Pause of The New Gods

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Tonight, no new gods, yes, Black Widow, and we remember Beverly Cleary and Jessica Walters. All that and more on the comic book edition of Multiverse Tonight. Comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, and more. If you're looking for a roundup of geeky news, you're in the right place. This is Multiverse Tonight. And here's your host, Thomas Townley. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 121 of Multiverse Tonight, the comic book edition. I'm of course your host, Thomas Townley. And uh if I sound congested, if you like if you listen to the last episode, it's because I record these back to back. Um yeah, I'm I'm I'm congested. It's allergies. But you know, again, listen to the last episode 120 to hear my thoughts about that. Um What I thought I'd do at the beginning of here is of course plead for everyone to go get their COVID vaccinations. They've uh opened the they've opened that up for a lot of people to get them. I mean, even as young as I think 18, 16, some places. Um, go get it. It's it's worthwhile. You know, again, if enough of us get it, we don't have to wear the mask anymore. Um, my wife got it, my mother-in-law has it, and I mean people around me are getting it, and I think it's going to help. I think it's going to, you know, tamp this down a bit to where we can get it properly under control. But that being said, uh, we do have some comic book news, and so let us get into that. There's some DC comics news. And uh we start the DC Comics News with uh Ava Duvernay's New Gods and James Wan's Aquaman spinoff, The Trench. Uh both movies will not not be going forward at Warner Brothers, according to an exclusive to the Hollywood Reporter. Now Warner's in DC said in a statement, quote, as part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles, including New Gods and The Trench, will not be going forward. We thank our partners Ava Duvernay, Tom King, James Wann, and Pierre Saffron for their time and collaboration during this process, and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The project will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the pro in the future. Now, however, you know, that does, as it says, leave this the door open to revisit those properties in the future, and the only reason they kind of swung the axe was to not leave these filmmakers in, you know, limbo. So, you know, on one hand I kind of understand that. If you're if you're if you decided the the go slower on on production of new material, yeah, you want to tell these people, you know, go go do those other projects. You know, when we need you back on this, we'll call you. So I still want to see um you know Mr. Miracle and Big Bard. I think that should be the focus of any new gods movie. Well, uh on to DC films that are still going forward. Helen Miran is joining the cast of Such as I am Fury of the Gods as a villain named Hespera. The character isn't an established DC Universe character, but is being described as the daughter of Atlas. So, uh, your guess is as good as mine. Meanwhile, over the Black Adam movie, former Remington Steele and James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has been cast as classic DC hero Doctor Fate. Brosnan will play Kent Nelson, aka Doctor Fate, the son of an archaeologist who has been taught sorcery skills and given the magical helmet of fate. The character, created by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman, is one of DC's oldest, having first appeared in 1940's More Fun Comics number five. The casting of Dr. Fate completes the roll call for the Justice Society. Already casts are Aldus Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centino as Adam Smasher, Quintessa Sindel as Cyclone. The movie has a planned start in Atlanta in April, unless they decide to move it out of the state. Go check your news sources for that one. Now also beefing up their cast is the Flash movie. First up, Ron Livingston, who you might know from the movie Office Space, will be playing the father of The Flash, Henry Allen, replacing Billy Credup, who left due to scheduling conflicts with the Apple Pl Apple TV Plus drama The Morning Show. Now also joining the cast will be Ian Lowe, who will play Young Barry Allen, and Derry J and Darry G and Derry Gir Derry Girls star Shirsey Monica Jackson and internet personality Rudy Mancuso, whose roles will be unknown. The Flash is due in theaters on November 4th, 2022. The theme for the sixth and final season of Supergirl will be POWER, according to showrunners Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner. Queller told Entertainment Weekly, quote, The theme that we ha really decided on to focus on this year was about power and the abuse of power and the limits of power and from without and within. So including not just our bad guys, which is very easy, but in terms of our heroes making decisions because their power is almost limitless. How do they decide where the line is? Unquote. Now Rovner added that they were inspired by the Black Lives Movement, saying, quote, people felt somewhat disempowered because of the circumstances that we're all living in with the pandemic. We were trying to reflect on that and kind of try to address what empowers people and what our heroes could do to help both set an example and kind of explore some of the issues that keep people from feeling em from feeling empowered. Unquote. Pacifist Vigilante, who will stop at nothing to promote his cause of peace. The series also stars Steve A G as John Ecom Economus, Daniel Brooks as Leoda Adabeo, Robert Brook, Robert Patrick as Aggie Smith, Jennifer Holland as Amelia Harcourt, Chris Conrad as Vigilante, Christopher Hyradal as Captain Locke, Chadwika Iwfo Iwigi as Clemson Mern, Lachlan Monroe as Larry Fitzgibbon, Annie Chang Chang Annie Chang as Sophie Sha Sophie Song Sho Sophie Song, English Faith Little as Kia, and Rizwan Manji as Jamal. The series is expected to debut on HBO Max this January. Now let's go on to the Marvel News. The final four the final Fox X-Men movie will finally fit hit streaming services this week. On Saturday the 10th, the movie will come out on HBO Max. Now, if you're wondering why HBO Max and not say Disney Plus or Hulu, which Disney owns, it's because Fox had a deal with HBO that let HBO get first crack at their releases. So most likely it'll move to a Disney-owned service once that release when that release window has uh is open. Marvel's Black Widow will have a dual release, both in theaters and on Disney Plus Premier Access level on July 9th. Also being released this way will be the 101 Dalmatians prequel Cruella, which will be released on May 28th. Disney will also be releasing the Pixar movie Luca exclusively to Disney Plus on June 18th, and moving around and also being moved around by Disney is Free Guy, which went from August 13th, 2021, from May 21st, 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which now goes from July 9th, 2021 to September 3rd, 2021, The King's Man, which went from August 20th to December 22nd, 2021, Deep Water, which went from August 13th to January 14th, 2022, and Death on the Nile, which went from September 17th of this year to February 11th of next year. Now Death on the Nile's release will be one to watch as it stars Army Hammer, who is currently battling sexual misconduct allegations and an LAPD rape investigation. Watch this space. The Falcon and the Winter Soldiers series premiere was the most watched series premiere ever on Disney Plus, according to a press release from the streaming service. It joins Wandavision's first episode and the season two premiere of The Mandalorian in their top three. John Romita Jr. is rejoining the House of Ideas this July. Romita's art style is one of the most recognizable and respected in the comics industry. Now during this time at Marvel, Romita worked on titles like Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man, Daredevil, and many more. Romita will now bring his indelible talent to some of Marvel's most iconic series starting later this year. In a statement, Romita said, quote, I have been very fortunate more than a few times in my life, and now I can add this latest event to that list. I've returned to Marvel, the company that I started my career in, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I am literally, at this very moment, working on my next big Marvel project, and it's a blast. I am just as excited as I was when I first started, and I will do my best to let the work show that again. I hope fans will see that too. Now Marvel has decided to give Diamond distributors the old hee-ho. The company has chosen Penguin Random House to be their new direct market distributor starting this October. Diamond is now in sorry shape, having lost DC Comics last year and now Marvel. In a statement, Marvel said, quote, after thorough analysis of the market environment, Marvel has chosen Penguin Random House Publisher Services as its distributing distribution partner to create a sustainable, productive supply chain and enhanced infrastructure for Marvel publications that will benefit comics retailers and fans alike for years to come. Penguin Random House is known for its state of the art multi-ranging services that enable independent booksellers to increase efficiency and profitability. So what will happen to Diamond? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Now let's go on to the Geek News. Hulu has been given an eight-episode order to Koala Man, an animated family comedy about a powerless superhero in an Australian suburb that's being created by and starring Aussie animator Michael Cusack, and exec produced by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Royland and Detective Pikachu co-writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samet. Emmy-winning actress Zendaya has joined the cast of Space Jam, a new legacy as the voice of Lola Bunny. Now Lola was voiced by Kath Sushi in the original movie. The synopsis for the movie reads Quote During a time during a trip to the Warner Brothers studio, NBA star LeBron James and his son accidentally get trapped within a world that contains all of Warner Brothers' stories and characters, under the control of a malfunctioning, all-powerful force named AIG, played by Don Cheadle. With the helps of Bugs Bunny, LeBron must navigate through a never before imagined world filled with iconic movie scenes and characters as they reassemble the Looney Tunes to rescue his lost son. Now to get back home, LeBron and the Tunes have to unravel Al G's AIG's mysterious plan and win an epic basketball game against digital gamified superversions of the NBA and WNBA's biggest stars as the entire world watches. The movie, which stars LeBron James, will arrive in theaters and HBO Max on July 16th. The cult classic Scott Pilgrim vs. the World will be getting a re-release at the end of April with a brand new Dolby Cinema cut. The movie will be reimagined in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and will be shown exclusively at Dolby Cinema Locations. In a statement, filmmaker Edgar Wright said, quote, Scott Pilgrim vs. the world was designed for the big screen and for the best sound systems. To be able to see it with the best specs is obviously any filmmaker's dream. You want people to see it as good at as it could possibly be. I suspect that if you're a fan of the movie, you're going to get such a big kick out of seeing it like this. Comic-Con International has announced that an in-person mini version of San Diego Comic-Con on November 26th to the 28th, which in the US is Thanksgiving weekend. The event has been dubbed Comic-Con Special Edition. Now the normal con will will be converted into a virtual event, and that will take place on July 23rd to the 25th. Now in a statement announcing the event, the organization announced the quote that quote, is our hope that by fall, conditions will permit large public gatherings. Comic-Con Special Edition will be the first in-person convention produced by the organization since Comic-Con 2019, and the first since the onset of the global pandemic, COVID-19. The fall event will allow the organization to highlight all the great elements that make Comic Con such a popular event each year, as well as generate much needed revenue not only for the organization, but also for local businesses and the community. Asterix and Oblix, who, if you remember the last comics book comic edition, were getting their own Netflix series, are now getting their own video game. Asterisk and Oblix Slap Slap The All will be released on the Nintendo Switch, PC PlayStation, and Xbox One, and is being developed by Mr. Nut Studio, and will be done in a hand-drawn style meant to evoke the comics by Rene Goscini and Albert Uderzo. The con the game will be a 2D beat'em up with local clo-op. According to the game publisher's website, publisher players will be quote will quote take on the Region Legion Roman Legionnaires, pirates, brigands, and even the dreaded Normans, unquote. The game is due out this fall. Poet and actor Craig Mums has Craig Mums Grant has passed away at the age of 52. Mums had roles in HBO's Prison Drama Oz and Netflix's Luke Cage. Craig Grant was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. He gained acclaim in the art scene as a poet called Mums de Schemer. Grant and other prominent poets of the 1996 Norwegian Poetry Slam team, Saul Williams, Bo Sia, and Jessica Kerr Moore, became stars of the screen thanks to the documentary Slam Nation, which documented their competition in the 1996 National Poetry Slam. Grant's poetry would make him a major guest star on HBO's Deaf Poetry Jam during its run in the mid-2000s. Poetry would be Grant's most distinguished characteristic during his acting career, often being utilized for the characters he played on screen. After the documentary, Grant became a breakout character in HBO's prison drama Oz, where he played an artistically gifted inmate named Poet, and a role that often showcased his raw spoken-word poetry skills. Like so many in the cast of Oz, Grant went on to have a bigger TV career in the 2000s to 2010 with appearances in Chappelle's show, The Sopranos, Boston Legal, Cold Case, Law and Order SVU, Luke Cage, and the TV adaptation of Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It. He also had minor film roles in films like Bringing Out the Dead, Side Effects, and Birdman. Children's author Beverly Cleary passed away. Beverly is known for such children's books as Henry Huggins, Bezus and Ramona, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Ramona of the Pest, Ralphus Mouse, and many, many more. Born Beverly at Lee Bunn on April 20th, 1916, she grew up to become a children's librarian where she empathized with her patrons who had difficulty finding characters they could identify with. So she started writing and in 1950 published her first book, Henry Huggins. Like many of her lair works, Huggins was about an ordinary kid living an extra an ordinary life, but was also the first appearance of two of her most used characters, Bezus and her sister Ramona. Beverly would go on to write 30 books and two autobiographies. Now in her career, she won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association and was nominated for the Hans Christian Anderson Award and was named Library of Congress Living Legend for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States. She received the National Medal of the Arts in 2003. Beverly Cleary passed away at the age of 104 in Carmel, California. And finally, actress Jessica Walters has passed away. Now she's best known for roles on Arrested Development and Archer. Jessica had a career that spanned five decades. Jessica was born on January 31, 1941, and first acted in a play back in 1958. She would soon go on to television film as well as continuing to act in the theater. She had roles in such films as Play Misty for Me, PCU, and Slums of Beverly Hills, but it was TV where she really shined. She had guest roles on shows like Root 66, Ben Casey, Flipper, The Defenders, The Fugitive, The FBI, It Takes a Thief, Love American Style, Mission Impossible, Man Mannix, Banachek, Barnaby Jones, Columbo, Hawaii 5 0, The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, Quincy MD, The Ten Whole Episodes of Trapper John, MD, Matt Houston, Three of the Crowd, Murder She Wrote, The Pirates of Darkwater, Babylon V, Coach Law and Order, The Magic School Bus, Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, NCIS, Justice League, Action, Harley Quinn, and many, many more. She's best known for her role as Lucille Bluth on the three versions of Arrested Development and the FB and the FX series Archer, where she played Archer's mom and spy chief Mallory Archer. She will be featured in the latest season, season twelve, as the voices are prerecorded before the animation. Show creator and exec producer Adam Reed in a statement said, Quote, The Archer family is heartbroken to lose Jessica Walter, our beloved colleague and friend. Jessica and was a consummate professional, an actor's actor, and the exact opposite of Mallory Garcher, warm, caring, and kind, with an absolutely cracking sense of humor, and it was both a privilege and a true honor to work with her over these many years. She will be greatly missed, but never forgotten. Jessica Walter passed away in her sleep. She was eighty years old. And that brings us to the end of the comic book news. Be sure to check us out on social media. We're at Twitter at multiverse tom or also on Facebook and Instagram as well. And if you'd like to contribute some money, check out the show notes, visit our Tea Public Store, and so much more, please head over to the brand new multiverstonight.com. And if you're a subscriber or follower, please be sure to share us with your friends. And if you're brand new to the show, please be sure to hit that subscriber follow button. And if you'd like, leave us with some feedback, let us know how we're doing. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for the intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Now thanks for watching the comic book edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in just two weeks with a brand new comic book and sci-fi edition. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night. Multiverse Tonight is a production of Half Baked Genre Productions Copyright 2021. Alright.