Cartman Approved

Tonight! Nathan Fillion gets a Pavillion, Deadpool 3 takes a step forward, and Casa Bonita, Casa Bonita gets new owners, Cartman approves this edition of Multiverse Tonight!

Welcome to episode 138 of Multiverse Tonight, this episode is coming out while I’m at Planet Comicon….

DC

The Suicide Squad’s Flula Borg had to put on 25 pounds of muscle to play supervillain Javelin. The actor told Men’s Journal quote "My usual routine used to be working out for 20 minutes, eating nothing, and staring at the television for the rest of the day," "Paolo [Mascitti] told me that wasn’t going to fly," unquote On Instagram he posted quote "To transform into JAVELIN in #TheSuicideSquad, I was having to do many activities, like braiding a giant's hairs. Danke to my trainer man @paolomascitti for making it possible and to @mjfit, @mensjournal, and @menshealthmag for telling peoples about this muskle journey! watch @jamesgunn’s @thesuicidesquad in the theatres now," unquote

Netflix’s Sandman has wrapped up production on its first season. 10 months after starting, the news comes from Neil Gaiman's official Tumblr account. He wrote quote "Well, we’ve finished principal photography on Season 1, and now we all have to be patient while the VFX and suchlike are done, music is written and recorded, and so on," Gaiman wrote. "No, I don’t know any release dates, or even when the trailer will be released. It feels like Sandman. I don’t know if that means that people who watch TV will like it – although I hope they will – but I suspect that if you like Sandman and you want to see it on the screen, then you’ll like this. (I also think Tom Sturridge will be a star after season one of Sandman drops.)" unquote Sturridge stars as Deam in the series alongside Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess, Asim Chaudhry as Abel, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, Dream's wiser sister and Mason Alexander Park as Desire, Dream's sibling. The series has no premiere date yet.

Supergirl star Melissa Benoist has put her costume on for the last time. Filming on the sixth and final season of the show. Ms. Benoist had shared a photo of herself on Instagram in the costume alongside fellow stars Chyuler Leigh and David Harewood with the caption quote"Thank you for an incredible 6 years—the cast who became family, everyone who worked on the show, all of you who watched us week after week," Benoist wrote. "That's a wrap on @supergirlcw." unquote Six seasons is a good run for a show especially one that had been canceled by its original network. 

The Suicide Squad’s Nation Fillion had a building named after him in Edmonton Canada. Fillion comes from the Canadian city which is in the process of converting a series of downtown parking lots into luscious green park. An online petition to the city asked it to rename it the Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavillion. Other stars from the movie joined in with support including director James Gunn, Idris Elba (Bloodsport), John Cena (Peacemaker), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn). Their efforts paid off as Ednomonton announced on August sixth that quote Challenge accepted! @sonic1029, @HunterAtHome, and @WarnerBrosCA. What’s a more ‘Civilian Pavilion’ than Edmonton’s own City Hall? For this weekend we’ve renamed our City Hall Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion to mark the premiere of #TheSuicideSquad!," unquote 

Justice League producer Charles Roven had a mea culpa moment about the bad CG job on Henry Cavill’s removed mustache in Justice League. If you recall, Cavill was filming on Mission Impossible and was unable to shave the mustache for the for the reshoots on Justice league requiring Warner Bros to digitally remove the mustache, which just made his mouth look weird. Roven told the Hollywood Reporter quote "We were dealing with very complicated scenes. They were so complicated in terms of their structure and the additional shooting issues, and of course, we also had the fact that we were hoping for Henry to shave his beard,""We were very worried that we weren't going to be able to accomplish that in a way that wasn't visible. And in fact, we were right to be worried about that. To open a movie with your Superman and have his face look funny — I wouldn't say that was one of the great decisions that were made." unquote He also said that releasing the Justice League with a funny looking Man of Steel was a decision made to protect the release date, the promotional partners and the pre-booked theaters.

In Batman Urban Legends number six, Tim Drake came out as Bisexual. DC Comics issued the following statement quote Okay, don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. All right, fine, you can freak out, but please freak respectfully. As of August 10th, 2021, your headcanon is real: Tim Drake dates boys.

If you’re a member of DC’s significant queer community, then you already understand why this is a big deal. In fact, you’ve probably been waiting for a moment like this for a very long time. But for the uninitiated, please allow me to explain.

This week, Batman: Urban Legends #6 includes the culmination of a three-part story by writer Meghan Fitzmartin, artist Belen Ortega, colorist Alejandro Sánchez and letterer Pat Brosseau about Tim Drake, the premiere Robin of the 90’s and many of our childhoods, and the most responsible boy to ever don the red and green. After the horrific murder of Jason Todd, it was Tim who brought Batman back from the darkest place in his life—not to pursue any personal dream of crimefighting and costume-donning, but because “Batman needs a Robin.”As Fitzmartin and company have explored in this Urban Legends story, “Tim Drake: Sum of Our Parts,” it’s that element which has defined Tim Drake’s existence since he first appeared. The third Robin has always been someone who puts the needs of others before himself, filling vacancies where no one else steps up. He bears Batman, Young Justice and the Teen Titans like a weary Atlas, being whatever he needs to be to keep the world at balance. But that’s the problem, too. If Tim Drake can be anything to anyone, who is he to himself? What does Tim Drake want out of life? What is his true secret identity?

Practically since the moment comic books were invented, misinformed parents and authority figures have lambasted them as tools for corrupting America’s youth. Towards criminal thoughts, immoral deeds, and, worst of all to straight-laced mid-century nuclear families, homosexuality. Queer coding in comics, the idea of expressing your true self through a colorful costume as you hid your dual identity from the world, was once considered too scandalous for a largely homophobic nation. As queer kids were finding a piece of themselves in characters like Robin, judges and psychologists and even the comic book publishers themselves, wary of a culture turning against them, did everything they could to censor queer themes from comics for decades to come. But even as those themes were stifled, speculation on Robin’s sexuality has never stopped.

And despite a multitude of new Robins, each with a parade of their own heteronormative partners, queer readers have continued to see a piece of themselves within the Boy Wonder. Queer readings of Robin continue to proliferate through his stories. Friendships between Dick Grayson and Wally West, Jason Todd and Roy Harper, Tim Drake and Conner Kent, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain, and even Damian Wayne and Jon Kent have been perceived as something closer than friendship time and again, by queer readers searching for themselves within Batman’s world. But that should be no surprise. All the way back in 1940, Robin was created with the intention of being a reader surrogate—a character who readers could project themselves onto, fighting crime across rooftops under the enigmatic Batman’s wing. There have been female Robins, Black Robins, rich Robins, poor Robins. Why would a queer reader, especially one overtly ostracized by comics culture itself for so many decades, feel any less worthy of that same surrogate relationship? Unquote They go on to describe the moment which I’ve omitted for brevity and if you want to see it for yourself. Now back to the statement quote This is, as I’ve said, a very big deal. In fact, that may be underselling it. For a certain, significant portion of Batman readers, the Gotham Outsiders who have always found themselves looking in, it’s a moment which we’ll continue to be talking about, to be celebrating, for years. The moment that queer fans were—not through subtext, and not through permissible “point of view” reading—but unabashedly, textually supported for the first time since Kate Kane was kicked out of West Point. The moment that a Robin, any Robin, but particularly a Robin with history and legacy and now decades of queer-coded readings under his utility belt, was allowed to be the queer icon he’s always been.

But the text right under Tim’s acceptance—of Bernard’s invitation, and to a greater understanding of his own self—may be the best part of all. It’s the part that says, “TO BE CONTINUED.” This isn’t the end of Tim Drake’s self-discovery. We’ve only just reached the beginning. And you can be sure that in Batman: Urban Legends #10, we’ll all be there to follow this personal journey wherever it goes.

Tim Drake nation, rise up. There’s no turning back now.

Danny Devito will get to write a new penguin story for DC comics Gotham Villains Anniversary Giant Number One. This anthology issue will be just as the title implies, stories of Gotham Villains. Details of DeVito’s story is under wraps, but preview pages seem to show DeVito’s Penguin reteeming with Catwoman. Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant arrives in time to celebrate anniversaries of some of Batman's most iconic foes, including 80 years of The Penguin and The Scarecrow, 70 years of Killer Moth, 50 years of Ra's al Ghul, and more. In addition to DeVito and Dan Mora, the all-star lineup includes writers like Joshua Williamson, G. Willow Wilson, and Phillip Kennedy Johnson, alongside artists like Jill Thompson, Christian Ward, Emma Rios, and many more. The issue will be out on November 30.

Marvel

. Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed in a third quarter earnings call that  both Free Guy and Marvel’s Shang-Chi will not show up at the same time on Disney Plus has their theatrical releases. He told the attendees quote "As you probably recognize, we live in a very uncertain world in terms of the recovery of some of our markets, and the theatrical exhibition world is certainly a part of that. We said from the very beginning that we value flexibility and being able to make as last-minute calls as we can, given what we see in the marketplace," Chapek said on the call. "Certainly, when we planned our schedule that we're executing right now, we did not anticipate — nor do I think anybody — the resurgence of Covid with a Delta variant that would have such a significant impact on the marketplace." unqutoe  This was just more confirmation from the May earnings call that the movies would have a 45 day theater exclusive window, before being released in other forms. When asked if it would have gone to Premier Plus Chapek said queo "On Free Guy, obviously this is a title that we acquired under a different distribution assumption and set of agreements, so we don't have the degree of freedom to do that," Chapek said, referring to the Fox acquisition. "On Shang-Chi, we actually think it's going to be an interesting experiment for us because it's got only a 45-day window for us. The prospect of being able to take a Marvel title to the service after going theatrical for 45 days will be yet another data point to inform our actions going forward on our titles."

Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi "was planned on being [opened] in a much more healthy theatrical environment,'' added Chapek of the latest installment in the connected Marvel Cinematic Universe. "Unfortunately, due to distribution agreements that we have, and due to just the practicalities of last-minute changes, it wouldn't be possible [to release Shang-Chi on Premier Access]." unquote The movies that Disney has put on Premier Access, Raya and The Last Dragon, Cruella, Black Widow and Jungle Cruise have not had long lives at the box office, premiering and than dropping off, due to both the miserable Covid Era Box Office Attendance and the online availability.

By the way, 45 days after Shang Chi premieres in theaters would be October eighteenth.

Hulu executive Jordan Helman sees potential for Hulu and Marvel Studios to bring more shows to the service. Helman told Deadline quote “Marvel continues to be an incredibly important partner and one of the biggest generators of content within the Disney ecosystem so we’re excited about the possibility of what may lie in the future with regards to the Hulu/Marvel relationship," unquote He did confirm that Hulu has yet to speak with Marvel Studios or Kevin Feige, but that Hulu still has plans to get some MCU content because it seems like it would be an incredible robust avenue for future projects. The next Marvel show Marvels’ Hit-Monkey is due on Hulu this fall.

Ryan Reynolds thinks that there’s a decent change of a new Deadpool Movie coming into production soon. When asked by Collider what he thought the chances were the actor and Mint mobile owner said quote “The percentage chance? I don’t know. I couldn’t assign a percentage to that. I’d say it’s 50/50 maybe?" "We’re really actively developing it and getting it into pretty good shape. What the hell month is it? August? Oh next year? Probably pretty damn good. I’d say 70%.” unquote The script is being written by Bob’s Burgers writers Bob's Burgers writers Wendy Molyneaux and Lizzie Molyneaux-Loeglin and Reynolds updated on that front quote “It’s something that is just a daily process. Writing is kind of like that, you’ve gotta allot time to do it and walk away, and I’m working with the Molyneuxs on it, it’s been great. They’re incredibly talented and so, so smart. They so understand that world and know how to zig when everyone’s expecting a zag, so it’s been a lot of fun.” unquote 

Ethan Hawke told Late Night’s Seth Meyers a bit about his current role as the villian in Disney Plus’ Moon Knight series which is currently filming in Budapest Hungary. He raved about the sets saying "These are the best sets I've ever been on in my life," he raved. "I've entered some alternate universe, and it's kinda interesting." unquote And after Meyers  remarked that Ethan looked eerily to David Koresh, the cult leader who died in Waco Texas in 1993, Hawke said that it’s intentional saying quote "I've based my character on David Koresh!" he said. "He's the basis of great character inspiration." unquote Moon Knight is a former U.S. Marine and current mercenary with dissociative identity disorder named Marc Spector (played by Oscar Isaac) who is granted superpowers from the Egyptian Moon god Khonshu. It’s due on Disney Plus in 2022.

The Official Order for the MCU has been changed to include the new Disney Plus Series. Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain Marvel

Iron Man

Iron Man 2

Thor

The Avengers

Thor: The Dark World

Iron Man 3

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Ant-Man

Captain America: Civil War

Black Widow

Black Panther

Doctor Strange

Thor: Ragnarok

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Endgame

Loki

Marvel's What If...?

WandaVision

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Yep, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier happened last .

Geek

South Park Creators Trey Parker And Matt Stone have gotten a big order that will keep the show coming out to 2027. The new deal worth a reported 900 million dollars will see 14 original movies premiering on Paramount Plus beginning with two coming in 2021 and two a year until 2027. Chris McCarthy President and CEO of MTV Entertainment and CCO of Adult Animation of Paramount Plus said in a statement quote “Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humor to skewer the absurdities of our culture and we are excited to expand and deepen our long relationship with them to help fuel Paramount+ and Comedy Central,”  “Franchising marquee content like South Park and developing new IP with tremendous talent like Matt and Trey, is at the heart of our strategy to continue growing Paramount+.”

Parker and Stone in the same statement said quote “Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we’re really happy that they’ve made a commitment to us for the next 75 years,” “When we came to ViacomCBS with a different way to produce the show during the pandemic, Chris (McCarthy), Nina (Diaz), Keyes (Hill-Edgar) and Tanya (Giles) were immediately supportive and enabled us to try something new that turned out to be really well received. We can’t wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats.  It’s great to have partners who will always take a chance with us.”

And when you’ve made money like that why not buy something near and dear to you. As Matt and Trey have struck a deal to buy the Casa Bonita restaurant that the featured in an episode of South Park. The duo broke the news in an interview with Colorado Governor Jared Polis. The company that owned Casa Bonita, Summit Family Restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 in Arizona on April sixth. The final sale is pending court approval and will take months. Speaking with the Hollywood Reporter Trey Parker said quote ``If it were up to us, we would have people in there right now working on it,” unquote The iconic Mexican restaurant. Located at 6715 W. Colfax Ave. in Lakewood, the enormous Mexican restaurant, which features an arcade, cave and waterfall with cliff divers, among other attractions, opened in 1974. Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul told the reporter quote “This is a really exciting announcement not only for the community but for our entire state,” Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul told THR. “There has been a lot of behind-the-scenes movement and certainly these deals can be challenging. Not only will this help save an iconic landmark in Lakewood, but it will also provide catalytic change for an emerging arts district. I want to thank Trey and Matt for their commitment to the community!” unquote I hope they have Cartman cliff diving from time to time.

The Venture Bros have arrived on HBO Max, all seven seasons  of the show are there and will be joined by a series finale movie in the future.

The Clifford the Big Red Dog Movie has been pulled from Paramounts Release Schedule over concerns about the Delta Variant and its effects on the box office. THe movie had planned to be released next month on September seventeenth with a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Paramount is looking for a new release date.

It’s not the only thing to be delayed yet again, Venom: Let There be Carnage has been pushed back to October fifteenth. Hotel Transylvania 4 might also be moving, possibly straight to streaming.

Emma Stone will be back in a sequel to Cruella, according to deadline. No word on when the sequel to happe. The first one was released both in theaters and Disney Plus Premier on May 26th and earned 222 million worldwide.

Disney wants a sequel to Free Guy according to star Ryan Reynolds who posted on twitter quote Aaaannnnd after 3 years messaging #FreeGuy as an original IP movie, Disney confirmed today they officially want a sequel. Woo hoo!! #irony

THe new Spawn movie has gotten a new writer, Brian Tucker, who wrote the 2013 movie Broken City starring Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg has been given the job of writing the script for the Blumhouse Produced  Todd McFaralane directed reboot.

The live action Powerpuff Girls pilot Powerpuff has lost one of it’s three leads, Actres Chloe Bennet has stepped down due scheduling conflicts. The show’s first pilot failed, but a second pilot was commissioned.The casting for a new costar will begin shortly.

Tabletop game designer Steve Perrin has passed away. Mister Perrin was best known for his work on the fantasy game Runequest, he designed the original game and created the BRP/d100 rules system. At one point the game was second only to Dungeons and Dragons. He was also a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, the medieval themed living history group. Perrin also contributed to Call of Cthulhu Star Trek Starfleet Academy and Strombringer wrote several D&D supplements and designed a tabletop roleplaying game for Elfquest. In recent weeks, he had started a GoFundMe for his wife Luise as she had entered hospice care after a heart attack coupled with pneumonia. The GoFundMe raised over $200,000. Steve Perrin was 75 years old.

And that brings us to the end of the comic book news. *Show Ender*

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