Bat-fans are still talking about last night’s stunning DC FanDome teaser for Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and we now have word on what appears to be a last-minute casting addition.

Warner Bros.’ media alert for the trailer included a full rundown of the movie’s cast, and one actor stood out as a name we hadn’t heard mentioned in connection with the project before now, Barry Keoghan.

The Irish actor, who recently appeared in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and is set to star in Marvel’s Eternals, will play Officer Stanley Merkel in Reeves’ film. Batman comics fans will no doubt recognize the name, as Merkel was Jim Gordon’s first partner in the GCPD. The character was ultimately killed off by Sofia Falcone in the pages of Batman: Dark Victory.

Keogan is quite a bit younger than Jeffrey Wright’s Gordon, so there’s a good chance he’ll be introduced as a rookie cop that Jim takes under his wing. If that is the case, we wouldn’t count on Officer Merkel making it out of The Batman alive!

The Batman is set to be released next October, and also stars Robert Pattinson as The Dark Knight, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and more.

If you missed the trailer or simply fancy another watch, you can check it out below.

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Josh Boone’s The New Mutants is finally coming to theaters later this month (whether people decide to venture out to see it is another story), and Disney/20th Century Studios have now shared a new series of character posters by Boss Logic.

The banners feature our five young heroes, Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt); Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams); Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton); Roberto da Costa (Henry Zaga); and Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), with glowing white eyes.

Boone and his cast have repeatedly made it clear that The New Mutants will have a much darker tone that any previous X-Men adventure, and these posters definitely seem to lean heavily into the film’s horror elements.

“In this terrifying, action-fueled film based on the MARVEL comic series, five young people who demonstrate special powers are brought to a secret institution to undergo treatments they are told will cure them of the dangers of their powers. Included are Danielle Moonstar aka Mirage (Blu Hunt), who creates illusions from other people’s fears; Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), who transforms into the werewolf Wolfsbane; Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton), who, as Cannonball, can fly at jet speeds protected by a force field; Roberto da Costa aka Sunspot (Henry Zaga), who absorbs and channels solar power; and Illyana Rasputin aka Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy). The younger sister of Colossus, Magik becomes encased in armor at will and wields a soulsword that amplifies her multiple superhuman and psychic abilities.

Invited by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga) to share their stories about when their powers first manifested, the five “patients” come to understand that they are in a class of people called mutants, who have historically been marginalized and feared. As they relive their origin stories, their memories seem to turn into terrifying realities. Soon, they question what is real and what isn’t, and it becomes clear that the institution isn’t what it seems. Now the question is — why are they being held captive? And who is trying to destroy them? The tension and horror mount in this white-knuckle thrill ride directed by Josh Boone and co-written by Boone and Knate Lee.”

Do you guys plan on checking out The New Mutants in theaters? Let us know in the usual place.

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Justice League director Zack Snyder has clashed with outspoken Forbes reporter Scott Mendelson on social media in the past, and didn’t back down from him shortly before yesterday’s DC FanDome panel.

After Mendelson noted that the leaked trailer appeared to show different versions of familiar scenes, the filmmaker responded by taking aim at his comparison to Joss Whedon’s cut of Justice League to “Saturday morning cartoons” by noting, “this is made for grownups, so you’re not in the demographic.”

That’s a surprisingly personal response from Snyder, and an unexpected one in some respects. 

However, it seems he may have been frustrated with Mendelson comparing Justice League: The Snyder Cut to the Justice League we watched in theaters in 2017. The films are said to be vastly different, and Snyder likely doesn’t appreciate his vision being diminished in this way. 

“Josstice League” has its fair share of fans (thanks mostly to how Superman was portrayed on screen), but Snyder has never watched that altered version and, at this point, is unlikely to ever do so.

Click HERE for more Justice League news from CBM!
 

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Up until this point, most fans have assumed that The Batman will take inspiration from comic books like “Year One” and “The Long Halloween,” and while that’s certainly still possible, co-writer and director Matt Reeves actually singled out a very different title during the movie’s DC FanDome panel.

Asked specifically which comic books have influenced The Batman, Reeves indicated that Darwyn Cooke’s Batman: Ego inspired much of what will end up on screen. 

“I wanted to get into the mindset of the character, and I wanted to think of the psychology,” he explained. “For me, I think one of the cool deep dive ones was Ego. He’s confronting the beast that is Batman and it’s that kind of duality. There’s a lot in what it’s trying to do in the story about him confronting the shadow side of himself and the degree to which you have self knowledge.”

“You’re able to understand his motivations, but Batman [is broken] and why he’s doing all of these things for the reasons that he thinks is right and that have a heroic sort of grounding in them,” Reeves continued. “There’s also many things that are driven by the parts of himself he doesn’t yet know, and so I would say that that kind of sort of psychological union, that sort of version is very much connected to the vision from Darwyn Cooke’s Ego.”

We’re clearly going to explore Batman’s damaged psyche in this movie, and what’s interesting about Ego is that it sees Bruce Wayne and Batman come head to head over their past. Based on the way the Dark Knight acted in that trailer for The Batman, he’s a man on the edge and definitely has some anger issues.

Are you excited for Reeves’ take on the Caped Crusader?

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“I’m Vengeance.”

The first trailer for The Batman is finally here, and it certainly lives up to expectations. During the movie’s DC FanDome panel, director and co-writer Matt Reeves dropped plenty of hints about what fans can expect, confirming that only around 25 – 30% of it was shot when filming was halted in March.

With that in mind, it’s pretty amazing to think that we even have a trailer, and Reeves earlier explained that The Batman follows the Caped Crusader in his second year as he attempts to investigate a series of murders tied to the history of Gotham City and his family. However, at this point in his vigilante career, “He’s trying to figure out what he can do to change this place…he is not having any of the effect he wants to have yet.”

Reeves confirmed that Selina Kyle is not Catwoman at this point, while “Oz” hates being called Penguin (Colin Farrell in this first look at the movie is completely unrecognisable). Even The Riddler is only just beginning to find his footing, and Andy Serkis’ Alfred Pennyworth also promises to be unlike anything we’ve seen on screen before now according to the filmmaker.

Chinatown and Taxi Driver were among Reeves’ inspirations, and it definitely sounds like we can look forward to a whole new take on Batman. That’s evident from this incredible trailer too:
 

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During The Batman panel at DC FanDome, co-writer and director Matt Reeves dropped some major new details about his plans for the untitled spinoff series coming to HBO Max. Confirming that it follows the cops working for the Gotham City Police Department, the filmmaker explained that the show will head back to “Year One” of the Caped Crusader’s career.

He didn’t clarify whether that means Batman will appear in the series, but noted that it will follow a cop who battles corruption within the department. While that happens, the myth of the Dark Knight starts to build, so we’ll likely get plenty of references to whatever Bruce Wayne was up to during this time.

“You start to see the story from the point of view of these corrupt cops, one in particular,” Reeves told fans. “The Gotham PD series will go into the corruption of the Gotham Police Department…it goes back to Batman Year One…we’ll see these characters from a perspective we’ve never seen before.”

Reeves later noted that in Batman’s second year of protecting Gotham City, he still hasn’t become a symbol of hope for Gotham City and is considered both dangerous and a myth, so going further back into his history promises to be extremely interesting. However, with the focus on both new and familiar characters in this show, Batman is probably not allies with Jim Gordon just yet.

Regardless, Reeves and Terrence Winter’s DC TV series sounds like it could offer a deep dive into this world that The Batman won’t have time to, and that’s definitely worth getting excited about.

What do you guys think?

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