The DC Connected Universe (Frank Grillo Join Peacemaker Season 2 as Rick Flag Sr.)

UltimateMarvel wrote:Recasting Aquaman will probably be the hardest but hopefully Gunn can choose wisely. Or they might not even go with Aquaman at all in this reboot and instead bring in Martian Manhunter.

HBO Max is pulling the plug on Titans and Doom Patrol.

Both shows will come to an end when their respective fourth seasons wrap up later this year, our sister site Deadline reports.

“While these will be the final seasons of Titans and Doom Patrol, we are very proud of these series and excited for fans to see their climactic endings,” an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement to the trade.

Titans offers up a gritty take on the Teen Titans franchise as a group of strangers — including Dick Grayson aka Nightwing (played by Brenton Thwaites), Rachel Roth (Teagon Croft), Kori aka Starfire (Anna Diop) and Beast Boy (Ryan Potter) — team up to fight evil and become a surrogate family in the process.

Season 4 found the gang investigating a dark prophecy in Metropolis, which is Superman’s home turf. The fall finale, which aired in December, ended with Sebastian (The Originals’ Joseph Morgan) completing his fulfillment of the Red Moon ritual.

Meanwhile, Doom Patrol centers on a group of offbeat superheroes who all survived horrific accidents and assembled to investigate the strange happenings of the world. The team includes Rita (April Bowlby), Cliff aka Robotman (Brendan Fraser), Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), Larry aka Negative Man (Matt Bomer) and Cyborg (Jovian Wade). The midseason finale teased the apocalypse to end all apocalypses as the gang gears up for a fight against the big baddie Immortus.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I knew DP was ending but I don't think I knew about Titans' cancellation. With how the season is going so far though, I'm not surprised. Very disappointed in how they handled Lex Luthor.

DC Slate Unveiled: New Batman, Supergirl Movies, a Green Lantern TV Show, and More from James Gunn, Peter Safran

A new Batman movie without Robert Pattinson (but featuring Bruce Wayne’s murderous son). A Superman movie on the release schedule (mark your calendars for July 11, 2025). A Game of Thrones-style drama set on Wonder Woman’s home island of Themyscira (Amazonian palace intrigue). And an animated series already in production (Creature Commandos … wait, what?).

That’s just part of what will be coming to theaters and TV screens as part of DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new slate.

The pair have been busy in the three months since taking over and combining the film and television slate of DC properties, including live-action and animation, as well as gaming. They revamped the way the movie and TV sides do business, cutting ties with projects and creators. A writers room was formed to find an overall story that will launch a unified DC Universe. Creators have been approached. And a plan, at least part of one for what is being billed as Chapter 1: God and Monsters, was formulated and a slate of projects put into development.

Now after ambitiously promising fans that they would have something to show by Feb. 1, Gunn and Safran have unveiled the first part of their slate. It’s a combination of big and known heroes along with lesser-known characters, who may just become big, like the once-obscure heroes of Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films over at Marvel Studios. The duo shared their plans Monday with reporters in a petite and tidy screening room on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.

“One of our strategies is to take our diamond characters, which is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and we use them to prop up other characters that people don’t know,” explained Gunn.

And continued Safran, “To build those lesser known properties into the diamond properties of tomorrow.”

While plans may yet shift, cautioned the duo, here is initial slate of Chapter 1, in the order they hope it will appear.

Creature Commandos: An animated seven episode series, written by Gunn, that is already in production. Originally a team of classic monsters assembled to fight Nazis, this is a modern take on the concept. The voice actors have yet to be cast but the executives are looking to find people who can voice the animated characters and also portray the live-action versions when the anti-heroes to show up in movies and shows.

Waller: A spin-off of Gunn’s own HBO Max hit series, Peacemaker, Viola Davis will return as the ruthless and morally ambiguous head of a government task force. It is being written by Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver, the creator of the Doom Patrol TV series.

Superman: Legacy: The movie featuring the Man of Steel that Gunn is writing and may direct, although no commitments on that end have been made. While the two previous titles are meant to be “aperitifs,” in Safran’s words, Superman is the true kick off for the duo’s DCU plans. “It’s not an origin story,” Safran said. “It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. He is the embodiment of truth justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks that kindness as old-fashioned.” A release date of July 11, 2025 has been penciled in.

Lanterns: Greg Berlanti’s long-in-the-works Green Lanterns TV series has been scrapped and the duo have parted ways with the longtime DC series steward. In its place will be a new take on the space cops with power rings. “Our vision for this is very much in the vein of True Detective,” Safran described. “It’s terrestrial-based.” It will feature prominent Lantern heroes Hal Jordan and John Stewart and is one of the most important shows they have in development. “This plays a really big role in leading into the main story we are telling across film and TV.”

The Authority: a movie based on a team of superheroes with rather extreme methods of protecting the planet that first originated in the late 1990s under an influential imprint known as Wildstorm, run by artist and now head of DC publishing, Jim Lee. “One of the things of the DCU is that it’s not just a story of heroes and villains,” said Gunn. “Not every film and TV show is going to be about good guy vs. bad guy, giant things from the sky comes and good guy wins. There are white hats, black hats and grey hats.” Added Safran: “They are kinda like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. They know that you want them on the wall. Or at least they believe that.”

Paradise Lost: The duo describe this HBO Max series as a Game of Thrones-style drama set on the all-female island that is Wonder Woman’s birthplace, Themyscira, filled with political intrigue and scheming between power players. It takes place before the events of the Wonder Woman films.

The Brave and the Bold: “This is the introduction of the DCU Batman,” said Gunn. “Of Bruce Wayne and also introduces our favorite Robin, Damian Wayne, who is a little son of a bitch.” The movie will take inspiration from the now-classic Batman run written by Grant Morrison that introduced Batman to a son he never knew existed: a murderous tween raised by assassins. “It’s a very strange father-and-son story.”

And, importantly, it will feature a Batman not played by Robert Pattinson…

The Batman sequel: Pattinson will continue to portray the Dark Knight in at least one more crime saga movie directed by Matt Reeves. That movie, the executives revealed, will be released Oct. 3, 2025 and is being titled The Batman Part II.

“2025 is going to be a very big year for DC,” crowed Safran. “Superman and Batman within the same year.”

Booster Gold: an HBO Max series based on a unique and lower-tiered hero created in 1986. Safran said of the series, “It’s about a loser from the future who uses basic future technology to come back to today and pretend to be a superhero.” Gunn described it as “imposter syndrome as superhero.”

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow: Taking its cues from the recent Tom King-written mini-series, this movie project promises to have a different take than what most think of when the idea of Superman’s cousin comes to mind. “We will see the difference between Superman, who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents from the time he was an infant, versus Supergirl, raised on a rock, a chip off of Krypton, and who watched everyone around her die and be killed in terrible ways for the first 14 years of her life and then come to Earth. She is much more hardcore and not the Supergirl we’re used to.”

Swamp Thing: a horror film that promises to close out the first part of the first chapter. Before audiences get to those films and series, however, there is a matter of this year’s crop movies, starting with Shazam! Fury of the Gods, coming March 17, and continuing with The Flash (June 16), Blue Beetle (Aug. 18), and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Dec. 25).

The duo are high on the quartet, made by the previous film regime and under the aegis of DC Films, run by former head Walter Hamada. Gunn calls The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti, “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.”

He also said the four leads of those films could potentially continue playing their leading roles in DCU projects down the line. “There is nothing that prohibits that from happening,” said Gunn.

Among those actors is Ezra Miller, the troubled star of The Flash who has found themselves in several criminal investigations, and pled guilty to trespassing earlier this month, but who also told studio executives that they were getting help.

Safran said the executives remained hopeful Miller was on a path to betterment. “Ezra is completely committed to their recovery. We are fully supportive of that journey they are on right now. When the time is right, when they are ready to have that discussion, we will all figure out what the best path forward. But right now, they are completely focused on their recovery. And in our conversation with them, in the last couple of months, it feels like they are making enormous progress.”

The duo discussed their approach to casting, whether it was returning or new actors. The TV series will look to cast actors who will also play the parts on the big screen. Just as John Cena played the violent figure Peacemaker in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad then in the Peacemaker series, anyone cast in Hal Jordan and John Stewart in Lanterns, for example, will then cross-over into the films.

“We don’t want the series to feel in any way like step-children or lesser than,” said Gunn. “It’s just another way to tell a story.” (They like being able to spend eight hours digging deep into certain characters.)

And they took on the touchy subject of Henry Cavill, tipped to return as Superman thanks for a cameo in last year’s Black Adam, but who in the end, will not return as Superman, much to the chagrin of a vocal fanbase.

“We didn’t fire Henry. Henry was never cast,” said Gunn. “For me, it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers we have want to cast. And for me, for this story, it isn’t Henry.”

He added: “I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company. But this Superman is not Henry, for a number of reasons.”

And the executives also tried to walk the line of if and how to deal with actors who stepped into controversy, with Shazam!‘s Zachary Levi being the most recent example. On the weekend, Levi tweeted words against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, known for its COVID-19 vaccine, which many interpreted as the actor having anti-vaccine views.

“Actors, filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with, and things that I don’t agree with,” said Gunn, who in 2018 was temporarily fired by Disney as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due to old, offensive tweets. “I can’t be changing my plans all the time because an actor says something that I don’t agree with. At the same token, if someone is doing something that is morally reprehensible, that’s a different story. And we have to take that into account.”

Though the duo are working in one DC Universe, some stories will stand apart. Reeves’ Batman movies and Todd Phillips’s sequel to the Joker will fall under a banner titled DC Elseworlds, which will, just as in the comics, fall outside the larger continuity of the DCU. The Black Superman project, being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates under the previous regime, remains in active development and would also fall under that category. Teen Titans Go, the popular and long-running cartoon series on Cartoon Network also falls under that banner, the duo said.

“The bar is going to be very high for projects to be outside the DCU, the Elseworlds projects,” explained Safran. “But every now and then there will be something that lives up to that.”

The duo are putting a premium on screenplay writing, saying that would prevent the dreaded feeling of “superhero fatigue” and also give the projects a tonal and thematic difference from each other. Gunn called out the degradation of screenwriters in Hollywood and also said that the duo wanted to be respectful of the voice of filmmakers they were working with … up to a point.

“It’s not the Gunnverse, it’s not,” Gunn said. “It’s got to be all these different feels from all these different stories. That’s what makes it so fun. The stories are completely different and each has the individual expression of the writers and the director that are making those projects.”

But, he added, “We’re not stupid. Not every filmmaker is going to be happy. Because if someone is doing something that isn’t working, we’re going to be honest.”

Gunn and Safran’s hirings were the culmination of over a half year quest by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to find someone to lead a screen division of DC. In his own words, Zaslav was looking for a ”Kevin Feige,” the storied and successful head of rival Marvel Studios, who has led the Disney-owned company a seemingly an endless string of hits, all the while telling a unified and interconnected story. Gunn became an A-list filmmaker under Feige, who hired him to direct 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but he was quick to note this is not a Marvel redux: “A lot of people are thinking this is Marvel 2.0. It’s not.”

“Zaslav had a vision in mind of a standalone studio that would have everything DC centralized,” said Safran. “And that was the appeal for us, coming in and having access to any character, any story, and to tell the stories we wanted to tell across all the mediums.”

As Gunn said, “the history of DC is pretty messed up,” referring to the turmoil and dysconnectivity that has roiled DC plans of Warner Bros. Pictures for the last dozen or so years. There was filmmaker Zack Snyder’s multi-movie universe that sputtered half way through. There was an attempted course correction by Joss Whedon, that maybe made things worse. There the several changes in studio leadership and ownership. And there was the Arrowverse, the successful if niche TV side of DC that aired for over a decade on the CW.

“No one was minding the mint,” says Gunn. “They were giving away IP like they were party favors at any creator who smiled at them.”

For Gunn, being handed the keys to a comic book universe are like something out of a childhood dream. Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, Gunn described himself as “a lost, screwed up kid” who didn’t feel like he belonged.

His father and mother were so concerned that they sent him to a psychiatrist who advised them to take interest in his interests. Which happened to be reading, writing, and drawing comic books. In one attempt at connecting, Gunn’s father took him to Creation Comic Con, a big comic convention in Chicago. It remains the best weekend he’s ever had, a time that solidified a magic and connection to the medium and its colorful characters.

Gunn now wants to bring that magic and connection to moviegoing and TV watching audiences by revamping DC Studios in a way that hasn’t been done before.

“I have an incredibly deep connection to these characters, to these stories, and to wanting to create that type of magic not only in the kid that I was, but in the connection that I had with my father, with friends later on,” Gunn explained. “And wanting to create a unified world in DC where we tell stories.”

In the end, both Gunn and Safran know not only what is at stake but also the enormous opportunity being presented to them. For Safran, it’s the chance to impact and change the culture, be it the company culture of how it approaches storytelling to the broader pop culture.

Gunn lit up in giddiness at the pure magic of it all.

“This is a not only a once in a lifetime opportunity, it’s a once opportunity. It’s me, now. No one has ever gotten to do this before. And how could I say no to that?”

Rusty wrote:Hope they don't do Swamp Thing as dirty as they did the short-lived TV series. They never gave that thing the chance it deserved.

Alfred Pennyworth is ending his origin story.

HBO Max has decided against a fourth season of Pennyworth, otherwise known as Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler.

The streamer picked up the show for its third season, after two seasons aired on Epix. The DC origin series premiered its third season on the streamer in October and the ten-episode series ran through end of November.

It comes after new DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled their plan for the Warner Bros. Discovery comic book studio division and Pennyworth was absent.

The drama series joins other DC shows Titans and Doom Patrol, which are also both ending on the streamer after their fourth seasons.

Pennyworth follows Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon), a former British SAS soldier, who forms a security company in 1960s London and goes to work with young billionaire Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge), before he becomes Bruce Wayne’s father.

Season three also starred Emma Paetz, Paloma Faith, Ryan Fletcher, Dorothy Atkinson, Ramon Tikaram, Harriet Slater and Simon Manyonda.

The third season begins after a five-year time jump: the civil war is over, and a cultural revolution has changed the world for better or worse – ushering in a new age of superheroes and supervillains.

Based on DC characters created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, the ten-episode drama series from Warner Bros. Television is executive produced by Bruno Heller, Matthew Patnick, Danny Cannon and John Stephens.

“While HBO Max is not moving forward with another season of Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler, we are very thankful to creator Bruno Heller and executive producers Matthew Patnick, Danny Cannon and John Stephens, along with Warner Bros. Television, for their brilliant, unique, gripping depiction of the origin of Alfred Pennyworth, one of the most iconic characters in the Batman world,” said an HBO Max spokesperson. “An incredible blend of action, drama and humor, for three seasons, Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler has taken fans on a mind-bending ride into Alfred’s eccentric world and the beginnings of cutting-edge super heroes and super villains.”

Per Gunn and Safran’s unveiling, on the TV side, there’s an animated series, Creature Commandos written by Gunn, the Peacemaker spinoff live action series Waller with Viola Davis, a Lanterns series, Booster Gold and Paradise Lost.

Overall the gameplan is two movies a year, and two series for HBO Max in what is an eight to ten year plan.

UltimateMarvel wrote:From the DCU, I'm only looking forward to Superman and Batman.

Gunn's open communication with the audience is 10/10, got to respect that.

WyldeMan wrote:Yes but Gunn while can't stop talking to the fans he's simultaneously been pissing off the WBD execs with some of his comments. Several of them are the same idiots he called out during his DCU announcement for their past idiotic behaviors and they are now execs for WBD and are said to be quite unhappy with him but Zaslav agrees with Gunn.  

WyldeMan wrote:I dig how much Gunn is promoting all the comics too, everything he's sharing is being sold out within a day. He's giving the audience a couple years to read through the source materials and get used to the kind of vision he has for the DCU and I've never seen any other regime do this before and it makes you wonder why. It's just good business all around isn't it?

joey con carne wrote:James Gunn can post all the cool pictures he wants on Twitter. Doesn't change the fact they are going to fuck this all up again, as usual.

It's like a shitty game posting a super sick CGI "trailer" that shows absolutely zero gameplay and then the actual gameplay upon release is crap.

WyldeMan wrote:I have more faith than you in Gunn because he's already proven himself to me in the comic space because Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is the only franchise in Marvel that I've found worth revisiting multiple times and I highly enjoyed both The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. 

Yes, James Gunn loves weird obscure characters that nobody really knows going in but he wins you over throughout the movie. Rocket Racoon is a household name now and the Gunn made people somehow care about a tree who only says his own name. He's got a thing for underdogs.

Ok he's clearly got a thing for tentacles but he also appears to have way more respect for comic book characters and their adaptations than anybody else making these kinds of movies today, specifically the MCU's jelly fish of man Kevin Feige who doesn't give a fuck about respect or the history of the characters he's bastardizing in every way. Gunn loves the material and seems to have read everything but I'm not sure Feige has ever even touched a comic book or graphic novel unless it was for a photo opportunity.

I have no idea if this DC reboot is going to work but it can't possibly get any worse given the last decade.

Meanwhile the MCU is in the toilet and I don't see that changing at any point in at least the next five years. I'm not interested in anything they've got coming out after Guardians Vol 3 and that again is because James Gunn made me care.

joey con carne wrote:As much as I complain I'll still watch their stuff. It can't get any worse than Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds, right?

UltimateMarvel wrote:That's a nice artwork of Superman he posted. Is that new or is it from somewhere?

Former Marvel star Rhenzy Feliz is jumping to DC. Feliz, who headlined Marvel’s Runaways on Hulu, has been cast as a lead opposite Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti in the HBO Max original series The Penguin (working title) from Warner Bros Television and DC Studios.

The eight-episode drama continues the Batman crime saga Matt Reeves began with Warner Bros Pictures’ The Batman and centers on the character played by Farrell in the film. Milioti plays female lead Sofia Falcone. Details about Feliz’s character are not being revealed but he is believed to be playing a teen whom The Penguin (Farrell) befriends and makes his driver.

Rhenzy can be seen in the Amazon feature The Tender Bar opposite Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan with George Clooney directing, and in FX’s anthology American Horror Stories. He also voices the character of Camilo Madrigal and sings “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” in Disney’s Encanto. Rhenzy starred as the lead of Hulu’s Marvel’s Runaways for three seasons. His first professional job was in Jason Reitman’s Hulu dramedy Casual, which he booked during his senior year of high school.

Source: Deadline

Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Jack Ryan), Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse, House Of Sand And Fog) and Deirdre O’Connell (Outer Range, Dana H on Broadway) have been added to the HBO Max original series The Penguin (working title), from Warner Bros Television and DC Studios. They join previously cast Colin Farrell, who plays the title character, Cristin Milioti, who plays female lead Sofia Falcone, and Rhenzy Feliz, who is believed to be playing a teen whom The Penguin befriends and makes his driver.

The eight-episode drama continues the Batman crime saga Matt Reeves began with Warner Bros Pictures’ The Batman and centers on the character played by Farrell in the film.

The series is executive produced by Reeves; Dylan Clark; Farrell; Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner; Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes; and Bill Carraro. Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer and Rafi Crohn is co-executive producer.

Production on the limited series begins this month in New York.

Source: Deadline

A recent audience screening of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom allegedly tested so poorly that viewers left the theater, which is an extremely bad sign for the future of the franchise. According to our trusted and proven sources, the version of the much-anticipated Jason Momoa sequel was so disliked by the audience that some people could literally not finish it (which might seem a little extreme). It seems that the movie was immediately pulled back for reshoots, which we speculate might cause more delays in the already much-rescheduled movie.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is one of the few remaining projects left from the pre-James Gunn DC Extended Universe that is confirmed to still be headed to theaters. That should really be no surprise, as the first James Wan movie was a massive surprise hit, grossing $1.149 billion in theaters, making it both the highest-performing DCEU movie and the highest-performing film based on a DC Comics character. Given the generally shaky performances of various DC films, a second Aquaman movie was never in doubt.

However, the extremely poor test performance of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom seems to have put a little fear into DC Studios’ heart. That said, reshoots have often been overblown as a sign that a movie has turned into a disaster; for example, reports that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had extensive reshoots after test screenings initially seemed to indicate the movie would be a disaster. Instead, it is generally regarded as one of the best Star Wars projects to emerge from the Disney era of the franchise.

All that is to say, reshoots are not necessarily the end of the world or of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. All movies are subjected to reshoots in some capacity (which is known as “the editing process”), but a high-profile movie with one of the biggest stars in the world makes everyone feel a little jittery. We will just have to wait till Christmas Day to see if James Wan and Jason Momoa got things done, assuming that it does not get rescheduled once again.

There have been consistent rumors that Jason Momoa is looking to defect from the Aquaman franchise to portray interstellar badass bounty hunter Lobo for the new DC Universe. If this new movie does not perform on the level as the first movie, it certainly seems that could be a possibility. While James Gunn has not confirmed that the Main Man will be appearing in the DCU, the studio definitely has the right overly-muscled, shaggy-haired actor to play the role if he does.

Of course, it does not seem like Jason Momoa has put all his eggs into the aquabasket. He will be appearing in a villainous role in the upcoming Fast X movie (already driving fans wild with his knife-licking action) and is in talks to appear in the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie. We’ll just see if he actually is done with Aquaman after whatever happens next.

Harvey Dent Is In The Batman Part 2

The upcoming film The Batman Part II will bring fan-favorite character Harvey Dent aka Two-Face into Matt Reeves’s new vision of the Dark Knight. According to our trusted and proven sources, Gotham City’s former District Attorney/criminal mastermind will be part of the sequel to the hit 2022 film, though no actor has yet been cast in the role. Harvey Dent has appeared in numerous previous Batman films in both pre- and post-facial scarring, so it will be interesting to see how The Batman Part II approaches the character this time.

Harvey Dent has been portrayed in live-action films by three different actors so far: Billy Dee Williams, Tommy Lee Jones, and Aaron Eckhart. Williams briefly portrayed the Gotham D.A. in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, vowing to take down the city’s organized crime syndicates; he was originally intended to reprise the role in Batman Returns, but his character was rewritten as evil industrialist Max Shreck and portrayed by Christopher Walken.

The character was next portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 film Batman Forever as a maniacal, colorful villain accompanied by two female molls played by Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar. Famously, Tommy Lee Jones did not like co-starring with Jim Carrey (who portrayed the Riddler, who would be played by Paul Dano as the primary villain of 2022’s The Batman), allegedly telling the Dumb and Dumber actor that he would not “sanction [his] buffoonery.”

Most recently, Harvey Dent was portrayed by Aaron Eckhart in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008), the first film to depict the character’s transformation from idealistic D.A. to murderous criminal (albeit one focused on eradicating the remaining elements of Gotham’s criminal underworld). Harvey Dent briefly reappeared in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises through archival footage, as well as the lingering effects of his death and the cover-up of his actions on the city.

Perhaps even more than Christopher Nolan, Matt Reeves seems to be portraying a more grounded, gritty version of Batman, so it will be interesting to see how Harvey Dent will appear in his next film. The depiction of Two-Face has varied wildly in the decades since his debut in a 1942 issue of Detective Comics, as is typical of almost all comic book characters. However, in recent years, Harvey Dent has increasingly been portrayed as a tragic figure constantly at war with his own fractured psyche and warring impulses toward justice and violence.

One of the primary themes of The Batman was the depth of corruption in Gotham City and how neither the city government nor the Wayne family’s fortune was above being tainted by it. It seems almost certain that a large part of The Batman Part II will involve Harvey Dent struggling against the criminal culture of Gotham, but it will be interesting to see if his disfiguration is depicted on screen at all.

With shake-up after shake-up happening at both DC Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery, it’s been made crystal clear that no one is safe from the chopping block. But for those of us who have been waiting patiently to hear the fate of Ezra Miller’s future following their standalone feature The Flash, it would seem as though James Gunn himself has given the green light for Miller to continue with the studio. The news comes from World of Reel, who report that both Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and DC Studios co-chairman Gunn will continue to tap the We Need to Talk About Kevin star for the super-charged role.

Although it’s an early call, the news shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following the early reviews surrounding the Ezra Miller-led superhero feature, The Flash. So far, the film has been praised as being even better than the mega-hit Spider-Man: No Way Home and was even said to top the vision behind Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. But still, with a rap sheet as long as Miller’s, it’s a tad bit surprising that Gunn and Zaslav would be making the decision so soon.

For those who may not know, Ezra Miller has kept up a personal life completely opposite their character Barry Allen aka the Flash, continuously finding themself in trouble with the law. From arrests in Hawaii to a court case that saw them cutting a plea deal for burglary charges in Vermont, Miller has certainly kept their name in the headlines, even if it’s been for all the wrong reasons. Because of their constant misconduct, fans have pleaded with DC Studios to cut Miller from the lineup and replace them with Arrowverse star Grant Gustin, who plays the titular character on the CW’s The Flash.

After one of their latest run-ins with the law, Ezra Miller said that they would seek treatment and rehabilitation for mental health issues, something that World of Reel’s source attributed to Gunn and Zaslav’s decision. Of course, things could always change, and Ezra Miller could still be dethroned from their run as the Flash, but as of right now, it sounds like DC Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery has their minds made up and won’t be sending them away like the recently dismissed Henry Cavill.

For fans of Ezra Miller who are excited to see the actor jump back into the role of Barry Allen in The Flash, momentum has been building to an all-time high over the last few weeks, with major reveals dropping in the first official trailer. The upcoming sure-to-be summer blockbuster hit will tell the story of Barry (Miller) as he travels back through time in hopes of changing some traumatic events from his past. But, as anyone who has seen a time-traveling or multiverse-based film before will know, things are more complicated than Barry thinks, and his actions could spell disaster and the end of the world.

Along with spotting multiple Ezra Miller’s in the trailer for The Flash, audiences were super stoked to see Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman, a part that he stepped away from following his two-film deal with Tim Burton three decades ago. Also appearing in the first official look for the Andrés Muschietti-helmed feature were Sasha Calle’s Supergirl and Michael Shannon’s General Zod, who is back from the dead because, on this timeline, 2013’s Man of Steel never took place. The Flash will dart onto screens on June 16, 2023.

‘The Penguin’ Casts Clancy Brown As Salvatore Maroni

The Penguin has found its mob moss.

Clancy Brown (Dexter: New Blood) is set to recur as Salvatore Maroni in the Max Original limited drama series from Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios.

The eight-episode DC Studios drama will continue the Batman crime saga that Matt Reeves began with Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Batman and centers on the character played by Colin Farrell in the film.

Maroni appeared in American comic books published by DC Comics. He’s a powerful mob boss and gangster in Gotham City and an enemy of Batman. He was also the one who disfigured poor Harvey Dent.

Other cast members in The Penguin besides Farrell and Brown include Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Deirdre O’Connell.

The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes, and Bill Carraro.

Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer and Rafi Crohn is co-executive producer.

Source: Deadline