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.
– You may have noticed that “Civil War II” #5 is running a bit late. Not to worry, though, as Brian Michael Bendis explains on his tumblr that the cause is David Marquez and his wife’s recently newborn son. You know, that’s going to do it. The creators are getting back on track, but Bendis also explained that the delay has allowed him to rewrite the ending somewhat and as such has had an eighth issue greenlit by Marvel meaning our very own James Johnston has to endure another issue of this event. We wish him all the luck in the world.
– In much cooler news, Sean Murphy announced on Twitter over the weekend that he has signed an exclusive deal with DC Comics for the next two years to work on an eight issue Batman comic as well as “All-Star Batman”. The eighth issue series will be one Murphy writes and illustrates himself and is described as an Elseworlds-style story that allows him free reign to redesign the entire Bat-world to his style. This is likely going to be keeping an eye on.
– Speaking of Batman, Rocksteady Games dropped a trailer for Batman: Arkham VR that’s mostly nerds at SDCC reciting a number of choice quotes about being Batman, but there is some game footage in there. Most of it is from the suit up sequence that does look pretty, but the few clips of Bruce Wayne’s disembodied hands reaching for the cowl and batarangs is something that won’t be as immersion breaking as it seems.
– On his Instagram, Henry Cavill has teased an element of next year’s Justice League movie that we all knew was coming, but I dared hope wouldn’t happen. Following on from Superman’s death at the end of Dawn Of Justice, it does in fact seem like the Man Of Steel will be returning in an all black suit when he inevitably comes back to life in the next film. It’s hard to imagine right now, but next year is the year that cinemas around the world all get Jurgens’d harder than anyone ever has before.
– Lot of DC news today, I know, but this one is actually fascinating. Newsweek spoke with Dany Garcia, producing partner and manager for Dwayne Johnson, about Shazam! Garcia explained that while Shazam! is definitely part of the DCEU, the film isn’t being made directly through Warner Bros., but through New Line Cinema in partnership with Garcia and Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions.
This, she claims, gives them much more autonomy over the project as they will be working with new producers and directors (meaning there’s likely going to be little involvement from Zack Snyder). Speaking about the status of the film, Garcia said they are working on script drafts that “get the tone right for Black Adam” (who Johnson is playing), which is funny because you would think the title character of the film would be who they’re focusing on. Time will tell on this one, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
– Finally, ComicsAlliance has an autopsy on just what went wrong with 2015’s Fantastic Four (a film I had genuinely forgot happened until being reminded of it through this article). It’s a pretty fascinating read as it delves into the conflict between director Josh Trank and the producers at Fox Studios. Check it out!
