And for those viewers who won’t even invest in watching the Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition, the film will likely leave a much more negative impression than it would if they engaged with the full version.

Still, for those few of you on the fence (see what metaphor I’m working here?) maybe this will help tip the scales toward getting to watch (or re-watch) Batman v Superman with a new subtext in mind – one that hopefully improves the viewing experience.

…Or just yell at me on Twitter @KofiOutlaw, asking me what I’m thinking and why I even bothered to write this. I know how it goes.

Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League are now streaming on Max.

The post Why Batman v Superman (Ultimate Edition) Is So Much Smarter Than You Think appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Fandango has released its list of the most anticipated movies this summer, and the film claiming the top spot may surprise you. The Top 10 list is filled with familiar franchises and superhero fare, from Marvel to DC to Mission: Impossible to John Wick to Jurassic World, just to name a few. One would assume that big-budget remakes of Fantastic Four and Superman would fight it out for box office dominance, but a surprising contender has risen to the top to be the #1 film on the minds of moviegoers for the summer. But that doesn’t mean these superhero films are far behind, still making it into the Top 5.

The Top 10 Most Anticipated Summer Movies in Fandango’s list is led by Jurassic World Rebirth, followed by The Fantastic Four: First Steps in second place, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in third place, Superman in fourth place, and Thunderbolts* in fifth place. The list is rounded out by From The World of John Wick: Ballerina in sixth place, 28 Years Later in seventh place, How to Train Your Dragon in eighth place, Lilo & Stitch in ninth place, and Freakier Friday in tenth place. You can check out the full list below.

The top 10 most anticipated summer movies are:

1. Jurassic World Rebirth
2. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
3. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
4. Superman
5. Thunderbolts*
6. From The World of John Wick: Ballerina
7. 28 Years Later
8. How to Train Your Dragon
9. Lilo & Stitch
10. Freakier Friday

These results come from Fandango’s annual Moviegoing Trends & Insights Study as the industry gears up for CinemaCon, running March 31-April 3 in Las Vegas. The online movie ticketing service surveyed over 5,000 moviegoers and split them between Loyal Moviegoers — those who saw five or more movies in theaters in 2024 — and Casual Moviegoers — those who saw fewer than four movies in theaters in 2024.

“As consumers’ appetite and interests continue to evolve, understanding moviegoing behaviors is essential to find new areas of opportunity and help drive industry growth,” said Jerramy Hainline, EVP of Fandango. “With a diverse slate of upcoming films, from superhero epics to action thrillers to cult classic sequels, this summer is proving to have something for all movie fans.”

[RELATED: Superman Star Teases What James Gunn Movie Is Really About (and It Sounds Perfect)]

Loyal Moviegoers made up 41% of the survey sample, seeing an average of 10 movies in 2024. The statistics say they are most likely to be millennials or Gen X, and most likely male. Casual Moviegoers represented 59% of the survey sample, saw an average of two movies in 2024, and are likely to be Gen Z and female. 

It may come as a surprise that neither The Fantastic Four: First Steps or Superman is the most anticipated movie for Summer 2025. Comic book fans like to think that the world revolves around their favorite heroes, but apparently, that isn’t the case. The Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise continues to churn out films that audiences look forward to.

Jurassic World Rebirth is something of a soft reboot for the franchise. Its narrative takes place five years after the events of 2022’s disappointing and critically panned Jurassic World Dominion. Directed by Gareth Edwards, the film stars Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, and Audrina Miranda.

Jurassic World Rebirth hits theaters on July 2nd. Let us know what your most anticipated movie of Summer 2025 is in the comments below!

The post The Most Anticipated Summer Movie of 2025 Will Surprise You appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s the latest wave of McFarlane Toys Page Punchers! The all-new wave includes a few of our favorite superheroes: Superman from the Kingdom Come comics and Supergirl from the Woman of Tomorrow comics. Note that both figures are 7-inch scale and will come with an exclusive re-print comic, in this case Justice Society of America Vol 3 #10 and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1 respectively. We’re especially excited about the Supergirl action figure in this wave, which includes the sword she wields in the comic.

Look for pre-orders for the Supergirl and Superman figures to kick off March 24th, at 9am PST / 12pm EST. UPDATE: The figures are live! Direct links added below. Note that U.S. shipping is free at Entertainment Earth on orders $79+. Flat $7.95 shipping otherwise. UPDATE: GameStop also launched a couple of DC Multiverse exclusives today. Links for those releases have been added.

• DC Direct Page Punchers Wave 8 Superman Kingdom Come 7-Inch Scale Action Figure with Comic – $24.99 / Pre-order from Entertainment Earth here / Pre-order from Amazon here ($27.99)
• DC Direct Page Punchers Wave 8 Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow 7-Inch Scale Action Figure with Comic – $27.99 / Pre-order from Entertainment Earth here / Pre-order from Amazon here
• Case Pack of 6 – $149.99 / See at Entertainment Earth
• McFarlane Toys DC Collector Edition Batman vs Killer Croc Volume 3 (The Grim Knight) 2-Pack – GameStop Exclusive
• McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Batman Cowardly Lot Batman (or Chase) – GameStop Exclusive

Marvel McFarlane Toys Comic Cover Wave 4

McFarlane Toys launched the fourth wave of their Marvel Comic Cover statues last week. Specifically, they released two 1:6 scale statues, the first inspired by Iron Man #256 with an impressive classic Iron Man figure, while the second features the particularly gruesome Venom in a pose meant to re-create the Venom #5 cover. The figures are live via the direct links below, so if you want to take these home you’ll have to head there quickly. Each figure is currently being offered for $49.95 with an estimated delivery set for May 2025. 

• Marvel Collection 1:6 Scale Wave 4 Venom Venom #5 Comic Cover Statue – See here at Entertainment Earth / Amazon
• Marvel Collection 1:6 Scale Wave 4 Iron Man Iron Man #256 Comic Cover Statue – See here at Walmart

Todd McFarlane, the comic creator, president of Image Comics and CEO of Mcfarlane Toys, exclusively told Comicbook about the launching of this line back in May of last year. 

“Eventually, I’d like to tip my hat to some of the people that inspired me a ton, George Perez and John Byrne,” McFarlane said. “But I also know that there’s a whole generation that have come in who those aren’t the guys they grew up with, right? It’s more of people that they’re looking at right now. And whether it’s the interior artist and, or the cover artist, I’ll be sort of looking at what they’re asking for and giving them that.”

Want to stay up to date with all the latest collectible news? Then keep an eye on our Gear Page!

The post McFarlane Toys Superman and Supergirl Page Punchers Figures Are On Sale Now appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Former Batman actor Ben Affleck reflects on what really went wrong with his take on the character during his time in the DC Extended Universe. In a wide-ranging interview with GQ, Affleck discussed his Batman years and offered his take on why it ultimately didn’t work out in the long run. While he “had a really good time” bringing the Dark Knight to life and appreciated the concept of portraying an older, grizzled Bruce Wayne, he eventually noticed that there was a disconnect between Zack Snyder’s vision for the franchise and what Warner Bros. wanted. It was actually Affleck’s kid who made him realize there was an issue.

“I had a really good time. I loved doing the Batman movie. I loved Batman v Superman,” Affleck said. “And I liked my brief stints on The Flash that I did and when I got to work with Viola Davis on Suicide Squad for a day or two. In terms of creatively, I really think that I like the idea and the ambition that I had for it, which was of the sort of older, broken, damaged Bruce Wayne. And it was something we really went for in the first movie.

“But what happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience,” he added. “Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch the movie. And so when I saw that I was like, ‘Oh s—, we have a problem.’ Then I think that’s when you had a filmmaker that wanted to continue down that road and a studio that wanted to recapture all the younger audience at cross purposes. Then you have two entities, two people really wanting to do something different and that is a really bad recipe.”

[RELATED – 3 Things That Still Don’t Make Sense About Batman v Superman]

Including the Snyder Cut of Justice League, Affleck appeared as Batman in five DC Comics adaptations, alternating between headlining roles (Batman v Superman, Justice League) and cameos (Suicide Squad, The Flash). At one point, he was going to direct a solo film for his Batman, but that project eventually changed hands to Matt Reeves and became The Batman, a franchise reboot set in a separate continuity starring Robert Pattinson in the titular role.

From the beginning (2013’s Man of Steel), the DC Extended Universe received a mixed critical reception, with many people taking issue with Snyder’s grounded, serious tone. Things reached a breaking point with the theatrical cut of Justice League, which was a widely panned box office bomb. Infamously, Joss Whedon was brought in to oversee extensive reshoots, and his style clashed with Snyder’s. The end result was a mishmash of visions that effectively killed the DCEU. Now, James Gunn and Peter Safran are overseeing the DC Universe reboot.

Darker Batman adaptations have achieved a great deal of success over the years, as Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga illustrate. What made the DCEU unique when compared to those franchises is that it was WB’s attempt to replicate the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was breaking box office records with largely family-friendly fare. If Affleck’s son didn’t want to watch his dad be Batman, it was a sign the studio had lost a key demographic it was hoping to appeal to. This is why WB attempted to course correct with Justice League and lighten the tone, but that obviously didn’t land with the intended results. Snyder fans were upset over the film becoming such a deviation from its original vision, and casual moviegoers weren’t interested. WB had no choice but to hit the reset button after this.

It’s a shame, because Affleck’s performance as Batman (particularly in Batman v Superman) was well-received. Many fans enjoyed his take on a world-weary Dark Knight and would have liked to see him star in several more projects. At the same time, WB’s interest in something that skewed a little more family-friendly is understandable. Kids are a big part of Marvel’s audience and WB wants to be able to tap into that with DC. While the Batman Epic Crime saga certainly leans towards an older demographic (The Penguin is rated TV-MA), the film The Brave and the Bold is in development at DC Studios. Separate from Pattinson’s take, this is an opportunity for the filmmakers to craft a Batman movie that’s lighter and might appeal to the youngsters. Especially with members of the Bat Family running around, The Brave and the Bold could prove to be the perfect counterpoint to The Batman, giving fans of the Caped Crusader multiple choices depending on their preferences.

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Batman Ninja arrived in 2018, giving us a serviceable, neat animated adventure that featured Bruce Wayne, his allies, and his enemies transported to feudal Japan. During this journey, nearly all the characters were given makeovers to reflect their new surroundings while also using a CG animation style that made the outing look unlike anything else focusing on the Dark Knight to date. While the first movie was a solid new take on Batman, its sequel is one that improves on almost every aspect of its predecessor while giving DC fans some story bits that are well worth its runtime.

Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League, for those who might not be familiar, is a story that takes place almost immediately following the events of the first film. Bruce and Damian Wayne have returned to the present, only to discover that their journey to the past has seemingly changed the reality of their home. The world has seemingly been taken over by an evil interpretation of the Justice League, led by the Demon’s Head Ra’s Al Ghul, and is looking to get rid of the abnormality that is the Dark Knight. Luckily, Bruce and his sidekicks get some unexpected allies from both the Yakuza League’s iteration of Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn and work together in an effort to bring down the evil supergroup’s heavy hitters.

[RELATED: Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League Releases Massive Ten-Minute Preview: Watch]

For Anime Fans

While we were certainly expecting this movie to be chock-full of references to the DC Universe, the fact that this film often feels like a love letter to the anime medium came out of left field. Two such scenes are the best representation of this fact, with the first being a hilarious tribute to classic anime franchises such as Voltron, aka Beast King Go-Lion. During this surreal scene, which you can check out above, Alfred introduces Batman, Robin, Red Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood to their new vehicles in a way that appears as though it was ripped straight from anime’s past. “Go! Bat Phoenix” is only the icing on the cake when it comes to the movie’s anime tributes.

In another scene, the Yakuza League’s Wonder Woman, known here as Diana Amazone of Hinomoto, delivers a melancholy performance as she belts out a tune preparing to take on the film’s villains. Paying tribute to some of the more melodramatic elements of anime’s past, this quick scene makes for a hilarious moment where Harley Quinn even breaks the fourth wall in an attempt to figure out what exactly is happening. This is to say nothing of the wild designs for the Yakuza League that truly live up to the Yakuza aesthetic, especially when it comes to one character who hasn’t been featured in any of the promotional material. Speaking of…

For DC Fans

Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League has a lot of material that seems tailor-made for fans of the DC Universe, and I am saying this as someone who is quite knowledgeable when it comes to the DCU. The Yakuza League, for example, might be an entirely new take on the Justice League but it feels like a wild new iteration of DC’s Crime Syndicate. For those who don’t know or need a refresher, the Crime Syndicate hailed from an alternate reality that saw classic characters like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman transformed into Ultraman, Owlman, and Superwoman. The team ruled over their world with an iron fist, presenting dark doppelgangers to the heroes we’ve come to know. Of the Yakuza League members featured in the film, the true stand-out is the Man of Steel.

Yes, the Yakuza League has an evil Superman and he is one of my favorite takes on an “evil Superman” that I have seen in some time. This version of Clark believes that in order to save the world, he needs to be as ruthless, and criminal, as humanly possible, following the orders of Ra’s Al Ghul to the letter. It makes for an interesting new take on the character and while we do have a traditional “Batman Vs. Superman” fight in the runtime, the resolution to how the Yakuza League’s leader is actually defeated is a gift to DC fans and Superman enthusiasts.

Bruce does get some good shots in but what helps defeat this twisted Man of Steel is simply the legacy of Superman in general. With worlds colliding, the evil Clark Kent gets the chance to see the OG Superman’s life for himself, beaten down by the fact that the original was able to create such an amazing life for himself while becoming an inspiration for the world at large. This causes the Yakuza League’s Kryptonian, and the team as a whole, to reverse course. It’s a neat little callback to the DCU itself while creating an effective, albeit fast-paced, redemption scene.

Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League takes everything that the original film did and improves upon it. Whether you’re an anime fan looking for a quick movie to check out or want to see another example of the DC Universe invading the anime medium, this film was made for you.

Want to see how the DCU continues to be a part of the anime world? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on Batman Ninja and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

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Pedro Pascal and Isabela Merced are having a friendly rivalry for their upcoming superhero movies, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman, respectively. This summer will see Marvel and DC compete outside of comics with the release of new Fantastic Four and Superman films. Both movies reboot their respective properties and feature stars of HBO’s The Last of Us in central roles. Pedro Pascal leads The Last of Us as Joel, with Isabela Merced joining Season 2 as Dina. Pascal is also playing Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards, and Merced suits up as Hawkgirl in Superman. But which superhero film will dominate at the box office? Let’s find out from the stars themselves.

The stars of The Last of Us are out doing press in anticipation of Season 2. After Isabela Merced discussed her new character Dina, she transitioned into promoting Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps both coming out this summer. “See you this summer!” Pedro Pascal teased his The Last of Us co-star, with Merced jokingly responding, “I hate you!”

[RELATED: Superman Star Teases What James Gunn Movie Is Really About (and It Sounds Perfect)]

The Last of Us announced Isabela Merced’s addition to Season 2 as Dina in January 2024. For those who haven’t played The Last of Us Part II, Dina is a new love interest for Ellie and travels with her throughout her latest adventure. She’s also the ex of Jesse, which makes for an interesting and complicated situation that plays out between Dina, Ellie, and Jesse. 

“Dina is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous and instantly lovable,” said showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann in a joint statement. “You can search forever for an actor who effortlessly embodies all of those things, or you can find Isabela Merced right away. We couldn’t be prouder to have her join our family.”

Merced previously spoke of her role in The Last of Us and called out how Dina is the only character who gets a decent ending. “[TLOU’s Dina is] sort of a light in Ellie’s life, in Ellie’s world. I think that’s the general consensus, because you look at the video game, too, and she is really the only one who actually gets sort of a decent ending,” Merced told Total Film. “Everyone else gets kind of screwed or dies!”

[RELATED: Will Marvel and DC Movies Ever Cross Over? (And Should They?)]

As for Merced’s starring role as Hawkgirl in Superman, she teased what fans can expect from Hawkgirl’s superhero costume. “Well, there have been some leaked pictures online,” Merced told Deadline. “However, I think James [Gunn] knows what he wants, and this specific suit is for this specific timeline in the story. I don’t know what else I can say, but I gotta say, the helmet was my absolute favorite. It’s so sick. It’s so badass. It’s perfect.” 

Fans finally got to see Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards in the first trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps in February. Concept art for Fantastic Four and Avengers: Doomsday made its way online, featuring a more comics-accurate look at Reed Richards. Pedro Pascal has a trademark mustache, but was missing Mister Fantastic’s signature white sideburns in the FF trailer. However, the leaked concept art featured Pascal ditching his mustache for the white sideburns fans have come to love.

Which superhero movie are you looking forward to the most between The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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The 2025 Paley Honors Spring Gala is celebrating Lynda Carter for the 50th anniversary of Wonder Woman. Carter portrayed the DC icon in the Wonder Woman live-action series of the mid-’90s and became synonymous with the character. So much so that all other Wonder Woman performances are compared to Carter’s. While fans wait to hear news on who will play Wonder Woman in James Gunn’s new DC Universe, Carter will get the recognition she deserves when she’s honored by the Paley Center for Media when the celebration kicks off on Monday, May 19th.

“Lynda Carter’s iconic portrayal remains a timeless symbol of strength, courage, and empowerment,” said Maureen J. Reidy, President and CEO of The Paley Center for Media. Lynda Carter was a Wonder Woman in front of and behind the camera. While she performed heroics when the lights were on, she continued her valiant work in her personal life as well. Carter is an advocate and philanthropist who works with the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, City of Hope/TGen’s blood cancer research, and the ERA Coalition, just to name a few organizations she’s a part of.

[RELATED: Superman Star Teases What James Gunn Movie Is Really About (and It Sounds Perfect)]

Along with celebrating Lynda Carter, the 2025 Paley Honors Spring Gala is also celebrating billionaire and businessman Joe Tsai; media and sports entrepreneur Crystal McCrary; and the ABC News morning program Good Morning America, which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary. Tsai is the owner of the NBA basketball team the Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA champion New York Liberty. He’s also the co-founder and chairman of Alibaba Group.

“Joe Tsai is a world-renowned industry icon whose innovative and visionary leadership continues to shape the future of business,” stated Reidy. “Crystal McCrary is an award-winning producer making a groundbreaking impact as a media and sports trailblazer.”

James Gunn comments on Wonder Woman prequel series

A prequel series based on Wonder Woman was one of the many projects announced when DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled the new DC Universe’s opening slate of projects. When asked in November if Paradise Lost is still “in active development,” Gunn replied: “Very active development.”

Paradise Lost was among the first projects announced in January 2023 when Gunn and Safran announced their plans for the DC Universe. At the time, they held a press conference, describing Paradise Lost as a “Game of Thrones-ish story” set on the island of Themyscira before Diana was born. Fans speculated that the show might take inspiration from the comic series “Paradise Island Lost” by Phil Jiminez and George Pérez, which was about a civil war on Themyscira.

[RELATED: Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool Takes Shots at DC in Christmas Video With Lynda Carter]

“It’s really about the political intrigue behind a society of all women,” Safran said at the time. Gunn added: “How did that come about? What’s the origin of an island of all women? What are the beautiful truths and the ugly truths behind all of that? And what’s the scheming like between the different power players in that society?”

So it appears that Wonder Woman is moving on from the likes of Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot. They will both hold a special place in the hearts of fans, but DC and Warner Bros. are looking to start with a fresh face. Let us know your thoughts on Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman celebration in the comments below!

The post Lynda Carter to Be Honored for Wonder Woman 50th Anniversary (But Will She Return?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

McFarlane Toys is on a roll this week. For starters, they’re set to release a new wave of Page Punchers figures on March 25th followed by a new wave of Todd’s Mods vinyl figures on Wednesday, March 26th. You can also expect to see a wave of DC Multiverse figures on March 28th. Stay tuned here for details. As for Todd’s Mods Wave 2, the 4 1/2-inch scale limited edition collector vinyl figures feature a unique interpretation of the character designs. The initial release focused on Bane, Batman, and Swamp Thing figures and now the newest wave will include Killer Croc, King Shark, and Superman.

Look for these pre-orders to go live March 26th at 9am PST / 12pm EST. All figures should go up for $14.99 and be available at Entertainment Earth here and Amazon here. Direct links will be added below after launch.

• DC Direct Collector Vinyl Wave 2 Killer Croc Todd’s Mods Limited Edition 4 1/2-Inch Scale Posed Figure – $14.99 / Pre-order here from Entertainment Earth / Pre-order here from Amazon
• DC Direct Collector Vinyl Wave 2 King Shark Todd’s Mods Limited Edition 4 1/2-Inch Scale Posed Figure – $14.99 / Pre-order here from Entertainment Earth / Pre-order here from Amazon
• DC Direct Collector Vinyl Wave 2 Superman Todd’s Mods Limited Edition 4 1/2-Inch Scale Posed Figure – $14.99 / Pre-order here from Entertainment Earth / Pre-order here from Amazon

As noted, McFarlane Toys is also releasing new Page Punchers figures on March 25th. Kingdom Come Superman and Woman of Tomorrow Supergirl are both joining the Page Punchers line at about 9am PST / 12pm EST, most likely priced at $24.99. Both figures are 7-inch scale and will come with an exclusive re-print comic, in this case Justice Society of America Vol 3 #10 and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #1 respectively. Look for the Supergirl action figure in this wave to sell fast. You’ll be able to find them both here at Entertainment Earth after the launch. You should also be able to find them here on Amazon.

Want to stay up to date with all the latest DC news and collectibles? Then keep an eye on our Gear Page!

The post McFarlane Toys Todd’s Mods Wave 2 Is Almost Here appeared first on ComicBook.com.

One of the most successful film franchises of all time, the Caped Crusader himself, Batman, has been busy ever since his eponymous live-action debut in Tim Burton’s 1989 film (not counting the 1966 film based on the TV series, of course). There have been highlights and low points of each era. Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns may be iconic but Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and, especially, Batman & Robin were letdowns. Sir Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy started out well and even had a masterpiece in the middle, but ended on an overlong note with The Dark Knight Rises. As for the DCEU, well, while Ben Affleck ended up being solid casting he was perpetually let down by weak writing.

In short, the Batman movies aren’t always quite as compelling as they should be. But do you know what is? The movies’ behind-the-scenes facts. Even a movie as jumbled as Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice has at least one factoid that most bigtime fans know and just about any other film fan should know. What follows are the most interesting facts from each era, from Burton and Nolan to the DCEU. Will Matt Reeves’ saga produce even more? It’s likely…if a sequel to the 2022 film ever actually sees the light of day.

Billy Dee Williams’ Harvey Dent Would Have Been Two-Face in Tim Burton’s Batman 3

Sadly, Billy Dee Williams’ take on Harvey Dent was relegated to a minor role in just Tim Burton’s original Batman film. He didn’t appear in Batman Returns but was, in fact, supposed to return down the line. For the most part, a third Burton Batman movie would have focused on Riddler. But, there would have been something in there for Williams’ Dent as well, and whether it would have been Burton’s third Batman or a fourth, he would have become Two-Face. Fans can get a taste of what this would have been like in the comic series Batman ’89.

Marlon Wayans Would Have Been Robin in Tim Burton’s Batman 3

Like with Billy Dee Williams’ Two-Face, Burton fans can get a taste of what he had in store for Robin in the Batman ’89 comic. In fact, Batman Returns was initially supposed to serve as the character’s debut before he was ultimately bumped back to a third Burton Bat flick.

His debut in Batman Returns came so close to happening that it was guaranteed for a third film. How close did he come to playing Robin? Close enough for Burton’s choice, Marlon Wayans, to still get paid for Returns. His character may have been excised during pre-production due to the film having too many characters, but Wayans was given a paycheck for his time and even receives some residuals for it.

Robin Williams Refused to Play The Riddler in Batman Forever for a Very Specific Reason

The late, great Robin Williams was an affable, kind-hearted guy. He was also a guy who stuck to his guns, as it were. See, for example, his feud with Disney. In that case he agreed to a reduced salary for his work as the Genie in Aladdin on the condition that his voice and likeness would not be used to hawk merchandise. Disney went ahead and did it anyway and Williams didn’t work on their films for years.

Something similar happened with Warner Bros. when they were making Tim Burton’s original Batman. They first approached Jack Nicholson for the role of Joker and he said no. They then went to Williams who said yes. The thing is, the studio didn’t actually want Williams, they still wanted Nicholson, and the casting of Williams was really just an attempt to get Nicholson on board. It worked, but Williams was rightly upset and didn’t work with Warner again until Fathers’ Day, released nearly a decade later. This means he said no to Batman Forever, specifically during the brief time Burton was set to direct it.

Michelle Pfeiffer was Strongly Considered for Vicki Vale Before Kim Basinger

The role of photography and Bruce Wayne love interest Vicki Vale was a highly-sought-after one in late ’80s Hollywood. Many of the biggest names were either already up for it or eager to toss their hats in the ring. This included Michelle Pfeiffer who would, of course, end up playing Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Batman Returns.

But Bruce Wayne himself, Michael Keaton, was against Pfeiffer’s casting. Why? He was dating her at the time and felt it would be awkward to fake a developing connection with someone he was, in real life, developing a connection with. By the time Batman Returns was getting off the ground, however, their relationship had ended and she secured the part. It’s for the best, because while Vale is a somewhat bland role, Kyle was anything but and Pfeiffer knocked it out of the park.

Jack Nicholson Was Paid A Lot of Money to Star in Batman

Usually when a movie’s poster is seen, the actor who is playing the hero comes before the name of the actor playing the villain. Not the case with Batman. And not only was Nicholson billed over Keaton, but he also received a percentage of the film’s final gross.

Of course, Burton’s film made a ton of money. At the time, Nicholson reportedly made about $60 million. Adjust that to 2025 dollars and the actor walked away with a paycheck of nearly $155 million.

[RELATED: 5 Batman Characters Ruined by the Movies]

Tommy Lee Jones Hated Jim Carrey on the Set of Batman Forever

Like Robin Williams, Jim Carrey is a likable fellow. That is, unless you’re Tommy Lee Jones. The two may be cackling side-by-side in just about all their scenes in Batman Forever, but as soon as the camera stopped rolling Jones’ smile disappeared faster than Batman after dropping a smoke bomb.

Carrey has talked about it over the years, relaying a story to Norm McDonald at one point about how he approached Jones at a restaurant the night before they were set to shoot one of their big scenes and said “Hey Tommy, how ya doing?” According to Carrey, Jones turned pale and started shaking, approached Carrey, and whispered in his ear “I hate you. I really don’t like you. I cannot sanction your buffoonery.”

Joel Schumacher Wanted Batman Forever to be More in Line with Burton’s Two Films

Tonally, Batman Forever is a pretty heavy departure from Batman and Batman Returns. Unlike Batman & Robin, though, there are still some touches of Burton’s take on Gotham in Batman Forever (Burton served as producer on Forever but not on Batman & Robin). If director Joel Schumacher had his way, Forever would have been even more tonally in line with Burton’s two films.

The director of The Lost Boys initially wanted his first Bat film to have a more substantial focus on Bruce Wayne’s fear surrounding the effects of his having dawned the cape and cowl. It also would have focused on Wayne suffering from burnout. But Warner Bros. wasn’t thrilled with all the backlash to the grim nature of Batman Returns and insisted on it being lightened up. There’s a Schumacher Cut out there somewhere and comic book aficionado Kevin Smith has seen it, so too should the rest of the world.

Most of Batgirl’s Scenes Were Cut from Batman & Robin

Some behind-the-scenes facts about Batman & Robin are funny, like how George Clooney, who has never been shy about his feelings towards the film, personally refunding those who saw the mocked blockbuster on the big screen. Other facts, however, are disappointing. For instance, the reason why Alicia Silverstone is barely seen wearing her Batgirl suit in the movie.

As it turns out, Silverstone’s Barbara Wilson was intended to suit up for a longer period of time in the movie. The reason many of these scenes were reportedly excised been attributed to Silverstone’s physique, and alleged weight gain during production. It’s well documented however that tabloids and the press mocked Silverstone. All this rubbed director Joel Schumacher the wrong way, who confronted journalists who displayed such mean-spirited audacity. None of this footage has seen the light of day though.

The Language Spoken by Ken Watanabe in Batman Begins Is Gibberish

In the first third of Batman Begins, the viewer is led to believe that Ken Watanabe’s character is Ra’s al Ghul, not Liam Neeson’s. They’re also led to believe that Ra’s al Ghul is speaking Urdu.

But just because the subtitles say it’s Urdu doesn’t mean it’s Urdu. In fact, it’s not a known language at all. It’s gibberish, and Watanabe made it up himself for the role. Along with the fact that Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr. both auditioned for it, it’s one of the more compelling behind-the-scenes factoids about Nolan’s trilogy kickstarter.

Bruce Wayne’s Voice Modulator in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Was Kevin Smith’s Idea

In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it is revealed that Bruce Wayne has a voice modulator to further help shield his identity from those around him. This idea was only introduced after Ben Affleck was cast, and it was provided by none other than Affleck’s friend, Kevin Smith.

Smith felt that Affleck’s speaking voice was too high-pitched for the Caped Crusader, but that wasn’t the only reason. An electronic voice modulator would also deepen the voice while simultaneously helping it stand apart from what Christian Bale did with his voice in Nolan’s trilogy.

Stream the entirety of the Batman franchise on Max.

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Grant Gustin and the cast of The Flash are up for reuniting for a revival of the fan-favorite CW series. While The Flash was the second DC show to join what would become the Arrowverse, it had the longest runtime out of all of them, totaling nine seasons and 184 episodes. Of course, The Flash ended at a time when Warner Bros. was putting all its attention to Ezra Miller’s portrayal of the fastest man alive on the big screen. A lot of fans believed Gustin and the rest of CW’s The Flash cast got cheated out of the spotlight, but they wouldn’t be against getting another crack at it.

The Flash was the focus of a reunion panel at FanExpo Cleveland over the weekend, with Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, and Tom Cavanagh all in attendance. They were asked if they would be interested in coming back to reprise their roles in an animated The Flash movie, and the overwhelming response was “Yes.”

[RELATED: The Flash Fans Are Still Debating the Series’ Best Storyline (And Their Choice Might Surprise You)]

“Yeah,” said Grant Gustin. “100% absolutely,” said Tom Cavanagh. “I’m available!” said Danielle Panabaker. Gustin chimed back in with, “We are actors with families….” with Candice Patton adding, “We got bills to pay!” Cavanagh ended things with, “We are all available! We are in, fully in!”

Of course, Grant Gustin is often asked about his feelings regarding The Flash and coming back for a second round. During an appearance on the Inside of You podcast with Michael Rosenbaum, Gustin echoed his sentiments that came this weekend at FanExpo Cleveland.

During the conversation with Rosenbaum, Gustin carefully articulated his position, stating, “Yeah, of course, there’s a lot of things that I’d have to like ask… not for, but about. I’d be more interested in the [creative side].” Rather than focusing on contractual requirements, Gustin emphasized his interest in understanding the creative direction of any future Flash project, demonstrating his commitment to the character.

When will DC fans see The Flash again?

To call The Flash feature film starring Ezra Miller a disappointment would be an understatement. It only earned $266 million worldwide against its $200 million budget, and has the distinction of being one of the final movies in the DC Extended Universe. The Flash did deliver some fan-favorite moments like Michael Keaton’s return as Batman, but overall didn’t set the world on fire. James Gunn and DC Studios have moved on with a reboot of the DC Universe, and so far no The Flash projects or future actors have been announced.

The Flash director Andy Muschietti Muschietti said the movie “failed, among all the other reasons, because it wasn’t a movie that appealed to all four quadrants.” He noted that when spending $200 million on a movie, the studio expects it to attract a broad audience, including “even your grandmother.” DC Studios head James Gunn addressed why characters like Clayface were receiving solo movies and not Flash, stating that the studio is “holding a beat on development” regarding any Flash-related projects, citing the studio’s primary rule: “No movie will be greenlit before the script is ready.”

Would you like to see The Flash cast back for an animated project? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

The post The Flash Cast Say They’re Up for a Series Revival (But With a Twist) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Jason Todd is the most unfortunate Robin. It’s pretty common to find people who think Dick Grayson is the best Robin. Tim and Damian both have fans who will fight for them. Even Stephanie Brown has a cadre of shooters ready to stan their queen Robni. However, it’s rare you’ll find anyone saying that Jason is their favorite Robin. Jason was so unpopular as Robin that DC Comics had fans vote to see if they would kill him off. Jason lost, readers got “Death in the Family”, and Jason was relegated to the cemetery of heroes no one loved. However, Jason got a second chance at stardom as Red Hood. Red Hood made Jason hot again, with Red Hood going from villain to anti-hero with his solo book and later a team book, leading a group known as the Outlaws. However, Red Hood’s popularity has fallen precipitously. Red Hood is still important to the Batman mythos, but nowadays he feels surplus to requirements.

Jason Todd needs some kind of shot in the arm. DC has been doing a great job of bringing back old characters and making them popular again, and they need to work their magic on Jason Todd. There are several roads they can take to make Red Hood a big deal again, but there’s one in particular that would make Jason popular again. In fact, it’s the same way they made him popular in the mid ’00s — by making him a villain again.

Jason Todd Hasn’t Felt as Vital as He Did When He Was a Villain

DC could try to make Red Hood work as an antihero again, but let’s be real — the same loss of popularity would happen because Red Hood just isn’t that interesting as a hero. Sure, it’s fun to see him get more violent than the rest of the Bat-Family and sass everyone but that gets really, really old fast. However, DC definitely had a star on their hands when they decided to bring Jason back as a villain. Jason Todd as the villainous Red Hood just makes more sense than Jason Todd as the violent, mouthy Bat-Family member Red Hood.

Jason Todd as Robin was fine, but he was basically just Dick Grayson 2.0. It wasn’t until he was just about to die that he started to become the mouthier Robin we know today, and even that is overstated by creators and fans. There’s a reason that fans chose to kill Jason Todd. While some of it was surely fans gleefully picking death because the whole situation was novel, Jason Todd just didn’t have a lot of fans. He wasn’t a popular character, and much like Barry Allen, was more important dead and as a symbol than he was as an actual character. That’s why “Under the Red Hood” — and technically “Hush”, since it was established after the fact that he was involved, even though the Jason Todd who appeared there was Clayface — was such a great story. It brought back Jason Todd as a villainous character, one out for revenge against Joker, Gotham City, and Batman himself.

RELATED: Is Damian Wayne Becoming the Next Ra’s al Ghul?

It makes sense for Jason Todd to be a traumatized person out for revenge. It makes sense that the would want to kill the Joker and it makes sense for him to blame Batman for it all. Jason Todd now is sort of a boring character; he’s “edgy” and that’s really the extent of who he is as a character as a hero. Him and Damian will bicker, he’ll make fun of Tim, and he’ll sass Dick and Batman. There’s really nowhere new to take the character as a hero, and that’s a big reason why his popularity has fallen so hard. Readers aren’t interested in reading the same violent Red Hood stories where he almost kills but then holds back because he’s a member of the Bat-Family.

For years, Jason Todd was Batman’s biggest failure, which is why it made so much sense for Red Hood to be a villain. Jason is one of the most skilled members of the Bat-Family — after his return, he was trained by Talia al Ghul and the League of Assassins. He’s smart and he knows his way around criminal enterprises, having fought them with Batman and having run his own gang after his return to life. Imagine how awesome it would be if a mysterious new force enters Gotham’s underworld. Batman and the Bat-Family have no idea how to counter them, or even find them for that matter, and eventually Red Hood goes to Batman and tells the Dark Knight that he’s found their secret base, leading Batman to them. They get there and suddenly Batman is hit from behind. Jason stands revealed as the newly villainous Red Hood, with a new Scarlet — his sidekick from when he became a more-Batman like vigilante version of himself during Morrison’s Batman and Robin (which is still the best Red Hood has ever been) — by his side, his hatred of Batman and the other members of the Bat-Family exacerbated by the way they treated him like a second-class member of the group. Suddenly, Red Hood is interesting again.

Jason Todd Makes a Much Better Villain than Hero

Jason Todd as a hero is like the Punisher if he only kneecapped his foes. He’s talks a big time, but that’s it. He’s gotten boring the more “respectful” he’s gotten as a hero. That’s the problem with Jason Todd. He’s just not that interesting of a character if his trauma over his own death doesn’t cause him to hate the world around him and try to get revenge.

If DC wants Jason Todd to be successful again, they need to bring him back to being a villain. The Bat-Family has had things too good for a while now. They need to take a loss, and the most entertaining loss they could take is if Jason Todd decided that his hate and revenge was more important than being the ignored middle child of the Bat-Family. Jason Todd is a mediocre hero, but he’s an excellent villain.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

The post DC Needs to Do Something About Jason Todd appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb are no longer keeping Batman Hush 2 under wraps. More than 20 years after Lee and Loeb’s 12-part Batman Hush unraveled the mystery of Bruce Wayne archvillain Tommy Elliot, the bandaged bad guy is back in H2SH: a six-issue sequel that promises a dramatic status quo shakeup for the Dark Knight following the Chip Zdarsky-penned Batman run (which concluded with issue #157 in February).

First announced at New York Comic Con in October and teased in a three-page prelude in Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s Justice League Unlimited #1 in November, H2SH — written by Loeb and penciled by Lee, with inks by Scott Williams and colors by Alex Sinclair — kicks off in Batman #158 on March 26 and runs through Batman #163 in August.

RELATED: Absolute Batman Reveals the Dark Knight’s Next Big Villains In Second Arc

“We’ve talked about coming back doing a follow-up to Hush for a while. For a variety of reasons, the timing was never right,” DC publisher Lee says in this week’s DC Nation Spotlight. “Because we’re doing the All In initiative, where we launched the Absolute line but still wanted crazy things to happen in the core line, it made this return to Hush the right opportunity.”

“For 20 years, everywhere I’ve gone, people have asked me whether or not we’re going to do it again,” adds Loeb, who has penned such seminal Bat-stories as Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. “My answer was always very honest: When Jim’s ready to go, I’ll be ready to go.”

“The challenge we had was, how do we recapture that excitement, yet to something new? Jeph, to his credit, crafted a story that feels very much like the opposite side of the coin to what he did 20 years ago,” Lee added. “It establishes a new status quo for Batman, new villains, new looks, new locations.”

But there will be old villains as well, including those who had a role to play in the star-studded Hush (which pit Batman against everyone from the Riddler and Clayface to a Poison Ivy-controlled Superman). Besides Hush, DC Comics has teased the Joker in the first issue (titled “The Pawn”) and, according to the cover for Batman #159, Jason Todd/Red Hood.

“My phone rings, and Jim says, ‘I think it’s time for us to revisit these characters and to really come up with something that can not only build on what we did 20 years ago, but take it to the next level,'” Loeb says. “That was the challenge. Certainly artistically, I have no doubt in my mind that Jim, Scott, and Alex outdid themselves.”

Although the band is back together for their 23-years-later sequel, Lee notes that the cast of characters “resemble the iconic versions of themselves, but we changed surface elements — melding the work that was done 20 years ago with the work we’re doing today.”

“We’re trying to do new kinds of shots, new angles, new color schemes,” Lee says. “We’re challenging ourselves across the board, because we know there are high expectations. It’s also a great way to motivate ourselves, to do hopefully our best creative work.”

In the two decades since Batman: Hush, the titular villain has appeared in everything from A.J. Lieberman’s Batman: Gotham Knights run and the Paul Dini-penned Batman: Heart of Hush to the live-action Batwoman series and the Batman: Arkham video games. Now that the mystery surrounding Hush’s identity is long out of the bag, H2SH is more of a revenge story.

“So much of what we did in the first story was to play with, ‘Who is Hush? What does he want? What’s going on?'” Loeb says. “We’ve now established all that, so in many ways, this is a revenge story. He’s learned so much, and one of the great things about the character is that he’s a master manipulator.”

Loeb continues, “He likes the game of it. It’s like moving pieces on a chessboard. You don’t want to always play the same game. You want to take it in a new direction.”

The game begins in Batman #158, on sale March 26 from DC Comics.

The post Batman Hush 2: Jim Lee & Jeph Loeb Tease Status Quo Shakeup, New Villains appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Two central stories in the Batman mythos are getting a new adaptation, allowing fans to experience them all over again in audio drama form, and inviting new fans to check them out for the very first time. DC Comics just announced a new weekly podcast series in collaboration with Realm, adapting the comics Batman: Year One and Batman: The Long Halloween into audio formats. The show launches on April 2nd and drops a new episode every Wednesday after that, and it will be available to stream or download on all major podcast platforms. The podcast is called DC High Volume: Batman.

It’s a brilliant move for comic book publishers to try and get in on the audio medium that has worked so well for audiobooks and podcasts in recent years, and DC has pulled out all the stops for this production. High Volume will begin by adapting Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Year One into a four part audio drama with an A-list cast. That includes Jason Spisak as Batman, Jay Paulson as James Gordon, Adam O’Byrne as Harvey Dent, Mike Starr as Carmine Falcone, Simon Vance as Alfred Pennyworth, and Dan Gill as The Joker.

The second storyline will be The Long Halloween — a limited series by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale which is set immediately after Year One. Here, the cast will grow to include Jesse Burch as The Riddler, Michelle Lukes as Poison Ivy, and Kevin Smith as The Penguin. DC didn’t mention how many episode this arc will cover, but the comic consisted of 13 issues, so if they remain a one-to-one ratio, The Long Halloween will last over three months.

[RELATED: The Batman: Zoe Kravitz Read Year One To Prepare For Catwoman Role]

The trailer above gives an idea of the style this show will adopt, for those that haven’t listened to audio dramas before. The practice of adapting comic books this way has been very successful before — Audible’s adaptation of The Sandman, for example, is very well-reviewed and it helped pull in new fans as the TV adaptation was airing. In the same way, The Long Halloween was a major inspiration for The Batman (2022), so this is a great entry point for fans of the films.

First published in 1987, Year One was intended to modernize the Batman origin story and set it in stone, resolving the contradictions that had cropped up in various retellings over the previous decades. It has become a foundational text for all the comics that have followed, even through reboots and timeline-altering events. It has been collected and republished many times, so those interested can find it in hardcover, paperback, or digital formats.

The same is true for The Long Halloween, and both stories have also been adapted into animated films in recent years as well. These movies aren’t available on Max at the time of this writing, but they can be found to rent or purchase on PVOD stores like Prime Video, or on Blu-ray and DVD.

For those interested in the audio experience, DC High Volume: Batman premieres on Wednesday, April 2nd on all major podcast platforms, with new episodes every Wednesday after that. The show will begin with Year One adapted in four episodes, followed by The Long Halloween.

The post Batman’s Best Stories Are Getting the Podcast Treatment (And We’re Excited) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Titans are always the bridesmaid and never the bride. The Titans were once the New Teen Titans and part of the most popular DC books of the early ’80s. However, the team never really reached the heights they could have, despite several really good series under their belt. Titans fans are a long-suffering lot, but all of that seemed ready to change after Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. That book ended with the Titans being declared as the new top team on the planet, taking the place of the Justice League. Titans was given the star treatment, with superstar creators Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott kicking off the comic, and readers were about to get the Titans-fronted event comics Titans: Beast World, a book that seemed to come and go with little fanfare from fans.

Titans: Beast World, by Taylor, Ivan Reis, and Lucas Meyer, is a way better event book than it gets credit for. The six-issue series, and its various tie-ins, did a remarkable job of laying out an action-packed event comic that had consequences for the future of DC. Titans: Beast World isn’t some universe-shaking event, and if anything was just another chapter in the story building up to 2024’s Absolute Power, but it should be ranked among the best DC event comics ever.

Titans: Beast World Sold the Titans as the Kind of Team They’ve Always Had the Potential to Be

Titans: Beast World digs into DC lore a bit to present a great story. The book kicks off with an attack by the Necrostar, a monster from space that is related to Starro the Conqueror. The book sees the Titans take command in the battle against the monster, an exercise in futility until Beast Boy reveals that he can transform into a Starro, which is the only thing that the Necrostar is scared of. Beast Boy succeeds, but Amanda Waller, trying to turn the world against the superheroes, makes a secret attack on Starro-Beast Boy, causing him to explode into small Star Conquerors, which possess the people of the Earth, transforming them into animals. This sets up the rest of the book, which sees Nightwing leading the heroes to revert everyone back to human while also saving Beast Boy, all before Waller can kill millions of humans transformed into wild animals.

Titans: Beast World had everything it needed to be a great event. This wasn’t yet another Crisis event that vowed to change the multiverse, it was just a great superhero story that went to places that other events hadn’t before. It was the story that the Titans needed; Titans was a good book, but it often felt like every other Titans books, taking ideas and villains from New Teen Titans. Titans: Beast World showed the Titans as the leading team of the DC Universe, and it worked very well. Of course, that could be part of the problem with the story’s reception; most fans just weren’t sold on the Titans as the Justice League replacement. However, anyone who ignored the story for that reason — of because of the comic fandom’s strange disdain for Taylor — made a huge mistake.

There are some awesome ideas in this story; Beast Boy becoming a Starro the Conqueror certainly wasn’t on most people’s bingo cards, and getting to watch Nightwing lead heroes like Superman shows off just how great Nightwing is as a leader and hero. Doctor Hate, an evil version of Doctor Fate, is a great idea and adds a nice bit of mystery to the series. Seeing Amanda Waller manipulate the heroes was perfect for the role that had been built for the Wall since Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths ended. Finally, the tie-in issues, especially the Beast World Tour anthology comics, were all stellar. Seeing the different families of heroes deal with the transformed heroes and villains was spectacular, and made for some exciting stories, using Beast World to show off the various corners of the DC Universe.

Now, that’s not to say to Titans: Beast World doesn’t have its problems. The reveal of who Doctor Hate is, and her ultimate destiny in the story, is another callback to New Teen Titans that left a lot of fans cold. However, for the most part, those problems don’t outweigh the story’s strengths. Titans: Beast World had a lot riding against it, but the fact that it was able to succeed in nearly every way shows that the naysayers may have been wrong to not give the story a chance.

Titans: Beast World Broke the Crisis Formula

DC event comics are known for one thing more than anything else — multiversal shenanigans that “change everything forever”, but really just either destroy or recreate the multiverse for the umpteenth time. DC’s various Crises are amazing event books, but the fact that there have been so many of them robs them of their impact. Titans: Beast World doesn’t fit into the normal DC event formula, and that’s a very good thing. In fact, Titans: Beast World feels more like a Marvel event than a DC one.

Titans: Beast World shows off everything great about the DC superhero community while giving readers a story that took things in new directions. Superhero comics aren’t known for their novelty, so the fact that so much of Titans: Beast World revolves around not being like what came before is a much bigger deal than most people realize. Titans: Beast World isn’t a perfect story, but there are few comics that are. However, it does everything rather well, and deserves its flowers.

The post Titans: Beast World is One of DC’s Best Events, Period appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee are reuniting for “Hush 2”, a sequel to their Batman classic “Hush“. The original was basically a Batman’s greatest hits album, built around the mystery of who the mysterious Hush was. Back then, it wasn’t exactly difficult to figure out who Hush was, because there was new character introduced in the story — Tommy Elliot, a man who Bruce had grown up with in the days before the death of parents. So, while the story tried to sell the fact that anyone could have been Hush, there was basically only one person it could actually be. However, it was buoyed by Jim Lee just completely destroying it on art, so fans didn’t really mind that the central mystery of the book was so easy to figure out.

“Hush 2” had a teaser released in November, showing off a new costume, his trademark Aristotle quoting, and the seeds of a new plan. The original “Hush” came out over twenty years ago, and newer readers might not get why Hush is such a big deal, since he really hasn’t been around in a very long time. With “Hush 2” about to release, this primer will tell you everything you need to know about Thomas Elliot and his time as Hush.

Hush Quickly Became One of Batman’s Most Popular Villains Before a Precipitous Fall

The Waynes and the Elliots were two of Gotham’s wealthiest families and both families had a son. The Waynes had young Bruce and the Elliots had Thomas. Bruce and Thomas quickly became best friends, going to camp together, and basically being inseparable. However, the Elliot family wasn’t anything like the loving Waynes. Roger Elliot was an abusive alcoholic and his wife Marla came from a poor background, so she took the abuse, and stayed with Roger. Thomas wasn’t spared his father’s terrible attentions, and grew to hate his parents. Marla forced her son to memorize Aristotle and war philosophy, all so he could learn to deal with Roger’s abuse and fight back. He spent as much time as possible with the, to his mind, idyllic Wayne family. Thomas decided to try and kill his parents, cutting their brake lines, and the two were raced to Sacred Heart hospital, where Thomas Wayne worked. Dr. Wayne was able to save Marla but not Roger, something that rankled young Thomas to no end.

After the accident, at camp, Thomas almost told Bruce about what happened with his parents, but stopped himself. Marla came to the camp to get him and everyone but Bruce called him a “mama’s boy”, causing Thomas to lash out violently. Thomas was put into a clinic for the rest of the summer, where he would meet Dr. Jonathan Crane, the future Scarecrow. Crane recognized the boy’s sociopathic tendencies, and would later mentor Thomas as Hush. Thomas became increasingly paranoid while at the clinic, believing that Bruce had somehow conspired with his mother to ruin his summer, and began to hate Bruce and the Waynes with a hatred that he usually reserved for his family. However, after the summer ended, the Waynes had their fateful night in Crime Alley. Bruce became sad and withdrawn, and Thomas was filled with jealousy for his friend, wishing that his parents were as dead as the Waynes. Thomas stayed under his mother’s thumb because she dangled the promise of paying for medical school. Bruce left Gotham, leaving Thomas behind with his controlling mother, who was suffering from cancer.

RELATED: DC x Sonic’s Batman and Shadow Team-Up Has No Business Being This Great

Thomas hated his life but eventually met a girl named Peyton, who was a mobster’s daughter. Marla hated Peyton, and eventually wrote Thomas out of the will. However, Peyton was there, so she murdered the lawyer and changed the will back to normal. This was all unbeknownst to Thomas, but he made his own move, smothering his mother with a pillow. The two eventually found out what the other had done, and came up with a story, but their relationship wasn’t to last. Thomas left and began traveling the world, eventually becoming one of the top neurosurgeons in the world. Thomas was the Riddler’s doctor when the villain was diagnosed with brain cancer, but Riddler went to the Lazarus Pits to cure it. Riddler returned and tried to sell Thomas info about the pits, but instead Thomas asked Riddler for help in a revenge scheme against Bruce. Riddler agreed, and revealed something else — that the madness of the Pit gave him clarity and he had figured out that Bruce was Batman. Elliot and Riddler began making their plans and thus Hush was born.

Elliot returned to Gotham and targeted Batman, shooting one of his ropes so Batman fell and broke his skull. Elliot was the surgeon on hand, and saved his friend. Elliot would also fix Harvey Dent’s face, leading to the Two-Face identity to submerge. Hush enlisted multiple villains to fight Batman, but Dent was able to help the Dark Knight defeat the villain. Hush would return several times in the coming years, enlisting the Justice League villain Prometheus — or rather another version of Prometheus who had found the original’s armor but was nowhere near as dangerous — but was constantly beaten by Batman. Eventually Hush just sort of faded away.

Thomas Elliot as Hush Is One of Batman’s Most Clever Villains

Batman has many dangerous villains, but Thomas Elliot quickly became one of the deadliest. While Thomas hated his mother, her forcing him to study war and philosophy gave him the kind of leg-up that he needed to fight Batman, becoming something of a twisted version of the Dark Knight. Hush is known for making grandiose plans, and Batman has only been able to survive by the skin of his teeth.

So far, no one knows what Hush’s new plans are going to be, although the teaser gave readers something of a clue, with Robin and the Joker seeming to be people who he’s concentrating on. “Hush 2” has everyone excited, and Loeb and Lee have their work cut out for them. After their landmark story, other creators fumbled Hush, which is why he’s never reached the level of the Joker or Riddler, where he belongs. Thomas Elliot is a cunning monster, forged by a life of hardships and hatred into Hush.

Batman #158 is part one of “Hush 2” and it’s on sale March 27, 2025.

The post With Batman’s Hush Sequel Imminent, Who is Thomas Elliot? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, changed the comic industry forever. The twelve issue maxiseries took a warts and all look at what superheroes would be like in the real world, one where their very presence completely changed history and the geopolitical situation of the world. Watchmen is considered the greatest comic of all-time, and for good reason. Moore and Gibbons used every trick in their repertoire to craft a story that Time magazine named one of the greatest works of literature in the 20th century, bringing comics into the rarefied air that only “true art” existed in. To this day, every great comic is compared to Watchmen, and its impact on the comic industry led to many of the greatest stories ever, with creators attempting to take the baton of Watchmen and run with it.

Moore is often considered the curmudgeon of the comic industry, his opinions on superhero comics still causing controversy even though he’s left the industry, and those views are an important part of why the story hits so hard — his cynical ideas on superheroes informing the ideas of the book. There’s something about Watchmen that grabbed the comic fandom and never let them go. Think pieces — like this one — are constantly being written about it, and its impact has been debated since the moment the series ended in October of 1987. Everyone has an opinion on it, which begs the question: why are we still obsessed with Watchmen almost forty years later? Why exactly has this comic stayed a part of the zeitgeist?

The Problem of Watchmen

Watchmen is often credited with the maturation of the comic medium, but that’s not exactly true. The 1980s were a time of huge change in the comic industry, as fans who grew up reading comics became the people who were making comics. Creators like Alan Moore had grown up with the comics of the Golden and Silver Ages. Unlike the original creators of those comics, these were people who didn’t just see comics as a job; they were their passion, something that had stayed with them throughout their lives. They wanted to create comics that took of the energy of those they grew up with and infuse them with the maturity that they found in other mediums. Reading the comics of the early ’80s, from mainstream superhero books to the comics of the burgeoning indie scene, one can feel something new in the comics. Even something like “The Dark Phoenix Saga” was trying to tell a story more like a Greek tragedy than anything that Stan Lee or Gardner Fox were doing.

So, Watchmen wasn’t the first comic to try to be mature, but it did it best. Moore himself had already started the process of working up to Watchmen with his stellar Swamp Thing comics, using that classic monster horror character to tell stories about humanity. Watchmen was a distillation of all the changes made to the comic industry. Moore is a very well-read writer, escaping the poverty of Northampton’s Burrows neighborhood in the worlds of fiction, and he took everything he had learned and put into Watchmen. Comparing Watchmen to the mature classics of the early ’80 — books like Ronin, The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller’s Daredevil, and Maus — there’s something about Watchmen that stands out. It’s not just a dark, violent story with sex in it; it had something to say about the world of superheroes that no other book had said before. Before Watchmen, superheroes were looked at as perfect paragons of virtue, and Watchmen destroyed that idea. Watchmen showed that heroes were just like you and me, and this idea is what truly makes it standout.

RELATED: James Gunn Addresses Potential for Watchmen Reboot in DCU

It’s this idea that brings up the problem of Watchmen. No one was ready for this type of superhero story back then, and it created a legion of imitators. Some of these imitators — many of whom were brought over from the UK because of creators like Moore and Gibbons — were able to take the lesson of Watchmen and bring it to their books, leading to a renaissance of comics. However, most of the imitators just copied the “mature” themes — the violence, the sex, the darkness of the story — and that led the entire comic industry in a bad direction. Watchmen was a double-edged sword, and the changes it wrought re-created the comic industry in its image.

To my mind, this sea change is why we are still so obsessed with Watchmen. There are very few comics that had the type of impact that Watchmen had. Watchmen exists alongside books like Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, Showcase #4, Fantastic Four #1, and Amazing Fantasy #15. These books set comics in new directions just like Watchmen did. However, even then, the obsession with Watchmen seems extreme. The main difference between them is that Watchmen made comics into literature. Comics are often considered “low art”, compared to novels or film. Ask an MCU fan if they read comics and you’ll get a look like they just tasted curdled milk. Watchmen was the one thing that comic readers could point to as something that matched the best of other mediums, and it led to other books that would take comics beyond what they once were.

Until Something Tops Watchmen, It Will Always Be a Topic of Conversation

Action Comics #1 introduced superheroes to the world. Showcase #4 started the Silver Age and Fantastic Four #1 gave readers a new take on superheroes. However, no one would say that we’re still obsessed with those books and the reason is simple — better comics have come along. Not to say those are bad comics, but it’s just a simple fact that better comics have come along. The changes they wrought were extremely important, but they basically became a part of the bedrock of comics, buried under the deluge of great books that they inspired. We know they’re there, but we don’t have to talk about them anymore because it goes without saying. However, with Watchmen, there’s nothing that’s come along that’s better.

We’re obsessed with Watchmen because it’s still better in some way than what’s come after it. There have been some amazing comics since the 1987, but none of them have been able to kick Watchmen from the top. Sure, there are times when people will say something is better than Watchmen, but it’s a minority opinion. The majority of people believe that Watchmen is the greatest even if it’s not their favorite, and until that changes, Watchmen is still going to be a topic of conversation. The obsession will end when there is something else to compare amazing comics to.

The post Why Are We Still So Obsessed With Watchmen? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ever since the classic Batman story “Year One”, DC has used the “Year One” label to tell stories of the first year of many heroes’ lives especially those in the Bat-Family. Batgirl, Dick Grayson’s Robin, even the Joker in 2024 got their own “Year One” stories. When we take into account the fact that DC has rebooted its universe multiple times, these kinds of stories are crucial to fans understanding of the characters. DC has announced another “Year One” style story, from a team that has a lot of experience with these types of tales — Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. The writer/artist team is responsible for the 2022 miniseries Robin and Batman, giving a new look at the early years of Batman and Dick Grayson’s early career. Their newest subject is the most controversial Robin — Jason Todd. DC released this solicitation for the upcoming three-issue miniseries Robin and Batman: Jason Todd —

“Batman has a new Robin, Jason Todd. Jason is a rash, impulsive and reckless kid with a troubled past, who Batman was certain could be molded into Gotham’s next protector. But can the Dark Knight save Jason Todd from the darkness within himself? And when a mysterious new villain, shrouded in white cloth and mystery, sets his sights on Jason, Batman realizes that even he has what it takes to train the anger and torment out of his new young ward.”

By now, everyone knows the story of Jason Todd, the unpopular Robin that was voted to die in “Death in the Family”. Todd eventually became a more popular after he was brought back in 2005-2006 story “Under the Red Hood”, and has since become an antihero, starring in multiple series. Todd’s history is one of retcons, and the character has never gotten an actual canon origin, so this upcoming story is one that is desperately needed.

Jason Todd Is the Literal Red-Headed Step-Child of the Batman Mythos

Jason Todd first appeared in 1983’s Batman #357. Dick Grayson had left Batman’s side despite still being Robin years before, and at the time was part of the cast of the most popular book at DC, New Teen Titans. Batman didn’t feel right without a Robin, so DC gave him a new one. Looking at the early days of Jason, it’s easy to see that DC was basically just copy/pasting everything from Dick Grayson onto Jason Todd. So, for example, Todd’s parents were also acrobats in his pre-Crisis origin — inspired by the Flying Graysons, no less — and the Todds were introduced to Bruce Wayne by Dick. The circus they worked for, the Sloan Circus, was being blackmailed by Killer Croc and the Todds volunteered to help Robin find the blackmailer. Unfortunately, they were killed, leaving their young son a orphan. Bruce Wayne stepped up, taking on Jason as his ward.

That’s basically just Dick Grayson’s origin in a lot of ways — a circus being blackmailed leads to the deaths of acrobats whose young son is taken in by Bruce Wayne and Alfred — and the early days of Jason’s time as Robin was basically just him as the same kind of Robin as Dick was before. Alan Moore even had Wonder Woman make a joke about Jason basically just being Dick in the classic story “For the Man Who Has Everything” from Superman Annual #11. The differences between the characters was completely negligible, at best, and that’s one of the reasons he never connected with fans. He was basically, “We have Dick Grayson at home.”

RELATED: Is Damian Wayne Becoming the Next Ra’s al Ghul?

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason was given a new origin, the familiar stealing the wheels off the Batmobile one, and he was established as the mouthy Robin on a hair trigger. However, since then, DC has been rebooted several times, and every time more and more is added to the character’s background — for example, Morrison saying that Todd was a redhead that Batman forced to dye his hair and Tom Taylor making him a nu-metal fan in a Nightwing Annual — to the extent that most fans don’t really have much idea of what Jason was like as a Robin other than a violent and edgy sidekick.

This is why this new series is so important to Jason Todd. Jason Todd is an important part of the Batman mythos. In fact, when it comes right down to it, Jason is one of the most integral parts of Batman’s history, representing the Caped Crusader’s greatest failure. His death was a major turning point for Batman and his comics, and the fact that there are so many versions of his origin out there, and so many voices adding and subtracting from it, means that he’s needed this treatment for a very long time.

Seeing the Early Days of Jason Todd May Give Fans a New Appreciation for the Character

Jason Todd is a character whose best days are seemingly behind him. There was a time when a Jason Todd series of some sort — whether it be a solo Red Hood book or the team book Red Hood and the Outlaws — was always being printed, but those days are gone. Fans don’t really appreciate Jason Todd anymore, and that’s a problem for a character who is as important as he is. Jason deserves more respect for his time as Robin, and Robin and Batman: Jason Todd could be the series that gives it to him.

DC needs to do something to make Jason work as a character again, and maybe getting to see the young Jason as Robin alongside Batman will do that for fans. Jason Todd has long been the least loved Robin. Honestly, there’s good reason for that to an extent — DC themselves never seemed to have any respect for him as anything other than a Dick Grayson replacement — but it’s also unfair. Any character can be great with the right creative team, and Lemire and Nguyen are that kind of team. Hopefully, they can not only give all the Jason Todd fans what they want from the character, but they can also convince lots of other readers to actually take the character seriously.

What do you think about Jason Todd? Let us know in the comments!

The post Batman’s Most Controversial Robin Is Getting the Year One Treatment (and It’s About Time) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

With the recent success of Creature Commandos on Max and the upcoming release of James Gunn’s Superman, on July 11, the fledgling DC Universe appears to be on the right track. And while the initial Superman trailer drew mixed reactions from viewers, the majority of fans seem cautiously optimistic about James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new and improved DC cinematic universe. If Gunn and Safran play their cards right, the DCU could even replace the MCU one day as Hollywood’s premiere superhero franchise … If they get the right Batman, that is. How hard could selling another iteration of the most popular superhero in the world be? Harder than one would think. Just ask Zack Snyder and the DC Extended Universe — Warner Bros.’ first attempt at a DC cinematic universe.

Snyder created a grizzled, murder-prone Batman for the DCEU — Warner Bros.’ first attempt at a DC cinematic universe — and the results were disastrous. He got the costume right but completely missed the point of Batman as a character. If Gunn and Safran want to succeed where Snyder failed, they’ll need to give the World’s Greatest Detective a sunnier disposition. In other words, the DCU needs a Caped Crusader, not a Dark Knight.

Hollywood Needs to Lighten up When It Comes to Batman

For decades the only Batman that Hollywood has been willing to embrace is the dark, brooding loner. A black armor-clad anti-hero hell-bent on dishing out violent punishment at the drop of a hat. But that’s only one aspect of an 86-year-old character. There’s a rich history of Batman stories dating all the way back to 1939, and yet directors and screenwriters only seem to pull from The Dark Knight Returns. It doesn’t take a hardcore comic nerd to realize that basing a franchise’s flagship character on a single dystopian “What if?” scenario isn’t a great idea.

[RELATED: Forget Catwoman, This Is Batman’s Best Love Interest (And You Can’t Change My Mind)]

Don’t get us wrong, Frank Miller’s 1986 take on a much older, more nihilistic Batman is a classic for a reason, but as the ultimate Bat-tome, it falls a little flat. While it inspired some absolute bangers like Tim Burton’s Batman, it was also the main inspiration for Batman V. Superman, a film many fans consider to be the Dark Knight’s worst. In a world where Batman and Robin exists that’s saying a lot. Even if the DCU manages to avoid pulling from The Dark Knight Returns it will still have to avoid the other trap Batman movies keep falling into, “realism.”

Here’s a hot take: Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is a great crime drama but a terrible Batman story. The films strip Batman of any whimsy while gutting all of the fantastical elements of the character until we’re left with a character who shares a name with a famous comic book vigilante but not much else. More recently, Matt Reeves managed to deliver a slightly less “realistic” take on Gotham City with The Batman, but the film still took an overly serious approach to the Caped Crusader.

In neither movie universe will you hear anyone utter a word as ridiculous as “Batmobile,” or “Batarang.” Nolan and Reeves are fine with a man dressing up as a bat and fighting crime, but their willingness to put up with comic book tomfoolery only goes so far. For instance, both directors chose to give their version of Selina Kyle only the barest hint of cat ears, and god forbid she go by an absurd moniker like Catwoman.

The problem with making Batman gritty and realistic is that it makes the more fantastical elements of the character look silly and out of place. The Dark Knight, in particular, takes such a realistic approach to the Batman mythos that even having the character call himself “Batman” feels out of place. Remember, in his base incarnation — as a comic book character — Batman exists in a world where extraterrestrials, ghosts, and literal magic aren’t just real but known phenomena. In that context, yes, Batman is one of the more grounded heroes in the DC pantheon, but only in that context. Put modern comic book Batman in the real world with a utility belt full of smoke pellets, random pieces of kryptonite, and a pair of “batcuffs,” — not to mention his ability to swing between buildings without breaking his arms — and suddenly, he looks more like Spider-Man than everyman.

Batmen like the ones in The Dark Knight Rises and The Batman only work in a vacuum. Introduce Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne to Superman, and he’s going to turn in his cowl right then and there. On the flip side, if you go all in on the absurdity of a man in tights fighting alongside gods but keep him dark and edgy, you get Snyderverse Batman. A violent curmudgeon who drops F-bombs and promises to murder the Joker someday. So what’s the alternative? Model the DCU Batman after the ’60s Adam West Batman? Good lord, no. That’s how we ended up with Batman and Robin. No, what James Gunn and Peter Safran have to do is simple. Base the DCU Batman on what many fans consider the definitive version of the character: the one from Batman the Animated Series.

Kevin Conroy’s Batman was the Definitive Batman, Full Stop

Batman as portrayed by the late, great Kevin Conroy is the perfect version of the Caped Crusader to bring into James Gunn’s new cinematic superhero universe. Batman The Animated Series gave fans a Batman who was serious but never joyless, a Batman who was comfortable switching from swashbuckler to detective at the drop of a hat. This Batman still used violence, but he wasn’t over-reliant on it. His main goal was still to help criminals, to heal them rather than eliminate them altogether. Prehaps most important of all for a character who needs to exist within a larger superhero narrative, Conroy’s Batman played well with others when he had to — first, with his own “batfamily” in Batman the Animated Series and later with a larger roster of DC heroes in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

James Gunn and Peter Safran have a clean slate with the DCU. This is their chance to make superhero history. The duo has a chance to bring a well-rounded version of Batman to the big screen for the first time since Batman Mask of the Phantasm — the sole theatrical outing for Conroy’s Batman. With all signs pointing to Gunn’s Superman abandoning the darker approach Zack Snyder took with the character, there’s a good chance the director will go in a similar direction with Batman. The fact that the DCU’s first Batman project, The Brave and the Bold, is set to feature Robin is already a good sign that Gunn might be going with a more comic-book approach to the character.

Then again, he is using Damian Wayne, the most violent, bloodthirsty, decapitation-happy version of the Boy Wonder ever, so who knows? Do you think the DCU should introduce a more light-hearted Caped Crusader, or do you prefer the Dark Knight to be the ultimate edge lord like Shadow the Hedgehog wearing a fedora? Let us know in the comments!

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Catwoman is Batman’s most classic love interest, but their relationship isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Their hero and villain dynamic can be divisive for some people, especially those who want more contrast to their romances. Fortunately, Batman has had multiple love interests over the years, some arguably more fun than the character’s on-again off-again romance with Selina Kyle. He has had many different types of relationships with multiple women over the years, but secretly his best love interest has always been with one of his closest female friends – Zatanna!

Bruce and Zatanna go way back when the former was learning how to be an escape artist under the mentorship of Zatara, Zatanna’s father. Zatanna is probably Batman’s closest superhero friend outside the DC Trinity and Batfamily. They have a closeness and vulnerability not often shared with other heroes. Many fans prefer the relationship between Bruce and Zatanna to stay mostly platonic and the lifelong friends-to-lovers trope isn’t for everyone. However, Zatanna offers an interesting contrast to Batman’s world, shining a ray of levity to Bruce’s world while still fitting in Gotham’s aesthetics. Their friendship is enduring, already making them one of the greatest superhero duos in DC Comics.

Zatanna Adds More Levity to Batman’s World

The problem with the BatCat romance is that both parties can be portrayed as stoic. Selina Kyle isn’t as impassive as Bruce, and she can even be a fun character, especially under Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke’s run with the character. She is meant to represent Batman’s more carefree side. Nonetheless, Selina herself is already too brooding to act as the light to Batman’s darkness. Batman acts as the angel on Selina’s shoulder, yet his stoicism is not a strong contrast to Selina’s angst. While Selina is much more carefree than Bruce, their relationship doesn’t offer much contrast in terms of personality. Even though a romance doesn’t need to be full-on “opposite attracts” to be engaging, Bruce and Selina can be portrayed in certain stories as too similar.

In comparison, what makes Bruce’s and Zatanna’s dynamic fascinating is that Zatanna is so different from Batman. While Zatanna has her angst and internal darkness she has to overcome, she is much more chipper and optimistic than Bruce. Her knowing Bruce so well, probably knowing him better than nearly every other superhero, makes their friendship shine in the comics. Besides Superman and Wonder Woman, Zatanna is the only other superhero who can change Bruce’s mind on certain decisions. Batman rarely trusts anyone, yet somehow a stage magician has earned his deepest faith. That dynamic makes their relationship one of the more fun in the DC Universe.

[RELATED – Why DC Studios Needs to Spotlight the Magic Side of the DCU]

Zatanna’s Friendship with Batman in the Main DC Continuity is Great…

Many fans prefer Zatanna’s relationship with Batman to stay purely platonic. People believe there should be more representation of non-romantic male and female relationships. Sometimes, a dynamic can be ruined if a romantic angle is added. Bruce’s and Zatanna’s relationship works well as is; why ruin that by having them kiss? Their friendship has endured too long for it to get bogged down by romantic subplots, and Catwoman will probably always be viewed as Bruce’s definitive love interest.

But Elseworlds Are Great for the Batman and Zatanna Romance to Soar

However, the beauty of the Multiverse has given a great avenue for a Batman and Zatanna romance to thrive. While a romance between Batman and Zatanna has been played in the main continuity, specifically in a recent arc Batman: Urban Legend, their potential romance works best in elserworld stories. A Batman and Zatanna romance thrives when it doesn’t have to connect with greater DCU mythology, especially if it doesn’t cover Bruce’s other love interests. The Black Label Batman: Full Moon comic gives readers a heartwarming ending between the two that fully takes advantage of its non-canonicity.

Batman and Zatanna have always been a strong pair. Even though fans would prefer it to stay in the realm of platonicity, they have undeniable chemistry. Catwoman will always be Batman’s greatest love in the main canon, and Zatanna probably does work best as Bruce’s close friend rather than girlfriend. But after over 80 years of the BatCat romance, the Zatanna romance offers a new layer to Batman’s personality.

Agree with this hot take, or do you think there are other romantic partners more suitable for Batman? Comment below!

The post Forget Catwoman, This Is Batman’s Best Love Interest (And You Can’t Change My Mind) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC Comics created what modern fans would recognize as superheroes way back in 1938 with Action Comics #1. Since then, DC has been one of the leading names in superheroes, creating characters that have grabbed readers and held them for decades. DC’s Absolute Universe is reminding readers why they love DC, but the sales success of the Absolute books actually has been rare for DC in recent years. DC has something of a checkered reputation among fans of superhero comics, and for good reason. DC has a much more cluttered and convoluted continuity than Marvel, and that has made it hard for fans to get into DC. Superhero comics are known for being very complicated, but DC goes so far past complicated that many of its characters and teams have completely lost their popularity because fans just didn’t want to deal with it.

DC brought the multiverse into superhero comics, something which helped define the publisher for years but also made things much more complicated than anyone realized. DC’s long-running love affair with creating, destroying, and re-creating its multiverse can be looked at as a problem, but most DC fans wouldn’t want it any other way. DC can be a mess, but that’s part of why we love it so much.

DC’s Tangled Timeline Gives Fans Unprecedented Freedom and Has Led to Amazing Stories

DC’s mess began in 1956. DC had created an entire universe of heroes and villains in the late ’30s and ’40s, but the sales crater that superhero comics hit after World War II and in the early ’50s made it all go away. Young fans moved on from their favorites in the Justice Society, with only big names like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman staying around. Showcase #4 introduced an all-new Flash, Barry Allen. Fans loved Barry and then it was off to races, with DC rebooting their classic characters like Green Lantern and Hawkman, creating entirely new versions of these characters that were unrelated to what came before. Older fans and writers wanted to see the original versions of the heroes they grew up with come back, though, and DC made one of the mystifying decisions in the history of superhero comics.

Instead of just saying all of their old books happened in the past of the same Earth, readers would get Earth-2 starting in The Flash #121. This led to the Justice Society and the Justice League crossing over with Justice League of America #21 and DC was off to the multiversal races. The DC Multiverse was a great way of showcasing all the Golden Age characters DC had access to, and allowed the publisher to drop cool crossovers comics whenever they wanted. However, as DC’s sales fell, the publisher decided to do away with their multiverse with Crisis on Infinite Earths, starting a cycle of multiversal creation and destruction that would last until this day.

RELATED: With the Absolute Universe Expanding, Where’s Robin?

Trying to convince Marvel readers to get into DC is like pulling teeth, but here’s the thing — the complications of DC continuity is half of the fun. Every longtime DC fan has their own head canon for the DC Multiverse, one that is meticulously built from years of reading comics. While there’s something to be said about Marvel’s method, there’s a freedom to DC’s tangled continuity that most non-DC readers don’t realize. Nothing has to count or everything can count, and constructing the DC timeline in your head is a lot of fun. While DC definitely likes to put out books that give an official timeline, like the upcoming The New History of the DC Universe, fans are the ultimate arbiters of what DC is. The tangles of DC continuity lead down amazing roads, stories that might not “count” but are still worthwhile.

Now obviously, there have been problems with DC continuity. Look at the histories of characters like the Legion of Superheroes or Hawkman, even Batwoman, and it’s easy to see how complicated these characters are. However, without DC’s approach to continuity, we never would have gotten the Legion’s “Five Years Later” or the ’90s reboot or the Threeboot. Without Crisis nuking the history of Hawkman, we never would have gotten “The Return of Hawkman” or the ’20s Hawkman series or the awesomeness that is Kendra Saunders as Hawkgirl. We never would have gotten the current version of Batwoman. We never would have gotten “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”. Some of DC’s best moments never would have gotten published if the publisher had the clean continuity of Marvel. DC can be messy and hard to figure out — did the New 52 actually happen or did just some of it happen? — but if it wasn’t, readers would lose out on the freedom that makes DC such a great superhero publisher.

DC Is a Beautiful Mess

Can DC be a mess? Of course it can, and there have been times when that mess has had a detrimental effect on the comics themselves — go and look at the Hawkgod post-Zero Hour Hawkman status quo — but there’s something about the insanity that is DC history. It’s an extremely rewarding feeling to be able to explain to someone the history of the Justice Society, watching their eyes glaze over. There’s something awesome about the way that DC tries to reboot everything every ten years, and readers have gotten many of the greatest event comics of all time because of that. Reading DC can be frustrating sometimes, watching them reboot stuff you love and replacing it with stuff you don’t, but most DC fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

For every huge mistake like the New 52, there’s an amazing decision like “Dawn of DC”. For every event book that’s aftermath doesn’t hit perfectly, like the weird Bronze Age reboot we got from Infinite Crisis that never really solidified, we get books like Crisis on Infinite Earths that change things for the better. Look at DC’s current “All-In” publishing initiative. Does anyone really know what version of DC they’re using? Is it pre-Crisis or post-Crisis, or some amalgam of the two? It doesn’t matter. That’s the glory of DC’s beautiful mess; as long as the stories are good, fans can live with it. Marvel has a rigid history that can make or break stories. DC is fluid and malleable, and that’s a huge part of the fun.

The post DCs Continuity Is a Mess but That’s Part of Its Charm appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Few superhero movies in the last 10 years have been as hated by fans as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Designed to help the DC Extended Universe catch up to the MCU, the overstuffed sequel to Man of Steel tried to do too much too soon and almost buried the Snyderverse before it ever really began. While the movie was slightly redeemed with the release of a longer, more coherent director’s cut, the general consensus among DC fans is that BVS was a cinematic low point for its two lead characters. In addition to biting off more than it could chew, one of the film’s biggest problems was that it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense most of the time.

To be fair, some of the initial questions fans had about the film were answered in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition. For instance, fans were initially baffled by how Lex Luthor could frame Superman for shooting a bunch of innocent people in Africa. Thanks to the Ultimate Edition, we found out that one of Lex’s goons burned the corpses with a flamethrower to simulate Superman’s heat vision. Unfortunately, even with the extra 30 minutes included in the BVS director’s cut, there are still plenty of things about the film that don’t make any sense. Here are three that still bother almost a decade after the movie’s release.

Why Don’t Batman and Superman Explain Themselves?

Too many plot points in Batman v Superman revolve around people not talking to each other, specifically the two leads. The movie wants us to believe that Batman hates Superman because of the destruction he causes and his capacity to turn evil and enslave the whole Earth. Meanwhile, Superman hates Batman because he thinks his methods are too brutal which in this universe is kind of like the pot calling the kettle black. Not only did Superman snap Zod’s neck in Man of Steel, but he most likely killed the warlord holding Lois hostage in BVS. We suppose he could have gently cradled the man’s neck as he flew him through multiple brick walls at supersonic speed, but somehow, we doubt it.

Regardless of why they have it out for each other, you would think the first step toward conflict resolution would be to talk things out. Batman has the perfect chance to do this when Superman stops the Batmobile during a car chase and rips the top off of it. All Bruce had to do to open up a dialogue was ask Clark, “Hey man, what’s your beef with me?” Instead, he chooses to ask the Man of Steel if he bleeds, which, given Batman’s genius-level intellect and detective skills, is a pretty dumb question. If everything else about Superman’s anatomy mirrors our own, doesn’t it stand to reason that he has some kind of blood equivalent pumping through his alien veins?

Then, later, when the two heroes meet for their big fight, it’s Superman’s turn to start a conversation. A simple “Wait! Luthor’s going to kill my mom,” could have avoided so much cool-looking but ultimately useless fighting. More importantly, it would have spared the world from the infamous “Martha” scene.

Why Doesn’t Wonder Woman Use the Kryptonite Spear on Doomsday?

By now, it’s common knowledge that Superman dies at the end of Batman v Superman, but his death, as temporary as it is, is also completely avoidable. For anyone not familiar with the film’s climax, Superman takes a Kryptonite spear that Batman made and stabs Doomsday in the chest, killing the monster and himself in the process. Why? First of all, Superman could have just thrown the spear at Doomsday. That is how spears are designed to be used, after all. More importantly, why did he go near the spear — made of the one thing in the universe that can kill him — in the first place?

Once again, it comes down to a lack of communication. I know Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are in the middle of a huge battle, but it would only take a few seconds for Superman to shout, “Hey Wonder Woman, that green rock will kill me if I touch it. Can you stab Doomsday with it?” Not only is Kryptonite not lethal to Amazonians, but she’s essentially a god and can take all the punishment from Doomsday that Superman can. Not having Diana deal the killing blow to the movie’s big bad is just lazy writing.

Why is it Batman v Superman and not Batman vs Superman?

Zack Snyder didn’t do the movie any favors by using a single lowercase “v” to separate the hero’s names instead of the much more common “vs.” Before the film even came out, fans were already ridiculing the name. Written as Batman “vee” Superman, the movie’s title looks like a court case, like Smith v Johnson or something. DC fans were expecting a knockdown, drag-out fight between the two biggest superheroes ever created, not an episode of Law and Order.

Snyder told USA Today prior to the film’s release that using the “v” instead of “vs” was “to keep it from being a straight ‘versus’ movie, even in the most subtle way.” Ironically, the movie turned out to be a straight “versus movie,” so the choice to go with Batman v Superman is still baffling, although we will admit that BVS makes for a more aesthetically pleasing abbreviation than BVSS.

If you want to check out Batman v Superman to see what parts don’t make sense to you, it’s currently available to stream on Max.

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The Justice League is the greatest team in the history of the DC Multiverse. The Justice League wasn’t the first superteam of the Silver Age — that was the Legion of Superheroes — but they were the one that showed readers what a superteam could be. The Justice League combined the greatest heroes on Earth, a modification of series creator Gardner Fox’s Golden Age Justice Society of America, and presented them in all the gonzo sci-fi superhero splendor that only Silver Age DC could muster. Justice League of America was the best value for DC readers, bringing in new characters and helping make them into stars. The Justice League defined what a superteam could be in its 64 years of existence, wowing readers with some amazing stories.

The Justice League has had some off years, but there are some amazing Justice League stories out there. There’s something about a superteam that can contend with threats that are universal in scope that makes the Justice League such a treat to read. These ten Justice League stories are some of the best, showing off the promise of the greatest superteam in any universe.

JLA #5

JLA #5, by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter, will be the first of several stories from Morrison and Porter’s JLA run on this list. It’s one that often gets overlooked, but it deserves its flowers as a top ranked Justice League story. This issue revolves around the JLA interviewing heroes to bring in a new member — a nice little window to DC in the late ’90s — leading to them finding the perfect candidate: Tomorrow Woman. However, she’s too good to be true, as she’s an android plant created by Professor Ivo and T.O. Morrow, sent to destroy the Justice League. What follows is a beautiful tale that shows the power of love and friendship. This one issue story is perfect in every way. The writing and art are sensational, and the issue does an amazing job of presenting a meditation on what life means. Issues like this are why Morrison’s JLA is such a killer book.

Formerly Known As the Justice League

The 1980s “Bwa-ha-ha” era of the Justice League is a beautiful subversion of what a Justice League comic could be. J.M. DeMatteis, the late great Keith Giffen, and Kevin Maguire’s work on Justice League International took a team of B and C-list Justice Leaguers and put them in insane adventures, using superheroes as fertile ground for some amazing comedy. There are a lot of great JLI stories to recommend, but the one that boils the era down to its essence is Formerly Known As the Justice League, a six issue miniseries that brought the fan-favorite team — Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Fire, Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, Maxwell Lord, and L-Ron — back together for a crazy superhero for hire scheme that leads to the return of an old foe. This is the perfect book to give to someone who never read this era of the team; if they like it, than they are ready to dig into Justice League International. This story is full of amazing jokes, the best characters you can imagine, and gorgeous art. There’s so much to like that it will make fans of anyone.

“Crisis on Earth-One!/Crisis on Earth-Two!”

Silver Age Justice League of America can often feel like a snapshot from a very different place. There isn’t the snappy patter of Stan Lee Marvel at DC in the Silver Age, but the books have their own merit and its fantastic to see the Justice League in such a “raw” form, watching as they tackled threats that no other team could handle. There’s some brilliant comics from the Gardner Fox — one of comics’ most creative writers and the man mostly responsible for what we know as the DC Multiverse — and Mike Sekowsky’s run on Justice League of America. However, the best for a modern fan looking for pitch perfect Justice League is the one-two punch of “Crisis on Earth-One!/Crisis on Earth-Two” double header from Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #21-22. This was the first crossover between the Justice League and Justice Society, a major moment for fans who had grown up on DC Comics when it dropped. It’s a snapshot of the Justice League in their ascension, and sets the stage for every JLA/JSA crossover that came after it.

JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice

Throughout the ’90s, JLA was DC’s premiere team book, but that changed in the early ’00s. JSA, written by a young Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer of DCEU infamy, became the DC team book of choice and has gone down as one of the greatest team comics ever. There hadn’t been an old school JLA/JSA team-up since Crisis on Infinite Earths, so DC enilsted Johns and Goyer, along with artist Carlos Pacheco, for JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice, a book meant to hearken back to the yearly meetings between the two teams. The JLA and JSA get together to reopen relations, but when the Seven Deadly Sins are released and members of both teams are possessed. While the two groups deal with some of their powerful members under enemy control, they’re pulled into a scheme by two of their most dangerous villains to wreck everything. JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice is a snapshot of a very particular era of DC, combining two amazing teams for one epic story unlike any other.

“World War III”

Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s run on JLA reminded everyone what a JLA comic could be, stealing the show every month with the promise of the Justice League facing off against threats that would destroy any other team. Morrison had pitted the team against White Martians, a host of rebel angels, their greatest foes in the Injustice Gang, Darkseid, and fate itself. In order to cap off their run, Morrison had to go bigger than ever, throwing the team against Mageddon, a primordial destroyer from the wars between the old gods in universes past just as a new Injustice Gang rear their ugly heads in “World War III”. “World War III” takes the epic feel that Morrison did so well and dialed everything up to a billion, as the Justice League vied with an enemy that was far beyond anything they had faced before, a battle that had been built up in subtle ways since the beginning of JLA. “World War III” is the kind of story that feels like a major event, but was just a regular story in the best team book of the ’90s.

RELATED: The First DC All In Crossover Has Arrived with “We Are Yesterday”

Infinite Crisis

Infinite Crisis, by Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Jerry Ordway, and Ivan Reis, isn’t technically a Justice League story. In fact, a major element of the story is the lack of the Justice League. However, there are few stories out there that show that the Justice League is an indispensable part of the DC Universe like Infinite Crisis does. With threats from inside and without tearing the hero community apart, forgotten heroes return with an audacious scheme to set things right. However, mysterious forces have their own plans to take advantage of the chaos for their own ends, leading to a battle unlike anything readers had seen before. Infinite Crisis is a masterwork of one of best eras. It was the culmination of several years of build-up, and gave readers an event comic that belongs in the pantheon of the best of all-time. This story turns twenty in 2025, but it’s still the best treatise on why the Justice League needs to exist.

Justice League Elite

Writer Joe Kelly doesn’t get enough credit for just how good he was in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and his run on JLA with artist Doug Mahnke often gets left out of consideration for best Justice League stories, with epics like “The Obsidian Age” wowing fans. Kelly also gave readers a best of all-time DC story with his Action Comics classic “Whatever Happened to Truth, Justice, and the American Way?”, which introduced the Elite, a team meant to lampoon the mature and violent superteams of the early ’00s. Justice League Elite, by Kelly and Mahnke, takes elements of their JLA run, adds in the Elite, and goes to town in a twelve issue series that gets insane. Under the leadership of Sister Superior, the Justice League Elite is formed to be a black ops arm of the League, with Leaguers Green Arrow, Manitou Raven, Manitou Dawn, Green Arrow, and Major Disaster teaming up with the Elite. As they battle threats the Justice League usually wouldn’t, an old enemy returns with nothing less than ultimate power as their goal. Justice League Elite is a precursor to all of the “black ops teams” that would become popular in the later years of the 21st century and presents the best possible interpretation of the trope. It’s a brilliant yarn and while it’s definitely hard to locate — it’s been out of print for years and it’s a slog to find it all — it’s definitely worth the effort.

“The Tornado’s Path”

Justice League of America (Vol. 2) was introduced in the aftermath of Infinite Crisis, meant to bring the League back as a force to reckoned and a team to inspire heroes around the world. “The Tornado’s Path”, by Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes, collects #0-7 of the new series, which follows various heroes — Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Hal Jordan, Hawkgirl, Speedy, who takes up the name Red Arrow, Black Lightning, Vixen, and Red Tornado — get enmeshed in a scheme by one of the most dangerous beings on the planet, one whose latest circumstances make him more of a threat than ever. “The Tornado’s Path” does an amazing job of laying out a story that hearkens back to the Satellite League days of the team, while also being thoroughly modern. It’s a page-turner of the highest magnitude, pulling readers in, and throwing multiple aspects of DC history at them. This is near perfect modern Justice League, and a thrill for any fans of the team, as Meltzer’s entire twelve issue run — and Dwayne McDuffie’s unfortunately cut short run that followed it — is definitely worth the trouble of tracking down.

JLA #22-23

Most people would put Morrison and Porter’s “New World Order” on this list, but as great as that story is, there are several other Morrison/Porter stories that deserve more credit than they get. JLA #22-23 is one of those stories. This story played off a plot element started in JLA: Secret Files and Origins, which brought back the Justice League’s first villain — Starro the Conqueror. This two issue story saw Daniel, the current Dream, come to the Justice League for help to wake up one very special dreamer as the Earth is attacked by Starro and the Star Conquerors. Morrison and Porter put out some amazing two issue Justice League epics, but this one is easily the best. It has the big stakes action and beautiful art that JLA became known for, while also going in completely different directions from any Starro story that came before it. It’s a story that more fans needs to read and it’s more than earned its place among the greatest Justice League stories of all-time.

“Rock of Ages”

Morrison’s “Rock of Ages” is in a class all its own. It’s the first appearance of the Injustice Gang, as Lex Luthor gathers a group of villains with the goal of destroying the new JLA. However, this time Luthor decides to use corporate principles to destroy the League, along with two secret weapons — the Philosopher’s Stone and a hidden ally. The League is completely gobsmacked by Luthor’s attack, leading them to do their best to take out the Injustice Gang when the chips are down. Meanwhile, Aquaman, Flash, and Green Lantern are pulled away by Metron for another mission, one that revolves around the Philosopher Stone, that will take them to Wonderworld, a world of god-like heroes with a terrible warning for the League. What follows is a trip to a future ruled by Darkseid, one that can only be stopped by allowing the Injustice Gang to win. “Rock of Ages” is the perfect Justice League story. It has amazing superhero action, great art, and deft characterization, gifting readers with a twisty but rewarding narrative that proves the greatness of the Justice League. A true classic.

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Superman is kicking off the DCU in style, and this is the best idea that DC Studios could have had. Superman is the first superhero, and kicking off a series of DC movies with him feels right. Superman has existed for over 80 years and during that time fans have gotten some brilliant stories with Superman. These stories have laid out who Superman is and how far he’ll go to save the day, and there are lots of stories that would make for excellent movies and animated series. DC Studios wouldn’t go wrong with adapting a lot of Superman stories, bringing the classics of the superhero medium to the big screen.

However, that doesn’t mean that every classic Superman story should be adapted. Not every story can survive the adaptation to live action. These five Superman stories are stone cold classics, yet they wouldn’t be right for the big screen for a variety of reasons.

“The Death of Superman”

“The Death of Superman” has earned its place among the best modern Superman stories. It wasn’t the first time Superman was killed in the comics — for years the “imaginary stories” of the past gave readers stories that dealt with Superman’s death. However, it was the first one in the mainline universe that actually killed Superman and it wasn’t a red herring. The battle between Superman and Doomsday is one of the most exciting, visceral battles in comic history and everyone thinks they want it on the big screen. However, one needs to look no further than Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice to see that it’s not a great idea to adapt “The Death of Superman”. The story and its aftermath depended upon the serial nature of comics to truly make an impact. Beyond that, there’s really no reason to tell the story on the big screen again.

“For the Man Who Has Everything”

Superman Annual #11 gave readers a story that has gone down as one of the greatest Superman stories ever. “For the Man Who Has Everything”, by the Watchmen team of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, sees Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman visiting the Fortress of Solitude for Superman’s birthday. They find their friend in the grips of the Black Mercy, a killer plant that gives its victim their hearts desire, with Mongul there to destroy them all. This is an amazing Superman story, and many would like to see it on the big screen. However, here’s the thing — there’s already been a perfect adaptation of “For the Man Who Has Everything” in the cartoon Justice League Unlimited. This was the only Alan Moore DC adaptation that he ever allowed his name to be on, which means that it’s perfect. There’s no need to bring it to the big screen.

“Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”

Alan Moore’s time at DC gave multiple characters brilliant stories. When Crisis on Infinite Earths was coming out, Moore demanded to write the last two stories of the pre-Crisis Superman, literally threatening DC big wig Paul Levitz to get the gig, which led to “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”. Moore teamed with classic Superman artist Curt Swan and George Perez to tell the story of the final days of Superman. Superman’s villains have become more bloodthirsty than ever, challenging Superman in new ways. This leads to the reveal of his secret identity and Superman taking his loved one to the Fortress of Solitude to protect them. This leads to the ultimate Luthor/Brainiac team-up, a siege that costs the lives of Superman’s best friends, and reveal of a villain that no one ever expected to be this monstrous. “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” is a story that closed out the Superman mythos, saying goodbye to the Man of Steel. It’s a brilliant story, but it doesn’t need to come to the big screen.

RELATED: Absolute Superman’s Jason Aaron Teases Heartbreaking Fate of Krypton, Impact on Kal-El, and More

“Last Son”

“Last Son”, by Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, and Adam Kubert, is one of the best modern Superman stories. The story kicks off with a Kryptonian child falling to Earth, which draws out the fathering instincts in Superman. From there, things get insane, as after an attack by Bizarro, the truth behind the child’s origin is revealed — he’s the son of General Zod and Ursa, who they used to escape the Phantom Zone. This leads to Superman battling Zod, Ursa, and Non, a battle he loses. Zod’s actions force Superman to team up with his most dangerous foe, leading to a massive battle of epic proportions. Zod is a great Superman villain but he doesn’t need another big screen appearance — and this story is basically Superman II told exactly as Donner wished it could be, which is another strike against it. Plus, an argument can be made that the story wouldn’t be nearly as good without artist Adam Kubert’s breathtaking visuals. Live action is fine, but sometimes the art on the comic pages is superior and “Last Son” is a perfect example of this.

Superman: Space Age

Superman: Space Age, by Mark Russell and the art team of Mike and Laura Allred, is a retro masterpiece. The story starts at the end of universe in 1985 and then jumps to the 1960s, with Superman coming to Metropolis after leaving Smallville, and retells the story of his life in a three issue masterpiece of comic book storytelling. Superman: Space Age takes elements of the Silver Age DC Multiverse, combines it with ideas from Crisis on Infinite Earths, and gives readers a story that shows how Superman would react to the end of everything. It’s a near perfect story, but it just doesn’t belong on the big screen. Much like “Last Son”, it just wouldn’t look the same without the beautiful pop art styling of the Allreds. They do an amazing job of bringing Russell’s retro Superman story to life, and Superman: Space Age just wouldn’t feel the same without their work.

The post 5 Superman Stories That the DCU Shouldn’t Adapt appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC’s Absolute Batman closed out its first arc with a number of compelling teases, but there was one in particular one-word tease that got everyone buzzing the most. That would be the tease of Bane’s introduction to the Absolute Universe, and now DC has revealed the first look of the iconic Bat-villain, and the best way to describe him is Swole Bane. You can check out your first look at the even deadlier Bane in the images below.

To be fair, Bane was already intimidating and often depicted as incredibly jacked anyway, but similar to Batman, he’s evolved to be even more massive. As you can see in the images, Bane’s neck alone is the size of like three ordinary people’s necks, and his arms are even bigger than normal.

The cover, which was done by Absolute Batman artist Nick Dragotta, shows Batman in front of Bane, but it’s hard to tell if he’s standing on lower ground or if he’s on the same level, so a direct comparison in stature can’t be made just yet. Batman is a force of nature in the series, and he often stands taller than most of the people he fights, so it will be interesting to see how he looks when compared to Bane as they stand across from one another.

The venom is accounted for, as you can see tubes coming from his head and arms like in the main universe version, but Snyder likely has a twist coming for that as well if we’ve learned anything from the series thus far. Bane is also working for the Joker it seems, and thanks to the official description for Batman #9, we know that Bane is actually a former foe of Alfred’s. You can find that official description below.

[RELATED: Joshua Williamson Teases Summer of Superman Special, Ties to DC’s Big All In Mystery, and More (Exclusive)]

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #9
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by NICK DRAGOTTA
Cover by NICK DRAGOTTA
Variant cover by GERARDO ZAFFINO and TIRSO
1:25 variant cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN
1:50 variant cover by DAN HIPP
$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 6/11/25
AN ALL NEW ARK (M) STARTS HERE!

The latest development in saving the derelict and despondent of our society is a facility known as ArkM—a fully operational institution that has played a rather sizeable part, on purpose or not, in the creation of evil. And it’s active. So when Bruce tries infiltrate it and distill its secrets, a new villain from Gotham City arrives to deal with the problem…an old adversary of Alfred’s…a man known only as Bane.

What do you think of Bane’s new design? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics and DC with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Absolute Batman Reveals First Look at Swole Bane appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Tom King’s Wonder Woman has its critics, but there’s one part of it that nearly everyone loves — the Trinity back-ups, introducing readers to the childhood of Wonder Woman’s daughter. King, working with artist Belen Ortega, gave readers brilliant slice of life superhero stories, and they’re among the best things from King’s Wonder Woman run. DC has already collected the back-ups into their own issues, Trinity Special #1 and Trinity Special: World’s Finest #1, but fans have wanted new stories starring Trinity. Well, DC has good news for everyone — the publisher announced a series reuniting King and Ortega, along with color artist Tamra Bonvillain and letterer Clayton Cowles, for Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman.

The six issue series releases on June 11, 2025, telling an all-new Trinity story co-starring Jon Kent and Damian Wayne. The children of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman made an amazing trio, with Jon and Damian doing their best to keep Trinity out of trouble, trouble that was often the fault of their babysitting methods. This newest installment in the life of Trinity is looking to be the best yet if DC’s solicits for is anything to judge by:

“Back by popular demand and now with her own miniseries…Trinity! It all begins when the daughter of Wonder Woman embarks on her most dangerous adventure yet to enter the timeline to find her father. As the young hero knows, messing with time has its consequences, but that doesn’t mean she learned her lesson the first time. Things are about to get ruff and the Super Sons have gone to the dogs. Prepare for a Crisis of Infinite Corgis!”

DC has also released several preview pages, and they look gorgeous. The team of Damian, Jon, and Trinity are among DC’s best young heroes, and their adventures showed fans an entirely new side of Tom King’s work. DC’s back-up game has been on point for years, and the Trinity back-ups were among the finest.

RELATED: Tom King’s 5 Best DC Comics Ranked (And Number 1 Will Surprise You)

A New World’s Finest Team

Fans have gotten to see the children of superheroes before, but the Trinity back-ups gave us a look at it like we’ve never seen before. Most comics starring the children of superheroes usually jump to their teens, and rarely show the years when children are at their most chaotic and lovable. Trinity’s misadventures with Jon and Damian — the two of them constantly leave Trinity with the kind of technology that would be found in places like the Fortress of Solitude and Bat-Cave — were some of the funniest stories DC has put out.

King was able to pack the stories with heart, and nailed the characterization of Jon and Damian. Each chapter of the back-up showed just how much trouble a smart, precocious child like Trinity could get into. The Trinity back-ups were masterpieces, giving readers a nice chaser after the rather heavy themes of King’s Wonder Woman. Judging from these pages, it looks like Trinity and company are going to get into more time travel trouble — a particularly excellent chapter of the back-ups showcased Trinity accidentally messing with the timeline, forcing Jon and Damian to figure out what she changed and how to fix.

The solicit promised the the new World’s Finest team of Jon, Damian, and Trinity having to deal a crisis of epic proportions, with Trinity not having learned her lesson about time travel. Suddenly, the SuperSons are stuck as Corgis — and perhaps other heroes, since the solicit promises infinite Corgis — leaving multiple version of Trinity from across the timestream to deal with it. This is exactly the kind of story that Trinity fans want, and looks to be another brilliant chapter in the story of Trinity’s life.

Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #1 drops on June 11, 2025.

Are you excited for what might be the most adorable “Crisis” yet? Let us know in the comments!

The post Wonder Woman’s Daughter Is Getting Her Own Series (And We’re Getting the Most Adorable Crisis Ever) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC’s Summer of Superman will officially kick off with the Summer of Superman Special #1, and it will have a host of superstar creators at the helm. Writers Joshua Williamson, Mark Waid, and newest DC addition Dan Slott are teaming up to deliver a three-part story that looks to not just celebrate a grand wedding but also spotlight the connections to the main Superman series as well as move the bigger story of DC’s All In era forward. ComicBook had the chance to speak to Williamson all about creating the Summer of Superman Special with this all-star team, how it all connects to the main series, and yes, even WWE and John Cena.

Williamson recalls when he was trying to get books signed by Waid at conventions, and now they are working together on a Superman story. “I mean, I feel really lucky. It’s like I look back at myself as a kid and being like, I’m sorry to date myself or the other people I’m working with, but I waited in line for Mark Waid’s autograph when I was a kid to have him sign my Flash comics, so it’s like, that is somebody I really looked up to for a really, really, really long time,” Williamson said. “You know, it’s somebody who I’ve always, I kind of go to for guidance and someone I talk to about DC Comics. I don’t think there’s any way that knows DC the way that Mark Waid does, so I go to him and talk about things.”

“Then somebody like Dan Slott, I’ve been a huge fan of Dan Slott for a long time. It’s funny. I remember buying the Ren & Stimpy comic when I was a kid, but obviously he’s done a lot more since then. There was the Arkham Asylum book he did, which is really great, and then you get into, obviously, Spider-Man. I always feel like with Dan Slott and Spider-Man, it’s kind of funny because, you know that joke of, there was that joke in South Park of like the Simpsons already did it, right? I feel like that is Dan Slott sometimes where Dan Slott did it. If you have a conversation about superhero books and plots, there’s a part of me that is like oh, Dan Slott did that in Spider-Man,” Williamson said.

“He did so much in Spider-Man, and you can tell the guy really, really loves superheroes the same way that Mark and I do,” Williamson said. “And so having him come over and play in this World and talking with him about some stuff and seeing, like he has a lot of ideas, a lot of things he wants to do,” Williamson said.

[RELATED: Upper Deck’s First DC Annual Trading Cards Are Finally Here]

The Summer of Superman Special #1 is split into three chapters, and each creator had a unique mission in regards to their part of the story. One mission was to celebrate the wedding of Lana Lang and John Henry Irons, which you can get a first look at below. Williamson had a few missions for his chapter, and one of the things fans will see is how important the main Superman series is going to be in regard to the larger DC story at play.

“I very much live in the current space for Superman right now, with the book I’m writing and the stories that we kind of get into,” Williamson said. “And because Superman as a book, you’re going to see this more and more, and we teased it in #23, like, how important the Superman book is for the bigger All In mystery. Like at the end of issue #23, we had the Darkseid Legion of Superheroes. You know, in some place we’ve called them the Omega Legion, the Absolute Legion, but those Legion superhero characters you saw at the end of the All In special, we showed them again in issue #23 to like tell people Superman is connecting.”

“Waid is doing the first one, and because this has been announced that Waid is doing Superboy in Action Comics, that’s like a little bit of his focus, like a little bit of us teasing sort of what each of us is doing while telling a cohesive story,” Williamson said. “For what Waid is doing, it was a bit more Superboy, while what Dan Slott was doing was a bit more in the moment, a little bit more in the present. I think it was a bit of a preview, like a taste, I guess I would say what he is doing. I mean really the place to really look for what Dan Slott is doing is the free comic book day special and then Unlimited #1. That’s where you’re really going to get Slot’s story.”

“Then with me, my goal was to sort of wrap it up, to do the ending, but also to sort of focus on the future. That’s how I saw my chapter, was a bit more about definitely taking the plot points. Like we have a couple of…Jorge does this really beautiful two-page spread of a wedding. Spoilers, but it’s in the solicit, so it’s not like that much of a spoiler. But we got through this really cool sequence that takes place in the present day. This sort of ties up some plots from the other books that we’ve been reading, but then also kind of like gets to celebrate this moment and kind of celebrate growth and change,” Williamson said.

“Then I get to do a bit more of what the future is of Superman and what is coming down the line. That was sort of how we broke it up, and then it was a lot of Zooms, a lot of conversations, a lot of people working on scripts. Waid and I are pretty close. It was a lot of Waid and I on the phone and texting each other because we were doing the bookends of it. It was like, okay, we’ve got to make sure this all is cohesive, so it was a lot of that, a lot of whiteboards and a lot of Zooms just talking to each other, and then Paul Kaminski, the editor, just trying to make sense of it all, Trying to wrangle everybody together to make it all came together. And then we’ve got Jorge drawing all of it, and Jorge’s awesome,” Williamson said.

Now, we couldn’t leave without talking just a little wrestling, with the recent heel turn of WWE’s John Cena coming up. That was the result of The Rock asking for Cody Rhodes’ soul, and when I asked when Superman is fighting for his soul, it wasn’t too far off base.

“I have to be careful getting into spoilers, because Summer of Superman, it connects to the mega story we’ve been telling, like the big picture story that goes beyond Superman. The idea of the battle for Superman’s soul is definitely something that is on the horizon and like what that actually means,” Williamson said. “And I think some of those pieces, you’ll get to see some of that in the Summer of Superman special, like the teeing up of that. We have some plans so far out on Superman right now. It’s pretty bonkers, and I’m really excited about it.”

The Summer of Superman Special #1 will soar into comic stores on April 16th.

Are you excited for the Summer of Superman, and what do you hope to see next for the Man of Steel? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Joshua Williamson Teases Summer of Superman Special, Ties to DC’s Big All In Mystery, and More (Exclusive) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

While promoting his role in the psychological thriller McVeigh, actor Anthony Carrigan dropped a hint about the emotional heart of James Gunn‘s upcoming Superman film that should excite fans of the iconic hero. Carrigan, who plays the shape-shifting Metamorpho in the DC Universe reboot, suggested this take on the Man of Steel will emphasize hope rather than darkness. His comments come amidst ongoing speculation about how Gunn will reinvent Superman for modern audiences without losing the character’s essential optimism. With DC’s cinematic efforts having previously leaned toward grimmer interpretations, Carrigan’s description suggests a course correction that aligns with Superman’s traditional role as a beacon of hope in the comic book world. This apparent tonal shift potentially signals a return to the character’s inspirational roots.

“I mean, honestly, the only thing I can say is just what a joy it was to work on a project like that,” Carrigan told ComicBookMovie.com. “I’m so excited to obviously bring something like McVeigh to audiences, but also something that inspires such hope and is really about something very uplifting.”

This aligns with James Gunn’s previous statements about his approach. While discussing the film’s tone with GQ in 2023, Gunn explained it wouldn’t be a comedy but would focus on making Superman feel authentic. He acknowledged drawing inspiration from Richard Donner’s classic films starring Christopher Reeve, as well as their depiction of Lois Lane as the strong underpinning to Superman’s character.

“I’m definitely influenced by what Donner did with Superman, and what Christopher Reeve did with Superman, and Margot Kidder, who’s fantastic in the movie. She’s really the heart of it in a lot of ways,” Gunn stated.

The casting of Carrigan as Metamorpho – a character who can transform his body into various elements – shows Gunn’s willingness to embrace DC’s more unusual characters. Carrigan has spoken about his personal connection to the role, noting Metamorpho’s struggle with his appearance resonates with his own experience with alopecia.

[RELATED – James Gunn Shares New Look at DC Hero’s Highly Anticipated Superman Debut]

“With Metamorpho, this is a character who was almost cursed with his powers and thought that he was freakish in terms of what he looked like and that’s something I could totally relate to because of my alopecia,” the actor shared with Rolling Stone earlier this year.

Unlike many superhero films relying heavily on CGI, Gunn confirmed Metamorpho will be brought to life through practical effects. The first teaser trailer offered brief glimpses of the character (in prosthetic and makeup) alongside other heroes like Hawkgirl and Green Lantern.

While plot details remain secret, Gunn has emphasized that additional heroes serve Superman’s story rather than setting up future projects. “The characters are there because they help to tell Superman’s story better, not so we can set up separate projects in the franchise,” he explained.

Based on these comments, it appears Gunn’s Superman aims to balance optimism with emotional authenticity – potentially delivering a version of the hero that honors his legacy while feeling relevant to today’s audiences.

Fans will discover if this vision succeeds when Superman is released on July 11th.

The post Superman Star Teases What James Gunn Movie Is Really About (and It Sounds Perfect) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

While the overwhelming belief is that Damian Wayne will one day go on to follow his father as Batman, what if Robin’s true destiny was to be the next Ra’s al Ghul? It’s something Batman fans have probably pondered a time or two, especially after Damian made his way into Batman’s life in 2006. Damian Wayne has proven himself worthy of the Robin mantle and is a trusty sidekick to Batman. More importantly, Bruce Wayne and Damian have a true father-son relationship. But the presence of Ra’s al Ghul will always loom large over his grandson, whether Damian wants to admit it or not. WARNING: Spoilers for Batman and Robin #19 below.

Batman and Robin #19 comes from the creative team of Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Javi Fernandez, Marcelo Maiolo, and Steve Wands. It’s Part Six of the “Memento” story arc, with the Dynamic Duo on the hunt for the villain to join the Dark Knight’s illustrious rogues gallery. But while our heroes investigate Memento’s killings across Gotham City, something else is bugging Batman, and it has to do with Damian’s relationship with Dr. Bashar.

Damian Wayne wants to quit being Robin and Batman’s sidekick

Batman has broken his trust with Robin by eavesdropping on Damian’s conversations with Dr. Bashar. Oracle has looked into Dr. Bashar on behalf of Batman and learns that Dr. Bashar has ties to Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins. Batman already had a bad feeling about Dr. Bashar, and learning that Bashar is possibly connected to Ra’s is enough evidence he needs to know the doctor is up to no good. The only problem is Dr. Bashar has gained the trust of Damian. So any aggressive moves by Batman toward Dr. Bashar risks alienating Damian.

Batman and Robin #18 ended with Damian telling Batman that he intends to apply for Dr. Bashar’s youth program so he can work in the same hospital as his grandfather, Thomas Wayne. And then after catching Memento, Damian intends to quit being Robin. It’s a lofty and commendable goal since you hardly ever see a hero willingly retire. This is especially true for Damian, who has ties to both the heroic Batman and the villainous Ra’s al Ghul. It shows Damian’s maturation that he realizes this life he leads isn’t a healthy one. So instead of being a hero dressed in a costume, Damian wants to dress in medical clothing and be helpful that way. It definitely doesn’t seem like Damian wants to follow in Ra’s al Ghul’s footsteps. However, we’ve seen this play out in a future timeline before.

Batman Beyond reveals a dark future for Damian Wayne

One of DC’s alternate timelines featured a future where Damian Wayne does become the next Ra’s al Ghul. The Futures End event that ran through Batman Beyond featured an adult Damian Wayne returning to Gotham after Bruce Wayne retired from being Batman. Coincidentally, the League of Assassins attacked Gotham right when Damian was in town, and Damian donned the Batman Beyond suit to fight off the invaders. However, the suit ended up twisting Damian’s mind, which is what Ra’s al Ghul wanted all along.

Damian grew jealous of Terry McGinnis, believing he wasn’t worthy to take his father’s place as the next Batman. So instead, Damian became the new Ra’s al Ghul and leader of the League of Assassins. After fighting Terry, Damian eventually came to his senses and ended his feud with Batman Beyond. Damian remained the head of the League of Assassins to help steer the group to do good.

It’s unclear if the “Memento” storyline in Batman and Robin is leading towards Damian Wayne having to choose between Batman or Ra’s al Ghul, but it is an interesting question. Even if Damian chooses to become Ra’s al Ghul, at least there is a precedent for Damian to continue being a hero.

The post Is Damian Wayne Becoming the Next Ra’s al Ghul? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Batman is an icon. There’s really no other way to look at the character. One night, in Crime Alley, Bruce Wayne closed his eyes as his parents were shot. When he opened his eyes, Batman was the one looking out of them. Batman has decades of stories under his belt, and when people think of the Dark Knight, they think of Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne’s life has made him uniquely suited to being Batman, and helped mold the mantle of Batman into what it is today. Because this is superhero comics, Bruce Wayne hasn’t been the only Batman, with several others taking the mantle, including the first sidekick in the history of comics — Dick Grayson. Grayson actually has had two stints as Batman, but it’s his second one that gets the most attention because it lasted the longest.

Grayson became Batman after the “death” of Batman in Final Crisis. He took to the role immediately and in the nearly three years he wore the cowl, readers got some of the greatest Batman stories of all time, like “The Black Mirror”. Personally, I’ve always had a connection to Dick Grayson and getting to see him on the biggest stage of them all was amazing. Dick Grayson is the superior Batman and I’m tired of pretending otherwise.

Dick Grayson’s Time as Batman Proved Why He Is the Better Batman

Bruce Wayne as Batman is a very particular kind of hero. Batman is the hardcase; he’s the dark cloud of every room he’s in. Batman doesn’t play nice, because the world he usually lives in isn’t nice. Batman is darkness; he’s spent so long in the shadows, battling against the greatest monsters in a city built by monsters that he’s become one. This has given Batman the kind of attitude and reputation that has made it easy for most heroes to dislike him. Sure, Superman and Wonder Woman like Batman, but they know more about the tragedies of Batman than anyone else dos. Batman doesn’t trust easily, and this makes it so it’s hard for anyone to trust him.

Dick Grayson doesn’t have any of these problems. Dick and Bruce’s young lives have a lot of parallels, but the main constant between the two of them is the loss of loving parents. Bruce went inward when his parents were killed, creating an entire persona so he could not only get revenge, but also so that he’d never actually have to deal with the loss. Dick Grayson was given a replacement for his parents almost immediately, taken in by Bruce and Alfred. He never spent years stewing in his pain, using it as fuel for his mission of vengeance. Young Dick grew up with two people that loved him very much, two people who knew how to deal with the kind of tragedy that he had just been put through, two people who gave him outlet for his pain. His new life was built on trust — the trust in Bruce and Alfred and their love — in a way that Bruce never had, even with Alfred. Dick quickly became the light in Batman’s life, but it didn’t stop there.

RELATED: Absolute Batman Brings a Michael Jordan Internet Meme to Life (and We’re Stunned)

Bruce Wayne as Batman didn’t have anyone to talk about his secret life until he met Superman. However, Dick had him and then the Teen Titans, an entire support system that allowed him to become a much better person. Dick had Superman always there, teaching him things about being a hero that Batman wouldn’t and also lessons that Batman could never teach. Dick Grayson grew into a hero as Nightwing that had all of the skills of Batman, but none of the problems. Nightwing trusted people and people trusted him. He never allowed the darkness to bog him down. No one avoided Nightwing when he walked into a room. No one was afraid of Nightwing in the same way as they were Batman.

Dick Grayson becoming Batman allowed Batman to become something that he could never be as Bruce Wayne. He was able to take Damian Wayne, a wild child looking for love, and mold him into something that Bruce never could have. He started his own Justice League, his teammates trusting him in a way that the League never trusted Bruce. Dick Grayson as Batman was able to become Batman in a way Bruce never could, and that feeling was all through every Dick Grayson Batman story. Dick’s Batman stories were still dark — one needs look no further than the aforementioned “The Black Mirror” to see that — but there’s a sense of fun and energy to his stories that is missing when Bruce is wearing the cowl.

Dick Grayson’s Batman Was a Revolutionary View of the Character

I love Bruce Wayne as Batman. Creators can say things about trauma and mental health with Batman that you can’t say with other characters. I have read some amazing Bruce Wayne Batman stories, as have basically every Batman fan ever. However, as much as I enjoy those stories, if you drop “Batman Reborn”, from Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Batman and Robin #1, in my lap, I will thank you profusely. There’s something about Dick Grayson as Batman that has always appealed to me and his stories as Batman felt different from any other Batman stories out there.

Superheroes are an exercise in status quo, something I’ve said several times lately. That’s why anything that can change that status quo has so much novelty. Most of the time, people will like someone else takes up a heroic mantle, then they’ll get tired of it. That wasn’t really the case with Dick Grayson’s Batman. At the time of Bruce’s return, people loved Dick Grayson as Batman, and many were excited with the prospect of Dick and Bruce as separate Batmen until the New 52 ended those hopes. He was a very different kind of Batman, which made seeing him battle Gotham’s greatest threats so fresh, despite having decades of Grayson as Robin fighting alongside Batman. This freshness, this energy, these differences are what makes Dick Grayson the greatest Batman.

The post Dick Grayson is the Better Batman (And You Can’t Change My Mind) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Since the end of Absolute Power, Titans has been going through some changes. With the Justice League back, the Titans are no longer needed to be the premier superhero team on the planet, but that won’t stop them from fighting evil. The Titans have gotten a new leader, and are dealing with villains who have gotten major power upgrades, all in service to a mysterious plan to destroy the team. For the last few issues, the team started to suspect that Raven, who had just been under the control of the Dark-Winged Queen personality and almost destroyed the Earth, had completely lost control of her empathic abilities. As the city of New York basically started to copy her emotions, the Titans had to figure out how to deal with the situation. Titans #21, by John Layman and Pete Wood, reveals the truth of the matter to the team, with the emotion-controlling Psycho-Pirate having played the team all to get his hands on Raven.

The two meld, their powers intensified, and order the Titans to battle each other. The team — on edge lately because of the changes to their lives and mission — tear into each other, completely under control of the composite entity. However, Raven isn’t without resources of her own, which lead to a big change for the Titans’ most powerful member.

One of the Most Dangerous Versions of Raven Saves the Day

Raven is a character who is used to being trapped in her mind, watching herself doing terrible things to her friends. However, Raven is first and foremost a fighter, and she attacks the Psycho-Pirate, trying to overpower him and take back control of her body. Unfortunately for her, her battle with the Dark-Winged Queen did leave her powers in a weakened state, allowing the more powerful Psycho-Pirate to get the better of her and throw her into the recesses of her own mind. Psycho-Pirate believes that he’s won the battle, but is in for a surprise when the most feared aspect of Raven comes calling — Dark Raven, the side of her where she keeps all the darkness in her soul. Dark Raven also holds much of the magical legacy that the daughter of Trigon, and uses that power to kick Psycho-Pirate out of her mind, saving her friends, before retrieving Raven and having a conversation about their separated lives and the ways they’ve both changed.

RELATED: What Happened to the Teen Titans (And Why Is the New Team Less Popular?)

Longtime Titans fan will recognize Dark Raven. Raven has long been one of the most loyal Titans, but has constantly had to battle the worst parts of herself. Dark Raven has always been the side of Raven that frightens her most and her showing up has often spelled a lot of trouble for the team. Dark Raven has smacked around her teammates many times in the past, so her showing up here could have been a very bad thing for everyone. However, during their conversation, Dark Raven reveals that she has been absorbing some of the light of Raven, just like Raven has been absorbing some of the darkness of Dark Raven. After the affair with the Dark-Winged Queen, Raven and Dark Raven agree that they are more powerful together. They meld together for the first time in ages, the light and dark side of her coming together to create a powerful new version of Raven. As the fight between the Titans end, this new Raven appears before them, sporting a snazzy new costume and more power than ever.

The Titans Are Going To Need All the Power They Can Get in the Days to Come

During the battle with Psycho-Pirate in her mind, Raven learns who has been behind all of the shenanigans the team has been going through when Psycho-Pirate lets slip who hired him — Deathstroke has returned and wants the Titans dead. The Titans quickly realize that everything they’d experienced, the battles with Clock King, Shimmer, Killer Frost, and their fight with Psycho-Pirate, are all parts of a fiendish plan to destroy them. Deathstroke is completely and totally prepared for the Titans, and the most dangerous Deathstoke is one with a plan. Raven’s new powers and costume have come at the exact right time, as the Titans are about to face their greatest test.

The post DC Transforms One of It’s Most Powerful Titans and Reveals a New Costume appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The DC All-In publishing initiative has been giving readers back many, many parts of the DC Multiverse they loved and this new era gave fans a huge gift — the return of Renee Montoya as the Question. The once and present Question has been given the job of protecting the Justice League Watchtower, and she’s had her work cut out for her in The Question: All Along the Watchtower. The Cyborg Superman has escaped from the Phantom Zone, targeting the Watchtower in an effort to kill himself, his main goal in life, and hurting Superman and his friends. Cyborg Superman was already out of the Question’s league, but once he revealed his power to control the minds of others, things went from bad to worse. The Question: All Along the Watchtower #5, by Alex Segura, Cian Tormey, and Raul Fernandez, sees the Question jump into battle against her teammates, including the woman she loves — Batwoman.

The Question and Batwoman’s reunion comes after years apart. The two of them were brought together in 52, when Renee first became the Question and the new version of Kate Kane was introduced. Their relationship was a major moment in the bringing in of more LGBTQ+ representation into comics, and their return is something that everyone has wanted for a very long time.

The Question Is Able to Use Love to Save the Day

The issue begins with the Question up against hard odds — the mind-controlled Animal Man, the Blue Beetles, Nightshade, and Batwoman, the team that she was given when she was made into the sheriff of the Watchtower. The Question is able to handily defeat each of them, as she’s realized that the more people the Cyborg Superman controls, the worse he controls them on an individual basis. However, there’s one person she doesn’t want to face and that’s Batwoman. The Question knows Batwoman better than she knows anyone else, as Batwoman knows her. The Question runs off, using a tracker given to her by Jaime Reyes to find a way to send the Cyborg Superman back to the Phantom Zone. Batwoman gets the drop on her and the Question has an idea. Violence is what has allowed the Cyborg Superman to take control of everyone, so she decides to go in another direction with Batwoman.

RELATED: Absolute Batman Just Did The Freakiest Thing Ever With the Joker (And I’m Horrified)

Kate Kane was Renee Montoya’s first love. They met years before either of them were involved with superheroes and stared a relationship, one that was ended because Renee felt that Kate’s life had no direction or purpose. They met again when Renee and the original Question were on the case of the Crime Bible in 52 and after the death of Vic Sage, the two of them started to work together. Since the last time they saw each other, Kate had changed a lot; after Batman stopped her from seriously injuring a mugger, Kate realized that she could use what she learned during her childhood to become a vigilante. She took up the mantle of Batwoman as Renee Montoya became the new Question, and the two of them made a great team until their break-up. When the Question found out that Batwoman would be on the Watchtower, her anxiety hit double time because she still loved Kate. So, with her idea that violence wouldn’t work to break Cyborg Superman’s hold on Batwoman, she used love instead, kissing Batwoman like she wanted to kiss her for years.

The Question and Batwoman Prove That They’re Still an Amazing Team

The first time readers saw the Question and Batwoman team up they took down Intergang, which is usually a Superman-level job. They are an amazing team when they’re on the same page and the Question’s kiss is enough to snap Batwoman out of her mind-control. The two of them immediately fall into their old rhythm, working together to stop the self-destruct sequence with the help of the returning original Question. While they’re able to save the Watchtower, the Cyborg Superman isn’t beaten yet, leading to the next issue’s finale.

Getting to see the Question and Batwoman back together is something that DC fans have wanted for a very long time. Both the Question and Batwoman looked like they were on the road to big things, but the New 52 ended all of that; Renee was no longer the Question and Batwoman’s series was canceled, her relationship with Maggie Sawyer unceremoniously ended before they could married, a major blow to DC’s LBGTQ+ representation. The two of them back together is a step in the right direction and hopefully this time, DC will give them the fairy tale ending they deserve.

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #5 is available where ever comics are sold.

The post A Fan-Favorite DC Couple Just Reunited appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC x Sonic the Hedgehog is an amazing crossover. Sonic the Hedgehog and DC Comics are two properties that few even imagined would actually get to crossover, and DC x Sonic the Hedgehog #1, by Ian Flynn and Adam Bryce Johnson, is better than it has any right to be. From the moment that Darkseid shows up in the Ragnar Rock and begins his attack on Sonic’s Earth, fans are given everything they could ask for and more from this issue. Every fans has asked if Sonic can beat the Flash in a race, and while readers don’t get that — yet — they do get to see the two team-up against Parademons. From there, there’s even more crossover gold — Silver and John Stewart, Superman and Knuckles, Cyborg and Tails, Amy and Wonder Woman — but the most interesting duo is Shadow and Batman. After the first battle ends, and the heroes gather together to compare notes, Shadow stomps off, leading to the best moment in a comic full of amazing moments.

Batman and Shadow the Hedgehog are an interesting duo when it comes right down to it. Both of them are complex and dark characters and from the moment readers see them together, silently taking down Parademons, it’s apparent that something awesome is about to happen. However, no one expected the kind of poignant moment they share with each other, one that says a lot about who both of them are as characters.

Batman and Shadow the Hedgehog Have More in Common than Anyone Would Have Expected

Shadow the Hedgehog is an example of Sega trying to inject some edginess into the Sonic the Hedgehog mythos. Shadow is a trademark edgy character — he has the bad attitude, carried guns, and loved to fight. His black and red coloration set him apart form the other bright characters of the Sonic games and comics, and he was there to appeal to gamers and fans who wanted more than the family friendly vibe that Sonic games and comics had up until that point. Likewise, Batman is the dark and edgy character that DC created as a counterpoint to Superman. Much like Shadow and Sonic, Batman and Superman are opposite sides of the same coin. If there’s two characters who would understand each other, it’s Batman and Shadow.

RELATED: DC Just Revealed Their Smartest Hero (And It’s Not Batman)

When Shadow walks off, Batman goes after him because he recognized something inside the dark hedgehog immediately. Batman knows a lot about the darkness and his first question to the Shadow cuts right to the core of why Shadow and Batman both are the way they are. Batman asks who Shadow lost and Shadow tells him about Maria and her death, blaming himself for not being able to save her despite being a perfect lifeform. Batman tells Shadow the story about the death of his parents and how he reacted to it, vowing to save everyone he could because he couldn’t save the people he loved. Batman and Shadow the Hedgehog bond over this, the two of them seeing kindred spirits in each other. If anyone had Batman and the Shadow the Hedgehog bonding over their dark and painful pasts on their bingo cards, then they need to run out and play the lottery immediately, because this is the type of thing that no one would have ever guessed would happen when DC x Sonic the Hedgehog was announced.

Shadow and Batman Are the Team-up That No One Knew They Wanted Until They Saw It

Inter-company crossovers can often lead fans to golden moments fans never knew they wanted. That’s part of the fun of these sorts of things; while it’s always cool to see the big fights between characters, it’s even better to get great character moments as two disparate characters find something in common with each other. That’s the magic of Batman and Shadow the Hedgehog. There’s a good chance that most fans of either Batman or Shadow ever thought about what would happen if the two met, and if they did, they almost certainly didn’t imagine that it would be a touching moment where the two of them realize just how pain they have in common, and how that pain has made them who they are.

DC x Sonic the Hedgehog #1 is basically a perfect crossover in every way, combining its two universes in the best way possible. Seeing Sonic and friends team up with the Justice League to battle Darkseid is a massive treat, but seeing the creators put this much care into bringing the characters together speaks very well for the future of this story. After this, fans are going to scream for Batman and Shadow to hang out more and we here at ComicBook wholeheartedly agree.

The post DC x Sonic’s Batman and Shadow Team-Up Has No Business Being This Great appeared first on ComicBook.com.

HBO’s upcoming Lanterns series has added J. Alphonse Nicholson to its growing ensemble cast in a role that will explore the personal history of one of DC’s most prominent heroes. As reported by Deadline, the P-Valley star has been cast as the young version of John Senior, father to Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart, revealing that the series will delve into the Green Lantern’s formative years and family background. This casting decision indicates that Lanterns will incorporate flashbacks or substantial backstory elements that examine how John Stewart’s relationship with his father influenced his development before joining the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps. The character addition underlines how the HBO series plans to explore deeper psychological dimensions of its protagonists rather than focusing exclusively on cosmic heroics.

Nicholson has earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of Lil’ Murda in Starz’s P-Valley. His previous work includes appearances in FX’s Clipped, Hulu’s White Men Can’t Jump remake, and Netflix’s Madam CJ Walker alongside Octavia Spencer. The actor also gained recognition for his work in the feature film Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan. In addition, he delivered a memorable performance in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of A Soldier’s Play.

[RELATED: James Gunn Claims Superman’s Connection to Lanterns Won’t Distract From the Movie]

Adding Nicholson to portray John Stewart’s father represents a significant character development opportunity for Aaron Pierre’s Green Lantern. In the comics, John Stewart’s background includes being raised in Detroit by his father following his mother’s early death, with this upbringing informing his strong sense of justice and community responsibility. While DC Comics has explored various aspects of Stewart’s career as an architect and Marine before becoming a Green Lantern, his family dynamics have rarely been the focus of significant storylines. By incorporating John Senior as a recurring character, Lanterns appears committed to grounding its cosmic hero in relatable human experiences, exploring how Stewart’s upbringing shaped his approach to wielding the power ring’s immense capabilities.

How Lanterns Is Building a Character-Driven Foundation for the DCU

The inclusion of John Stewart’s father highlights the psychological depth Lanterns aims to achieve within DC Studios’ broader universe-building strategy. The series, which follows veteran Lantern Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and newcomer John Stewart as they investigate a murder mystery in the American heartland, represents a deliberate tonal departure from other DCU projects. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has emphasized this diversification approach, noting that the contrast between Lanterns’ grittier procedural style and the more optimistic tone of his upcoming Superman film exemplifies the studio’s vision for an interconnected yet tonally varied universe.

“It’s so cool because it is connected to Superman. Because we’ve got Guy Gardner in that and then we’ve got these Green Lanterns over here. And it’s just such a different tone from what Superman is,” Gunn previously explained. “It’s exactly what I want to bring to the DCU is being able to have these very different films and television series that are still part of an overall connected world, but have completely different feels to them.” This strategy allows DC Studios to explore various genres while maintaining narrative cohesion, with Lanterns drawing inspiration from crime dramas like True Detective while Superman embraces more traditional superhero storytelling elements.

The narrative foundation of Lanterns has been crafted by an impressive creative team, with showrunner Chris Mundy (Ozark, True Detective: Night Country) collaborating with writers Tom King (an accomplished Green Lantern comic book writer) and Damon Lindelof (HBO’s Watchmen). This combination of prestige television expertise and deep comic lore knowledge has reportedly produced exceptional scripts, with Lanterns cast member Poorna Jagannathan previously stating, “This is the first script that I’ve read that I understand why there’s an NDA. Everything is so insane. It is the best writing that I have ever read.”

Beyond exploring John Stewart’s family history, Lanterns has assembled a robust supporting cast that includes Kelly MacDonald as Sheriff Kerry, the local law enforcement official who becomes entangled in the cosmic mystery. Garrett Dillahunt portrays William Macon, a character described as “a self-righteous, conspiracy-minded man who masks his ruthless ambition behind a charming and calculated facade,” with many speculating this could be a reimagined version of classic Green Lantern villain Black Hand. Jason Ritter has joined as Billy Macon, William’s son, adding another layer of intergeneration drama to Lanterns. Perhaps most significantly, Emmy nominee Ulrich Thomsen takes on the role of Sinestro, the legendary Green Lantern whose fall from grace and transformation into the Corps’ greatest enemy represents one of DC’s most compelling villain arcs.

Lanterns is expected to premiere on HBO and Max in 2026, following the July 11, 2025 release of Superman.

Are you excited about Lanterns? Let us know in the comments!

The post DC’s Lanterns Confirms New Character With Major Connection to John Stewart appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Absolute Batman, by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, has been giving readers Batman like they never imagined before. The sixth issue, the end of “The Zoo” story arc, takes that promise and kicks it into overdrive. Not only does Absolute Batman get downright brutal in his battle in his battle with Black Mask, but the book’s epilogue includes one of the most horrifying Joker panels of all time. The issue sees Bruce tell his friends about his double life, enlisting Ozzie — the Penguin in the mainline universe — and his plane to help him hunt down Black Mask and the servers he’s using to pay Gotham to do his twisted bidding. Batman succeeds, with Alfred returning to help him after last’s issue kerfuffle between them, saving the city from chaos unlike anything it had ever seen before. And then there’s epilogue.

Absolute Batman has been amazing so far, partly because of how surprising it can be. Readers never know what’s going to hit them when they turn the page and this sixth issue gives readers the kind of surprises that have made this the most anticipated Batman book every month it comes out. Fans have been questioning just who the Joker will be in the Absolute Universe, and the answer is possibly the most twisted version of Joker ever.

This Joker Is a Monster Inspired by the Real World

Just take a second to look at the image above. That’s the Joker, looking quite cadaverous, covered in the bodies of babies, their blood seemingly flowing into his veins. Snyder and Dragotta found the perfect vein of horror to tap into with this new version of the Joker. It references one of the most chilling conspiracy theories of them all — that the rich use the blood of the young to keep themselves young and spry. Now, there’s actually scientific studies done with mice that show transfusing an older mouse with the blood of young mice is quite beneficial to the older mouse, and there are even humans right now who have allegedly received transfusions from the young in order to stay young and not die. Taking this and adding it to the repertoire of the Clown Prince of Crime makes this the most monstrous version of the Joker that readers have ever seen.

RELATED: Absolute Batman Brings a Michael Jordan Internet Meme to Life (and We’re Stunned)

Looking at what “The Zoo” has revealed so far, it’s easy to get a picture of who the Joker is in the Absolute Universe. For one thing, he’s the power behind Black Mask and the Party Animals, who have spread their crime-flavored chaos throughout the world, leaving the cities they target as burned out husks of what they once were, something that Alfred tells his daughter in this issue. That brings a very interesting idea into play — in the Absolute Universe, perhaps the Joker is the wealthy one. Imagine this — a man whose only belief is causing as much chaos as possible with billions and billions of dollars, using that money to burn down anything in the world he wants just because he’s bored with everything. Attaching this particular conspiracy theory to the Joker gives readers an idea of the kind of Joker we could be dealing with the months and years ahead. The Joker has always seen the world as his playground and the suffering of the people around him as his reward, but this new Joker takes that to the next level. He has the money and the power to make his twisted dreams a reality, burning the world all so he can laugh at something.

The Joker Is Bringing Monsters With Him

The final image of the book — the Joker’s hand reaching out with a tiny arm draped over his wrist — is pure nightmare fuel. However, the final words of the issue are just as chilling. Absolute Batman has teased the Absolute versions of Batman villains, and this issue ends with the Joker calling for Bane. Unlike the mainline Joker, this version of the villain doesn’t seem to do his own dirty work and has his own cadre of monsters at his disposal.

It’s very hard to shock anyone in mainstream superhero comics, but this last page and Joker reveal is one of the most shocking things I’ve seen in a comic in ages. It brings home that while this Joker is going to be quite different from what we’ve seen before, he’s perhaps even more monstrous than we can imagine right now. Absolute Batman has been one wild ride and if this Joker tease is any indication, it’s only going to get crazier.

Absolute Batman #6 is on sale where ever comics are sold.

The post Absolute Batman Just Did The Freakiest Thing Ever With the Joker (And I’m Horrified) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Can the Fastest Man Alive outrun the Rogues? That’s the question in Absolute Flash #2, out in April, from writer Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth) and artist Nick Robles (Doctor Mirage). This week’s Absolute Flash #1 hit the ground running with flashbacks and flash forwards, introducing a 15-year-old Wallace “Wally” West as an anxiety-ridden military brat son of Fort Fox Colonel Rudy West. He’s warned to stay away from Dr. Barry Allen, who works out of an underground lab conducting dangerous but groundbreaking experiments for the Army’s top-secret Project Olympus, but something draws Wally back to the lab. And that’s where tragedy strikes like a bolt of lightning.

“RUN!”

That was the last thing Barry said to Wally, who is on the run when we catch up to him in the present. Wally’s racing thoughts go back to the lab accident that turned Barry into a charred corpse and Wally into a scarlet speedster whose powers manifest not through the Speed Force, but what seems to be the last vestiges of Barry’s life force. Barry Allen is dead, and Wally West takes the blame.

RELATED: Absolute Batman Teases the Dark Knight’s Next Big Villains — Including a Chilling Absolute Mr. Freeze

A military craft deploys an AI-powered Boomerang drone to scout ahead and finds the runaway Wally in the desert. As Wally makes a run for it, we see the group that Colonel West sent after his son: Boomerang, Digger Harkness, Jesse, Lisa, and the Captain. In another universe, they’re the Rogues: Boomerang (George “Digger” Harkness), Trickster (James Jesse), Golden Glider (Lisa Snart), and Captain Cold (Leonard Snart).

ABSOLUTE ROGUES

The Captain orders them to bring Wally in “alive, for now,” and has Harkness flush Wally out using Boomerang (who refers to his wrist-mounted weapon as if the Boomerang is a person). Fort Fox’s Rogues give chase when the issue suddenly flashes forward to “one year later.”

In the wreckage of Dr. Allen’s lab, a mysterious figure access the Project Olympus archives using the password “Blue Trinity.” (In the original DC Universe, Wally’s father, Rudy West, sent a trio of Soviet-made speedsters — Gregor Gregorovich, Boleslaw Uminski, and Christina Alexandrova — after his son in 1988’s Flash #8).

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, time to make this whole world fall,” says the final Rogue to be revealed: Mirror Master.

“It’s been pretty much, ‘Just go crazy,'” Robles told CBR about redesigning the Flash’s most infamous villains for the new Absolute Universe. “The Absolute Universe being an original thing has let the editors and Jeff just let me go wild and toss him ideas, and run with things, because, on the other side of the spectrum from Jeff, I’m not that schooled on the Flash’s history.”

“I’m very much the new guy here, and I have purposely not gone back and read too much, because I want to bring original ideas into this Absolute line. I don’t want to be influenced yet,” Robles continued. “I mean, in time I will, I’m sure, but I want this to be all original, and that was a huge pull for me for this book. So keeping that in mind, and allowing myself to not worry about that so much and just kind of deliver original designs was my approach. I mean, you have a touchstone on the Rogues and Wally and everyone, of course, but I wanted it to be my look for things for the most part.”

Get another look at Absolute Flash’s rogues gallery in the solicitations for Absolute Flash issues #2 and #3 below:

Absolute Flash #2

CAN WALLY WEST OUTRUN THE ROGUES?! Wally West is on the run from his dad and the rest of Fort Fox, and while his new-found abilities are terrifying him, he needs to find a way to use them to make his escape. But how will he handle the elite group his father sent to bring him back?

On sale: April 16

Absolute Flash #3

THE ROGUES PRESS THE ATTACK! Wally’s back is up against the wall as the Rogues bear down on him. Can he evade capture and harness some of his newfound speed, or is he already at the finish line?

On sale: May 21

The post Absolute Flash Makes a Major Change to Wally West’s Rogues Gallery appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Things have gotten pretty grim in Gotham over the years, but leave it to Roman Sionis to sink it to a new low, and in a completely different way than what’s happened before. Sionis, also known as Black Mask, has managed to not just outmaneuver Batman, but also enact a plan that has turned Gotham City into the straight-up Purge. It’s a nightmare scenario and turns the already dangerous city into a ticking time bomb.

Sionis kicked his plan into gear last issue as he had his crew deliver crates of masks throughout the city, but this wasn’t just a Party Animals recruitment drive. Instead, these masks were all connected to Roman’s main network, which fed them up-to-date information on targets throughout the city.

Once someone puts on the mask, they see real-time data on anyone they are looking at, telling them their identity (if in the system) and how much they would be paid for killing them. We learn this thanks to Martha Wayne and James Gordon, who are caught in the middle of the city as everyone around them is putting on masks and getting up to speed.

As Martha puts on the mask, you can already see violence happening around them, and that’s because Sionis is not just offering money for murders. Like in The Purge, which makes everything legal for 12 hours, Sionis is rewarding various crimes with heavy rewards.

[RELATED: DC Just Revealed Their Smartest Hero (And It’s Not Batman)]

Robberies offer $50k, while arson offers $100k and assault offers $150k. Murder is at $250k, and then the mask totals all crimes committed for a total payout at the bottom of the screen. That total will also add bounties for certain individuals, and for Mayor James Gordon, it is set at 1 Million dollars.

We start to move to other parts of the city, and as more and more people put on masks, we see places suddenly turn into nightmare factories. This is also like The Purge, as while everyone knows when the Purge begins, the further into the night we go the more frightening and deadly it becomes. There are also plenty of masked individuals sporting weapons of all kinds in the films, and those who find themselves outside of a safe end up in a true fight for survival.

In actuality, Absolute Batman is even worse than The Purge, as it introduces money into the mix. While there are plenty of people making money off of The Purge in the films, it’s not everyone, and there are many people just being violent for the sake of it without any financial reward. In this case, Sionis is rewarding everyone with a cash value for their crimes, which can turn someone who is on the fence about it all to the side of crime for an unprecedented payday.

All in all, both are bad scenarios, though Absolute Batman might win out in being the most dangerous. Absolute Batman #6 is in comic stores now, and let us know what you think of the issue in the comments. You can also talk all things comics with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Absolute Batman Just Created The Purge in Gotham appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor, by Mark Waid, Bryan Hitch, and Kevin Nowlan, is a book that revolves around Superman‘s greatest dilemma. Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 sees Superman vow to save Lex Luthor from death, doing everything he can to figure out why Luthor is dying. The story cuts to the core of who Superman is as a hero, as he does his best to save his greatest enemy. Last Days of Lex Luthor #2 sees Superman continue that quest, and Superman decides to turn to the smartest hero he’s ever met… but it’s not Batman or even Mister Terrific. Instead, Superman busts out his Legion flight ring and a time sphere and brings Luthor to the 31st century to meet the smartest hero in DC Comics history — Brainiac 5.

Brainiac 5 has an interesting history as a character. To begin with, he’s a member of comics’ most complicated team, so he’s basically had several completely different versions stemming from the continuity shenanigans that have affected the Legion. However, in every universe, Brainiac is the most intelligent hero around, creating the kind of technology that a team in the far future would need to triumph.

Brainiac 5 Has Been Doing the Impossible For Years

Longtime Superman fans who might not be familiar with the Legion will recognize Brainiac 5’s name as the same as one of Superman’s greatest — Brainiac. Brainiac and Brainiac 5 are both Coluans, the smartest race in the universe. Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #2 clues readers in on the origin of their relationship, as Brainiac 5 comes from a branch of Brainiac’s family that the villain created when he was pretending to be someone else. Brainiac 5 is what’s considered a 12th-level intellect, the highest level of anyone on Colu and beyond. Brainiac 5 wanted to join the Legion to make up for the sins of his family and immediately showed his utility to the team. He perfected the Legion flight rings, giving them the ability to not just fly, but also allowing the Legion to track their members even through time, communicate with anyone wearing one, and act as a link to Brainiac 5’s computer systems. Brainiac 5 isn’t much of a fighter and mostly stays in the Legion base, but when he has to go in the field, he’s equipped with an impregnable force field belt, which can keep him safe from any attacks.

RELATED: Absolute Superman’s Jason Aaron Teases Heartbreaking Fate of Krypton, Impact on Kal-El, and More

Brainiac 5 can also be one of the more difficult members of the Legion. Brainy, as he’s called by teammates, knows that he’s the smartest person in any room he’s in and that has made him arrogant to an extent. This is a person who created the Miracle Machine, a piece of technology that can do anything; he’s earned his arrogance. Most of his teammates understand why he’s the way he is and don’t take it personally, although Legionnaires like Ultra Boy do like to needle the supergenius. Brainiac 5 also has a rather unique link to Superman and the El family, as he and Supergirl are an item in just about every version of DC continuity that contains Kara Zor-El and the two have met. Brainiac 5’s love for Supergirl is one of the best aspects of the character, watching a character whose entire life is based around science trying to figure out love. Brainiac 5 has also had a relationship with Dream Girl in some versions, including the Mark Waid-written mid-’00s Legion of Superheroes, where their relationship was built around how annoying Brainy finds Dream Girl’s precognitive abilities.

Brainaic 5 Makes Batman Look Like an Especially Smart Toddler

Batman definitely has some impressive feats when it comes to his intellect. He’s created the Hellbat armor, a weapon that allows him to face off with Darkseid. He’s a master of making weapons of all kinds and is known for his tactical acumen. However, when it comes right down to it, Batman isn’t as great a scientist as everyone likes to think he is. He’s good, but Brainy is his superior in every way.

Brainiac 5 has casually created technology that Batman wishes he could even understand. Now, obviously, it’s a bit of a cheat to say a scientist from the future would be smarter than someone from the present, but even if all things were equal, Brainy would still be smarter than Batman. However, even Brainiac 5 couldn’t figure out how to cure Lex Luthor, leaving Superman to find another avenue to cure his longtime foe.

The post DC Just Revealed Their Smartest Hero (And It’s Not Batman) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Expectations are high for James Gunn’s Superman, which is the first theatrical feature in the DC Universe franchise reboot. Ushering in a new era for DC, the film was already under a tremendous amount of pressure to perform at the box office, and now its task is going to become even tougher. Director Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, the sci-fi film starring Robert Pattinson, is set to become a massive box office bomb for Warner Bros. According to Variety, the studio is expected to lose somewhere between $75-80 million on the project, which had a budget of $118 million. That figure does not include $80 million of additional marketing costs.

After numerous delays, Mickey 17 finally opened in theaters earlier this month. Despite earning positive reviews, it struggled during its opening weekend. Even though it won the weekend (dethroning Captain America: Brave New World from the top spot), the $19 million domestic debut wasn’t anything to write home about. As of this writing, Mickey 17 has earned $35 million in the U.S. and $92.2 million worldwide.

Directed by James Gunn, Superman premieres in theaters in July. Promotion for the film is already in full swing, with Warner Bros. releasing multiple looks at the title over the winter. In addition to a teaser trailer, the studio aired a special spot during the Puppy Bowl in February. Gunn has also been pushing the movie on his social media, sharing behind-the-scenes images.

[RELATED – Warner Bros. Shouldn’t Be Putting Its Entire Bet on Superman]

Reports have indicated there’s much more at stake than just the future of the DC Universe when Superman opens. If Gunn’s reboot fails to meet expectations, some feel Warner Bros. could “go the way of Fox” and be acquired by a larger conglomerate. The studio has hit on some hard times. Mickey 17 is just the latest high-profile flop on its hands; Joker: Folie à Deux was another pricey misfire.

Fears of Warner Bros. being bought out would have likely been assuaged if Mickey 17 was a commercial hit. If it was able to turn a profit, that would have lessened the burden on Superman some. But now, the DC film is under even more pressure to be a runaway success. WB has a few other notable titles opening between now and then — such as A Minecraft Movie and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners — though it remains to be seen how those films will fare at the box office. As Mickey 17 illustrated, even positive reviews aren’t always enough to draw audiences out for a non-franchise movie these days.

Hopefully, some of WB’s other 2025 films manage to perform well at the box office, giving Superman some much-needed insulation. Coogler is a recognizable name with hits like Creed and Black Panther under his belt, which helps Sinners’ prospects. In September, Warner Bros. will release Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Anderson has never been a huge box office draw, but DiCaprio gives his latest film significant star power. Superman will have its work cut out for itself in July dealing with Jurassic World Rebirth and The Fantastic Four: First Steps; it will likely post strong numbers, but it could use all the help it can get.

The post Robert Pattinson’s Box Office Bomb Puts Even More Pressure on Superman appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A popular Internet meme featuring NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan was just brought to life in the pages of Absolute Batman. Michael Jordan may be retired from the NBA, but that hasn’t stopped social media users from including him in their Internet memes. One meme in particular pokes fun at how Jordan hates to lose at anything competitive, even if it benefits children. Jordan’s alleged stance on kids has become a running joke online, and now Bruce Wayne’s version of the Dark Knight in DC’s Absolute Universe seems to have adopted that philosophy as well. WARNING: Spoilers for Absolute Batman #6 below.

Absolute Batman #6 comes from the creative team of Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles. It brings Batman‘s fight against Black Mask to a dramatic end, while also setting up some evil threats for the future in the form of Absolute Joker and Bane. However, it’s Batman’s confrontation with Black Mask and his gang of Party Animals that we’re focusing on today. After getting Penguin to drop him off on a boat storing Black Mask’s servers, Batman begins fighting members of the Party Animals. After roughing them up one by one, Batman tosses them over the boat with a life raft to help them float. Beating up adults is one thing, but Batman also has to contend with fighting little kids who have taken up Black Mask’s evil cause.

[RELATED: Batman Just Did the Unthinkable (And We Can’t Believe It)]

Not one to be deterred, Batman easily stops a kid who attacks him wielding a knife. Batman picks the kid up by the back of his head, all while the kid swings the knife and cusses at him. “What are you… stop, man,” the kid says. “I’m just a kid. You can’t!” Batman glares silently at the kid before casually dropping and punting the kid high in the air before he falls into the water. Yes, you heard that right.

Batman kicks kids.

Batman Mimics Michael Jordan “F*ck Them Kids” Meme

The genesis of the Michael Jordan meme dates back to 2016 and a friendly shooting competition between Michael Jordan and another NBA player, Chris Paul, at a summer camp for kids. They played a one-on-one game against each other, with Paul raising the stakes with a friendly bet that if Jordan missed a shot, he’d have to give the kids at the camp free sneakers. As you can imagine, Jordan took this personally and succeeded in making every shot he took, resulting in no free shoes for the kids.

Fast forward to 2018, when a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a black-and-white photo of Jordan’s face with the phrase, “F*ck them kids”. The image is meant to serve as an inspirational poster, but instead, it’s turned into a hilarious meme that people online have used time and time again.

Michael Jordan isn’t the only celebrity to be used in the meme. Anakin Skywalker actor Hayden Christensen has had his face plastered with the “F*ck them kids” catchphrase on social media, with the images referencing Anakin Skywalker’s dark turn as Darth Vader when he slaughtered innocent Padawans at the Jedi Temple in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

Absolute Batman Is One of DC’s Most Unpredictable Comics

Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta are delivering a masterclass in storytelling in Absolute Batman. The changes they’re making to Batman’s mythos are unique and interesting. Some of the changes we’ve seen include killing Thomas Wayne and leaving Martha Wayne alive, Bruce Wayne growing up with members of Batman’s rogues gallery, turning Alfred Pennyworth into an international spy with no association to the Wayne Family, and more.

The changes to Batman’s rogues gallery may be the most compelling. There is the question of whether Riddler, Penguin, Two-Face, Killer Crock, and Catwoman will remain on the straight-and-narrow, or will they revert to their villainous ways like in the main DC Universe. And even past that group, there is the threat of Joker and Bane looming on the horizon. The epilogue to Absolute Batman #6 teased both Absolute Joker and Absolute Bane. While we have yet to see Bane, what we saw of the Joker is an absolutely terrifying image.

Absolute Batman #6 is on sale now.

The post Absolute Batman Brings a Michael Jordan Internet Meme to Life (and We’re Stunned) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

After playing Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe, Jason Momoa is now going to portray Lobo in James Gunn’s DC Universe reboot. It’s a role the actor has long been excited to play, and he’s wasted no time in preparing for his DCU debut in 2026’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. One of Lobo’s trademark traits is his use of colorful language, as the character has a unique set of swear words he enjoys saying. In an interview with ComicBook to promote A Minecraft Movie (in theaters April 4th), Momoa shared two of the famous Lobo curse words he’s been practicing the most.

“We’ve been saying fraggin’ and bastich quite a bit,” Momoa said before offering a tease of how his Lobo will recite the latter.

As soon as James Gunn became co-head of DC Studios, Momoa started campaigning to play Lobo. Both have emphasized that the DC Universe’s interpretation of Lobo will be comics-accurate, with Momoa going so far as to say his look in Supergirl is “pretty dead on” when compared to what’s in the comics. Gunn stated that casting Momoa in this part was “always part of the plan” despite the actor’s earlier DC role.

[RELATED – Everything We Know About the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow Movie]

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is currently in production ahead of its scheduled June 2026 release date. The film stars Milly Alcock as the titular character, following her DC Universe debut in this summer’s Superman. Plot details are being kept under wraps, and it’s unknown how Momoa’s Lobo fits into the story. However, the actor has implied he only has a brief supporting role.

Though only offering fans a tease of what’s in store, Momoa’s comments further illustrate how the DCU’s Lobo will be comics-accurate. Not only are the filmmakers committed to nailing the right character design, they’re also ensuring the writing for their Lobo is just like the source material. This will certainly please longtime fans who have eagerly waited for Lobo to appear in a live-action film, plus, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow will likely be targeting a PG-13 rating in order to maximize its box office potential, so utilizing Lobo’s distinct vocabulary is a fun way for the movie to skirt around the MPA’s language guidelines for film ratings. Especially since it sounds like Momoa won’t have much screen time, Lobo dropping a few “fraggings” shouldn’t cause too much of an issue.

All in all, it seems like Momoa’s Lobo will be one of the most entertaining additions to the DC Universe. Hopefully, the actor’s turn in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is well-received, paving the way for future appearances. Gunn would not have cast someone of Momoa’s stature unless DC Studios had big plans for the character moving forward. While DCU projects are being designed to be standalone, there will also be numerous connections in each project; Momoa’s role in Supergirl will likely be used as a launch pad for another movie or show down the line. Considering that Momoa was one of the top fan cast picks for Lobo for years, it’ll be very exciting to see what Gunn and Co. have in store for him.

The post DC’s Jason Momoa Shares the Two Iconic Lobo Curse Words He’s Practicing Most appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Absolute Universe is expanding, with Absolute Flash, Absolute Martian Manhunter, and Absolute Green Lantern about to join the library of Absolute DC books. Meanwhile, Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman, and Absolute Batman are all expanding their casts, introducing characters that played a huge role in the mainline lives of the Absolute heroes. Absolute DC is on fire with a crossover on the horizon. It’s the bestselling line of books in the comic industry, and has made DC a serious contender in the sales wars for the first time in years. Absolute DC has been doing amazing work, but there’s a huge character missing from the Absolute Universe and their absence is telling: Robin.

Robin is one of the most important characters in the history of comics. Dick Grayson was the first teen sidekick, creating an entirely new type of superhero, and beginning the concept of “legacy characters”. Robin is a massive part of the Batman mythos and the character’s conspicuous absence has fans wondering when the character will appear. However, a better question might be to ask how they will introduce the Absolute Robin? Absolute Batman is quite different from the mainline Batman books, and these differences give DC a chance to do something unique with the character.

Which Robin Should Be the Absolute Robin?

Robin added something special to the Batman mythos. Robin can be credited with much of Batman’s popularity; before Robin came along, Batman stories were violent and dark, but afterwards, they became more kid-friendly. This definitely helped Batman’s longevity, as kids have been buoying the Batman fandom for decades. In-universe, Batman credits Robin for bringing light into his life in his darkest days and helped him to become a better person. Looking at Absolute Batman’s life so far, he could definitely use a Robin.

However, it’s also really hard to see Absolute Batman go to the circus and watch the Graysons die, then somehow take in young Dick Grayson. However, Dick is still a great place to start and there’s a way to do the whole thing without the circus. Absolute Batman is written by the creator of the Court of Owls, Scott Snyder, and it was established in those first few Court of Owls stories that Dick was meant to be one of the Talons, the undead soldiers of the Court. Many fans are wondering when — Snyder, DC, and fans like the Court of Owls too much for it to be an “if” — the Court of Owls will show up in Absolute Batman, especially because Absolute Gotham being run by the Owls would definitely be the kind of thing that Darkseid would do to torture Batman in the universe he created. The Absolute Court of Owls could be the vehicle for Dick Grayson to enter Batman’s life.

RELATED: 5 DC Characters Who Should Join the Absolute Universe

Imagine this — at some point in the future, the Court of Owls decide that this Batman is becoming a problem for Gotham’s most powerful citizens and decided to send their deadliest assassins after him. Young Dick Grayson has been trained all his life to be a Talon, and his final test is if he can kill this “Batman”. Dick hunts Batman down and the two of them have a battle. Maybe Dick doesn’t want to be a Talon and during the fight decides to defect. Maybe Batman knocks him out, feels bad for the kid, and decides to deprogram him. Either way, BOOM! Robin.

Damian Wayne obviously doesn’t work because this is a much younger Batman and Tim Drake doesn’t exactly feel right for the role either. Three of the other Robins would also make for good choices. The first is Jason Todd. Todd was a street kid, so it would make a lot of sense for Absolute Batman to recruit him. Stephanie Brown could also be Robin, starting out working for her father the Cluemaster, and then defecting to Batman’s side. Finally, Carrie Kelly, the Robin of The Dark Knight Returns could also become Robin, using a pretty similar approach to TDKR, with her joining his fight after seeing him begin to clean up the city.

Absolute Batman Needs Absolute Robin

Absolute Batman has succeeded because the book keeps finding new ways to use old characters and ideas. Robin is one of the most important characters in the Batman mythos, so it’s honestly a no-brainer for there to be an Absolute Robin, and much like in the real world, the best choice is Dick Grayson. Grayson works not only because he’s the first Batman anyway, but also because he has the most story potential because of his connection to the Court of Owls.

Sure, there is potential to bring in one of the other Robins, but Dick is the one that would be most interesting. Robin has to be something new in the Absolute Universe, and bringing in Dick as a Court of Owls assassin turned Robin is definitely new. It would change the way Robin worked in the Absolute Universe, leading to the kind of out of the box storytelling that has so far typified the Absolute Universe.

The post With the Absolute Universe Expanding, Where’s Robin? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

DC’s All In era is about to kick off its first crossover event with We Are Yesterday, which will run through Batman/Superman: World’s Finest and Justice League Unlimited, and now DC has revealed new details and our first look at We Are Yesterday’s epic finale. The climactic chapter will arrive in Justice League Unlimited #8, and you can check out some of the stunning covers and more details about what’s in store for the event below.

We Are Yesterday is set to have big ripple effects for DC’s post All In world, and the official description reveals that the League will be standing against a wave f chronal mayhem on The Watchtower. Things don’t look great, but there might be someone who can help, though it’s not known if that will be enough to turn the tide.

The description also reveals that something has happened to Gorilla Grodd during the course of the story, and his fate will be revealed in the finale. There’s also a significant step towards the next major DC Universe event teased, but it’s not known just what that is yet.

Justice League Unlimited #8 will launch with the final connecting main cover from artist Dan Mora, and as you can see in the image below, the final piece looks gorgeous, and is made up of Justice League Unlimited #8, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #37, and Justice League Unlimited #7.

[RELATED: Absolute Batman’s Brutal Takedown Just Put Every Batman Movie Fight to Shame]

The issue will also launch with an array of variant covers, including covers by Ejikure, Tiago Da Silva, Salvador Larrocca and Travis Moore, as well as a DC Pride month variant cover by Absolute Wonder Woman artist Hayden Sherman and a tribute variant cover with artwork by the legendary artist George Pérez. You can find the official description or Justice League Unlimited #8 below.

“The Justice League stands alone as a wave of chronal mayhem crashes on the shores of their Watchtower base…but all hope is not yet lost! A last-minute mayday may just be enough to stem the tide…but for how long? This final issue also reveals the fate of Gorilla Grodd and marks a significant step in the next major event in the DC Universe!”

Justice League Unlimited #8 is available for pre-order starting March 21st, and will launch in comic stores on June 25th.

Are you excited for We Are Yesterday? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post DC Reveals First Look at We Are Yesterday Crossover’s Epic Finale appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Wolverine has taken his place among the most popular superheroes of all time. Wolverine often seems like a fundamentally Marvel hero — the story of a man dealing with the beast inside all while trying to find a family and become a greater hero. Marvel and DC Comics have often taken inspiration from each others’ characters and stories, but most fans have a hard time identifying DC’s version of Wolverine. There really doesn’t seem to be any character who fits the Wolverine mold, but actually DC has had their own Wolverine for much longer than Wolverine has existed — the leader of the Golden Age Justice Society of America known as Hawkman.

Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1 from 1940, his hawk mask, giant wings, and morningstar mace setting him apart from the other early heroes of DC. Looking at Hawkman’s history, there are many, many parallels between him and Wolverine. Hawkman is one of the most complex characters in comics, much like Wolverine, and just needs to find the right portrayal to reach the heights of Marvel’s ol’Canucklehead.

Hawkman Introduced Many of the Tropes That Would Become Central to Wolverine

To understand why Hawkman has been DC’s Wolverine since before Wolverine was even a thing, one needs to go back to the days of Golden Age DC. Superman and Batman had shown that people were ready for a new breed of heroes, and the comic creators of the day stepped up. Hawkman was one of the more interesting ones. Hawkman was Carter Hall, an archeologist specializing in Egypt who had a secret — that he was the reincarnation of the ancient pharaoh Khufu. Armed with weapons made of a mysterious mineral called Nth metal that allowed him to fly, gave him a measure of superhuman strength, and a healing factor, he was joined the battle against alongside Hawkgirl, who was the reincarnation of his Egyptian lover, and becoming a leader of the Justice Society. Later, in the Silver Age, we’d get Katar Hol as Hawkman, the Thanagarian policeman who came to Earth-One, while the original Hawkman stayed with the Justice Society on Earth-Two. This led to some confusion later, but we’ll get to that. Obviously, this is a very different set-up for a character than Wolverine’s, but right off the bat, there are similarities.

To begin with, there’s healing factor and the love of fighting, something that has become much more of Hawkman’s personality as time went on, but the mysteries of both character’s past is the icing on the cake. Hawkman and Wolverine both are characters with years of backstory that can be fleshed out — look at the latest volume of Hawkman, where writer Robert Venditti gloried in revealing hidden facets of Hawkman’s past. Hawkman and Wolverine are both perfect men of mystery, allowing creators to take fans on bloodsoaked treks through the past. Wolverine fans are used to going on trips through Logan’s history; Hawkman stories can easily do the same thing. Both characters spent ages as soldiers in some of the greatest battles in human history. There is a core to each character that is fundamentally the same — good people who have been forced to kill so others wouldn’t who have watched time go by and are defined by their tragedies.

Speaking of the past, both Hawkman and Wolverine have some rather convoluted pasts. This is the place where Hawkman suffers the most. Crisis on Infinite Earths did away with DC’s multiverse, melding the different versions of doppelganger heroes and villains together. This was a problem for Hawkman; there was the Hawkman who fought in the Golden Age and then there was the alien Hawkman who had come to Earth in the modern day. It took years — from 1985 to 2003 — for DC to come up with an explanation, using reincarnation to explain it all away, and Venditti would take that and give Hawkman the ultimate origin. The same thing, to an extent, happened to Wolverine. Wolverine’s “memory implant” origin allowed writers to say that anything that happened in Wolverine’s past could be written off as implants. This came to a head in the ’90s, making Wolverine one of the more confusing characters in comics. Not as confusing as Hawkman, but still pretty mystifying.

RELATED: 5 Marvel and DC Character Crossovers Everyone Wants to See

Hawkman and Wolverine both like gingers, with their defining relationships being with redheads. Both of them are the heroes who bring up just killing the problem first and each of them has a “frenemy” teammate — Wolverine has Cyclops and Hawkman has Green Arrow. They are both known for getting mouthy with their teammates. They each have their best superhero friend who they could be dating — Hawkman has the Atom, Wolverine has Nightcrawler. Hawkman and Wolverine share so many similarities, and it’s strange that DC has never found a way to bring Hawkman to Wolverine’s level. Hawkman basically originated everything that made Wolverine popular.

Hawkman Just Needs the Right Showcase to Hit Wolverine’s Level

Wolverine felt like something of a revolutionary character when he first premiered, but the fact of the matter is that Hawkman was doing everything that Wolverine did, and had been doing it for decades. There are of course differences, but whatever the case, DC has never been able to raise Hawkman to Wolverine’s level. However, looking at the tale of the tape, all of the pieces are there.

Hawkman gets a bad rap because he’s “confusing”, but honestly, so is Wolverine. For example, did Wolverine (Vol. 2) #10 actually happen or was it a Weapon X implant? Was Silver Fox a woman from the late 1800s or did Wolverine meet her as a ’50s greaser? Marvel has found a way to move readers past all of the weird things they’ve done with Wolverine, but DC always has to find ways to explain away the confusion of Hawkman instead of just ignoring it, which usually just serves to remind people of why they never read Hawkman comics in the past. Hawkman has all of the tools to be Wolverine, all DC has to do is find the right way to bring the character to the people.

The post DC Has Their Own Wolverine (And It’s Not Who You Think) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The complete history of the DC Universe will be documented in a new series launching this summer. Trying to keep up with comic book continuity can sometimes become a headache, especially when you factor in the number of reboots and retcons that take place. This is especially true for DC, which has had various Crisis events, alternate Earths, and a whole Multiverse to keep track of. Luckily, this convoluted tapestry will start to get streamlined in New History of the DC Universe, a four-issue limited series debuting on Wednesday, June 25th. The series will celebrate 90 years of DC storytelling and feature an all-star cast of creators.

New History of the DC Universe #1 is written by Mark Waid (Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, Justice League Unlimited, Batman & Robin: Year One) with art by Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck. They will offer a fresh look at the past and present of the DC Universe, seen through the eyes of Barry Allen, a.k.a. the Flash.

[RELATED: MCU Actor Who Played Batman in State Farm’s Huge DC Ad Revealed]

“This is my dream project,” said Waid. “It’s a chance to realign all of DC’s sprawling continuity into one master timeline, and to be joined by some of comics’ greatest artists to make it shine. With new information for even longtime fans, plus Easter eggs galore, this series will be an essential read for DC fans.”

New History of the DC Universe #1 chronicles Barry Allen’s journey from the birth of the DC Universe to the rise of the Justice Society and the Golden Age of Heroes.

“I’m having an absolute blast with this project,” said Nauck. “Mark has come up with something cool for me to draw on every page, and it’s been an honor to share art chores with a comics legend like Jerry Ordway. The DC editorial team has coordinated a wealth of deep-dive references for me to draw from, and I’m learning new aspects of DC history I hadn’t known before—and I’ve been reading DC comics for decades!”

“As one of the artists who was part of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980s,” added Jerry Ordway, “I am thrilled to be involved in telling the story of this newest DC Universe with Mark and Todd.”

New History of the DC Universe #1 boasts an impressive roster of cover artists. The debut issue features a main cover from Batman & Robin: Year One artist Chris Samnee, as well as variant covers by Dan Mora (Justice League Unlimited, Superman), Ryan Sook (Black Canary: Best of the Best), and Mike Cho. Sook also provides a variant featuring a collection of superheroes from across DC’s history, with an additional foil variant from cover artist Stanley “Artgerm” Lau. Artist Scott Koblish will provide a series of connecting wraparound variant covers for the series, depicting DC’s iconic characters chronologically with each issue.

This is a massive undertaking for Mark Waid and his collaborators since it’s no small feat to properly document everything that’s happened in the DC Universe. But it may be a sign that DC recognizes how bloated its history has become. Documenting the history in a four-issue limited series allows old and new readers alike the opportunity to come in on the ground floor and get caught up.

New History of the DC Universe #1 goes on sale Wednesday, June 25th. Let us know your thoughts on the series in the comments below!

The post The DC Universe Is Getting a New History This Summer (And We Can’t Wait) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Nearly three years after Warner Bros. Discovery’s shocking decision to permanently shelve the Batgirl film, newly surfaced behind-the-scenes footage has reignited controversy around the cancellation. The footage reveals a production that appears far more polished and promising than Warner Bros. executives led audiences to believe when they justified the controversial cancellation in August 2022, claiming the film didn’t meet the quality standards for theatrical release. With strong choreography, practical effects, and impressive stunt work visible even in this unfinished state, the footage raises serious questions about whether Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to take a tax write-down rather than release the film was truly based on quality concerns.

The footage showcases stunt performers Emely Cartagena, Scott Rogers, and Stephen Dunlevy executing a meticulously choreographed fight sequence with significant physical demands. What immediately stands out is the production’s heavy reliance on practical effects rather than CGI, with Batgirl being thrown through walls while battling multiple opponents of varying sizes. The action sequence is incredibly fluid, demonstrating a clear vision from directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah for how the character would move and fight.

[RELATED: Coyote vs. Acme: Shelved Looney Tunes Movie Could Finally Release in 2026]

Despite being in a pre-visual effects state, the material reveals careful attention to realistic combat choreography with environmental destruction that gives weight to the confrontations. Even though it lacks the post-production coat of paint it would get in the final cut, the scene appears to have been designed for a seamless blend of practical stunts with minimal digital enhancement, revealing a production team committed to creating authentic action that would stand apart from the increasingly CGI-reliant superhero genre. It’s no wonder Batgirl’s fans are still mad about the movie’s cancelation.

The Turbulent History of Batgirl‘s Cancellation

The Batgirl cancellation in August 2022 was an unprecedented move by Warner Bros. Discovery, which shelved a nearly completed $90 million film for a tax write-down. The production had wrapped principal photography and was in post-production when newly installed CEO David Zaslav made the decision as part of broader cost-cutting measures following the merger of the two companies. The film would have featured Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, J.K. Simmons reprising his role as Commissioner Gordon, Brendan Fraser as the villain Firefly, and Michael Keaton returning as Batman.

“The guys from Warners told us it was not a talent problem from our part or the actress, or even the quality of the movie,” El Arbi said shortly after the Batgirl cancellation. “They told us it was a strategic change. There was new management, and they wanted to save some money.” This statement directly contradicts Zaslav’s later assertions that Batgirl wasn’t “releasable,” raising questions about the transparency surrounding the decision-making process that led to the film’s demise. 

Zaslav later defended the controversial decision during a New York Times Dealbook Summit in November 2023, calling it “courageous” and necessary. “What content is going to help us win? The content that wasn’t, we made a strategic decision on,” Zaslav said. “It was difficult and it was painful. But I think it was the right decision for the company and it was necessary.” His comments were supported by then-new DC Studios co-chair Peter Safran, who stated, “That film was not releasable,” adding that canceling it was “a very bold and courageous decision” that would have “hurt DC” had it been released.

The level of completion suggested by both the new footage and previous revelations from the film’s creative team makes Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision all the more controversial. Unlike the unfinished “Snyder Cut” of Justice League that required millions in additional funding to complete, Batgirl was reportedly largely completed aside from some visual effects work. Unfortunately, the film’s status as a tax write-off makes any official release extremely unlikely from a legal standpoint. Still, as James Gunn and Peter Safran pursue their new DC Universe vision, the ghost of Batgirl remains a contentious chapter in the studio’s history and a stark example of how corporate greed can override creative achievements.

What do you think of the newly released Batgirl footage? Would you like to see the movie someday? Let us know in the comments!

The post Behind-the-Scenes Footage From Shelved Batgirl Movie Surfaces (And We’re More Mad Now Than Ever) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The fifth season of Max’s adult animated series Harley Quinn concludes with a finale that offers something increasingly rare in today’s television landscape: genuine closure. After multiple seasons that dangled unresolved threads and seeded setups that never fully materialized, the series breaks its own pattern by delivering a finale that ties up its narrative arcs while honoring its chaotic roots. The episode brings Harley’s (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) and Ivy’s (voiced by Lake Bell) Metropolis adventure to a satisfying conclusion, ending the Brainiac threat, handling the villainous Luthor siblings, and ultimately returning our anti-heroines to where they belong, Gotham City.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Harley Quinn Season 5, Episode 10

Season 3 of Harley Quinn devoted considerable time to Harley’s journey toward heroism, culminating in her joining Batman’s vigilante family — a major character development that Season 4 largely sidelined. Similarly, Season 4’s dramatic conclusion established a potential Gotham City Sirens sequel, positioning Nightwing’s (voiced by Harvey Guillén) death as a significant conflict driver for future episodes. Yet Season 5 dismissed the Sirens concept within minutes of its premiere and relegated the Nightwing resurrection plot to a single episode that didn’t even center him as the focus. This pattern of abandoned setups created a sense that the series was constantly shifting its foundation, sometimes at the expense of narrative coherence and emotional investment.

[RELATED: Harley Quinn Season 5 Takes a Jab at DC’s Weird Kryptonite History]

Season 5’s finale breaks the mold by methodically resolving every plot thread it introduces. Sharon (voiced by Susie Essman) helps Brainiac (voiced by Stephen Fry) understand that life’s imperfections give it meaning, leading the villain to help Ivy and Harley defeat the Luthors — who get shrunk and swallowed by Frankette. Embracing the fragility of the present, Brainiac remains aboard his ship when it collides with his home planet, Colu, choosing an eternal digital life inside the memories of his family.  Meanwhile, Ivy, Harley, Sharon, and Frankette flee the ship, only to face certain death until Superman (voiced by James Wolk), whose purpose-seeking arc began in episode one, completes his journey by rescuing them from their damaged escape pod. 

Season 5 ends Harley and Ivy return to Gotham, knowing they don’t need to fix what isn’t broken and can just enjoy their time with their extensive found family. Ivy and Frankeette have mended their mother-daughter relationship, following Harvey and Sharon’s example, and the whole gang is back together. Even the season’s final scene, with Ivy and Harley jumping out a window to spread mayhem, brings the story full circle instead of setting up a new season. It feels like the series is saying goodbye to fans, but that’s that’s actually a good thing for Harley Quinn.

Harley Quinn Season 6 Can Give the Show a Much-Needed Clean Slate

Harley Quinn‘s gradual sidelining of its protagonist has become increasingly apparent season by season. While the series began with Harley’s emancipation story firmly at its center, subsequent seasons shifted focus dramatically. Season 3 redirected attention to Ivy’s connection with The Green, Season 4 split the pair to explore separate storylines (with Ivy’s Legion of Doom leadership receiving substantial development), and Season 5 further reinforced this pattern despite the new Metropolis setting. Even major emotional beats like Frank’s death and the introduction of Frankette primarily served Ivy’s character development rather than Harley’s.

By returning the characters to Gotham and getting rid of extra baggage, the Season 5 finale promises the eventual sixth season of Harley Quinn can start fresh and refocus on the things that made fans fall in love with DC’s quirky queer show. While the crude humor and the ultraviolence are part of Harley Quinn’s identity, the show is better when it focuses on questions of identity, love, and human connections. This emotional core gives weight to the comedy and creates stakes that matter beyond shock value or comic book references. 

Harley Quinn‘s best moments have always come from character growth — whether it’s Harley working through her codependency issues, Ivy confronting her misanthropy, or their relationship evolving from friendship to romance. With narrative obligations cleared away, Season 6 can play around with these strengths rather than chasing increasingly complex plot developments. Hopefully, that also means giving Harley more space in her show.

All five seasons of Harley Quinn are currently available on Max.

How did you like Season 5 of Harley Quinn? What do you hope to see in Season 6? Join the discussion in the comments!

The post Harley Quinn Season 5 Finale Feels Like an Ending (And That’s a Good Thing) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

We’ve seen some truly amazing moments throughout the Batman films, with several delivering a raised level of physicality and at times brutality along the way. Ben Affleck’s Batman and Robert Pattinson’s Batman are first to come to mind in that regard, as both lean into the more violent aspects of Batman’s nature and approach to crimefighting. That said, Absolute Batman’s level of brutality just left those fights in the dust, delivering a scene that no Batman fan will soon forget. Spoilers are incoming for Absolute Batman #5, but if you haven’t read the issue yet you’ve been warned.

Last issue’s showdown with Black Mask didn’t go as planned for Batman, as Bats ended up getting a severe beatdown, while his signal and statement to the people of Gotham went unheeded by the city’s populace. Batman regroups in issue #5 and gets some unexpected help to hit back at Black Mask.

Batman tracks down Black Mask on a yacht that also houses a local server for the network that connects all the would-be hitmen in Gotham and gives them targets to hunt down as well as bounties for each of those targets. Batman is pretty much mopping the floor with Black Mask, but Roman is able to get to Batman’s neck and choke him with a garrote. The effect is immediate, as Batman’s neck starts to bleed from the pressure, but this is when Batman takes things to the next level.

As Black Mask taunts Batman and pulls the garrote tighter around his neck, the ears on Batman’s cowl activate before suddenly turning downwards towards Black Mask’s face. Roman has been going on about killing pigs and making them shriek, and that’s when Batman says, ‘Did it sound anything like this?'”

[RELATED: Absolute Flash Just Shocked Everyone with a Massive Death]

Batman then used those bat ears to stab through Roman’s mask and directly into his eyes, causing him to shriek in pain. Batman then destroys the server and kills the network’s connection in the process, adding insult to injury.

While there are several vicious moments in past Batman films, especially in regards to The Batman and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, none of those can top Absolute Batman’s latest gnarly scene. The series was already making a case for it in past issues, but with this move, especially since it’s directly to one of Batman’s villains, it securely takes the top spot.

What did you think of this moment, and what’s the top Batman fight moment for you? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics and DC with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Absolute Batman’s Brutal Takedown Just Put Every Batman Movie Fight to Shame appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Thanks to Absolute Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman, we know DC isn’t afraid to take big swings with its Absolute line, and that is certainly the case for Absolute Flash as well. Absolute Flash #1 shakes things up in several ways for Wally West, both in terms of who the character is and how his powers work, though work is an operative term if you’ve read the issue. Those who have made their way to the end know that DC saved its biggest shock for last, revealing a massive death that no one expected. Spoilers from here on out for Absolute Flash #1, so you’ve been warned.

Absolute Flash introduces us to this world’s Wally West, who is a military kid and has subsequently spent much of his young life moving from base to base. He now calls Fort Fox home, where he lives with his no-nonsense father Colonel West, but this is also where he meets this world’s Barry Allen.

Allen is working on a special project at the base known as Project Olympus and shows Wally some of what he’s working on, which is all top secret. He tries to appeal to Wally’s father but he’s outraged when he finds out that Wally is in this part of the facility, and that leads to even more confrontations between father and son. Wally’s father tells him he is not allowed to go back to that part of the base or see Barry, but then fate intervenes.

Wally is outside when lightning strikes Barry’s lab, and Wally heads over to check on Barry. Wally finds Barry inside the chamber at the center of the lab, but something’s wrong, and Barry tells Wally to run. There’s a huge explosion of power, and while we know that Wally survived it, we see that Allen is nothing but a skeleton now, so apparently he died in that moment or sometime after. What we do know is that Wally blames himself for Barry’s death, and hopefully, we’ll get more answers soon.

[RELATED: DC x Sonic the Hedgehog is Looking to Take the Top Crossover Spot…and It Just Might (Review)]

The fact that the team is willing to kill someone as big as Barry Allen shows that nothing is outside of the realm of possibility in the DC Absolute Universe, and we can’t wait to see what other surprises await Wally as he tries to get a handle on his abilities and become this world’s fastest man alive.

Absolute Flash #1 is in comic stores and on digital platforms now.

What did you think of the issue? Let us know in the comments and you can talk all things comics with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Absolute Flash Just Shocked Everyone with a Massive Death appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Jason Momoa teases his comics-accurate look as Lobo in the upcoming DC Universe Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. After portraying Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe, Momoa has joined Gunn’s franchise reboot as the bounty hunter. The actor has long been a popular fan cast pick for Lobo, so there’s much excitement to see him bring the character to life. At the forefront of viewers’ minds is how Momoa’s Lobo will appear on-screen, and in an interview with Screen Rant, he said his film version looks “exactly like the character” from the comics. He expressed enthusiasm about taking on the role, as he’s long been a fan of Lobo.

“Well, this is the role I’ve always wanted to play. That’s the comic I loved, so I’m really nervous about it,” Momoa said. “It’s kind of a no-brainer to play this character. It’s pretty big. I don’t want to give away too much, but I mean, we look pretty dead on, exactly like the character, and he’s pretty rough and gruff and … I’ll say the bike’s really cool.”

Momoa was cast in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow back in December 2024. DC Studios co-head James Gunn said he had “no problems whatsoever” concerning Momoa’s history with DC Comics adaptations. The actor was actually actively campaigning for the role from the very beginning, sending Gunn a text reading “f-ing LOBO” after Gunn assumed his current position at DC.

[RELATED – Who Is Lobo? Jason Momoa’s DCU Character Explained]

Momoa’s comments about Lobo’s on-screen appearance echo Gunn’s statements from a month ago. During a DC Studios press event, the filmmaker confirmed the DC Universe’s Lobo will have a comics-accurate look, highlighting Momoa’s uncanny resemblance to the character.

Comic book adaptations have come a long way since 2000’s X-Men poking fun at Wolverine’s yellow spandex, but sometimes creative liberties have to be taken. For the most part, filmmakers try to honor the source material, though there are instances when what works on the page won’t always translate very well on-screen. With that in mind, it’s exciting to see Gunn and Peter Safran are planning to stick closely to the comics for Lobo. The character is known for having a very distinct look, and it would be disappointing if that wasn’t carried over his first live-action film appearance. Momoa’s genuine enthusiasm for playing Lobo combined with a comics-accurate cinematic design means fans should be in for a treat when Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow arrives next summer.

Though Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is currently in production, it’ll probably be a while before fans get to see Momoa’s Lobo in his full comics-accurate glory. Since the film doesn’t premiere until June 2026, there’s no rush for Warner Bros. to launch a marketing campaign. Gunn is known for sharing set photos on his productions, but the DCU team could decide to keep Lobo hidden to preserve the surprise. Momoa mentioned that he’s only in the film “for a little bit,” so it’ll be interesting to see how much of Lobo is revealed when it comes time to promote the film.

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