Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons – The Movie transforms the CW Seed series into a feature length Slade Wilson adventure, and regardless of whether you watched that or it passed you by, there’s a lot of fun to be had here. Delivering another new take on the iconic comic book anti-hero, the movie picks up with a version of Deathstroke who is attempting to balance his family life with that of an assassin. When H.I.V.E. gets involved, things quickly start falling apart, and what follows is a bloody, R-Rated story of revenge which fans of this character will love. 

For those of you who aren’t hardcore Deathstroke fans, your mileage may vary, though it definitely serves as a solid introduction to the character even if it does play fast and loose with the source material. Amazing Spider-Man writer J. M. DeMatteis does a great job reinventing the character, though, and the story only really falters when flashbacks come into play (they feel a little shoehorned in, but that’s likely a result of Knights & Dragons‘ episodic format). There are some great twists along the way, and a killer final act which will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Television tough man Michael Chiklis proves to be a great fit for Slade Wilson, while Chris Jai Alex (Jackal), Colin Salmon (William Wintergreen), Faye Mata (H.I.V.E. Queen), and Sasha Alexander (Adeline “Addie” Kane) all also deliver strong voice performances. It’s an overall solif ensemble which, while not necessarily star-studded, does do an effective job of bringing this corner of the DC Universe to life. Ultimately, this is Chiklis’ movie, and he helps create a Deathstroke that should make fans of the comic books very happy.

Where Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons – The Movie ultimately falls flat is the animation; those of you who are fans of this style will have nothing to complain about, but it’s not quite as polished as some of Warner Bros. Animation’s other DC movies and definitely a tad too basic in places. The action scenes don’t suffer too much, but they could have been even more badass with stronger visuals, and that’s a shame. As it stands, they’re still bloody good fun (literally), and no doubt a must-see for Deathstroke fans. 

A solid entry into the DC Animated Universe library, Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons – The Movie may be a little rough around the edges, but the bloody, explosive action should keep fans hooked.

Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons is out NOW on digital download and arrives August 17th on Blu-Ray™ and DVD

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Warner Bros. has unveiled the full schedule for DC FanDome, and it’s fair to say that August 22nd will be a very busy, very exciting day. You can check it out by heading to https://schedule.DCFanDome.com where it’s possible to build your own schedule so you know exactly what to tune into next weekend.

However, if you do miss anything, there are plenty of encore presentations, and we’ll obviously be bringing you all the latest updates here on CBM the second they happen. 

So, what stands out? 

On the film side, Wonder Woman 1984 kicks things off, and it sounds like we’re finally getting a new trailer as the panel’s description promises, “an all-new sneak peek at the upcoming film — plus a few more surprises.” The Flash movie has a ten-minute panel with Ezra Miller, filmmakers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, and screenwriter Christina Hodson, while it sounds like The Suicide Squad panel will include both James Gunn and that impressive ensemble. 

Dwayne Johnson will be on hand to deliver “a few surprises” for Black Adam, while Aquaman and Shazam! are both getting panels reflecting on the 2018 and 2019 releases (rather than the planned sequels, though there could be some hints about what comes next). 

For Justice League, “Zack Snyder fields questions from fans and a few surprise guests as he discusses his eagerly awaited upcoming cut of the 2017 feature film and the movement that made it happen.” Previously, the filmmaker has teased a trailer, title reveal, and more, so that should be a big one. 

The main event in some ways is The Batman, a thirty-minute panel “with a surprise (or two) for the fans.” Will that include some sort of trailer? For now, that obviously remains to be seen. 

Elsewhere, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is getting a panel, while there will also be an announcement Warner Bros. Games Montreal. We can also look forward to all the major DC TV shows being highlighted, along with the world premiere of Superman: Man of Tomorrow. Throw in a tonne of comic book panels and various other surprises, and this is going to be EPIC!

We’d love to see your schedules below, but here’s what we’ve put together (timings are BST).
 

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The Direct is reporting that the Hawkeye series coming to Disney+ is currently casting European actors to play a gang of mobsters who will appear in multiple episodes. You have to believe that these will be members of the Tracksuit Mafia, a group who terrorised Clint Barton (and Kate Bishop) in Matt Fraction’s comic book run.

According to the audition notes, they’ve been reading for a scene which will see the mobsters break into a guarded building to steal back something that was stolen from them previously. 

It sounds like what they’re after is a chemical weapon of some sort, and while there’s nothing to say this is a moment we’ll see in Hawkeye, it’s interesting that it was once rumoured that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will also feature a virus subplot (which has reportedly been removed as a result of the real-life COVID-19 pandemic). 

In the source material, the Tracksuit Mafia actually invaded the building Hawkeye was living in, so it’s possible that the Disney+ TV show is going to do something similar. We’ll obviously have to wait and see, but with a rumoured premiere date of 2021, it could be a while before we learn more. 

What are your thoughts on this news?

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s final episode was a strong ending for the long-running ABC series, but it may have also established how little the Marvel Television era of shows mean to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the show has been doing its own thing since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the hope was that this final season would tie into Avengers: Endgame somehow.

We did get mentions of the Quantum Realm, alternate timelines, and even time-travel, but even after the team returned to their timeline, there were some big hints that their adventures don’t take place in the MCU. For starters, when they arrive in 2020 (two years after the “Blip”), the world seems perfectly normal, and a hopeful place rather than once that’s been decimated by Thanos. 

Throw in the fact that Mack has donned Nick Fury’s trenchcoat to lead a new S.H.I.E.L.D. – who were completely M.I.A. from that final battle with the Mad Titan – and Quake heading into outer space, and it’s beginning to look like these adventures always took place in some sort of alternate reality where Fury was able to resurrect Agent Coulson shortly after the events of The Avengers. 

That’s an intriguing prospect, and one which explains a lot. It’s likely something Marvel Studios is planning for all of the Marvel Television-era shows, especially as Kevin Feige had limited involvement in them.

What Culture actually has a full recap of this series finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so if you want to know the final fates of each character, be sure to head there to take a look!

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As you’ll no doubt recall if you played Spider-Man, Avengers Tower was a location you could visit in the game, but Earth’s Mightiest Heroes themselves were off doing something else at the time.

Since then, there’s been a lot of speculation that the PlayStation 4 game will somehow tie into Marvel’s Avengers, but Marvel Games boss Bill Rosemann now makes it clear that won’t be the case. 

“Each game is in the Marvel universe, but they’re in their own reality, if you will,” he told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview. “Currently, our plan is to keep each game set in its own Marvel universe.”

The reason for that is to give creative teams as much freedom as possible, and you can see why it might get a little complicated to combine the two worlds. After all, Marvel’s Avengers takes place in a reality which sees the team disassemble for five years, and a Spider-Man crossover would be meaningless for gamers playing on Xbox One or PC. 

The web-slinger will be part of the PlayStation version of the upcoming game, though Rosemann has made it clear that it will be a separate, unrelated incarnation to the one seen in 2018’s Spider-Man. As for the future of Marvel Games, a Spider-Man sequel after Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a given, but asked what comes beyond that, he chose his words carefully.

“I’ll just say we’re concentrating really hard on making Marvel’s Avengers, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales the best games possible. As the late great Stan Lee said, ‘Stay tuned, True Believers!'”

What titles would you like to see from them moving forward?
 

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