Updated with information on two new DCEU dates for 2020!

With Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad now in the books, the DC Extended Universe is in full swing. The Wonder Woman movie was a huge success, and it's all leading up to the Justice League movie in November of 2017. 

So, it's time to take a look at all of the DC superhero movies that will be released over the next few years. And trust us, there are a ton of them on the way, and we expect more details will be announced as we go forward. 

We have all the release dates for every one of 'em right here, as well as official details, the most interesting rumors, and suggestions for further reading where appropriate. 

Click the blue links to go to articles containing everything you need to know about the movies!

Here's how this works, because the schedule is getting a little weird. We're starting with the dates that we know Warner Bros. has reserved specifically for DC superhero movies. You'll find that in some cases, there isn't officially a project attached to that date yet. Then we'll get into the stuff that we know for 100% certain is in development, but that don't have release dates. Then we'll get into some of the long shots at the bottom.

November 17th, 2017 - Justice League

Zack Snyder will direct Justice League, and BvS co-writer Chris Terrio is back. The villain of this one is Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid's relatives, and it focuses on Batman building a team to confront him.

Here's the official synopsis:

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat.  But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

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This one will also introduce Aquaman's Queen Mera (played by Amber Heard), which would make sense considering that the Aquamanmovie will follow the next fall.

July 27th, 2018 - Unknown

This was formerly the date occupied by the Aquaman movie, but that was bumped to October, and then December. At one point we thought this could end up being the debut of Ben Affleck's Batmansolo movie but that film has just hit its own production problems, with Mr. Affleck bowing out as director, Matt Reeves coming on board, and a complete rewrite of the script looming. 

Maybe The Flash, which is likely about to hit some production delays will just get a few months of breathing room? Or will Warner Bros. just use this for something else entirely that has nothing to do with superheroes? That seems like the most likely scenario, and I doubt we'll see The Batman before 2019. We'll probably find out very soon, because unless they're further along on something than they're telling us, this date is looking unlikely.

December 21, 2018 - Aquaman

Jason Momoa is playing Aquaman. There's no doubt that they've been taking Aquaman very seriously. Amber Heard will also appear as Queen Mera. Patrick Wilson is Ocean Master and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is Black Manta.

James Wan (Furious 7) will direct from a script by Kurt Johnstad (300: Rise of an Empire).

April 5th, 2019 - Shazam

Shazamhas both a writer (Henry Gayden, of Earth to Echo fame) and a star (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the villainous Black Adam) announced. If we end up getting to see Henry Cavill's Superman fight Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam some day, it's tough to imagine anyone would complain. Lights Out director David F. Sandberg is in the mix to direct this one, but hasn't been confirmed yet.

[related article: Why the Shazam Movie is Important]

But like other projects on this calendar, this doesn't seem to be on the fast track, and with a recently announced Black Adam solo movie with Dwayne Johnson now in development (more on that in a bit), it's not clear what that means for the immediate future of Shazam. The fact that Dwayne Johnson is just about the busiest man in Hollywood doesn't help, either.

June 14th, 2019 - Unknown

This was long ago announced as the Justice League 2 release date, but this is apparently about to change. Director Zack Snyder would like to take on another project, and there are recent indications that Warner Bros is prioritizing the Batmansolo movie over this, and that this could end up being that film's date instead.

It's also possible that this could end up being David Ayer's Gotham City Sirens movie. Or maybe it will end up being the new date for...

The Flash

At this point, there's zero chance this makes that March release date. After losing two directors/writers in Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) wrote a screenplay, and Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) this one needs some work, and potential directors now include Matthew Vaughn and Robert Zemeckis. The latest is that it's being completely rewritten by Joby Harold. 

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Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Madame Bovary) is playing Barry Allen, but probably a very different Barry Allen than the one we currently love on TV. Billy Crudup will play Dr. Henry Allen, with Kiersey Clemons as Iris West. Ray Fisher (Cyborg in Batman v Superman and Justice League) will also appear.

November 1st, 2019 - Untitled DC Film

No information has yet been given as to the story or what characters will be featured in the film. Man of Steel 2is back in active development at the studio. Could this be it? It's yet another potential landing date for Ben Affleck's Batman solo movie, too. In fact, given that movie's ongoing troubles, this is probably its most likely arrival date.

November is a safer month for high profile releases than October, and this could be where the now-rescheduled Justice League 2 ends up, although we suspect it will be a bit longer than that.

The truth is that we just don't know what DC has planned for Nov. 2019, so we'll just have to wait and see. 

February 14, 2020 - Untitled DC Film

We're not quite sure what this one is just yet, but there are a couple of possibilities down below...

April 3rd, 2020 - Cyborg

And this one is the biggest surprise of them all. Ray Fisher made his first (very brief) appearance as Vic Stone/Cyborg in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and will clearly have a crucial role to play in both Justice League films if they're grooming him for a solo film. He's going to feature in The Flash solo movie, too.

No other details are presently available, and there are also rumors that this one might be reworked into a movie that would introduce the Teen Titans to the big screen. 

June 5th, 2020

Just like that February date, we don't know what this is, but after Green Lantern, there are a few possibilities...

July 24th, 2020 - Green Lantern Corps

Fairly or unfairly, Green Lantern has the most working against him. The 2011 film failed to kickstart the DC Universe as planned, and received a lukewarm (at best) critical and box-office reception. There are, of course, ways around this.

One way is to simply not make Hal Jordan the central Green Lantern of the movie. It was revealed at SDCC 2015 that the Green Lantern movie is now called Green Lantern Corps, and this one may focus on as many as three Green Lanterns, likely with John Stewart as the main Green Lantern of Sector 2814. David Goyer and Justin Rhodes are writing the script, but there's no director in place yet. There's a slim chance that Goyer could end up directing, though.

We've heard bits and pieces indicating that Green Lantern won't even show up until the end of Justice League, or possibly even Justice League 2. By the time 2020 rolls around, a decade will have passed, and by then the character won't be considered so radioactive by studio execs. 

Now, let's get into the projects that are in the works, but don't have release dates yet. We've grouped these roughly in the order we expect to see them based on how far along they are.

Gotham City Sirens

Harley Quinn isn't just for the Suicide Squad. Warner Bros. has tapped David Ayer to direct Gotham City Sirens, which will team Harley Quinn up with other female DC villain, most likely including Poison Ivy and Catwoman. It's not totally clear if this is replacing a Harley Quinn solo movie, which we have a few details on here.

This one is on the fast-track, so it could take over that June 14th, 2019 release date vacated by Justice League 2. There are really thin rumors that Warner Bros. wants to release four Batman themed movies in 2019: Gotham City Sirens, Nightwing, Batgirl, and that Batman solo movie they keep promising us. I wouldn't put too much stock in that just yet.

But let's talk about two of those other Bat-themed movies for a moment...

Nightwing

The Lego Batman movie director Chris McKay has been tapped to direct a Nightwing movie. Bill Dubuque (The Accountant) is working on a script. No other details are currently available, and this one doesn't have a release date yet, although there are rumors of a 2019 window. We wrote more about it here.

Batgirl

Joss Whedon will write, direct, and produce a Batgirl movie, one that is reportedly based on Gail Simone's recent New 52 take on the character. We have some more details here, but there's no casting or release date to report yet. This is another one where there are rumors of 2019 in the wind, but don't put any stock in that yet.

Suicide Squad 2

While the critical response to the first film wasn't so hot, the box office was blazing, so Suicide Squad 2 is definitely happening. David Ayer going to be too busy with Gotham City Sirens until further notice, though, and possible directors include Mel Gibson, Danny Espinosa, and Jonathan Levine. Adam Cozad, who wrote The Legend of Tarzan, is working on a script.

Justice League 2

Don't be fooled by the fact that this lost its 2019 release date, Warner Bros. is still planning a second installment, since the first one is bound to make all kinds of bank. Things will stay quiet on this for a few more months.

Black Adam

Shazam doesn't have a director or a star to play its title character yet, but it sure does have a villain. And that villain, who will be played by Dwayne Johnson, is certainly strong enough to sustain his own movie. There's no release date set for the Black Adammovie, and this is the kind of thing that could work as a nifty prequel to set up the mystical world of Shazam if they choose to go that route. We're currently on the lookout for more info.

Booster Gold (and maybe Blue Beetle)

Flash and Arrow executive producer Greg Berlanti is going to executive produce and possibly direct a Booster Gold movie. Zack Stentz (Thor, X-Men: First Class, a recent episode of CW's The Flash TV series) will write the script.

Early reports described this as a "superhero buddy cop movie" that would involve Blue Beetle. We'll get you more updates on this as they become available.

And now for the long shots...projects mentioned, rumored, or that haven't had any movement in a while.

Deadshot

Warner Bros. knows they have one of the biggest stars in the world already in costume, so they're reportedly considering a Deadshotsolo movie, as well.

Lobo

Back on the schedule after years of being dormant, the Lobo movie may attempt to be the DCEU equivalent of Deadpool. Jason Fuchs must have impressed Warner Bros. with his work on Wonder Woman, because he's on board to write the script for this one.

We'll update this with more information as we get it, but it should be a fun ride.

Sandman

Sandmanisn't a superhero movie, so the fact that he wasn't involved in an announcement that primarily focused on high-profile franchises (along with the superhero slate, Warner Bros. focused on Lego movies and Harry Potter spinoffs). It isn't a DC Universe movie that will have any bearing on future Justice League films. But it is one of the most successful, enduring comics of all time. 

The latest news on this isn't encouraging, though. It appears to be a dead project.

[related article: Sandman - The Essential Horror Comic of the '90s]

Dark Universe

Dark Universe might be more familiar to comic book fans under its comic name, Justice League Dark. This one will feature the supernatural characters from the DC Universe. Characters like Swamp Thing, Demon, Deadman, Zatanna, and possibly even John Constantine.

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Guillermo del Toro was attached to this one for quite some time, but had to leave the project. Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) will now direct.

Legion of Super-Heroes

This one came as a big surprise when the rumor surfaced a couple of years ago. The word is that Warner Bros., perhaps inspired by the runaway success of Guardians of the Galaxy, is looking to put together their own superheroic space opera. Nobody has been hired. Warner Bros. have simply placed this one on the table as a DC property potentially worth developing, and are inviting writers to make pitches.

Metal Men

Perhaps the longest of the long-shots, the Metal Men movie is something that's been in discussion as far back as 2007. It's the most bizarre concept of the bunch, involving a mad scientist and his group of sentient elemental robots, but like Suicide Squadand Legion of Super-Heroes, perhaps that uniqueness is what makes this one so appealing. Warner Bros. can't be seen to copy the Marvel model too closely, so veering away from solo outings for traditional heroes and into this kind of territory might be the very best thing they can do for the brand.

The Metal Men recently received a New 52 facelift at the hands of writer Geoff Johns, the co-chair of DC Films. If they're a favorite of DC Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer, it would be wrong to count the Metal Men out, even if there's been no public movement on this project in recent memory.

We'll keep updating this with new information as we get it!

“Never do anything yourself that others can do for you,” mystery writer Agatha Christie wrote in The Labours of Hercules, and Amazon is taking her up on that offer. Christie wrote 78 crime novels, 150 short stories and 19 plays and the streaming service plans to adapt as many as they can in an upcoming drama series.

“We are delighted to be working with Amazon in the TV space,” James Pritchard, Chairman and CEO of Agatha Christie Limited, said in a statement. “They have obviously played a massive part in our book business over the past few years and it is exciting to move with them onto Prime Video in the U.S.”

Amazon announced a multi-show deal with Agatha Christie Productions for U.S. rights to adapt seven of the late British crime writer’s works. The first book on the slate is the 1958 psychological thriller Ordeal By Innocence which will be made into a three-part miniseries. Production began earlier in the month in the U.K.

“We are thrilled to bring to our slate these adaptations from the world’s greatest mystery writer,” Morgan Wandell, head of international series at Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “With terrific talent, in front of and behind the camera, they are sure to delight our customers.”

 “The Argyle family is far from pleased to discover one of its number has been posthumously pardoned for murder,” reads the official synopsis on Agathachristie.com.

“If Jacko Argyle didn’t kill his mother, who did? Dr. Arthur Calgary takes a ferry across the Rubicon River to Sunny Point, the home of the Argyle family. A year before, the matriarch of the family was murdered and a son, Jack, was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Throughout the trial Jack had maintained his innocence, claiming he was hitchhiking on the night of the murder and he had been picked up by a middle-aged man in a dark car. Unable to locate this mystery man the police viewed Jack’s as a lie. Calgary was the stranger in question, but he arrives to late for Jack – who succumbs to pneumonia after serving just six months of his sentence. Feeling a sense of duty to the Argyles, Calgary is surprised when his revelation has a disturbing effect on the family – it means one of the family is a murderer.”

Ordeal By Innocence will star Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness), Ella Purnell (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children), Matthew Goode (The Good Wife), Catherine Keener (Get Out), Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl), Luke Treadaway (Fortitude), Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark) and Morven Christie (The A Word).

Ordeal By Innocence reunites Agatha Christie Limited and Mammoth Screen with Sarah Phelps, who wrote and produced BBC One’s 2015 series And Then There Were None and The Witness For The Prosecution in 2016.  Ordeal By Innocence is being directed by Sandra Goldbacher (Victoria).

Ordeal By Innocence will be produced by Poldark and Roopesh Parekh of The Hollow Crown. It will be executive produced by Phelps, Karen Thrussell, Damien Timmer and Helen Ziegler for Mammoth Screen; Prichard and Basi Akpabio for Agatha Christie Limited; and Gaynor Holmes for the BBC.

SOURCE: VARIETY

If there was a Mount Rushmore for bad movies, Tommy Wiseau’s The Room would get a spot on that mountain. Celebrated in the same vein as TheRocky Horror Picture Show, the tragic drama has amassed a cult following since its release in 2003. Unlike most cinematic atrocities, there’s a weird draw to its existence. There’s a unique flavor to its badness and everything about it is utterly fascinating. That’s to be expected when your movie is written, directed, produced, and stars someone as enigmatic and unexplainable as Wiseau.

So legendary is the movie and its creation that Seth Rogan and James Franco are adapting the book into a feature film, with Franco both directing and playing the role of Wiseau. His brother Dave Franco will be playing Sestero. The film, which screened as a work in progress at South by Southwest earlier this year, is now set for a Dec. 8 U.S. release from A24 and New Line Cinema.

You can watch the first trailer below:

Here's a picture of the Franco brothers in makeup:

Oh hi.

The images don’t end there. See, the movie will feature the likes of Hannibal Buress, Kate Upton, Rogan himself, and Zac Efron. Efron will be playing actor Dan Janjigian, who had a brief role in The Room as violent and loud drug dealer Chris-R.

Here he is in action:

The story behind the movie is quite infamous. Greg Sestero played the role of Mark in the movie, and as a normal human being who got roped into this headshaking experience, he took it upon himself to write a book on the making of The Room. In 2013, he released The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Madethat explained the behind-the-scenes goings on and painted Wiseau in a light that made him increasingly bizarre, psychotic, disturbing, and even sympathetic.

You can leave comments below or you can just leave them in your pocket.

Gavin Jasper is more pumped for this movie than he is for Star Wars and Captain America. Follow him on Twitter, ha ha!

The Dark Tower TV Series Latest News

Akiva Goldsman, the man who's just developed Stephen King's series of books for the big screen, has been talking to Deadline about the potential Dark TowerTV series. The most interesting tidbit is that a pilot has been written and that Idris Elba, who plays Roland in the movie, will be involved in the TV series.

“The first episode of a show has been written, and we hope to retain Ron’s original idea to mix platforms, something that seemed revolutionary 10 years ago but now is something that others have done,” Goldsman said. “Idris for sure is part of this, and if the movie is Roland Deschain the gunslinger, the show is his origin story, based on the fourth novel in the series, Wizard and Glass.”

Whether we actually get to see that pilot - or an entire series run - remains to be seen. The Dark Tower movie will first have to have a big weekend at the box office. 

More on The Dark Tower TVseries as we learn it!

The Dark Tower TV Series Release Date

The Dark TowerTV series is in development, but no network has picked up the show. EW has confirmed that The Dark Tower adaptation will indeed consist of movies and a TV show that's set to premiere in 2018. 

MRC and Sony Pictures, who are also releasing the film in August, will finance a 10-13 episode first season. The show is set to begin shooting sometime in 2017.

The Dark Tower TV Series Details

The show will flesh out a different part of Roland's story: that of his first adventure as a young gunslinger from the fourth book in the series, Wizard and Glass. Basically, the series will serve as the origin story for Idris Elba's character in the movies.

In fact, Elba is set to appear on the show, along with Tom Taylor, who plays Jake Chambers in the movie. Of course, since the show is about a younger Roland, a different actor will be cast in the role for the main part of the show. No sign that Matthew McConaughey will appear as of yet, but since he plays a sorcerer with many faces, a different actor could potentially be cast for the show.

Producer and co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman will executive produce, along with Jeff Pinkner, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer. Nikolaj Arcel, who is directing The Dark Towermovie, and screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen are writing the script for the show and will also executive produce. A showrunner has yet to be named for the series. 

Goldsman spoke briefly about how the movie and the TV show will connect: "In the movie, Roland is suffering tremendous loss. The most concrete, personal, existential heartbreak a character can have. If the movie chronicles his final reach toward hope again, the TV show is the loss of that hope."

The producer also promised that the TV show would be a much more faithful adaptation than the movie, which actually acts as a sequel to the book series, remixing certain events to fit the constraints of a film script. 

MRC also released a cool, new promo that teases the setting of the show. It's a map of the different places in the Barony of Mejis, where most of Wizard and Glass takes place: 

Roland's instructor, Cort, and his original ka-tet, Cuthbert and Alain, will appear on the show, although none of those roles have been cast yet. 

TV Guide caught up with Ron Howard about The Dark Tower TV series, which is still on the way despite the radio silence of late. When asked about the status of the show, Howard didn't have much to say except that it's still in development. 

"Dark Tower is coming out this summer," Howard said. "It's a terrific movie directed by Nikolaj Arcel. And we are working on the television component."

Howard indicated that it all depends on how the first movie goes. If it's a hit, Sony will be much more open to exploring a TV series with a younger version of Roland.

"That's not a commitment on the television side," Howard continued, "but creatively, it could work very well, hand in hand with what we'd like the movies to be."

Coming off a dominant $103 million opening weekend, Wonder Woman has wrapped her Golden Lasso of Truth around pop culture in a big way. Indeed, director Patty Jenkins's triumphant Wonder Woman solo film, starring Gal Gadot’s version of the heralded heroine, has effectively tapped wider audiences than typical comic book movies while serving as a zeitgeist education about the character’s Greek mythological origins. However, soon set to ride the Wonder Woman movie momentum is Annapurna Pictures'Professor Marston & the Wonder Women, a biopic telling the fascinating tale of the trio who created the character back in 1941.

Now, the full trailer for this most intriguing of real-life comic book industry stories is here, heralding its October 27 release.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women Trailer

The full Professor Marston & the Wonder Women trailer has arrived. While this past June's teaser clip (which appropriately debuted with Wonder Woman,) only hinted the intrigue that this biopic centering on the superheroine's creators, the full trailer spells it out rather clear. Starting with the formation of the polyamorous relationship between Dr. William Marston, his wife Elizabeth and his student Olive Byrne (clearly the muse for the character's look), we start to see how the character of Wonder Woman is an extension of their gender-norm-redefining reality, manifesting as heroic comic book exploits that came across to laypeople as "violence, torture and sadomasochism." The film seems to parallel the double-life of Wonder Woman herself with that of Dr. Marston, who initially published the comic under the pseudonym "Charles Moulton."

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women's first teaser trailer debuted with the June 2 release of Wonder Woman. While short on substance, some dialogue can be heard, hinting at the historical (gender-norm-centric) societal implications that the trio of Dr. William Marston, his wife Elizabeth and his student Olive Byrne will face upon their 1941 collaborative creation of the most important female superhero of all time in Wonder Woman. This aspect is compounded by the fact that William, Elizabeth and Olive secretly maintain a polyamorous relationship.

Additionally, the teaser sends you to the URL professorm.movie, which, for now, is a bare-bones viral promotion site for the film, showcasing an intriguing comic-book-style portrait of the cast and clickable word bubbles that play lines from the film.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women Cast

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women, centers on the life of Dr. William Moulton Marston, a Harvard psychologist, lawyer and inventor who also went on the create one of the world’s most famous and venerable comic book superheroes in Wonder Woman (under the nom de plume Charles Moulton). The film's primary trio consists of Luke Evans as Marston, Rebecca Hall as his wife and professional peer Elizabeth and Bella Heathcote as Marston’s former student Olive Byrne, who attains a unique connection to the couple.

Indeed, the focus of Professor Marston on the creative process in which Wonder Woman was conceived will manifest through William’s relationship with wife Elizabeth and Olive, with whom the couple engages in a polyamorous relationship; one that would ultimately prove enduring. Moreover, William drew inspiration from Elizabeth and Olive during the process of creating Wonder Woman, imbuing the character with confident and autonomous attributes that would be considered feminist at a time (the early 1940’s) before such a concept was even widespread.

However, the crux of the film seems to be the societal predicament that William’s comic creation placed upon the threesome. While publicly having to defend Wonder Woman from contemporaneously alarmist accusations of sinister gender-identity influences that would lead girls on a path to sexual confusion, the Marstons and Olive had to maintain a tight balance to keep their polyamorous relationship a secret, lest it be made public and validate the homophobic seeds that were already sowing from the mere concept of a female comic book superhero.

Connie Britton, Maggie Castle, Christopher Paul Richards, Allie Gallerani, Chris Conroy and JJ Feild also co-star in the film.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women Crew

The intriguing Wonder-Woman-related film project will be the directorial and written brainchild of Angela Robinson. Her body of work includes films such as the 2004 action comedy D.E.B.S., 2005 Lindsay Lohan-starring Disney reboot vehicle Herbie Fully Loaded, a television run with The L Word and individual episodes of Charlie’s Angels (2011 reboot) and True Blood.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women Release Date

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women arrives on October 27.

The mother of almost all ghost stories is coming to streaming TV. Shirley Jackson’s 1959 horror novel The Haunting of Hill House is one of Stephen King’s favorite books. It was made into a classic piece of early sixties cinema and will be now haunt Netflix in a modernized form. 

Sin City actress Carla Gugino will reunite with horror director Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Hush) as she takes the female lead in Netflix’s 10-episode modern adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s classic 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House. Gugino joins Game of Thrones’ Michel Huisman in the as-yet untitled horror drama.

Gugino recently shot Flanagan’s upcoming feature adaptation of Stephen King’s sadomasochistic game play novel Gerald’s Game, for Netflix.

The Haunting of Hill House will be written, produced, and directed by Mike Flanagan, who directed Oculus, Hush and will adapt King’s Gerald’s Game into a movie. Flanagan will produce with his producing partner Trevor Macy for Amblin TV and Paramount TV.

The Haunting of Hill House Cast

Michiel Huisman has been tapped to star in Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, reports THR. In a revelation that may shed light on the context of this reboot series, Huisman will reportedly play a character named Steven Crane, a published author of supernatural-related books and the oldest living sibling of the Crane family.

Carla Gugino, who was featured in the films San Andreas, Sin City, American Gangster, Watchmen, Spy Kids and the TV series Wayward Pines, Entourage and Roadie, is the female lead. The producers are keeping all character information under wraps.

In Shirley Jackson’s original 1959 novel, as well as the 1963 and 1999 film adaptations – both billed as The Haunting– the legacy of the “Crain” family was connected to the titular haunted house. In the case of the 1999 film, the late Crain patriarch explicitly manifested as a ghost.

The Netherlands-native Huisman is, of course, best known for his role on HBO’s Game of Thrones as Daario Naharis, the rogue warrior and part-time lover of claimant queen Daenerys Targaryen; a role that, in the very least, might be on the shelf, since he was unceremoniously left to oversee the conquered Eastern kingdom of Meereen after she left to conquer Westeros. Besides an array of roles in his native country, Huisman was notably seen in recurring roles on Orphan Black, Nashville, Treme, and miniseries Harley and the Davidsons, as well as films such as 2015’s The Age of Adaline and 2017’s The Ottaman Lieutenant. He has quite a full docket of film roles, notably in director Gideon Raff’s historical spy thrillerRed Sea Diving Resort, which stars Chris Evans.

The Haunting of Hill House Story

The Haunting of Hill House has been made into two feature films called The Haunting, one in 1963 which was written by Nelson Gidding and directed and produced by Robert Wise. It starred Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Riff from West Side Story, Russ Tamblyn. It was remade and panned in 1999. It was also adapted for the stage and performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 2015. It was parodied in Scary Movie 2 (2001).

The book centers around Hill House investigators Dr. Montague, who is an occult scholar looking for something more tangible than book smarts; his assistant Theodora; a ghost whisperer named Eleanor, and the young, rich heir who will be stuck with the haunted real estate Luke. They think they’re looking for ghosts, but the house is looking for them.

Jackson's novel is more of a story of terror than of horror. It ties the events that make for a haunting of a house into the psyches of the people investigating it.

Normally, paranormal investigators don’t quite have the diabolical fun and frights that find their way into film and TV shots.

“Having done several Paranormal Investigations, I have yet to encounter anything like this,” Brenda Jablonsky, a paranormal investigator from Indiana who will host the upcoming podcast "Crimes Against Spirit," told Den of Geek.

The normal routine for a supernatural sleuth is a lot of hurry up and waiting. That’s not necessarily true for people how live in haunted houses.

"I thought I was buying my wife her dream home,” Philip Siracusa, the author of The Horsefly Chronicles: A Demonic Haunting, told Den of Geek. “I didn't know I was buying my family a nightmare."

The allegedly haunted house in Pennsylvania is said to sit on an desecrated burial ground, and the spirits are still hungry.

"These days when I cook I make one meal for my family, another one for my ancestors and a third one for the Indians," Julia Siracusa, who lived in the house so long she goes by the nickname “the real haunted housewife,” added.

While the Horsefly house hasn’t gotten quite the reputation of the hauntings at the center of films like Poltergeist and The Conjuring, investigators still think twice before knocking three times.

"My friend Juila [Siracusa] invited me to visit her real haunted house and I am such a chicken shit medium that I asked her to check and see if their family ghost/demon said it was okay,” admitted Marie Bargas, a celebrity psychic who was recently tapped to investigate the house.

But what do the strange amateur sleuths think of the film?

“A remake of this movie would be interesting to see a hard to stop watching kind waiting for the next shoe to drop,” said Brenda. “I found the original suspenseful and exciting ,with the technology of today I think it would be a great show to see. As a fan of horror movies it will be a block buster.”

The Haunting of Hill House will be the first time Netflix has worked up a scripted series for Amblin TV. It is the series the rising channel has done for Paramount TV. They previously worked together to bring out 13 Reasons Why and the upcoming Maniac, which stars Emma Stone and Jonah Hill.

The Haunting of Hill House is still in the early stages of development.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Critically-acclaimed Young Justice animated series was canceled after two seasons back in 2013, never to be heard from again... or so it seemed. Fast forward three years and Warner Bros. Animation announced that it has begun production on season three of the action-animated series, to be called Young Justice: Outsiders, based on some of the most popular characters from DC Comics.

The Young Justice Season 3 San Diego Comic-Con panel will take place on Friday, July 21 at 10 am. Here are the details...

Young Justice is back! Series producers and key members of the creative team will be on hand to answer your burning questions about the first two seasons of this beloved fan-favorite series; and, if you're lucky, you might learn a thing or two about the highly anticipated Young Justice: Outsiders.

Young Justice Season 3 Release Date

Warner Bros. Television announced that Young Justice: Outsiders would be hitting a "DC-branded direct-to-consumer digital service" sometime in 2018. The DC-specific digital service will also include live-action drama series Titans, a new show from Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, and Sarah Schechter.

According to an official press release:

Season three promises new twists, turns and dangerous new threats for the team, but most importantly, the opportunity for fans to finally continue the adventures of some of their favorite Super Heroes.

The coming-of-age series will continue to follow the lives of Nightwing, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian as they "strive to prove to their legendary mentors, as well as to themselves, that they have what it takes to be heroes." The first two seasons made waves a few years ago for their rich storytelling and impressive visuals. Hopefully, season three will be up to par.

Young Justice Season 3 Synopsis

Here's an official synopsis for Young Justice Season 3...

In Young Justice: Outsiders, the teenage Super Heroes of the DC Universe come of age in an animated world of super-powers, Super-Villains and super secrets. In the highly anticipated new season, the team faces its greatest challenge yet as it takes on meta-human trafficking and the terrifying threat it creates for a society caught in the crossfire of a genetic arms race spanning the globe and the galaxy. 

Young Justice Season 3 Poster

So, why the change of heart? According to Sam Register, President of Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series:

The affection that fans have had for Young Justice, and their rallying cry for more episodes, has always resonated with us. We are excited to bring the show back for this loyal fanbase and to provide an opportunity for new viewers to discover this excellent series.

Original producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman will be returning to the series.

It's officially time for San Diego Comic-Con. And despite the fact that SDCC has morphed into a multimedia juggernaut over the last decade or so, make no mistake, comics have their biggest night of the year there. The 2017 Eisner Awards nominees are in, and as expected, there's more than enough to stack your summer reading list.

Here's the complete list, courtesy of their official site.

We'll have our favorites and predictions up for you soon, but in the meantime, you seriously can't go wrong with a single one of these. Congratulations to all of the nominees!

Here are the details for this year's Eisner Awards presentation at SDCC!

The 29th annual Eisner Awards (the "Oscars" of the comics industry) honor comics creators and works in 30 categories. Presenters for the gala ceremony include actor/comedian Danny Pudi (Community), writer/actor Thomas Lennon (Reno 911), actor/author Greg Grunberg (Heroes; Dream Jumper), iZombie creator Chris Roberson, Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons, The Tick creator Ben Edlund, British TV host Jonathan Ross, and Comic-Con special guests Gail Simone, Jonathan Maberry, and Paul Dini. Other prestigious awards to be given out include the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comics Writing, and the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

Best Short Story

• “The Comics Wedding of the Century,” by Simon Hanselmann, in We Told You So: Comics as Art (Fantagraphics)
• “The Dark Nothing,” by Jordan Crane, in Uptight #5 (Fantagraphics)
• “Good Boy,” by Tom King and David Finch, in Batman Annual #1 (DC)
• “Monday,” by W. Maxwell Prince and John Amor, in One Week in the Library (Image)  
• “Mostly Saturn,” by Michael DeForge, in Island Magazine #8 (Image)
• “Shrine of the Monkey God!” by Kim Deitch, in Kramers Ergot 9 (Fantagraphics)

Best Single Issue/One-Shot

• Babybel Wax Bodysuit, by Eric Kostiuk Williams (Retrofit/Big Planet)
• Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In, by Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, and Jill Thompson (Dark Horse)
• Blammo #9, by Noah Van Sciver (Kilgore Books)
• Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
• Sir Alfred #3, by Tim Hensley (Pigeon Press)
• Your Black Friend, by Ben Passmore (Silver Sprocket)

Best Continuing Series

• Astro City, by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Vertigo/DC)
• Kill or Be Killed, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
• The Mighty Thor, by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman (Marvel)
• Paper Girls, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image)
• Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)

Best Limited Series

• Archangel, by William Gibson, Michael St. John Smith, Butch Guice, and Tom Palmer (IDW)
• Briggs Land, by Brian Wood and Mack Chater (Dark Horse)
• Han Solo, by Marjorie Liu and Mark Brooks (Marvel)
• Kim and Kim, by Magdalene Visaggio and Eva Cabrera (Black Mask)
• The Vision, by Tom King and Gabriel Walta (Marvel)

Best New Series

• Black Hammer, by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston (Dark Horse)
• Clean Room, by Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt (Vertigo/DC)
• Deathstroke: Rebirth, by Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, et al. (DC)
• Faith, by Jody Houser, Pere Pérez, and Marguerite Sauvage (Valiant)
• Mockingbird, by Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk (Marvel)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8)

• Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World, by James Sturm (Toon)
• Burt’s Way Home, by John Martz (Koyama)
• The Creeps, Book 2: The Trolls Will Feast! by Chris Schweizer (Abrams)
• I’m Grumpy (My First Comics), by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random
• House Books for Young Readers)
• Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea, by Ben Clanton (Tundra)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12)

• The Drawing Lesson, by Mark Crilley (Watson-Guptill)
• Ghosts, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic)
• Hilda and the Stone Forest, by Luke Pearson (Flying Eye Books)
• Rikki, adapted by Norm Harper and Matthew Foltz-Gray (Karate Petshop)
• Science Comics: Dinosaurs, by MK Reed and Joe Flood (First Second)

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)

• Bad Machinery, vol. 5: The Case of the Fire Inside, by John Allison (Oni)
• Batgirl, by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque (DC)
• Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (Archie)
• Monstress, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image)
• Trish Trash: Roller Girl of Mars, by Jessica Abel (Papercutz/Super Genius)
• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)

Best Humor Publication

• The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp, by Lee Marrs (Marrs Books)
• Hot Dog Taste Test, by Lisa Hanawalt (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (Archie)
• Man, I Hate Cursive, by Jim Benton (Andrews McMeel)
• Yuge! 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump, by G. B. Trudeau (Andrews McMeel)

Best Anthology

• Baltic Comics Anthology š! #26: dADa, edited by David Schilter and Sanita Muizniece (kuš!)
• Island Magazine, edited by Brandon Graham and Emma Rios (Image)
• Kramers Ergot 9, edited by Sammy Harkham (Fantagraphics)
• Spanish Fever: Stories by the New Spanish Cartoonists, edited by Santiago Garcia (Fantagraphics)

Best Reality-Based Work

• Dark Night: A True Batman Story, by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo/DC)
• Glenn Gould: A Life Off Tempo, by Sandrine Revel (NBM)
• March (Book Three), by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
• Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir, by Tom Hart (St. Martin’s)
• Tetris: The Games People Play, by Box Brown (First Second)

Best Graphic Album—New

• The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, by Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
• Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash, by Dave McKean (Dark Horse)
• Exits, by Daryl Seitchik (Koyama)
• Mooncop, by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Patience, by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
• Wonder Woman: The True Amazon by Jill Thompson (DC Comics)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

• Demon, by Jason Shiga (First Second)
• Incomplete Works, by Dylan Horrocks (Alternative)
• Last Look, by Charles Burns (Pantheon)
• Meat Cake Bible, by Dame Darcy (Fantagraphics)
• Megg and Mog in Amsterdam and Other Stories, by Simon Hanselmann (Fantagraphics)
• She’s Not into Poetry, by Tom Hart (Alternative)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

• Equinoxes, by Cyril Pedrosa, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM)
• Irmina, by Barbara Yelin, translated by Michael Waaler (SelfMadeHero)
• Love: The Lion, by Frédéric Brémaud and Federico Bertolucci (Magnetic)
• Moebius Library: The World of Edena, by Jean “Moebius” Giraud et al. (Dark Horse)
• Wrinkles, by Paco Roca, translated by Erica Mena (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

• The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, by Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
• Goodnight Punpun, vols. 1–4, by Inio Asano, translated by JN PRoductions (VIZ Media)
• orange: The Complete Collection, vols. 1–2, by Ichigo Takano, translated by Amber Tamosaitis, adaptation by Shannon Fay (Seven Seas)
• The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime, by Toshio Ban and Tezuka Productions, translated by Frederik L. Schodt (Stone Bridge Press)
• Princess Jellyfish, vols. 1–3 by Akiko Higashimura, translated by Sarah Alys Lindholm (Kodansha)
• Wandering Island, vol. 1, by Kenji Tsuruta, translated by Dana Lewis (Dark Horse)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips (at least 20 years old)

• Almost Completely Baxter: New and Selected Blurtings, by Glen Baxter (NYR Comics)
• Barnaby, vol. 3, by Crockett Johnson, edited by Philip Nel and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
• Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, Colorful Cases of the 1930s, edited by Peter Maresca (Sunday Press)
• The Realist Cartoons, edited by Paul Krassner and Ethan Persoff (Fantagraphics)
• Walt & Skeezix 1931–1932, by Frank King, edited by Jeet Heer and Chris Ware (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books (at least 20 Years Old)

• The Complete Neat Stuff, by Peter Bagge, edited by Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
• The Complete Wimmen’s Comix, edited by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics)
• Fables and Funnies, by Walt Kelly, compiled by David W. Tosh (Dark Horse)
• Trump: The Complete Collection, by Harvey Kurtzman et al., edited by Denis Kitchen and John Lind (Dark Horse)
• U.S.S. Stevens: The Collected Stories, by Sam Glanzman, edited by Drew Ford (Dover)

Best Writer

• Ed Brubaker, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed, Velvet (Image)
• Kurt Busiek, Astro City (Vertigo/DC)
• Chelsea Cain, Mockingbird (Marvel)
• Max Landis, Green Valley (Image/Skybound), Superman: American Alien (DC)
• Jeff Lemire, Black Hammer (Dark Horse); Descender, Plutona (Image); Bloodshot Reborn (Valiant)
• Brian K. Vaughan, Paper Girls, Saga (Image)

Best Writer/Artist

• Jessica Abel, Trish Trash: Roller Girl of Mars (Papercutz/Super Genius)
• Box Brown, Tetris: The Games People Play (First Second)
• Tom Gauld, Mooncop (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Tom Hart, Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir (St. Martin’s)
• Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

• Mark Brooks, Han Solo (Marvel)
• Dan Mora, Klaus (BOOM!)
• Greg Ruth, Indeh (Grand Central Publishing)
• Francois Schuiten, The Theory of the Grain of Sand (IDW)
• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)
• Brian Stelfreeze, Black Panther (Marvel)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

• Federico Bertolucci, Love: The Lion (Magnetic)
• Brecht Evens, Panther (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Manuele Fior, 5,000 km per Second (Fantagraphics)
• Dave McKean, Black Dog (Dark Horse)
• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)
• Jill Thompson, Wonder Woman: The True Amazon (DC); Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In (Dark Horse)

Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers)

• Mike Del Mundo, Avengers, Carnage, Mosaic, The Vision (Marvel)
• David Mack, Abe Sapien, BPRD Hell on Earth, Fight Club 2, Hellboy and the BPRD 1953 (Dark Horse)
• Sean Phillips, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed (Image)
• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)
• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)

Best Coloring

• Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Green Valley (Image/Skybound)
• Elizabeth Breitweiser, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed, Velvet (Image); Outcast by Kirkman & Azaceta (Image/Skybound)
• Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)
• Laura Martin, Wonder Woman (DC); Ragnorak (IDW); Black Panther (Marvel)
• Matt Wilson, Cry Havoc, Paper Girls, The Wicked + The Divine (Image); Black Widow, The Mighty Thor, Star-Lord (Marvel)

Best Lettering

• Dan Clowes, Patience (Fantagraphics)
• Brecht Evens, Panther (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Tom Gauld, Mooncop (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Nick Hayes, Woody Guthrie (Abrams)
• Todd Klein, Clean Room, Dark Night, Lucifer (Vertigo/DC); Black Hammer (Dark Horse)
• Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

• The A.V. Club comics coverage, including Comics Panel, Back Issues, and Big Issues, by Oliver Sava et al., www.avclub.com [1]
• Comic Riffs blog, by Michael Cavna and David Betancourt, www.washingtonpost.com/new/comic-riffs/ [2]
• Critical Chips, edited by Zainab Akhtar (Comics & Cola)
• PanelPatter.com [3], edited by Rob McMonigal
• WomenWriteAboutComics.com [4], edited by Megan Purdy and Claire Napier

Best Comics-Related Book

• blanc et noir: takeshi obata illustrations, by Takeshi Obata (VIZ Media)
• Ditko Unleashed: An American Hero, by Florentino Flórez and Frédéric Manzano (IDW/Editions Déesse)
• Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, by Michael Tisserand (Harper)
• The Life and Legend of Wallace Wood, vol. 1, edited by Bhob Stewart and J. Michael Catron (Fantagraphics)
• More Heroes of the Comics, by Drew Friedman (Fantagraphics)

Best Academic/Scholarly Work

• Brighter Than You Think: Ten Short Works by Alan Moore, with essays by Marc Sobel (Uncivilized)
• Forging the Past: Set and the Art of Memory, by Daniel Marrone (University Press of Mississippi)
• Frank Miller’s Daredevil and the Ends of Heroism, by Paul Young (Rutgers University Press)
• Pioneering Cartoonists of Color, by Tim Jackson (University Press of Mississippi)
• Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation, by Carolyn Cocca (Bloomsbury)

Best Publication Design

• The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, designed by Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
• The Complete Wimmen’s Comix, designed by Keeli McCarthy (Fantagraphics)
• Frank in the Third Dimension, designed by Jacob Covey, 3D conversions by Charles Barnard (Fantagraphics)
• The Realist Cartoons, designed by Jacob Covey (Fantagraphics)
• Si Lewen’s Parade: An Artist’s Odyssey, designed by Art Spiegelman (Abrams)

Best Webcomic

• Bird Boy, by Anne Szabla, http://bird-boy.com [5]
• Deja Brew, by Taneka Stotts and Sara DuVall (Stela.com [6])
• Jaeger, by Ibrahim Moustafa (Stela.com [6])
• The Middle Age, by Steve Conley, steveconley.com/the-middle-age [7]
• On Beauty, by Christina Tran,  sodelightful.com/comics/beauty/ [8]

Best Digital Comic

• Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover (Monkeybrain/comiXology [9])
• Edison Rex, by Chris Roberson and Dennis Culver (Monkeybrain/comiXology [9])
• Helm, by Jehanzeb Hasan and Mauricio Caballero, www.crookshaw.com/helm/ [10]
• On a Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden, www.onasunbeam.com [11]
• Universe!, by Albert Monteys (Panel Syndicate [12])

Announced back in December of 2014, Syfy's Kryptonwill take the Gothamroute, and tell a pre-Superman story. So if Smallvilledidn't go far enough back for you, Krypton should do the trick. Syfy has ordered Krypton to series. The pilot will be directed by Colm McCarthy, and written by David S. Goyer (Man of Steel) and Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time). Sleepy Hollow's Damian Kindler is on board as series showrunner. 

While the trailer that was leaked a few months ago was promptly taken down, I did a detailed analysis of it with screengrabs that you can read by clicking here. Despite the prominent mention of the name Kal-El, and the repeated use of the House of El crest (you know, Superman's "S") this trailer at least looks like Krypton is going to forge more of its own path than other notable TV prequels like Gotham or Smallville.

What might be the most interesting development here is that it at least appears to take place in the same universe as the DC superhero movies, rather than the TV shows. The aesthetic on display here is heavily influenced by what we saw in Man of Steel, from the color scheme of Krypton itself, to the design of the House of El crest, to the overall texture of the costumes and sets.

The Krypton panel at San Diego Comic-Con will take place on Saturday, July 22, at 1:15 pm. Here are the details...

Set two generations before the destruction of the legendary Man of Steel's home planet, Krypton follows Superman's grandfather (Cameron Cuffe of The Halcyon, FlorenceFoster Jenkins)-whose House of El was ostracized and shamed-as he fights to redeem his family's honor and save his beloved world from chaos. Based on DC characters, Krypton is from Warner Horizon Scripted Television and is executive produced by David S. Goyer (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Dark Knight trilogy) through his Phantom Four banner. Damian Kindler (Sleepy Hollow) will serve as executive producer and showrunner. Krypton, based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, published by DC, will debut in 2018 on SYFY.

Krypton Release Date

You can expect Krypton to arrive on Syfy in early 2018.

I analyzed all the Superman and DC Comics references in the first trailer right here.

Krypton TV Story

Here's the closest thing to an official synopsis we have right now.

Set two generations before the destruction of the legendary Man of Steel’s home planet, Krypton follows Superman’s grandfather (Cameron Cuffe, The Halcyon) — whose House of El was ostracized and shamed — as he fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from chaos.

Krypton TV Cast and Characters

Camerone Cuffe (who recently appeared in Florence Foster Jenkins) will play Superman's grandfather, Seg-El. Varietyhas some character details:

"Seg-El is the scion of the once prosperous El family and is blessed with an intuitive brilliance for all things technical. He is now living in Krypton’s lowest caste after his family was stripped of its rank."

In addition to Mr. Cuffe as Seg-El, Georgina Campbell will play Lyta Zod, who is, as you expect, an ancestor of Superman villain General Zod. According to Deadline, Lyta Zod "is a member of Krypton’s military caste and the daughter of a general, Alura Zod. Lyta Zod serves as a cadet — and has also been having a clandestine, forbidden romance with Seg-El (Superman's paternal grandfather)."

Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy on Game of Thrones) will play Seg-El's grandfather, Val-El. According to Deadline, Val is "a rogue genius who believes that space exploration is a basic form of self-defense, and he has tried, without success, to warn the Kryptonian elite about the arrival of an ancient threat." Could that be Brainiac? An earlier TV Line description said "Seg’s genius grandpa defied death by going into the Phantom Zone, and is a staunch believer in space exploration." 

Elliot Cowan is Daron Vex, "the Chief Magistrate of Kandor. His real business is defending Krypton’s established oligarchy against heretics and dissidents." 

Ann Ogbomo (World War Z) is Primus Alura Zod, "Lyta Zod’s mother and a leader of Krypton’s military guild. She is an extremely tough and demanding training officer." 

Rasmus Hardiker (Your Highness) is Kem, "a brilliant engineer as well as Seg-El’s best friend and partner in an underground tech-repair business." 

Wallis Day (The Royals) is Nyssa Vex, "a junior magistrate and the daughter of Daron Vex." 

Aaron Pierre (Tennison) is Dev-Em, "a cadet under the command of Primus Alura Zod." Incidentally, Dev-Em is from the comics, and is one of the Phantom Zone criminals who periodically ends up on Earth to annoy Superman. Dev-Em was a background character in Man of Steel, for example.

(thanks to Deadlinefor the casting descriptions above)

We'll get you more on Kryptonas we hear it.

This article was originally published in the Den of Geek magazine SDCC special edition. Click here to view the full issue.

Is there anything better than lying out in the sun and reading a good science fiction or fantasy book? It can be hard to keep up with all of the genre novels hitting the shelves, what with summer blockbusters at the theaters to worry about, but if you’re looking for an opportunity to slow down and spend a few days immersed in a new, fantastical world, we suggest one of these recent or upcoming titles.

Raven Stratagem (The Machineries of Empire #2) by Yoon Ha Lee

OUT NOW - Solaris Books

Get ready for the follow-up to the Hugo-nominated novel Ninefox Gambit. The sequel revisits Captain Kel Cheris and undead traitor general, Shuos Jedao, as they continue their fight against the heretics of the hexarchate. The worldbuilding in this military science fiction series is not for the faint of heart.

The story takes place in a future society that has its basis in social mathematics. But if you lean into this kind of ambitious setting, you will be rewarded with a compelling story that questions the true cost of war and grounds its hard sci-fi elements in the fascinating relationship between Cheris and Jedao.

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente

OUT NOW - Saga Press

The term “fridged” refers to the common trope in which female characters are “killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or have their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress.” You can probably think of a dozen or so examples off the top of your head (If you need a hint, Catherynne M. Valente was originally inspired to write this book after watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2).

In a collection of six linked stories, this collection gives those same female superheroes and female partners of superheroes a voice. If you’ve ever been angry after watching a female character treated badly in a comic book narrative, The Refrigerator Monologues is for you.

Read our full review of The Refrigerator Monologues here.

Heroine Worship (Heroine Complex #2) by Sarah Kuhn

OUT NOW - DAW

As the sequel to the quirky, compelling, and culturally-aware Heroine Complex, Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Worship continues the story of Asian-American superheroines Evie Tanaka and Aveda Jupiter as they protect San Francisco from demonic threats.

This second installment in the trilogy pivots the point-of-view from Evie to Aveda as the recovering diva struggles to figure out who she is now that her best friend is also a kickass superhero.

Battlefront II: Inferno Squad by Christie Golden

July 25 - Del Rey

A tie-in to Star Wars Battlefront II, Inferno Squad fills in some of the gaps between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The novel follows the eponymous Inferno Squad, a group tasked with hunting down members of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans and avenging the destruction of the Death Star.

If you’re counting down the days until The Last Jedi, this Star Wars novel might be a good way to pass the time.

The Stone Sky (Broken Earth #3) by N.K. Jemisin

August 15 - Orbit

As the final book in the Hugo Award-winning Broken Earth series, The Stone Sky continues the tale of a civilization struggling for survival in the face of apocalypse.

The series is set on a planet with a single supercontinent called Stillness where, every few centuries, its inhabitants must face a period of catastrophic climate change known as the “Fifth Season.” The Stone Sky picks up after The Obelisk Gate, diving back into the uncertain lives of Essun and Nassun. This is subversive, thought-provoking science fiction at its best.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

August 29 - Random House

Can’t get enough Wonder Woman? Check out this young adult tie-in novel to the film, which tells the story of Diana before she became the superhero we know and love. Warbringer checks in with Diana when she is still just a teen girl trying to prove herself to her Amazon sisters.

When she saves a mortal named Alia Keralis, Diana not only breaks Amazonian law but unwittingly puts herself in the middle of a war. You see, Alia is a Warbringer and a direct descendant of Helen of Troy. She’s also someone fated to bring about bloodshed and misery. Yikes.

Further Reading...

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton — HarperCollins OUT NOW

Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) by Seanan McGuire — Tor.com OUT NOW

Indigo: A Novel by Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden, Kelley Armstrong, Jonathan Maberry, Kat Richardson, Seanan McGuire, Tim Lebbon, Cherie Priest, James Moore, and Mark Morris — St. Martin's Press OUT NOW

Valerian: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières — Cinebook OUT NOW

Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray— Disney-LucasFilm Press OUT SEPT. 1st

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

This article was originally published in the Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition Magazine. Click here to view the full issue!

We’ve reached that point in the summer when fans of superhero television start getting antsy. You’ve blown through a rewatch of the latest seasons of Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow, and there’s still a solid two months to wait until they’re back on your screen.

This is now the perfect time to get hooked on DC Comics. Thanks to their recent Rebirth relaunch, these superhero books are now much more accessible to new readers and will keep you busy until October.

SUPERGIRL

There are more entry point options for Supergirl comics than for some of the other DC characters, but Supergirl: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen by Steve Orlando, Emanuela Luppachino, and Brian Ching is probably the easiest way into Kara’s comic book world. It’s certainly the moment when things become the most recognizable to fans of the TV show, with the Danvers family and Cyborg Superman getting new, reader-friendly makeovers and the reintroduction of Cat Grant to the comics world, this time as a mentor to Kara.

Buy Supergirl: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen on Amazon

Your other option is to go a little further back and check out 2011’s Last Daughter of Krypton. While this is earlier in Kara’s comics history, the villain introduced in this volume, Reign, is the big bad of SupergirlSeason 3. Consider this a little homework to get you through until the show returns in October.

Buy Supergrl: Last Daughter of Krypton on Amazon

THE FLASH

If you’re a regular viewer of The Flash TV series, the last thing you need is an origin story, right? Good. Instead, Lightning Strikes Twice reads like a future season of the show. You already have a pretty good handle on Barry Allen and his world, and this volume gives you everything you need to navigate the comic book version, which isn’t all that different from what you get each week on the tube.

Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico are crafting Flash stories that should feel immediately familiar to TV fans, but they also play with the entire scope of Barry Allen’s 60-year history in the DCU. Lightning Strikes Twice is the perfect gateway into the Speed Force, and introduces a powerful new villain to the mythology. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the evil Godspeed on our TV screens one of these days.

Buy The Flash: Lightning Strikes Twice on Amazon

ARROW

Arrow fans don’t need a tutorial on how Oliver Queen became Green Arrow. We’ve had five seasons of TV tell us all about that. Nevertheless, if that’s what you’re in the market for, Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle and Jock is the volume that inspired the first season of the TV series.

Buy Green Arrow: Year One on Amazon

If you prefer some fully-formed superheroics, then Green Arrow: The Death and Life of Oliver Queen is for you. Green Arrow and Black Canary are finally reunited in a story that brings both characters back to basics and has plenty of the high-kicking action you’d usually tune in for. Benjamin Percy’s lively dialogue will appeal to TV fans, and the art by Juan Ferreyra and Otto Schmidt makes this one of DC’s best-looking books right now.

Buy Green Arrow: The Death and Life of Oliver Queen on Amazon

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

There has never been a Legends of Tomorrow comic that deals with the TV show’s particular group of heroes engaged in their distinctive brand of offbeat superheroics. So what’s a Legends fan to do? Time travel 30 years into DC’s past to check out Justice League International Volume 1.

Buy Justice League International Vol. 1 on Amazon

This isn’t your average Justice League comic. Instead, the team consists of mostly B-listers who can hardly stand each other and spend as much time bickering as they do fighting supervillains. Hilariously written by Keith Giffen and JM Dematteis, and with expressive, equally fun art by Kevin Maguire, Justice League International is the spiritual ancestor of Legends of Tomorrow and a great intro to the wider DC Universe.

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Eric Heisserer, who was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for 2016’s Arrival, is playing with a different kind of science fiction these days. Heisserer has written scripts for two upcoming Valiant adaptations for Sony Pictures: Bloodshot and Harbinger. He’s also writing Secret Weapons, a new comic book series about offbeat heroes with quirky powers, featuring art by Raul Allen. Heisserer spoke to Den of Geek about how he ended up working on both sides of the comics-to-screen process.

How did you end up writing movies and comics for Valiant?

A couple of years ago, I was made aware that they were looking for someone to write the adaptation of Harbinger as a feature film. I fell in love with that set of books, and so I went in and pitched my heart out for that job. I managed to land that gig and just proceeded to try and find a way to make myself indispensable for other Valiant projects.

I kept pitching [Valiant CEO and CCO, Dinesh Shamdasani, and Editor-in-Chief Warren Simons] other ideas for Livewire. They reminded me that there isn’t a Livewire movie, but if I wanted to write a book that featured her, we could do that. I jumped at that opportunity, because part of my personal goal is to try and do something in a non-screenwriting medium every year to improve my craft as a writer. I felt this scratched a lot of itches at once.

You're really on the ground floor of creating not just one franchise, but a whole cinematic universe.

I made a promise to myself just to focus on these as self-contained stories that hint at a larger world beyond it, but weren't reliant upon that. I find it frustrating as an audience member to experience a film that constantly nods at other films or potential sequels. My goal was to make a great Harbinger script and a great Bloodshot script, and if audiences love those stories, and we were honored enough to come back and revisit those characters, great.

So your Harbinger draft is already complete, and you've already done your work on Bloodshot as well?

Yes, on both. And it was my work on Bloodshot that got us the director Dave Wilson, who is now busy in pre-production. I don't have any information personally to give to you. Otherwise, the Sony black-ops team will descend on my home and kill me.

Understood.

But I do know there's good news on the way. And I don't know what the status is on Harbinger right now other than that everybody's really excited about the script, hoping we can get that agreement sooner rather than later.  

You're really on the ground floor of creating not just one franchise, but a whole cinematic universe, and that's the magic word in Hollywood right now. Were you really shaping the tone and vision for all of this, or did you kind of envisioned these as self-contained projects? 

I made it a promise to myself just to focus on these as self-contained stories that hinted a larger world beyond it, but weren't reliant upon that. I find it frustrating as an audience member to experience a film that constantly nods at other films or potential sequels. I feel like that's just too much hubris on the part of the filmmakers. So my goal was to make a great Harbinger script and a great Bloodshot script, and if audiences love those stories, and we were honored enough to come back and revisit those characters, great. But if not, we told a story, and we walked out. So that was the plan.

How did you try to distinguish Harbinger and Bloodshot from the competition?

I would say that what took the most work—is to make sure that we could carve out some real estate that was entirely our own that felt different from the Marvel or DC universes. And the way I look at it is that I latched on to the idea of creating sort of the David Bowie of comic book films that felt off-kilter, that felt fascinating and refreshing in its own right. And I think the way to crack that was to focus on what the story was beyond having it being a comic book movie. You know? Could we label Bloodshot or Harbinger as something other than a comic book film, and what story could we tell that will allow people to see it outside of that label?

For Bloodshot, I saw it as a science fiction thriller, first and foremost. And if you happen to know that it was based on a comic character, then you'd have a little extra information, but you didn't need to feel that in the narrative.

Harbinger is a little different because you're dealing with people who have powers, so that's more of an easy jump to comic books. I feel confident that we gave it its own voice, and it really started with the idea that Pete Stanchek is basically what happens if you gave Jesse from Breaking Bad Jedi powers.

You mentioned that you pitched hard for Harbinger, and obviously you're a big fan of the new Harbinger stuff. Were you a Valiant fan back in the day as well?

I was a casual fan. Like I picked up a little Archer & Armstrong and loved those. And I liked what they were doing with X-O Manowar, but it was also a time in my life where I didn't have much money for comics. I didn't have much disposable income, so I wasn't reading much of anything at the time. By the time I got back into it, they had sort of come out again—they had reinvented itself. And when I read the first Harbinger books, I was blown away.

Why did you choose to make characters with seemingly “useless” powers the focus of Secret Weapons?

I’d been walking through the process of what Harada uses to turn a latent into an active member of this [superhuman] community. We see what happens when it goes really well, and you become a badass like Ion or Stronghold. But what happens when you have a power that's not so sexy? If that goes wrong, how do you come out of that process? That gave me space to tell a story I was invested in. To be able to come back from that and learn that you are part of a community, that's a steep calling. And who better to help with that than Livewire, who I feel is one of the most compassionate characters in the Valiant universe?

Even though these are “useless” powers, there’s a real compassionate tone, and nobody is treated like a joke in this story. That scene where Nicole is talking to pigeons is really kind of touching.

Early on, I shared with Raul Allen what the pigeon is saying back so he can draw them with the proper expressions. Nicole feels that power is rather useless, but we will see her cleverly use that relationship with the birds time and again. Hopefully, as readers we'll be like, “Hey, that's actually kind of cool.”

You were talking about how you work with Raul on this. Just how closely do you break this stuff down? Because some of these sequences, like when Owen's following the lights, are so cinematic, so how much do you break this stuff down and how much freedom do the artists have?

I'll tell you that I got very detailed with the first issue. And I went as grandeur as I can talking about various panels, and once I know for sure that Raul was my partner for this, I pulled back and I said, “Ignore the specific panel description. Just know that this is the feel I want for this page.” Because Raul is a master at sequential storytelling, and he gets the vibe that I want for these sequences. The good news is that those pages aren't far from my original intent, but he manages to sweeten them up and the sequence with following the light is a good example of an idea that I had that he found a way to execute just a little bit better.

Thank you for your time!

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The Eisner Awards, comics’ most prestigious honor, are set to be handed out at San Diego Comic Con, and as we always do, Den of Geek is here to predict some of the winners. With barriers to access lower than ever for comic creators, this year brings a glut of deserving honorees, but some stand higher than the rest, and we’re here to tell you who we think is likely to win.

As always, Den of Geek does not condone gambling and is often wrong so please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t use this as a betting guide.

Best Continuing Series

• Astro City, by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Vertigo/DC)

• Kill or Be Killed, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)

• The Mighty Thor, by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman (Marvel)

• Paper Girls, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image)

• Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)

Paper Girls won best new series last year, and Jason Aaron cleaned up at the awards, so I’m guessing this one comes down to Kill or Be Killedand Astro City. The latter is experiencing something of a revival, with critics saying it’s as good or better than it’s ever been. That’s a high bar for a book that has been almost universally great for 100 issues. I think this is a little bit lifetime achievement award, a little bit “wow this book is really great,” and Astro City is the winner.

Best Limited Series

• Archangel, by William Gibson, Michael St. John Smith, Butch Guice, and Tom Palmer (IDW)

• Briggs Land, by Brian Wood and Mack Chater (Dark Horse)

• Han Solo, by Marjorie Liu and Mark Brooks (Marvel)

• Kim and Kim, by Magdalene Visaggio and Eva Cabrera (Black Mask)

• The Vision, by Tom King and Gabriel Walta (Marvel)

Han Solo is arguably the best limited Star Wars series since they moved back to Marvel, and Archangelis awesome, distilled Gibson. But The Vision is one of the best, most intense comics of any genre I’ve ever read. Tom King, Gabriel Walta, and Jordie Bellaire told a story that was a little bit Sergio Leone, a little bit American Beauty, a little bit West Coast Avengers. If I had done capsule reviews while this was coming out monthly, every single one of them would have been “That was pretty messed up, dude.” The Vision wins by a lot.

Best New Series

• Black Hammer, by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston (Dark Horse)

• Clean Room, by Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt (Vertigo/DC)

• Deathstroke: Rebirth, by Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, et al. (DC)

• Faith, by Jody Houser, Pere Pérez, and Marguerite Sauvage (Valiant)

• Mockingbird, by Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk (Marvel)

This is a really tough one to pick. There isn’t a single book that’s less than excellent in this entire batch. Deathstrokeis pure Priest comics excellence, and Mockingbirdwas a joy to read.

Black Hammer is a little different, though, because it’s immediately familiar, but also unlike anything we’ve seen before. It reads like a hard-indie Doom Patrol - it’s more akin to something like Copraor Revengerthan other superhero books. It's got a lot of Lemire's indie atmosphere (discomfort and sadness, but absolutely captivating), but wrapped up in something immediately familiar. Ormston's art is so well suited to Lemire's tone that it takes three or four issues to believe that Lemire isn't drawing it himself. Black Hammer wins for best new series.

Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12)

• The Drawing Lesson, by Mark Crilley (Watson-Guptill)

• Ghosts, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic)

• Hilda and the Stone Forest, by Luke Pearson (Flying Eye Books)

• Rikki, adapted by Norm Harper and Matthew Foltz-Gray (Karate Petshop)

• Science Comics: Dinosaurs, by MK Reed and Joe Flood (First Second)

Luke Pearson’s Hildabooks are amazing: straightforward stories, but with such dense, skillful cartooning that both early and long-time readers will spend much longer pouring over every page than they will reading the text. Plus, at some point Eisner voters are going to get tired of giving awards to Raina Telgemeier, right? Or maybe they'll just cut out all the drama and hand her one as she walks into the ceremony.

Either way, Hilda and the Stone Forest should win, and Ghosts should also win. I'm going with Hilda.

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)

• Bad Machinery, vol. 5: The Case of the Fire Inside, by John Allison (Oni)

• Batgirl, by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque (DC)

• Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (Archie)

• Monstress, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image)

• Trish Trash: Roller Girl of Mars, by Jessica Abel (Papercutz/Super Genius)

• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)

This category could just as easily be “Best Continuing Series,” but North and Henderson have just been absurdly good on Squirrel Girl. The best thing about it is how surprising it continues to be: somehow a series that started by putting Doreen in a college computer science program managed to shock a laugh out of me by putting code on Brain Drain’s superhero costume. Squirrel Girlis consistently smart and hilarious, and Erica Henderson is one of the most gifted comedic comic artists certainly of my lifetime, and maybe of all time.

Best Anthology

• Baltic Comics Anthology š! #26: dADa, edited by David Schilter and Sanita Muizniece (kuš!)

• Island Magazine, edited by Brandon Graham and Emma Rios (Image)

• Kramers Ergot 9, edited by Sammy Harkham (Fantagraphics)

• Love Is Love, edited by Marc Andreyko (IDW/DC)

• Spanish Fever: Stories by the New Spanish Cartoonists, edited by Santiago Garcia (Fantagraphics)

There is no way, with the country in the position that it’s in, that the Eisner voters pass up the opportunity to give this award to Love is Love. That’s not to say that it isn’t deserved: the book is 128 pages of heart and earnestness from some incredibly gifted creative teams - Scott Snyder’s piece in particular. But all of them are great. Giving an Eisner to Love is Love is basically giving it to the entire industry - DC and IDW were the publishers on the spine, but Aftershock, Dynamite and Archie all had a hand in its creation. Love is Love is kind of like La La Land but without the cynicism.

Best Reality-Based Work

• Dark Night: A True Batman Story, by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo/DC)

• Glenn Gould: A Life Off Tempo, by Sandrine Revel (NBM)

• March (Book Three), by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)

• Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir, by Tom Hart (St. Martin’s)

• Tetris: The Games People Play, by Box Brown (First Second)

The question in this category isn’t “who will win,” it’s “Why isn’t Marchnominated in more categories?” The story is structured exceptionally well, but Powell’s art and lettering are the best in any comic I’ve read this decade. This is one of the best comics I own, and there’s no way Marchdoesn’t walk away with this award.

Best Writer

• Ed Brubaker, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed, Velvet (Image)

• Kurt Busiek, Astro City (Vertigo/DC)

• Chelsea Cain, Mockingbird (Marvel)

• Max Landis, Green Valley (Image/Skybound); Superman: American Alien (DC)

• Jeff Lemire, Black Hammer (Dark Horse); Descender, Plutona (Image); Bloodshot Reborn (Valiant)

• Brian K. Vaughan, Paper Girls, Saga (Image)

Brubaker, Busiek, Lemire and Vaughan are perennials in this category, and I think the Eisners are going to be looking to balance new and nostalgia this year. The difference between Landis and Cain is degree of difficulty: American Alienis one of the best Superman origin/year one stories I’ve ever read, putting it up there with Secret Origin, Birthright and the first page of All-Star Superman. 

Mockingbird stands out not only because of what an excellent comic it was, but also because Bobbi Morse was nothing until Brian Bendis pulled her out of limbo for Secret Invasion, then nothing again until Cain came along and wrote an earnest, honest, funny story about one of the smartest badasses in the entire Marvel Universe. Chelsea Cain deserves recognition for her work.

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

• Mark Brooks, Han Solo (Marvel)

• Dan Mora, Klaus (BOOM!)

• Greg Ruth, Indeh (Grand Central Publishing)

• Francois Schuiten, The Theory of the Grain of Sand (IDW)

• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)

• Brian Stelfreeze, Black Panther (Marvel)

I was as surprised as you when I bolded this. But then I thought about it, and you know what? Mora’s pencils on Klauswere really good! Staples will probably win, and she’s very deserving, but Dan Mora’s work on All-Star Santa Claus was just as inventive and creative, and would be just as solid a winner.

Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers)

• Mike Del Mundo, Avengers, Carnage, Mosaic, The Vision (Marvel)

• David Mack, Abe Sapien, BPRD Hell on Earth, Fight Club 2, Hellboy and the BPRD 1953 (Dark Horse)

• Sean Phillips, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed (Image)

• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)

• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)

Del Mundo has been the best cover artist in comics for years, going back to his work on X-Men Legacy. The reason he’s such an effective cover artist is he uses the same skill he utilizes on his stellar interiors to tell a concise story on every cover. His painting is magnificent, and he’s overdue for some recognition.

Best Coloring

• Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Green Valley (Image/Skybound)

• Elizabeth Breitweiser, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed, Velvet (Image); Outcast by Kirkman & Azaceta (Image/Skybound)

• Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)

• Laura Martin, Wonder Woman (DC); Ragnarok (IDW); Black Panther (Marvel)

• Matt Wilson, Cry Havoc, Paper Girls, The Wicked + The Divine (Image); Black Widow, The Mighty Thor, Star-Lord (Marvel)

We’re in a golden age of comics coloring, so this category is a tough call every year. But one book makes Matt Wilson the hands down choice this year: The Mighty Thor. The story being told in that book is crazy and weird, and Wilson’s psychedelic palate only enhances the pencils and story. He’s a gifted colorist, as you can see from the rest of his work, but he has taken Thor to an entirely new level.

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

This article was originally published in the Den of GeekSDCC Special Edition Magazine. Click here to view the full issue! Illustration by Emily Gloria Miller.

A Church Divided

Strip away what Star Wars did for science fiction, blockbuster cinema, and special effects, and what’s left is the franchise’s most important legacy: its community of fans.

The secret to why so many people from different walks of life connect with Star Wars is simple. Its very foundation is built on archetypes that go back thousands of years. The story of A New Hope is about David beating Goliath. We all want to see David in ourselves—the little guy who defeats the giant and becomes a hero. But that doesn’t mean we all rally around the same things.

Since the resurgence of Star Wars-mania in the years after Disney purchased the franchise, there has been a tug of war on almost every major change, from the role of women in the saga to whether a black actor should get a starring role in a film. Even the inclusion of LGBTQ characters in the latest books has come as a shock to some. The fandom has become a bit like the saga it worships: two opposing forces with their own visions of what the galaxy far, far away should look like.

While real-life politics, race relations, and the fight for gender equality intensify, Star Wars remains a progressive beacon of hope in its storytelling and representation of its vastly diverse church of fans. The religion is welcoming, accepting, helpful to those who need it, but as with all faiths, there are the extremists with the misguided notion that they own Star Wars, or that their interpretation of the story is the sole correct one. It’s a church divided.

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The Light Side

Within the halls of Celebration Orlando, the biggest gathering of Star Wars fans in the galaxy, you wouldn’t know there’s a division. Fans are in Orlando simply because they love Star Wars, whatever it may mean to them. Like Sunday mass, the crowd gathers in the lobby of the convention center as they wait for the church doors to open. Spending time with these fans makes you feel like there’s nothing wrong with the fandom at all. In fact, things might be better than they ever were.

To the attendees, Star Wars is a lifelong passion, not a fleeting one. Forget the millions of children who fall in love with the saga every time Disney releases a new movie. It's really the adults who have kept this franchise going for four decades and provide the most insight into this enormous fandom—perhaps the biggest in the galaxy, rivaled only by Trekkers and the would-be wizards dreaming of Hogwarts.

The main doors of the convention center open up to somewhere far away. It’s like walking through the crowded streets of Mos Eisley for the first time: men dressed in big, furry Wookie suits; others scowling as the Sith; and, in several cases, men in gender role-subverting Slave Leia metal bikinis. Women are dressed as powerful Jedi Masters, many as Rey or Leia, but even more clad in Rebel pilot uniforms. Several people take advantage of the laissez faire dress code to dress up as sexy Ewoks: a lot of skin, a little fur, and a sharp spear.

And all of these people party hard. If they’re not sitting in a tent outside of the convention center waiting for the doors to open for The Last Jedi panel in two days’ time, they’re almost certainly taking part in cosplay gatherings, podcast hangouts, or going to one of the many shindigs and galas throughout the weekend. The 501st Legion, one of the biggest cosplay groups in the world, is going to throw a big party at the Hyatt Regency on Saturday night that costs $100 a head to attend and will feature a performance by “honorary member” Weird Al Yankovic. According to the invite, no food will be served, but it’s the place to be if “you’re on a liquid diet.”

At a hotel bar a few blocks away from the convention center, they play the Star Wars films on loop and serve specialty drinks based on the movies, including a blue milk-inspired rum drink that’s probably not what Aunt Beru had in mind. Some attendees prefer something stronger though, like the Hennessy being consumed by Hip Hop Trooper’s entourage. Yes, even Star Wars social media personalities have a crew willing to follow them around for the weekend.

Hip Hop Trooper, whose real name is Eugene Brown, walks into a bar the night before Celebration’s opening ceremony with a squad of men and women wearing t-shirts that say “Run SWC” in homage to both this awe-inspiring gathering of fans and Brown’s favorite hip hop group, Run DMC.

While Brown is not wearing his signature red Adidas-branded Stormtrooper armor or carrying his matching red boombox that first night, he’s still easily recognizable among the crowd at the bar. The Star Wars fan community has an ecosystem within itself, its own stars outside of the world-famous actors they worship. Brown, for example, has his own action figure that people flip for profit on eBay. That’s the kind of fame that’s apparently afforded to folks with over 90,000 followers on Instagram.

“Because my figures are on eBay, people buy them at retail and then sell them for five times as much. It’s unbelievable,” Brown says. “I look up the Vader from the day I was born and I’m worth more than him!”

But despite superstardom within the community—and people really turn out for this guy’s dance routine—Brown doesn’t make a living off of being Hip Hop Trooper (although Adidas does send him the occasional swag bag). There’s something much more personal that makes him don the red armor: a tale of overcoming bullying in his native England one Star Wars action figure at a time. When he was a child, Star Wars really was a new hope.

“I’ll tell you a story I’ve never told anyone,” Brown says. He remembers traveling a lot as a kid and being bullied. There were days when Brown didn’t want to go to school at all. To cheer him up, his father would hide Star Wars figures in his son’s shoes. “I’d wake up in the morning and I’d put my shoe on, not wanting to go to school, and I’d feel—Oh! What’s this? And it would just bring me up.”

Brown’s favorite figure was Boba Fett, the masked bounty hunter who is barely in the Original Trilogy at all but carries a mystique unmatched by any other character in the saga. Perhaps it was Fett’s implied man-with-no-name toughness that helped Brown cope with bullying.

“The day I created Hip Hop Trooper, it was so easy because that was my life,” Brown says. “I had the hip hop culture and the hope of Star Wars.”

The Dark Side

There are plenty of other stories like Brown’s—tales of people finding hope in bad situations, connecting, and expressing themselves through the galaxy far, far away. There’s an ownership that fans feel for this saga, especially now that the franchise has switched hands from a sole creator to a new group of storytellers. When George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney, big-name fans like J.J. Abrams, Gareth Edwards, Rian Johnson, and Dave Filoni took on the responsibility of expanding the universe and moving it forward.

While this ownership often translates into beauty—whether it's a billion-dollar blockbuster premiere at Mann’s Chinese Theater or something on a smaller, more intimate scale, like the people getting Star Wars tattoos in a buzzing corner of a convention center—there’s also a dark side to feeling like something belongs solely to a specific group of people. A sort of exclusivity is born in the most hardcore echelons of fandom.

In one such instance, a group of angry fans declared “spoiler jihad” on The Force Awakensafter Disney erased much of the franchise’s old continuity, doing away with elements of beloved Star Wars books and comics from the 1990s and 2000s to accommodate the new movie. Their objective? To ruin the movie for as many people as possible.

Angie Lewis, one of the fans getting fresh ink at Celebration Orlando’s Tattoo Pavilion (a little BB-8 on her shoulder), recognizes the issues with certain subsections of the community.

“There are people who come around and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, you’re not a real fan.’ Not specifically to me, but I don’t like it when people say that at all. Because if you like it, you’re a real fan, right?”

That rationale should make perfect sense, and while Lewis has ultimately found the community to be welcoming (many others share this sentiment), it’s no secret that it’s sometimes difficult to be a certain kind of Star Wars fan, whether it’s because of who you are or what you think.

The last few years have seen widespread backlash against the push for more diversity in fantasy and science fiction. Disney-era Star Wars has received its fair share of criticism for casting women as the protagonists of both The Force Awakensand Rogue One. In fact, The Last Jedi will be the third female-led Star Wars film in three years. Some fans have even willfully interpreted this as a plot to make Star Wars “anti-male.” These are the same people who feel that their childhoods have been stolen from them, replaced by a “social justice warrior agenda.”

The idea that Star Wars is primarily a boys’ club is usually planted at a young age, such as in the case of Katie Goldman, a little girl who was bullied at school for liking something that’s “only for boys.” Her story went viral after her mother Carrie blogged about how Katie no longer wanted to like Star Wars because of the bullying.

There have been several documented cases like Katie’s, where girls are mocked solely on the basis that Star Wars “isn’t for them.” Many of these stories have heartwarming endings with the community rushing to their aid, reassuring them that the things they love are for them and anyone else who wants in. The 501st Legion even gifted Katie and two other girls in similar situations with custom-made stormtrooper costumes and, in one case, a meeting with Weird Al, who somehow keeps popping up.

The side in favor of diversity has its clear champions. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, for one, hopes more women will be involved in the actual making of the films.

“Fifty percent of our executive team are women. Six out of eight of the people in my Story Group are women. I think it’s making a huge difference in the kind of stories we’re trying to tell,” Kennedy told Fortune back in 2015. “I'm confident we will eventually hire a woman who directs a Star Wars movie.” As of right now, all of the directors hired for the new movies have been white men.

Of course, for every Kennedy, there is someone lying in wait in internet comment sections, making ridiculous statements about how “women can’t survive in space,” referring to Rey, the protagonist of The Force Awakens. And then there are the accusations that Rey is a “Mary Sue,” an overpowered character who is too perfect, too capable.

It’s disheartening when you consider that these fans worship the same franchise that gave birth to Princess Leia, a character who was revolutionary at a time when many of her sci-fi contemporaries were still oversexualized damsels. Of course the late, great Carrie Fisher faced her own challenges from these fans, the same ones who perhaps also took part in body shaming the older General Leia in The Force Awakens. “Please stop debating about whether or not I aged well,” was her perfect retort on Twitter. “Unfortunately, it hurts all three of my feelings. My body hasn’t aged as well as I have. Blow us.”

Fisher’s advice to Daisy Ridley upon being cast as Rey in The Force Awakens echoed the older actresses’ attitude toward Princess Leia’s status as a sex symbol:

“You should fight for your outfit,” she told Ridley during a Q&A for Interview magazine, specifically referencing her Slave Leia costume from Return of the Jedi. “Don’t be a slave like I was.”

Fisher never saw that infamous metal bikini as something to be sexualized. To Fisher that costume and the scenes it pertains to symbolize both a literal and metaphorical breaking of the chains of misogyny. She was practical about those who criticized the costume as a bad influence on little girls. When confronted by the disapproval of parents, Fisher told The Wall Street Journal, “Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him because I didn’t like it. And then I took it off. Backstage.”

In the last three years, Star Wars films have certainly become more inclusive of women. The Last Jedi, for example, boasts at least five female characters: Rey, Leia, Captain Phasma, Rose (played by Kelly Marie Tran), and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, a high-ranking Resistance officer portrayed by Academy Award-winning actress Laura Dern. Better yet, a woman now pilots the Millennium Falcon, arguably the most well-known spaceship in all of science fiction.

It’s comforting to know that the films are starting to live up to the promise of its more diverse Expanded Universe of TV series, books, comics, and video games. For years, the EU has featured great female characters, such as Mara Jade, Jaina Solo, Asajj Ventress, and Ahsoka Tano, and in recent years has pushed for the inclusion of more LGBTQ characters as well.

Of course, the introduction of LGBTQ characters has also been met with criticism from the more conservative corners of the fandom. When Star Wars: Aftermathauthor Chuck Wendig introduced a former Imperial Officer (and therefore a white man) named Sinjir Rath Velus in Star Wars: Aftermath, it struck a particular nerve. While Sinjir isn’t the first gay character in Star Wars canon—that honor goes to Imperial officer Moff Delian Mors, a lesbian, who first appeared in the novel Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp—he is currently the franchise’s most prominent.

Wendig came to the defense of Sinjir and LGBTQ fans in an uncharacteristically direct and confrontational manner with a blog post after the release of Aftermath in 2015.

“And if you’re upset because I put gay characters and a gay protagonist in the book, I got nothing for you,” Wendig wrote. “You’re not the Rebel Alliance. You’re not the good guys. You’re the fucking Empire, man. You’re the shitty, oppressive, totalitarian Empire. If you can imagine a world where Luke Skywalker would be irritated that there were gay people around him, you completely missed the point of Star Wars.”

The outrage surrounding Aftermath was nothing compared to what followed a year later, only days before the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. A group of fans rushed to Twitter, determined to boycott the new movie. #DumpStarWars was born in response to a pair of tweets posted by screenwriters Chris Weitz and Gary Whitta in which they asserted that the films were anti-white supremacist.

“Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization,” wrote Weitz. Gary Whitta’s reply: “Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women.”

Many took this to mean that the film was anti-Donald Trump. While Star Wars’ anti-fascist, anti-xenophobic message has always been clear to some—including Lucas, who used Nazi imagery and language to inform the Empire’s units—there’s a group of people that gleaned a completely different message from Star Wars.

#DumpStarWars wasn’t even the first time a group of fans have threatened to #BoycottStarWars. In 2015, Twitter trolls urged people to boycott The Force Awakens because of a black actor’s prominence in the film. According to The Guardian, one troll even claimed that actor John Boyega’s casting in the film was promoting “white genocide.” At one point, even the Chinese promotional poster for The Force Awakenscame under scrutiny after it allegedly minimized Boyega’s role to appeal to the country’s audience.

“I’m in the movie, what are you going to do about it?” Boyega told V magazine in response to the blatantly racist remarks. “You either enjoy it or you don’t. I’m not saying get used to the future... [it] is already happening. People of color and women are increasingly being shown onscreen. For things to be whitewashed just doesn’t make sense.”

As you meet members of the fan community, you’ll find the majority are glad that the franchise represents more than one group of people. There’s a solidarity in the crowd at Celebration Orlando. These fans are just happy to be with other people who love what they love. Star Wars is no longer “The Great White Void,” as actor Raymond St. Jacques put it in a letter to the LA Times in July 1977.

For those who have missed the entire point of Star Wars, there must be a growing fear that time has passed them by, that their complaints will someday be completely forgotten. No opening crawl will tell their story.

The Unifying Force

Despite the obvious fracture in the fandom, Celebration Orlando’s confrontations are all for show. A group of more than 50 Rebel pilots reenact the huddle before the Battle of Hoth, while the 501st Legion’s stormtroopers and Imperial officers block the corridors outside the expo floor like true oppressors. Soldiers salute each other in the hallways, an Imperial smiles while referring to another group of cosplayers as “Rebel scum.” Jedi and Sith are tempted to break into an epic duel of the fates, but they know they’ll probably get escorted out by security.

Everyone at Celebration Orlando is perfectly happy, sharing the love of the timeless story that brings them all together.

Yet there’s something somber hanging over everyone’s head, especially on Thursday and Friday. It’s the first Celebration without our princess. During a beautiful tribute to Fisher at the “40 Years of Star Wars” panel, many sob quietly. In that moment, Leia isn’t just a woman or a senator, a soldier or a leader. Maybe not even a character. She’s a symbol of hope. Everyone feels it in the room as John Williams conducts the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in a rendition of “Princess Leia’s Theme.” Leia will always represent the spirit to be better, to fight for your beliefs, and to persist in the face of adversity.

As voice actress Vanessa Marshall put it during the Rebels news conference later that weekend, “We have hope. There’s something about that that I think we all need right now.”

It’s at this same conference that many of the faithful gather to listen to Dave Filoni, arguably the most brilliant mind working on Star Wars since Lucas essentially left the keys to him and Kathleen Kennedy. Now with three seasons of Rebelsunder his belt, Filoni is his own kind of celebrity. At one point, Filoni is surrounded by ravenous fans in the lobby of the convention center. They don’t let him get through to the escalators. They want to shake his hand, take pictures, touch his hat, touch him. He greets as many people as he can before security finally splits the crowd right through the middle. From the top floor looking down, people call eagerly for their loved ones to come look, see the man who inherited Star Wars, before he’s gone.

Just prior to this, Filoni, archbishop of Star Wars, shares what he’s learned about these stories, what he understands them to be about. A group of reporters at the Rebels news conference listen to the showrunner evangelize about the ultimate truth of the Force:

“Belief in the Force itself is part of what drives it,”says Filoni. “Not everybody in the Star Wars universe believes in it, which is interesting because its actions and abilities are on display quite often. So why doesn’t everybody believe in it? Because it takes discipline and training and practice, and commitment and faith to believe in this thing that gives you power that flows through you. It’s in all of you. And that’s great and it’s also dangerous.”

It feels like he’s no longer talking about Star Wars but of our current times, of the choices for which we will be remembered. Will future generations, 50 years from now, a hundred, look back on us, on our world, and conclude that we got it all wrong? Will they be better?

Filoni is trying to save all of us now, while we can still course correct. As Anakin proved in Return of the Jedi, it’s never too late for that. It’s goodness the long way around.

“It’s the ultimate choice: do you follow wickedness or do you, in the face of fear, turn to good? Fear is the root of all evil. Fear destroys everything,” he says. “And if you take nothing else from Star Wars, it’s that you should make no decision out of fear.”

Filoni is almost whispering now. He’s thought about every single word of this gospel. His message is one of love, a reminder that when “the Emperor stands before you” and you feel “powerless,” you have to remember to “throw your weapon away.” The gathered are in a trance.

“I love the person next to me. I love my father, I love my mother, and nothing you do can destroy that. Nothing. And you stand on your commitment. And then that inspires the hope, that inspires the love, which is something evil doesn’t understand. That’s the core of Star Wars.”

There’s an overwhelming silence. A room full of quiet consideration. Maybe for a fraction of a second, the power of the Force. And then all of his followers break into enthusiastic applause.

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

Deadpool 2 has the lofty task of following up the film industry's biggest surprise story of 2016 in Deadpool, which turned a meager (for a blockbuster) $58 million budget into a $783 million global phenomenon. With Ryan Reynolds set to reprise his role as the Marvel Comics Merc with a Mouth, he will be joined by a classic comic book rival in Cable, played by Josh Brolin, who makes a detour from his Marvel Studios gig as Thanos in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War to play an equally-iconic antagonist to our antihero.

John Wick's David Leitch is directing Deadpool 2. While the Deadpool 2 script is still officially in the hands of original film scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, it was revealed to Collider that screenwriter extraordinaire Drew Goddard has been brought onboard to work on the film’s script as a consultant.

With that established, here is everything we know about Deadpool 2!

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

Deadpool 2 Latest News

Deadpool 2 is now in production, so expect news to hit faster than bad chimichangas!

Cable is one of the hottest roles in Hollywood right now, and it's Josh Brolin who gets the honors of bringing the character to life on the big screen. Now that production is underway, Brolin's posted a little tease of his transformation into Cable via Instagram. Check it out below:

Julian Dennison joins the cast of Deadpool 2 as an unspecified character. Star Ryan Reynolds took to Instagram to announce Dennison's casting by posting a Luke/Yoda-eque photo of Dennison on Deadpool's back, as they, as he puts it, "stare off into our beautiful future together."

The New Zealander Dennison is known for his role as the Tupac-fixated Ricky Baker in the 2016 kiwi comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a film from Thor: Ragnarok and What We Do in the Shadows director Taika Waititi. Dennison also appeared in the time travel comedy Chronesthesia.

Star Ryan Reynolds announced Day 1 of the sequel shoot with a social media post brandishing a preview of the (extremely similar) sequel logo. Indeed, the rolling of cameras commences after a rather shocking directorial shakeup that saw original Deadpool director Tim Miller – widely credited for its successful mix of unmitigated action and irreverence – abruptly drop out of the sequel, leaving the job to a new helmer whose name graces the clapperboard from Reynolds’s post in stunt coordinator-turned-director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, John Wick), next to cinematographer Jonathan Sela.

With cameras now rolling, Reynolds is already decked out as Deadpool, since set photos have arrived.

Another, arguably more intriguing, set also arrived (via Just Jared), showing Reynolds, clearly in acting mode, as the Merc with a Mouth, wearing his signature mask and carrying a pistol… albeit while dressed as a tourist with eccentric tastes, wearing a pair of brown slacks, a black-and-pink track jacket and a t-shirt brandishing the logo of the Paris, France Crazy Horse cabaret.

Deadpool 2 Release Date

Production on Deadpool 2 is now underway, which gives it plenty of time to make its June 1, 2018 release date. Here's proof that they're filming, courtesy of Ryan Reynolds...

Deadpool 2 Trailer

Logan didn't have a post-credits scene. Instead, it has kind of a pre-credits scene, which is basically a wacky teaser for Deadpool 2. It's not quite a trailer, but it's 100% legit, stars Ryan Reynolds, and was directed by David Leitch. This won't appear in the movie, but there's definitely a touch of what you'll see in it here in terms of tone.

Watch Deadpool on Amazon

And by "tone" we mean "exactly what you expect/want out of a Deadpool movie." There's some nice symmetry to letting Ryan Reynolds drop this one before 20th Century Fox, since he's apparently the person responsible for the test footage leak that finally got this movie the greenlight in the first place a few years back. He continues to "deny" that.

Watch it here. It's pretty great. ALSO it has come to our attention that mobile users are having trouble seeing the video, so you can click here to watch it if it isn't coming up. Sorry about that.

A couple of things worth noting here:

1. You can see the word "Hope" scrawled on that phone booth. This could be a joke, considering the Superman: The Movie theme is playing, that Superman's "S" is "a symbol of hope."

However, it probably refers to Hope Summers, who is Cable's adopted daughter and holy moley does this get too confusing to get into right here.

2. You can also see "Nathan Summers coming soon!" written on there. In other words, that's Cable, and it's no secret whatsoever that Cable is in this movie.

This article contains some Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice spoilers.

This is the one that the DC Extended Universe is building towards. Five years after The Avengers showed us that it was possible to pull off a non-mutant superhero team on the big screen, we'll finally see a JusticeLeaguemovie. Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder has wrapped filming on Justice League, from a script by Batman v Superman's Chris Terrio. 

There's going to be a HUGE Warner Bros. presentation in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, and that's when we expect to get a new trailer, and a slew of other DCEU announcements. We'll update this with all that info when it happens. Until then, here's everything else we know...

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

Justice League Trailer

Here's all the footage that has been released so far...

And here's a look at the first footage that arrived at SDCC 2016! This was our first glimpse of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman working together on the big screen.

We did a full analysis on this footage right here.

Justice League Movie Release Date

Justice League is scheduled for a November 17th, 2017 release. The complete DC superhero movie release calendar can be found here.

Justice League Movie Villain

In order for the Justice League to form, they need a threat with power levels that only a team of heroes could take down, right? 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made it pretty explicit that Darkseid is on his way to this world, and there were several visual cues for those who are interested. We broke those down (along with lots more comic references in the movie) right here. But he isn't the villain of the Justice League movie. A deleted scene from Batman v Superman released online offered a look at a monstrous creature on a Kryptonian ship, who turned out to be another Fourth World related despot (and Jack Kirby creation), Steppenwolf.

Steppenwolf is basically Darkseid's cousin, a powerful warrior from Apokolips who wields a pretty crazy energy axe. 

Ciaran Hinds (you may know him as Mance Rayder on Game of Thrones which makes him a particularly cool choice for this part) is playing Steppenwolf in the film, and the actor spoke about how they got him into character. "Basically they’re going to construct something, digitally, and then they will use my eyes and mouth,"the actor told The Independent. Hinds describes Steppenwolf as "old, tired, still trying to get out of his own enslavement to Darkseid, [but] he has to keep on this line to try and take over worlds.”

Here's what Steppenwolf looked like in that Batman v Superman deleted scene:

And here's Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder. You may start your Photoshop engines accordingly...

It's still inevitable that we'll see Darkseid in these movies, and he'll probably still be a presence in the first one. DC Comics used him as the catalyst for the formation of the Justice League in the current comic book series. He's a pretty big gun to burn this early, though, so holding him back for Justice League Part Two sound about as logical as anything else we've heard.

Hit the next page for more info on the cast and story!

In the world of comics, licensed properties are usually very nomadic. A video game or TV show can move from company to company over the course of several years. It shouldn’t be shocking when one of these agreements end, but there are some relationships that go on for so long that the property and publisher and synonymous with each other. For instance, it was a big deal when Dark Horse lost the rights to Star Wars comics, even if it was an understandable change due to Disney’s role.

Now it’s the end of the long-running partnership between Archie Comics and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe, and Sonic Mega Drive have all been cancelled out of nowhere. A real shame, since Sonic the Hedgehogwas only a few issues away from hitting #300.

Here’s the word from Sonic’s Twitter:

After 24 years of memorable storytelling, SEGA of America will conclude their Sonic the Hedgehog publishing partnership program with Archie Comics. This does not mark the end of Sonic in comics, but signifies SEGA of America’s decision to take a different direction for the series that will be announced at a later date. SEGA would like to thank Sonic’s amazing fans for their loyalty and passion over all the years. SEGA looks forward to providing more information soon.

That’s pretty harsh. Archie has been releasing Sonic comics so far back that the early issues were based on the Jaleel White-voiced cartoons to the point that Sonic even fought a robot Steve Urkel in one issue. Over the years, fans had to endure the dark period where Ken Penders was in charge of the creative process, followed by Ian Flynn taking over and turning the series into something truly enjoyable. In the end, there were roughly 500 Sonic-related comic issues released until the sudden end and that’s nothing to laugh at.

One can only speculate where Sonic the Hedgehog will end up next, though IDW and BOOM! Studios seem likely.

Gavin Jasper is pouring out a chili dog in remembrance. Follow him on Twitter!

Hulu has gone ahead with a full season order for a TV adaptation of Marvel's Runaways comic from the creators of Gossip Girl, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, as well as Marvel Television and ABC Signature. Tamara Becher, who has also written for Marvel's Iron Fist, is among the writing team. 

Initially, this was an order for a full season's worth of scripts and a pilot, but to absolutely nobody's surprise, Hulu has ordered Runaways to series.

Marvel's Runaways Release Date

Marvel's Runaways will premiere on Tuesday, November 21 on Hulu. 

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

Marvel's Runaways Synopsis

Here's the official synopsis from Hulu:

Every teenager thinks their parents are evil. What if you found out they actually were? Marvel’s Runaways is the story of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but who must unite against a common foe – their parents. 

Marvel's Runaways Cast

Check out the first image, which looks like it comes right out of a cover from the comics:

All casting details come courtesy of Marvel.com.

Let's start with the kids...

Rhenzy Feliz (Teen Wolf) as Alex Wilder is a loud-and-proud nerd. Admittedly a bit of a loner, Alex spends much of his free-time playing video games, but deep down, what he wants most is to reunite his childhood group of friends.

Lyrica Okano (The Affair) as Nico Minoru – tough, intelligent, and independent–embodies teenage angst. A budding “Wiccan,” Nico’s carefully crafted goth appearance isolates her from her peers and family, but maybe what she really needs is someone to talk to.

Virginia Gardner (Goat) as Karolina Dean, model-perfect exterior with a lot going on behind her professionally whitened smile, is burdened by the lofty expectations and responsibilities put upon her by her parents. Underneath her veneer of privilege and perfection, Karolina is experiencing a newfound eagerness to explore her identity and pursue her own desires.

Ariela Barer (New Girl) as Gert Yorkes is a purple-haired, bespectacled, contemporary riot grrrl. Never passing up a moment to stand on a soapbox, Gert sometimes wields her persona as a brash social justice warrior to mask her true feelings.

Gregg Sulkin (Faking It) as Chase Stein is a lacrosse-playing, high school heartthrob. While many write him off as a dumb jock, Chase exhibits flashes of untapped brilliance in engineering, not unlike his wildly successful father’s.

Allegra Acosta (100 Things to Do Before High School) as Molly Hernandez, the youngest and most innocent member of her friend group, is known for her peppy positivity and a deep yearning to belong.

Ryan Sands (Hat Hair, The Wire) as Geoffrey Wilder – is a man defined by the grueling path he’s taken to achieve his self-made success. A hulking presence, Geoffrey can effortlessly shift from approachable father to intimidating strategist with his son Alex.

Angel Parker (The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, The Strain) as Catherine Wilder – a successful lawyer, is deliberate and calculating in both her words and actions. But when it comes to her family, she’s fiercely loyal and a loving mother to her son Alex.

Brittany Ishibashi (This Is Us, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) as Tina Minoru – a perfectionist “tiger mom.” In her professional life, she is a brilliant innovator and ruthless CEO. Emotionally, she is less confident, often shying away from difficult conversations with her daughter Nico and careful to avoid explicit displays of her feelings.

James Yaegashi (Breakfast at Tiffany’s on Broadway, Madame Secretary) as Robert Minoru – a gentle and brilliant beta, the Woz to his wife’s Jobs. Warm and feeling, Robert sometimes struggles with being married to a woman who so forcefully barricades her emotions while caring about Nico.

Kevin Weisman (Hello Ladies, Alias) as Dale Yorkes – a beardy, dad-core bioengineer. Incredibly science-minded, he has a deep love for his family but oftentimes falls short at knowing the right things to say to Gert.

Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives, True Colors) as Stacey Yorkes – an absent-minded and professorial bioengineer. Perpetually dawning Birkenstocks and a messy bun, Stacey utilizes a progressive approach to her parenting style to Gert.

Annie Wersching (Timeless, The Vampire Diaries) as Leslie Dean – a complicated beauty, is a poised and skilled leader. Clear-minded, focused, and charismatic, Leslie draws in devoted allies and followers who are taken by her success and charm, particularly with her daughter Karolina.

Kip Pardue (Remember the Titans, Ray Donovan) as Frank Dean – a former teen star who rode a short-lived movie career and is now teeming with insecurity. Floundering in his professional career as an actor, Frank is seeking to renew purpose in his life while being a father to Karolina.

James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) as Victor Stein – an engineering genius who may just save the word from itself. Electric cars, space travel; the military and NASA both look to him for answers. As a father to Chase, Victor has lofty expectations for his son, and when they aren’t met, his retribution can be fierce.

Ever Carradine (The Handmaids Tale, Goliath) as Janet Stein – a perfect PTA mom. Harboring a brilliant mind of her own, she has made deep sacrifices for her husband’s world-changing career. Though she hides it for the wellbeing of her son Chase, Janet longs for more from her life.

Marvel's Runaways Story

Runaways — adapted from the comic by Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona (at one point in its run, Joss Whedon also wrote for the series) — tells the story of a group of diverse teenagers who discover their parents are part of an evil crime organiztion called "The Pride."

Though the six teens despise one another, they band together to investigate their parents' nefarious plots. Scwartz and Savage wrote the script for the pilot and will serve as showrunners moving forward.

Speaking about the project to Deadline, Schwartz said: "I’m a long-time fan of Runaways and couldn’t be more excited to bring Brian and Adrian’s characters to life." Schwartz' interest in the comic book world isn't so surprising considering he created comics nerdboy Seth Cohen on The O.C. — a character we've argued before made a huge contribution to the cultural shift that made comics cool. 

Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb will also serve as an executive producer on the Runaways project, saying: "We’ve known the Runaways' story would make great television and being lucky enough to have Josh and Stephanie — who have time and again created shows that speak so genuinely to this exact audience — write and produce the series is nothing short of remarkable."

Guys, this is gonna be great...

Marvel's master plan for teaming Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist (plus some members of their supporting casts) in The Defenders Netflix series is well underway, and we'll see it later this year. The Defenders showrunners are Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez (Daredevil Season 2), with Drew Goddard (Daredevil Season 1, The Martian, Lost) returning as executive producer. The Defenders is currently filming in New York City.

We recently had a behind the scenes look at the show with the stars and showrunner. You can read the full article here.

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

The Defenders Trailer

Netflix has released a new promo starring Stan Lee himself that doubles as a kind of spiritual recap of the Marvel Netflix series thus far and a preview of The Defenders. Besides Stan Lee's excellent narration, the most notable aspect of this preview may be The Punisher's appearance towards the end of the clip. Could this be a hint that he will appear in The Defenders? 

The first trailer is here. We expect there will be another one once The Defenders panel hits Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. We'll update this as soon as it arrives.

Huge points for appropriate use of Nirvana's "Come as You Are."

We did a full breakdown and analysis of the trailer, which you can read by clicking here.

We last saw Elektra in the concluding moments of Daredevil Season 2, when the volatile romance between her and Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock ended – in an inevitable spin on her classic comic book fate – with her apparent death during a clash with clandestine ninja criminal organization the Hand by returning rival Nobu Yoshioka (Peter Shinkoda). However, as we also saw, the Hand, with post-mortem interest in Elektra, dug her up and placed her body into a sacred sarcophagus to be reborn as their new leader the Black Sky. Relevantly, the new promo for The Defenders gives us a slight tease for the end result of that macabre process.

Thus, while expectations for The Defenders would presumably have a resurrected Elektra pegged as an ally, we could find our heroes on the wrong side of her signature set of sais, at least, initially, anyway. Since the Hand played a major role in the last Marvel Netflix series Iron Fist, showcasing a shakeup in its leadership, it will be interesting to see how things play out in The Defenders, with Elektra as the Black Sky, along with Sigourney Weaver’s billed main villain, “Alexandra.”

The Defenders Release Date

A security footage-style teaser video titled "Midland Circle Security Elevator B" features street level MCU heroes in a blindfolded Daredevil, bullet-ridden hoodie-rocking Luke Cage, suit-sporting Iron Fist, and a camera-shy Jessica Jones awkwardly sharing an elevator and some obligatory Muzak. However, the time code in the upper-right ending with "08:18:20:17" divulged the long-awaited crucial bit of info.

With that oblique move, Netflix has officially revealed that The Defenders will premiere on August 18, 2017.

The Defenders Story

It's not much, but it's all we've got right now...

Marvel’s The Defenders follows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. A quartet of singular heroes with one common goal - to save New York City. This is the story of four solitary figures, burdened with their own personal challenges, who realize they just might be stronger when teamed together.

“Every one of them is following their own trail of bread crumbs, trying to unpack a mystery in New York,” showrunner Marco Ramirez told Entertainment Weekly. “We wanted them all caught off guard. Once they’re in that room together, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, s—, who are you?'”

The Defenders Photos

Hit the gallery to see some official stills. 

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While we've already seen this team in the trailer, this new image of them suited up and ready to go, compliments of Empire, will still always be a treat.

And how about this cool poster from Joe Quesada?

The Defenders Cast

Charlie Cox will return as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, as will Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Finn Jones as Iron Fist, and Mike Colter as Luke Cage. Don't be surprised if some other characters we meet along the way join the party, like Jon Bernthal's Punisher. Expect supporting cast from each of their shows to at least make appearances, and that will likely include Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson.

“We're incredibly excited to be able to bring our four street level heroes together in an epic tale woven by Doug and Marco whose work on Marvel’s Daredevil speaks for itself,” said Executive Producer/Head of Marvel Television, Jeph Loeb in a statement when the showrunners were announced in April 2016. "They write and produce not only great action and adventure, but also the heart and touch of humor that's makes us Marvel. With the inclusion of Drew Goddard, we've got a team that's as formidable as the Defenders themselves."

“This is the big one. Four amazing casts, four amazing series, now all in one amazing story,” added showrunners and Executive Producers Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez. “We are thrilled at the opportunity to deliver the show that both we and the fans have been waiting for.”

The first hero who isn't yet a headliner to be confirmed for the series is none other than Simone Missick's Misty Knight. “I believe I’m safe to say that I will be on The Defenders,” Simone Missick told The Wrap.

Misty is a huge highlight of Marvel's Luke Cage Netflix series, so having her in The Defenders should be treat.

The Defenders official Twitter account just keeps dropping casting bombs on us. The latest is that Elodie Yung will appear as Elektra. This show gets better by the day.

They also confirmed that Jessica Henwick, who will first appear in Iron Fist, will reprise her role as Colleen Wing in the upcoming Defenders team-up series. Here's a brief snippet of Henwick kicking butt:

The official Twitter account also confirmed what we already knew, that supporting characters from other Netflix shows like Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil like Elden Hensen's Foggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page, Scott Glenn's Stick, Simone Missick's Misty Knight, and other will be part of the series.

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And it doesn't look like we'll get Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk in this one, unfortunately.

Marvel's The Defenders Netflix series will consist of eight episodes (the usual count for their assorted solo series if 13), and Marvel has announced the director of the first two episodes. S.J. Clarkson, whose credits include episodes of Jessica Jones, Vinyl, and Orange is The New Black will occupy the big chair for those crucial first two installments.

“S.J.'s take on the material is outstanding. We loved her work on “Marvel’s Jessica Jones” and couldn’t think of a more talented and accomplished person to helm the first two episodes of Marvel’s The Defenders,” said Marvel’s Head of Television and Executive Producer, Jeph Loeb in a statement.

The Defenders Villain

Sigourney Weaver was announced as the antagonist to deafening applause on the NYCC Main Stage back in October. Since then details have been scarce...until now.

Entertainment Weekly has our first look at Sigourney Weaver as the mystery antagonist of Marvel's The Defenders Netflix series, although this still doesn't tell us a whole lot. We know her name is "Alexandra" and that's all they're telling us. At least for the moment.

Here's a photo of her in character, which marks the first official set photo we have from the series at all!

“We knew it would take something massive to pull these four characters from their individual worlds to work together,” Defenders showrunner Marco Ramirez told EW, “but also small enough that it felt like it existed in our world.” Start your speculation engines, comic fans!

 Last month, Ms. Weaver spoke to Movies.com a little about what to expect.

"It has a wonderful cast, and we're doing it right here in New York, which means a lot to me...Basically the four heroes come up against this really nice woman, who I'm playing...It's been a blast and I really love my character. I love the shows, too, which I wasn't familiar with before doing this. A real love letter to New York. To me they're not superheroes; they're people with a gift. It's just a different scale, and I'm really enjoying the scale of it. The apocalyptic thing is a little harder for me to understand."

EW also unveiled the first proper look at the team together:

We'll update this with more information about The Defenders Netflix series as it becomes available.

While former Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer has film roles booked in the aftermath of her character’s “exit” from the HBO series, her return to the small screen will occur with Picnic at Hanging Rock, which was just picked up by Amazon. The English actress headlines the Australian production, adapting an acclaimed native novel that depicted a notable fictional mystery in that country existing well before Aussie rockers Men at Work famously pondered the mystery of “Who Can It Be Now?”

Back in February, Natalie Dormer landed the lead role for Picnic at Hanging Rock, a six-episode miniseries drama for Foxtel (under the corporate umbrella of Fox), adapting Australian author Joan Lindsay’s 1967 quasi-historical mystery novel. While Lindsay's novel and director Peter Weir's 1975 film of the same name take place in 1900, this reimagining was originally reported to be set in the 21^st century. However, it appears that the production will showcase a prim and proper Victorian-era mystery.

In the latest development, Amazon has secured the distribution honors for the U.S., thus rendering it an Amazon Prime exclusive stateside, while set to air in Australia on Foxtel. As Caroline Kusser, SVP, Sales & Distribution for producing studio FremantleMedia International in North America expresses of the Amazon acquisition:

 “The stylish re-imagining of the provocative Picnic at Hanging Rock story will no doubt capture contemporary audiences across the US. With fantastic scripts, outstanding cast and bold editorial direction from Larysa Kondracki, Picnic at Hanging Rock is set to be a must-see series in 2018. We are thrilled to be working with Amazon Prime Video to bring this powerful drama to US screens."

That traditional story of Picnic at Hanging Rock takes place in Australia on Valentine’s Day in 1900, depicting the escalating chain of tragic events resulting from the mysterious disappearance of three college girls and a teacher after a trip to the eponymous (real-life) Victoria geological formation. Ambiguity shadows the circumstances, leading the reader to speculate on either criminal or supernatural causes. Yet, in this reimagining, Dormer won’t have to hide her English accent, as she plays an English headmistress named Mrs. Hester Appleyard (played by Rachel Roberts in the 1975 film), whose surname is shared with the prestigious college in question that finds its reputation tarnished as it is embroiled in controversy over the disappearances.

Picnic at Hanging Rock will require several baskets, since Dormer headlines an extremely large cast that’s already set. Amongst that group are names such as Lola Bessis (Swim Little Fish Swim), Yael Stone (Orange is the New Black), Sibylla Budd (Tomorrow, When the War Begins), Anna McGahan (The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Lily Sullivan (Camp), Samara Weaving (Monster Trucks) and Ruby Rees (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries). The Foxtel event series will be produced by FreemantleMedia Australia.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is scheduled to premiere on Australian television on Foxtel and in the U.S. on Amazon Prime sometime in 2018. For context, check out the trailer for the 1975 film below.

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