When you think of DC animated movies, the first few that probably come to mind are Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox or Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. However, it’s Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker that surges through my mind when it comes to DC animated films. 

To start things off, Return of the Joker is the film adaptation to the Batman Beyond TV show. It’s where Batman is long retired, and mentors a kid named Terry McGinnis taking over the mantle of the Dark Knight. So since it takes place in the future (2039 to be exact), he has new villains and new challenges to handle. 

Although in this movie, an old “friend” seemingly comes back, and that’s none other than the Clown Prince of Crime. What makes this movie so intriguing is the mystery behind it. The Joker is supposed to be dead, and even if he wasn’t, he would be at least as old as Bruce. However here, he’s young, spry, and ready to cause havoc again. 

That scene right above expresses just how amazing the drama and suspense this film has to offer. Return of the Joker has top-notch writing all around, with a stellar voice cast to go along with it. Also, when it calls for it, the film can be pretty funny as well. It captures all the good parts of the Batman Beyond TV show and expands on it in a cinematic way. 

Now compared to other DC animated movies, it’s safe to say it’s easily one of the best out there. Without a doubt, it’s in the top three. Heck, it’s arguably sitting comfortably at the throne for the number one spot. Which says a lot, since this came out all the way back in 2000. 

Overall, if you haven’t seen this yet, find a time to do it. Return of the Joker is an action-packed mystery with everything you loved about the Batman Beyond series. Mark Hamill gives some of his best work as The Joker here, along with Kevin Conroy and Will Friedle (Terry). Let’s just hope Batman Beyond makes its return in some shape or form in the future. 

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The organisers of the year’s San Diego Comic-Con have released the Friday, July 24th schedule for the virtual Comic-Con@Home, and it’s definitely shaping up to be a pretty eventful day. 

There’s plenty for fans of The Walking Dead to look forward to, while Star Wars is also set to have a presence (just not in terms of film and television projects beyond a look at the gadgets from The Mandalorian). HBO Max will also be highlighting its animated projects, while a Charlize Theron panel is probably the first Hollywood big star to be confirmed for the event. 

What’s really intriguing, however, is the fact that Joss Whedon will be addressing fans via Zoom. While all these panels are pre-recorded, it will be interesting seeing whether he has anything to say about his work on The Avengers franchise or, more controversially, Justice League. 

You can find links to each panel by clicking here, and the full schedule below:

10am – 11am

The Mandalorian and His Many Gadgets
Cosplay – the Spice of Life!!!
Last Gasp: 50 Years of Publishing the Underground Part I The comics, moderated by Jon Cooke and mainly focused on the period 1970-1995
Howard Cruse: The Godfather of Queer Comics
Pixel Stories – Reimagining Video Game Narrative
Lights, Camera, LGBTQI-dentity! Never Alone
“Crazy” Talk: Mental Health, Pop Culture, and the Pandemic
Reclaiming Indigenous History and Culture Through Comics
HBO Max: The Cartoon Network Studios Collection
DC@Home Day One
The 2020 Black Panel
Charlize Theron: Evolution of a Badass – An Action Hero Career Retrospective

11am – 12pm

Decoding the Kirby/Lee Dynamic
TragiComics
Star Wars Audiobooks: Doctor Aphra
Blade Runner Comic Panel
Make Your Own Felted Friends!
Vikings: Celebrating 6 Seasons of The Series
Entertainment is Female: a Conversation with Hollywood Executives
Marvel Comics: Next Big Thing
Think Big!
Raina and Robin in Conversation
HBO Max and Cartoon Network Studios: Adventure Time: Distant Lands
Hot Wheels: Designing Fans’ Exclusives

12pm – 1pm

TOKYOPOP: Manga for Everyone
History Goes Graphic
Lucasfilm Publishing: Stories From a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes with Undiscovered Country
The Undiscovered Art of Jack Kirby: Architect
Zombies and Coronavirus: Planning for the Next BIg Outbreak
HBO Max and Cartoon Network Studios: Infinity Train
AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead
Collider: Quibi’s Don’t Look Deeper Panel

1pm – 2pm

From Idea to Hired: Books, TV, Film, and Comics
IDW: Draw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!
Harryhausen100: Into the Ray Harryhausen Archive
Make Mine Marvel: Bringing Back Marvel Classics for Today’s Readers
Water, Earth, Fire, Air: Continuing the Avatar Legacy
[adult swim] YOLO: Crystal Fantasy
LMGI – Hollywood Location Scouts
Mattel Creations: Designing Pop Culture
AMC’s The Walking Dead
Spotlight on Darcie Little Badger

2pm – 3pm

[adult swim] 12oz Mouse
GirlsDrawinGirls: Industry Professional Women Artists in Quarantine: Balancing work, art, homeschooling, and life
I Am Not Okay with This – From the Page to the Screen!
The Psychology of Star Trek vs. Star Wars
Your Secret Weapon: How Friendship Saves the Day
Real Weird Science Alive and At Home!
UnMasked: Rhapsody PR’s Behind-the-Music panel
Entertainment Weekly: Brave Warriors
AMC’s The Walking Dead: World Beyond

3pm – 4pm

Zoom into Xadia: The Dragon Prince
Get It On the Table: Designing Your Tabletop Game
The Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel
The Vortex opens AGAIN- Vortex 2.0 launches Storm King Comics
Observational Drawing by Controlling Angles
Reimagining Mandrake The Magician with Erica Schultz
Galaxy Grrls, or the Female and Non-Binary Authors who Bridge the new Frontier of Space Fiction
Hermes Press and Gothic Comics in America
Latin American Horror Cinema 2: Sometimes They Come Back
First Look at Hulu’s Helstrom
HBO MAX: Adult Animation Panel
Peacock Original Series: The Capture

4pm – 5pm

Fantasy & Sci-Fi Authors
How to Make a Comic From Start to Finish
Remote Real-Time: The Age of Virtual Production
The Nacelle Company: Pop-Culture Under Quarantine
Vampirella 50th Anniversary Finale
Sinless, Fearless, Ruthless – A look at science and social science in a YA sci-fi book
Comic-Con: Robert Kirkman at Home
Crossing Swords
Legendary Spawn Creator Todd McFarlane Talks Toys, Comics, and More!
Bob’s Burgers
VIZ: A Haunting Conversation with Junji Ito

5pm – 6pm

Unboxing Pandora: Season Two On The CW This Fall
Read Manga and Learn Classics Literature!
The Living Dead: Celebrating the Legacy of George Romero
No Strange Bedfellows: The Relationship Between Pro Wrestling and Comics
Archer @Home
A Zoom with Joss Whedon
IDW: The Mueller Report in 10-minutes
Deep Blue Sea 3: The Panel!

6pm – 7pm

Travel Through Time with Comics
TV Guide Magazine Fan Favorites
Klingon Lifestyles the Home Alone Year
The Wonderful, Horrible World of E.C. Comics
The Famous Monsters Podcast
Hip-Hop And Comics: Cultures Combining
Building Your Own Themyscira: Connecting With Other Geeky Bosses
SYFY: TZGZ’s Adult Animated Originals

7pm – onwards

32nd Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards

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If you’re a fan of X-Men action figures, then Hasbro definitely has you covered with a new Sentinel which promises to make a huge dent in your bank balance…and take up a lot of room on your shelf!

The first item to be offered through Hasbro’s “HasLab” programme, at least 6000 orders will need to be placed before they give it the green light for production. It’s basically the company’s own version of Kickstarter, and ensures that a pricey item like this will actually be wanted by fans before Hasbro actually goes about producing it. Orders are already stacking up, so chances are it is going to be released. 

Measuring over 26 inches (making it the biggest Sentinel figure to date), it’s in scale with the six-inch Marvel Legends figures, and comes bundled with a Bastion figure that includes an alternate Omega Sentinel head. It boasts 72 points of articulation, and comes with an 18 inch tentacle accessory. 

The downside, however, is that you can expect to pay $350 if and when it’s released next fall. 

Still, for many fans, that will be worth every penny, and this should help them easily recreate key moments from the X-Men comic books (that Days of Future Past cover, for example). 

Check out some photos below:
 

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Earlier this week, it was confirmed that The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is ending on Netflix after four seasons. While the show took a slight dip in quality after a stellar first season, the news was still met with a great deal of disappointment from fans, but there is now some good news. 

Writer, director, and producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa recently took to Twitter to comment on the cancellation news, and revealed that the plan for “Part 4” was to adapt the “Witch War” storyline from the comic books. As you can see in the teaser image, Sabrina is pictured alongside Harvey Kinkle, Nicolas Scratch, Theo Putnam and Roz Walker, while Riverdale characters Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, and Cheryl Blossom can all be seen above.

Before you start getting too upset about what we missed out on, though, Aguirre-Sacasa went on to promise that the story is “[t]o be continued in the pages of [Chilling Adventures of Sabrina] comic book.” In other words, it sounds like the plan isn’t for the series to find a new home, but continue in the form of a comic book series (similar to what happened with Buffy the Vampire Slayer). 

However, it’s also possible that he’s referring to the original Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series which lasted for only eight issues and ended in 2017. 

We’ll have to wait and see, but you can check out Aguirre-Sacasa’s comments below:
 

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Say what you will about Zack Snyder, but when it comes to casting, he never disappoints. That was particularly the case with his choice for Commissioner Jim Gordon in Justice League, and while J.K. Simmons wasn’t given a lot of time to shine, it was clear the filmmaker had chosen well. 

Now, the Spider-Man: Far From Home actor has confirmed that if Snyder needs him to return in order to help complete his vision for Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max, he’s happy to do so.

“Well, the Snyder Cut is happening now at long last, as DC fans know. I’m excited that I’m a part of it,” he told Screen Rant. “I’m excited that I’m a part of it. As far as I know, I’ve already done everything I have to do to be a part of Zack’s cut, which is to tell Zack, ‘Yes, I want to be a part of your cut.’ If there’s additional dialogue recording or additional shooting or whatever, I’d be happy to do it.”

It’s been reported that there are no plans for reshoots to take place, but ADR may be required, and that could be when Snyder requires Simmons. Either way, it will definitely be interesting finding out how many of the Commissioner’s scenes Joss Whedon reshot, and whether the Dark Knight’s closest ally originally dropped any hints about what was to come in The Batman. 

While his time in the DCEU is over, Simmons is expected to continue playing TheDailyBugle.net’s J. Jonah Jameson in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sony Pictures’ Universe of Marvel Characters. Still, it’s a shame we never got to see more of his take on Gordon…

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While we await a new trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 (there’s a possibility we’ll see it at the upcoming DC FanDome event), more and more marketing and promo material for Patty Jenkins’ upcoming sequel continues to find its way online, and this latest image gives us our best look yet at Kristen Wiig as the fully transformed Cheetah.

This take on the DC Comics villain appears to be fairly comic-accurate, although she’s a little less feline-looking than her more animalistic counterpart. Truth be told, she actually looks a bit more like Cheetara from Thundercats, but we may feel differently once we see her in action.

Check out the card along with a new, but very blurry look at Diana (Gal Gadot) in her Golden Eagle armor, and keep an eye out for updates on that trailer.

WW84 was recently pushed back from August 14th to October 2nd, and there’s still a chance it’ll ultimately be delayed even further. Warner Bros. is currently waiting to see if Christopher Nolan’s Tenet will be able to make its Auguest 12th bow (that’s also looking more and more unlikely), and if it doesn’t, WW1984 will almost certainly be moved to 2021.

Right now, all we can do is wait and see. We should have a better idea of how things are looking over the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, check out some recent Total Film covers below, and let us know if you’re looking forward to the movie in the usual place.

In Wonder Woman 1984, Diana Prince comes into conflict with two formidable foes—media businessman Maxwell Lord and friend-turned-enemy Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah—while reuniting with her love interest Steve Trevor.

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Kabam Games likes to keep things interesting and fresh in their hit mobile brawler MARVEL Contest of Champions by adding new characters to the roster each month. These new fighters often come with fun motion comics to promote their arrival.

The team at Kabam has chosen to shift the spotlight to Canada for the month of July which means that members of Alpha Flight will finally join the roster of champions. Unfortunately, players won’t see the likes of Puck and Snowbird, but there are plans to introduce additional members in the future. For now, the addition of Guardian and Sasquatch will have to appease fans of the team from the great white north.

Kabam Games was nice enough to designate two members of their team to answer some of our questions about MARVEL Contest of Champions. Gabriel Frizzera, the Creative Art Director, and John Phillipson, the Balance Designer (whom we’ve had the pleasure of speaking with in the past) had plenty to share, so check it out for yourself below!

 

Joe: Sasquatch and Guardian were chosen as the two newest champions, both members of Alpha Flight. How did you pick these two instead of Puck and the other members of the Canadian team?

Gabriel Frizzera: If I could I would have them all at the same time, but we only release two characters a month, so we picked the two we thought would work best for the game meta at this moment. But we do have plans to bring more Alpha Flighters in the future, including my favorite, Snowbird.

Joe: What led to the decision to focus on Canada for the month of July?

Gabriel Frizzera: Our studio is in Vancouver, Canada, and as good Canadians, we had Alpha Flight on our favorite list since day one. So, after a few years celebrating the 4th of July but not Canada Day (which is July 1st), we decided to finally bring Marvel’s mightiest Canadian Super Heroes to The Contest of Champions.

 

Joe: Are there any moves or anything that sets these two new Champions apart from the current fighters in the game?

John Phillipson: Guardian has got a combination of abilities from some of the strongest The Contest has ever seen to give him a Jack-of-All toolset. He has amazing blocking abilities thanks to the forcefield his suit gives him. He has massive shock damage that burns his opponent’s health bar away in the blink of an eye. Guardian also has a vast set of tools at his disposal to let you control the fight, and deal with any opponent The Contest may bring your way!

Sasquatch is going to be a threatening defender to run into in The Battlerealm. His thick hide and mastery of his powers will make him a massive tank if you don’t bring the right answer. He’s going to stack up a ton of damage resistance and frequently go Unstoppable making it really hard to find a good time for you to trade blows.

He’s no slouch on offense either. His ability to lower the power it costs to throw special attacks will let him pretty much always have the power to play with. Stack tons of ruptures on the opponent with your basic combo then cache them in for some massive damage and the only thing that will be harder to find than Sasquatch in the wild is going to be an opponent that can keep up with him ;).

Joe: Can you tease anything to come for the future of the game?

John Phillipson: We’ve got some exciting reworks coming up soon for both existing versions of Magneto in the game right now. Totally new kits that will pay homage to the original but each will be totally unique as well. You can expect Magento (Marvel NOW!) to have some awesome synergies and maybe a few other abilities to boost his team similar to Mister Fantastic!

What do you guys make of these comments from Kabam? Make sure to share your thoughts in the usual spot!

Sorry, we don’t mean to be sappy, but we hope you have fun exploring The Northern Expeditions. Have a Happy Canada Day! Enjoy some poutine, and of course, Marvel Contest of Champions.

Take a trip with Guardian to uncover the secrets of the North, and track down the ever-elusive Sasquatch! This series of 4 quests will be unlocked one at a time over the course of 4 weeks, and feature no Quest Completion or Exploration rewards, but have plenty of rewards strewn across the paths!

So pick your best team of 3, and start exploring! Enjoy the new format of Expeditions with reduced paths and a new limited-time CANADIAN difficulty, offering some serious challenges for serious rewards, including 6-Star Shards and Tier 5 Class Catalyst Fragments!

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Production on Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed DC vertigo comic series The Sandman was originally scheduled for last month, but with the COVID-19 pandemic still causing mass delays, that obviously never happened. Updates have been few and far between since the show was officially announced last year, but Gaiman has now given fans a bit more to go on during a virtual press roundtable.

Recent character breakdowns suggested the adaptation would be making some pretty major alterations to the source material, and Gaiman now seems to have confirmed as much while revealing that the Netflix show will update the story and characters for the 21st century.

“Okay, it is 2020, let’s say that I was doing Sandman starting in 2020, what would we do? How would we change things? What gender would this character be? Who would this person be? What would be happening?”

Gaiman also touched on why so many previous attempts to adapt his classic tale never came to fruition.

“People have tried making movies and TV adaptations for 30 years, and actively tried making them for 25 years, and they’ve never worked,” the writer continued. “And they never worked because of all the special effects and what would be needed to do the special effects. They never worked because you were making something that was adult. People would write Sandman movie scripts, and they go, ‘But it’s an R-rated movie, and we can’t have $100 million R-rated movies.’ So, that wouldn’t happen. You needed to get to a world in which long-form storytelling is an advantage rather than a disadvantage. And the fact that we have seventy-five issues of Sandman plus — essentially, 13 full books — worth of material, is a really good thing. It’s not a drawback.”

Gaiman went on to reveal that he’s seen some of the production designs for Lucifer’s castle and the gates of Hell, and wishes he could show everyone how well everything is coming together.

For the time being, Morpheus fans will be able to get their fix when The Sandman Audible Drama hits the Dreaming on July 15.

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