F*cking diabolical!

A spinoff seems almost inevitable when a show reaches a certain level of success, and The Boys is no different. The trades report that Amazon has been developing a sister-show set at a Vought International-run college for young adult supes for a while, but it’s now being fast-tracked.

The untitled, R-rated series is being written by executive producer Craig Rosenberg, and is described as “part college show and part Hunger Games, [it] follows the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities.”

So, doesn’t sound like any members of Butcher’s crew or The Seven will feature to any great extent, but we might still see a guest appearance or two.

Like the other major streaming services, Amazon doesn’t share detailed viewing figures for its shows, but reports indicate that season two of the satirical comic book adaptation had the most watched global debut ever for an Amazon original series.

The sixth season 2 episode of The Boys, “The Bloody Doors off,” hits Amazon tomorrow, you can check out an extended promo for that below.

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Monsterland is set to premiere on Hulu next month, and it offers a unique, highly compelling alternative to the usual horror fare this Halloween season.

Based on Nathan Ballingrud’s short story collection North American Lake Monsters, the 8-part anthology series focuses on a group of characters across various different locations in the U.S. and their encounters with fantastical/supernatural creatures. These people are all, in one way or another, broken, suffering or desperately searching for answers, and while most of the stories are self-contained, they do share some common themes and a familiar face or two.

Like any anthology show, some of the episodes work a lot better than others, but there are more hits than misses and all make for an engaging watch at the very least. Highlights include the first instalment, which stars Kaitlyn Dever as a down-on-her-luck waitress who catches the attention of a brutal serial killer; and the story of a grieving father (Luke Cage‘s Mike Colter) desperately searching for his missing daughter as angels fall from the sky.

The best of the bunch is arguably the heartbreaking, yet blackly funny tale of a married couple played by Roberta Colindrez and Taylor Schilling who are struggling to cope with the latter’s mental illness and repeated suicide attempts.

Less successful is the episode which focuses on an isolated teenager who begins to believe his life is so awful because of a supernatural “shadow” that appears in his home, and the one featuring Star Wars‘ Kelly Marie Tran as a new bride with a dark secret also leaves a lot to be desired. They have strong premises, but are let down by muddled, unsatisfying conclusions.

Indeed, quite a few of the episodes opt for somewhat ambiguous endings, and one could argue that there’s more emphasis placed on style than substance when it comes to providing answers. This can be a little frustrating (the more abrupt closers, in particular), but it works for the most part because so many of these stories are really more about the human condition than the actual “monsters,” which often seem to be presented as metaphorical or abstract ideas/devices.

The “man is the real monster” trope is hardly original, but Monsterland delves that little bit deeper while coming up with fresh twists on the usual genre conventions.

If you go in expecting an abundance of scares and gore you might be disappointed, but for anyone searching for more thought-provoking, character-based horror, this is a must-watch. While not every idea is explored to its full potential, Monsterland succeeds as a haunting, melancholy meditation with excellent performances. Don’t be surprised if some of these unsettling yarns stay with you for quite a while after.

All 8 episodes of Monsterland will be available on Hulu from October 2.

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In “Rumor Mill,” we share the hard to buy rumours that don’t come from reliable sources like the trades, but are still more believable (just) than what you might find on Reddit. 

Is another A-List star coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? If a rumor shared by Full Circle Cinema is to be believed, the answer could very well be “yes.” While he’s busy shooting Uncharted for Sony Pictures alongside Tom Holland in Berlin, it’s said Mark Wahlberg has talked to Marvel Studios about a possible future project. 

These conversations took place several months ago, so it’s uncertain if they led to anything. 

It’s unlikely that Wahlberg is appearing in any of the 2021 Phase 4 releases, but he could have easily booked a part in a project like Thor: Love and Thunder or one of the Disney+ TV shows.

Wahlberg is no stranger to blockbuster fare, and as well as Uncharted, he’s been part of the Transformers franchise as well. The actor has comedic chops, so he would fit in nicely in the MCU. Having worked with Holland on Sony’s video game adaptation, it might be fun seeing him reunite with that actor for the next Spider-Man film. 

However, we’re not quite sure we can picture him as the MCU’s Kraven the Hunter! 

Click HERE for more Marvel Studios news from CBM!

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Marvel’s Avengers borrows a lot from the comic books, but ultimately tells a mostly original story. With the focus primarily on Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, it ends up packing a real emotional punch, and is definitely an exciting, epic experience.

Captain America is also a big part of the game, and [Spoiler Alert] his return sets the stage for a huge final battle against M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M.

Ultimately, we learn that Steve Rogers has been kept on ice by A.I.M., with the super soldier blood that pumps through his veins used to transform George Tarleton into their monstrous leader. Of course, with Cap in their custody for so long, we couldn’t help but wonder whether they might have done something to the Avenger that possibly sets the stage for a loose Secret Empire adaptation in the sequel.

In that comic arc, Steve fell under the control of HYDRA, but what if A.I.M. brainwashed him? Marvel’s Avengers star Jeff Schine would be open to exploring that down the line.

“I’m always interested in exploring as many sides of a character as possible, so if that was the way the team felt like we should travel with Cap for a bit, I would be up for anything. As far as I’m concerned, as long as you always stay true to who the character is and you’re not just doing anything for shock value, if it’s grounded, then I think nothing is off limits.”

We also suggested that Civil War might make a good basis for a follow-up to the game, and Jeff would go on to talk in detail about how that could happen and how the team would be split.

“It would be tough,” he admitted. “The team comes together and reassembles by the end, but it still feels…there’s still a fragility. They came such a long way over those years when Cap was gone. I don’t know how the split would be. I think the most conflicted would be Bruce, Kamala, and Thor. I think Widow would ultimately probably side with Cap. For me, it would be heartbreaking for Kamala.”

“She’s already seen her heroes disassemble and worked so hard, really as the pivotal part of the group, to bring everybody back together,” Jeff continues in the video at the bottom of this post. “I think it would be devastating for her, but definitely an interesting storyline.”

A Civil War-style video game would be epic, and while Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have now reassembled, it might not take much for them to be split right down the middle all over again. 

Marvel’s Avengers is available now on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. If you haven’t checked it out, we highly recommend you take a look at our review here. 

Check out our full video interview with Jeff Schine about Marvel’s Avengers below:
 

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When it was first announced that the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League had become a reality, we were told that no new scenes would be filmed for the version of the DC superhero movie that’s heading to HBO Max as a four-episode limited series next year, but it seems plans have now changed.

According to THR, director Zack Snyder will shoot additional footage for his extended cut of the film, with Ben Affleck (Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and, somewhat surprisingly, Ray Fisher (Cyborg) all expected to return.

Fisher is currently embroiled in a public dispute with Warner Bros. following accusations he made against the filmmaker who took over for Snyder on what we now know as the theatrical cut of Justice League, Joss Whedon. The actor also claimed that Jon Berg and Geoff Johns, who both have since left the studio, enabled Whedon’s behaviour.

The trade’s report states that Fisher was/is in talks for an appearance in The Flash, and confirms a recent rumor that Cyborg had a much larger role in the original script. Apparently, negotiations stalled after Fisher’s team wanted double the agreed-upon fee for what’s been described as “a three-scene appearance.”

There’s no word on whether Jason Momoa (Aquaman) or Ezra Miller (The Flash) will also return to film any extra scenes.

We’re not sure how extensive this additional photography will be, but it could potentially allow Snyder to make some fairly significant alterations to the overall plot and tone of the movie.

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Coming Soon recently caught up with Jai Courtney to discuss his new movie Honest Thief, and as you might expect, talk soon turned to The Suicide Squad. James Gunn’s sequel will see the actor reprise the role of Captain Boomerang, a character who arguably stole the show in 2016’s Suicide Squad. 

Despite Gunn being at the helm of this sequel/reboot in place of David Ayer, Courtney explained that his mindset didn’t change much when it came to reprising the role of the Task Force X member.

“Probably because there was so much that had been established already and I think James knew that coming in, even though he’s doing his own thing with the film,” Courtney explained. “I don’t feel like anyone felt the need to abandon what we had kind of already established, but he’s definitely the same guy, he’s not a dramatically different Boomerang.”

“It’s just that the backdrop is a little different and there’s a whole bunch more people, so it’s going to have its own feeling and flavor about it, but people are going to have just as much fun with it and we had a great time making it.” The actor went on say to say that he doesn’t think “Captain Boomerang will ever learn how to play nice with others,” describing him as a “liability” to the team.

The Suicide Squad is shaping up to be something special, and the hope is that Gunn won’t simply do away with the characters introduced in the first movie when he takes charge of the DC Comics franchise. 

What are you hoping to see from Captain Boomerang in the 2021 release?

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Whether you love it or hate it, Woke has been taking Hulu by storm with its interesting concepts and social commentary. The series is based on the works of cartoonist and comic artist Keef Knight, who will be sharing an exclusive chat with us next week.

Blake Anderson (Workaholics) is one of the main characters in the series, portraying a flawed white ally in a very interesting light. We recently spoke exclusively with Blake shortly after Woke premiered, in support of his work on the Adult Swim series Tigtone.

We may have touched on Woke a bit, but a lot of the focus is on Blake’s nerdy habits and influences on Tigtone, which he works on with Benjamin Martian. We had both of the creatives on the show to chat with them in detail, and we learned a lot about the contributions each of them makes to the series.

To hear our chat with Blake and Benjamin, click the podcast player below, otherwise scroll down for this portion of the transcript and tune in all week for more Tigtone and Woke fun!

Literary Joe: Can you tell me about the contributions each of you make to the show? Because I know I’ve seen that you guys have writing credits, I know that you voice a bevy of characters here or there, and obviously, you do a lot behind the scenes.

So what else do you contribute? And which part is your favorite?

Blake Anderson: I mean, well, first off, this show is Andrew and Ben’s show. And I saw it one day when I was getting stoned with a mutual artist buddy of ours, Skinner. He was staying over at my house.

And he’s like, “Dude; you have to watch this thing on YouTube. I have this thing my buddies made called The Begun of Tigtone!”

And when I watched that episode, I was just like, “Whoa, this is the weirdest, coolest, fantasy thing I’ve ever seen.” So I got in contact with them, and we just started to build a relationship.

And then it was kind of like, “Well, maybe we could walk this into Adult Swim and get this thing made!” We were able to make a pilot and then got picked up and then kind of just started rolling from there.

Benjamin Martian: Blake was our guardian hell angel.  

Blake Anderson: Yeah, I help navigate the network world! It’s still a lot of these guys doing a bunch of the work.

I definitely sit in on the writer’s room. I love being there to help with the story and all that. And any time they ask me to do a voice, I’m more than willing to do that as well.

Benjamin Martian: You do more than just sit in on the writer’s room, man. You’re a contributing writer to the process. You’re always the one who is pushing for character and story motivation, I think.

Darth Lexii: Can You Feel The Love Tonight, by Lion King.

Blake Anderson: Yeah! I’m, oddly enough, always pitching that song to be in every episode! (Laughs)

Literary Joe: That makes sense.

Benjamin Martian: (Laughs) And you wear a Lion King shirt every day, and it’s just this weird obsession. It’s weird. Yeah.

So this whole thing started many, many, many years ago in like 2004 or 2005. So Andrew and I were writing these fantasy scripts together, and it was kind of an obsession that we had. And we literally, for a couple of years, would just obsess over this universe that we were creating, and it was always live-action.

But in those very early days, it was definitely the combination of both Andrew and me, and our sensibilities coming together. And there’s a lot of rules in Tigtone that he and I have kind of laid out and understand but don’t ever talk about really, but it just sort of creates the vibe of the thing.

And so when we started, we wrote the pilot together, and then when we started bringing in more people, it was a little bit of a learning curve to get them on the Tigtone page.

And then once that clicked, everybody in the writer’s room contributes their own specialty to the process, and that just creates the flow. It’s like a caste or creating a band or something, where you have everybody with a specific skillset, and sensibilities, and sense of comedy, and stuff.

So, yeah, Andrew and I are very much involved in all the writing. He and I write scripts, but, I mean, the name on the page is one thing, but we really all just work together on writing and the writing process.

And once the script is written by any one of the writers, then we all sort of go through it and take passes at it and help each other out. It’s a very supportive group of writers. And then as far as the rest of our duties go, Andrew and I are both directing the voice actors when we record. We do voices on the show, only because in Season 1, we were like wanting to cast all of these awesome people that we love. Really, for selfish reasons, like, “Hey, we want to meet Paul Reubens; let’s cast him.” And then our producer at the time was like, “You know, you guys can be in your own show.” And we’re like, “Oh yeah, I didn’t realize that.”

So we did a few voices last season, and this season, I think Andrew and I actually have a voice in every episode. I don’t think it’s ever really like a main, main character. Cause we usually reserve that for like actual voice actors. But yeah. And then, of course, every meeting, that is every art decision, every character design decision, every edit decision, like we’re involved in and very hands-on with everything. Even into the marketing stuff, which has been really awesome with Adult Swim and they’re really welcoming us into the process, and we’re giving notes on the billboard design, you know, stuff like that, which is amazing.

*This interview has been edited for clarity. Audio is co-hosted by fellow writer Nick Brooks and cosplay actress Darth Lexii.*

With their once idyllic fantasy land now reduced to an idyllic fantasy wasteland, Tigtone the master-questerer and his magically regenerative sidekick Helpy must face all new mischievous monsters, all new enchanted chaos, and all new irresistible quests in their all new baffling adventures!

Tigtone airs on Adult Swim on Sundays at midnight!

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