Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 featured a lot of awesome moments, but the late, great Stan “The Man” Lee meeting with The Watchers really stood out. The legendary comic book creator could be seen conversing with the Watchers as he recounted some of his past cameos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

For years, fans speculated that Lee himself might be a Watcher in this shared world, but Vol. 2 credited him as a “Watcher Informant.” 

Now, writer and director James Gunn has confirmed that this speculation from fans is what ultimately inspired his decision to write Lee into that scene. “Stan Lee’s connection to the Watchers in Vol. 2 was definitely inspired by fan theories,” he states in the Tweet below as a response to a fan.

Sadly, Lee’s final cameo in the MCU was Captain Marvel as he passed away before being able to shoot anything for Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. His legacy will be remembered forever, though, and Marvel Studios has since found a number of ways to pay homage to his work.

Check out Gunn’s comments in full below:
 

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Over the past couple of years, we’ve been faced with a seemingly endless wave of rumours about Henry Cavill’s future as Superman. We’ve heard everything from claims that he dropped out of Shazam! due to disagreements over money with Warner Bros. to chatter that a Man of Steel sequel is in the works from J.J. Abrams, so it’s hard to know what to believe. 

The latest reports indicated that he’s in talks for a series of cameo appearances in the DC Extended Universe, though it’s clear that nothing is set in stone as of yet, leaving Cavill’s Superman future uncertain. 

During an interview with Variety, Cavill was asked if he’s ever been tempted to comment on an online rumour using an alias, and the British actor explained why that just wouldn’t feel right.

“I’m not going to lie; I’ve been very tempted, but there’s something about that, that feels deeply immoral. When it’s about Superman, and if I’m representing Superman, it just feels like the wrong thing to do. I’m just going to let this all play out. Me saying something isn’t going to make a difference. What does it really matter? One day, people will know the truth, and if they don’t know it now, it’s okay.”

If you need any more proof that Cavill is perfect for Superman, then look no further than these comments. Unfortunately, this also means that he’s probably not part of the CBM community going by the username, “CenryHavill.” Regardless, here’s hoping we get some Man of Steel 2 news soon…

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When it was revealed that Michael Keaton was in talks to return as Batman in The Flash, we also learned that Warner Bros. is planning to have his Caped Crusader serve as a mentor to other heroes in the DC Extended Universe. Batgirl was mentioned, but most fans wondered whether this could be leading to Terry McGinnis becoming this shared world’s new Dark Knight. 

Now, a new rumour is doing the rounds online which suggests that a live-action Batman Beyond movie is in active development at Warner Bros. This intel doesn’t come from the trades and should, of course, be taken with a pinch of salt. That said, it would make sense. 

Batman Beyond was first introduced in an animated series which debuted in 1999 from the creative team of Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Alan Burnett. It served as a continuation of Batman: The Animated Series and focused on an older Bruce Wayne training Terry McGinnis to be the new Batman of a futuristic Gotham City. That’s a role it’s very easy to imagine Keaton taking on after he reprises the role of the Dark Knight for The Flash.

Fans have been asking for this movie for years, and it seems Warner Bros. may finally have listened. However, it’s no doubt early days for the project (if it is even being discussed), and we don’t know whether Terry would be the focal point of the story. After all, there’s nothing to say Bruce couldn’t train someone like Dick Grayson or Jason Todd as the DCEU’s new Batman.

What do you guys think?

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If a new rumour is to be believed, Zatanna is finally coming to the big screen.

In 2018, Deadline broke the news that Warner Bros. was planning to move forward with features based around DC Comics characters Supergirl, Batgirl, and Zatanna, and it seems as if development on the latter is now starting up.

This comes after the news broke about Michael Keaton returning as Batman in The Flash, and those reports mentioned that his Caped Crusader would serve as a “mentor” to Barbara Gordon in a future Batgirl movie. That bodes well for that project as well, of course, though it does seem as if the Girl of Steel’s planned solo outing has been put on the back burner for the time being. 

It’s said that this movie is going to be separate from the Justice League Dark series J.J. Abrams is working on for HBO Max, so chances are the shows on that streaming service aren’t going to be set in the DC Extended Universe. There may even be plans for other members of that team to get their own movies that won’t be connected to that series.

Zatanna is definitely a character with a lot of potential, though it is a shame Warner Bros. isn’t planning a connected universe with the projects on HBO Max tying into what we see on the big screen. 

This is just a rumour for now, so take it with a pinch of salt. However, it’s entirely possible that we will soon get to see Zatanna back in a live-action setting following her small screen debut in Smallville in 2009. 

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In the latest edition of “FatMan Beyond,” filmmaker Kevin Smith shared some rumours relating to what Cyborg actor Ray Fisher recently described as director Joss Whedon’s “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behaviour on the set of Justice League during reshoots. 

Explaining that he spoke to some VFX artists while visiting the set of Solo: A Star Wars Story who had worked on both cuts of Justice League, Smith says that he was told that Whedon frequently, and very publicly, trashed Zack Snyder’s movie.

He notes that The Avengers helmer would, “cut, down, dismiss and be negative about Zack’s version of the movie that he had seen and all of the special effects team [these people] had made together.” This is said to have led to a lot of discomfort on the set with the cast and crew, and could explain what Fisher was referring to. After all, tearing into Snyder’s work when he had to depart Justice League because his daughter had died doesn’t exactly paint the director in the best of lights. 

Regardless, it doesn’t appear as if Whedon respected Snyder’s vision for the DC Comics property, as he completely altered the movie to suit the version he clearly wanted.

In related news, Ray Fisher has today sent out a Tweet saying, “I believe Kai Cole and Charisma Carpenter.” Cole is Whedon’s ex-wife who alleged that he was abusive in their marriage, and Carpenter has said that she was fired from Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff Angel for getting pregnant.

Fisher has yet to elaborate on what exactly happened while he was shooting Justice League.
 

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The sudden emergence of COVID-19 has completely reshaped 2020, and for film fans, the ramifications of the pandemic have been massive. Theaters remain closed, with movies originally scheduled for July now slipping into August, and the list of delayed titles continues to grow longer. 

Black Widow is one of the most high profile victims of the pandemic, with its release date shifted back from this past May to November (which was when we were supposed to be watching Eternals). 

We’ve already had what we assumed to be a final trailer for the Marvel Studios movie, but another has now been classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). It’s set to be 2 minutes and 38 seconds long, so it will be a full-blown look at Black Widow, and not just a lengthy TV spot. 

How much new footage Disney and Marvel Studios will want to show is hard to say, but another sneak peek is probably essential at this stage to remind moviegoers that Black Widow is on the way. As for when we’ll get to see this trailer, the fact that it’s been classified by the BBFC likely means it’s coming our way any day now… unless it’s being saved for when theaters re-open, that is.

We’ll have to wait and see, but expect to hear more on this soon. 

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Relic is set to be released on July 10th, and with the likes of Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo serving as producers alongside Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s Jake Gyllenhaal, there’s understandably a lot of buzz surrounding Natalie Erika James’s directorial debut. It’s not just those names which have brought it to people’s attention, though, as a critically acclaimed premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (before COVID-19 closed the world down) meant that this has been a horror movie to watch out for from day one. 

The premise of the film is simple, yet effective. When elderly mother Edna (Robyn Nevin) inexplicably vanishes, her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) rush to their family’s decaying country home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence. However, it’s once she returns with no explanation that things start getting weird, and what follows is a unique and memorable take on the classic haunted house trope.  

While Relic is a film that definitely falls into the category of “arthouse horror,” there are plenty of scares to be found, and a slow, suspenseful build to an edge of your seat final act. James has a good grasp on how to get the viewer invested, and while the lack of a classic horror movie monster or “MacGuffin” might stop it from reaching the same heights as other recent female-led horror outings (The Babadook springs to mind) in the eyes of some fans, there’s certainly plenty to talk about here. The final few minutes do get a little confusing, but ambiguity is often a big part of movies like this, and it’s an ending which makes sense for this story, particularly when the “big bad” isn’t necessarily a terrifying ghost or monster, but someone’s declining mental state. James tackles the subject of dementia in a lot of clever, impactful ways, with the deterioration of the house and changes in Edna’s appearance from scene to scene the most obvious examples. 

Robyn Nevin does a great job in that role, while Emily Mortimer (Kay) and Bella Heathcote (Sam) have heaps of chemistry, meaning buying into their mother/daughter relationship is extremely easy. As mentioned, the focus here is very much on this trio of women and the family dynamic they have, and Relic is frequently at its best exploring how the relationships between them differ (as well as how they deal with Edna’s harrowing battle with dementia).

James is clearly a talented filmmaker, though the suspense is occasionally lessened by cinematographer Charlie Sarroff’s often murky visuals. Relic also somewhat follows the expected horror movie patten of laying the groundwork for a final twenty minutes of big scares, but look beyond that, and it’s clear that it is a story with a lot to say. It’s neither the beginning of a franchise nor a horror classic, but as an opening chapter to what is clearly going to be an exciting and must-watch career for James, Relic works perfectly. 

Compelling, suspenseful, and downright terrifying in places, Relic is a movie with a lot to say, and establishes Natalie Erika James as a filmmaker to watch in future.
 

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