Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Fate of the Furious, Ballers) may be gracing the DC cinematic universe as early as next year, according to sources within Warner Bros. The sources stated that The Rock will be playing frequent Shazam villain Black Adam in the planned sequel to last years Suicide Squad. The plot is rumored to involve the eponymous Task Force X hunting down a weapon of mass destruction aka Black Adam. Suicide Squad 2 is set to begin filming winter next year with a release date sometime in 2019.
– Amazon has announced that they have greenlit an adaption of Garth Ennis (“Punisher MAX,” “Preacher”) and Darick Robertson (“Transmetropolitan,” “Happy!”)’s hyperviolent superhero series “The Boys” as a television series. The series will be directed by Evan Goldberg (Preacher, This Is the End) and Seth Rogen (Preacher, Sausage Party) with Eric Kripke (Supernatural, Timeless) serving as showrunner. The story centers on a CIA sponsored group of superheroes, informally calling themselves ‘the boys,’ assigned to keep the deviant and derelict members of the superhuman community, almost every one of them in this case, in check. The series is set to debut sometime in 2019.
– A press release from Marvel yesterday announced that fan favorite Inhuman Lockjaw will be starring in his very own miniseries come February. The four-issue miniseries about everyone’s favorite teleporting dog will be written by Daniel Kibblesmith (“Quantum and Woody,” “Valiant High”) with art by newcomer Carlos Villa. The series will revolve around Lockjaw’s search for his long-lost siblings in addition to discovering his heretofore unknown origins.
– Disney will reportedly no longer be releasing any Marvel televisions shows on Netflix. The news puts the current slot of Marvel Netflix shows future seasons plans in question, with shows like The Punisher, The Defenders, and others all hanging in the balance. It is likely however that these shows, in addition to any future Marvel TV properties, will be moving to the Disney branded digital streaming service once they are removed from Netflix in 2019.
– French satirical cartoon magazine Charlie Hebdo has decided to press charges following death threats made to their offices. Many will remember the magazine was targeted in 2015 after publishing a cartoon featuring the prophet Muhammad. 12 people were killed in a shooting attack claimed by Al Queda. The death threats in question are related to a recent cover of the magazine featuring conservative Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan with a rather large erection proclaiming himself the “sixth pillar of Islam,” this is in reference to the 2 rape charges recently leveled against Ramadan. Charlie Hebdo, despite a consistent stream of death threats, has continued to publish controversial cartoons on a weekly basis.
– Fans of Scott Snyder (“All-Star Batman,” “American Vampire”)’s ongoing “Metal” event will have no doubt picked up yesterdays “Batman: Lost.” The issue according to Snyder hides a secret hint at a major 2018 DC event clue within its pages. The issue is framed as a mental battle between Bruce Wayne and the antagonist of falls “Metal,” Barbatos, and features a murderers row of DC writers and artists. In addition to Snyder, James Tyrion IV (“The Woods,” “Detective Comics”) and Joshua Williams (“Nailbiter,” “Flash”) fill writing duties with Doug Mahnke (“Action Comics,” “Black Adam: The Dark Age”), Jorge Jimenez (“Supersons,” “Earth 2”) and Yannick Paquette (“Wonder Woman: Earth One,” “Young X-Men”) providing art for the issue.
– Speaking of DC comics and plans for 2018, the company announced yesterday that they will be delaying their “New Age of DC Heroes” line of books till 2018. The decision was made in order to give the ongoing “Metal” event more time to reach its tie-in point with the new initiative. Jim Lee (“Justice League,” “WildC.A.T.S”) and James Tyrion IV (“Batwoman,” “Eugenics”)’s “Immortal Men” was pushed back the furthest of all the announced titles by a whopping 3 months – 6 months if you count the originally promise October release date. DC has promised discounts for any store which orders over their “Hawkman: Lost” orders for the first issue of these series.
– Jessica Chastain (The Martian, Zero Dark Thirty) has very publicly criticized X-Men: Dark Phoenix executive producer Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, X-Men 2) for his reported sexual misconduct throughout his career. Chastain, who will be playing the antagonist for the upcoming X-Men film, said she was perfectly comfortable speaking truth to power because, in her own words, “the greatest myth that an industry can create is to make people feel like they’re easily replaceable. I’m not going to allow that into my life.”
