We Are Vengeance! We Are The Knights! - A DC Fandome Special | RPC | Renegade Pop Culture - Podcasts on Animation, Movies, and Video games

Welcome to our DC Fandome Special on the Renegade Pop Culture Podcast Network! After a day-long event featuring Warner Media and DC Comics’ best and brightest, Neoplasmic (Keona), Organoid Zero (Brock), The Captain (Mike), Kay-Rah (Kristal), and The Director (Josh) had a fantastic time discussing the announcements, reveals, panels, and trailers we saw on the show. We have a ton of stuff to cover, so let’s go!

First up, we had Wonder Woman 84’s new trailer and the panel featuring Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, and Kristen Wiig, with a special appearance by Lynda Carter, the OG live action version of the character. Gadot continues to be majestic as Diana, and the trailer shows off her power and dignity, while Pine, Pascal, and especially Wiig look fantastic in the movie! I cannot wait for this one, as an unabashed fan of the first film.

Kristen Wiig stylin’ it up as Cheetah, Wonder Woman’s adversary.

Later, there was a fun little panel featuring the cast and crew of the Flash movie, along with some great Flash Facts courtesy of star Ezra Miller! Andy Muschietti seems very passionate about his take on the character, while writer Christina Hodson is obviously having a ton of fun playing in the DC sandbox. Add to that the fact that Ben Affleck is returning to the role of Batman in the movie, along with Michael freakin’ Keaton’s upcoming appearance as his version of the Dark Knight in the movie, and you have a recipe for excitement.

Prior to the Flash panel, and I know we’re going out of order, but bear with me, came the absolutely joyous Suicide Squad chat featuring director James Gunn and an enormous cast! We’re talkin’ Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Margot Robbie, Nathan Fillion, Michael Rooker, Idris Elba, Pete Davidson, Alice Braga, Mayling Ng, Peter Capaldi, Sean Gunn, and John Cena, among others! It was so cool to see the original cast members return for the sequel, especially as someone who actually has a soft spot for the first movie. The stylish character and cast reveal trailer, as well as the behind the scenes featurette, looked so cool and exuded a grittiness that brought to mind John Ostrander’s legendary run on the comic book, as well as ‘70s war movies! I’m so glad they’re not doing away with the crazy and colorful costume designs and advertising aesthetic that they established in David Ayer’s film. Gunn isn’t disavowing the existence of Ayer’s movie, which is something I’m a huge proponent of when it comes to sequels. Even if something isn’t well-received, it shouldn’t be thrown in a garbage pile. Use it, change it, make it matter, which is what Gunn is doing here. And good golly, Margot Robbie! I have never seen a more cinematically and visually perfect version of Harley Quinn than I did in this preview of The Suicide Squad. Her red and black costume looks incredible! Cannot. Frakkin’. Wait. I need this damn movie right frakkin’ yesterday!

To quote a certain Jack Napier… “Nice outfit.”

Later on, we also witnessed some concept art featuring the origins of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Black Adam, who may be facing off against Henry Cavill’s Superman in the near future… but who will definitely take on the Justice Society of America in his solo film. The Rock looks jacked as ever and just can’t seem to contain his enthusiasm for Teth-Adam’s character, and the art by Jim Lee and Bosslogic looked fantastic! So good to see him finally have the chance to bring this character to life!

All we have to do… is kneel before Black Adam.

Next, DC Fandome gave us the first details of David F. Sandberg’s SHAZAM sequel, which we now know is entitled Fury of the Gods. A cute little panel discussion featuring cast members Zachary Levi, Meagan Good, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Faithe Herman, and Sandberg himself. Oh, and apparently the film features Sinbad, who made a special surprise appearance here. I mean, hey, it’s SINBAD! Who’d’a thunk it? Also, he called Zachary Levi “John Krasinski,” which tickled me a bit. A lotta bit. I chortled.

Of course, we saw the much-anticipated first teaser trailer of Zack Snyder’s Director’s Cut of the Justice League movie, which was hugely different from Joss Whedon’s theatrical version. The movie featured some familiar elements but seemed like a radical departure in theme and tone from Whedon’s theatrical version. An appearance by Darkseid and his henchman Desaad, as well as expanded roles for Cyborg and Superman himself, along with much improved character design and CGI effects, indicated that the film seemed much improved. It was also neat to see Zack Snyder interact with some of the fans who were instrumental in supporting the director’s cut of the film and seeing it come to fruition during his panel. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t part of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, but given the circumstances surrounding Snyder’s exit from the project and the ultimate mishandling of the film and the DCEU at large, I think it’s great that Snyder gets to finish and release the culmination of his version of these iconic characters.

Sidebar: Also, Ray Fisher should be commended for bringing accountability to the fore regarding the alleged behavior of Whedon and the former heads of DC’s film division. Even though we likely won’t know everything that happened, an investigation should take place (and it is) and any wrongdoing should be addressed. I loved Whedon’s work in the past, but he has exhibited questionable behavior before (just ask actress Charisma Carpenter), and if he did do anything improper, he should be held accountable and hopefully learn from his mistakes.

Afterward, there was possibly an even bigger surprise at Fandome, which saw the debut of Matt Reeves’ incarnation of The Batman. After hearing Reeves discuss the character with the awesome Aisha Tyler, who was hosting the segment, I was ready to jump on board with him. That’s a big turnaround, considering my initial reticence regarding this movie. Within minutes of witnessing the first teaser footage at the show, I was hooked! Not only did the costume look great on Robert Pattinson, but his demeanor, persona, and screen presence definitely screamed Bruce Wayne to me. And that beatdown he delivered to a Joker-esque thug in the streets of Gotham blew me away. As someone who wasn’t completely thrilled with Pattinson’s casting at first, I was impressed! Definitely need to see this film! And I absolutely need to see more of Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman, as well as the borderline unrecognizable Colin Farrell as the Penguin!

The Suicide Squad who’s going to kill the Justice League.

Oh, but that wasn’t all at Fandome! On top of some hilarious interstitials featuring a savage animated Harley Quinn (who had the best one-liners and dirty jokes, which you know I love) and Batman Beyond (featuring Terry McGinnis and old man Bruce roasting Batman ‘66), we also saw the debut of a couple of new WB Games during the event. Gotham Knights features the crime-fighting team of Robin (Tim Drake), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Red Hood (Jason Todd), and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), who join forces to watch over Gotham City in Batman’s absence. The game is a solo or co-op experience, combining Arkham series-style action elements with RPG character progression, and it’s developed by WB Games Montreal, who also worked on Batman: Arkham Origins back in the day. They brought a video of Knights’ gameplay, which featured Babs and the Boy Wonder fighting thugs and traversing the frozen cityscape. They also revealed a good amount of the game’s visual style, gameplay mechanics, and game engine, as well as a major boss battle against a badass-looking Mr. Freeze. What isn’t clear is whether or not WB Games intends this to be a live service or an actual single player/co-op experience. The RPG progression seems to indicate the former, but we haven’t received official word as of yet. Time will tell, but I’m so hyped for this game! Even though it does not take place in the same universe as the Arkham games, it seems WB Montreal is really taking their lessons learned during Arkham Origins’ development and applying them here. Cannot wait to play as Babs, baby!

The second game revealed at the show was Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League, which was shown in cinematic trailer form. The game is obviously too early for a gameplay reveal, but Rocksteady’s studio head, Sefton Hill, did appear to answer fan questions and talk about the studio’s mindset in creating the game. While the CG trailer featured some impressive character designs and gameplay concepts, I will say that something about it left me feeling a little cold. I don’t know if it was the music, or the voice acting and dialogue, or the art style, but I felt like it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before. That being said, Rocksteady is a fantastic developer, and I have hope that the game will turn out well. I just didn’t really like this segment of the Fandome show, particularly the “humorous” bits with the cast of the game and actor Will Arnett. Not that he isn’t funny, but this part of the show was very tiresome and seemed to run a little too long.

Aside from the big stuff, we also had a panel on the international voice actors who dub Batman in non-english-speaking markets, which was extremely interesting and cool to see! The way these actors have to embody the character takes a lot of skill and talent, and I was so happy to see them get some recognition during this event. We also had the BAWSE Women of the DC Universe panel, which featured a diverse group of actresses, including Candice Patton, Nafessa Williams, Anna Diop, Chantal Thuy, Javinia Leslie, Meagan Good, Tala Ashe, and Damaris Lewis. All of these amazing women portray some of the strongest female characters in film and television, and they shared their inspirations and unique stories to tell about their experiences as actors and artists. So excited to hear that Leslie, our new television Batwoman, was inspired by the legendary Eartha Kitt. All of them are so talented and strong, and I’m very impressed by these women. Can’t wait to see where their careers take them!

Comics-wise, Neil Gaiman discussed his time writing Vertigo’s seminal Sandman series with Tiffany Smith (formerly of the DC Daily show), and G. Willow Wilson chatted with Smith about her current sequel series, The Dreaming. Gaiman also nonchalantly mentioned an update about the Netflix adaptation of Sandman, which is truly awesome. And I have a ton of Sandman to catch up on, so I’d better get crackin’!

Additionally, DC Publisher and legendary artist Jim Lee hosted a few panels discussing fan art portfolios, as well as an intriguing chat with Arrow/Flash/Supergirl/Black Lightning/Legends of Tomorrow/Stargirl/Doom Patrol/Superman & Lois super-producer Greg Berlanti and DC film executive Walter Hamada about the DC Multiverse in comics, film, and TV. Yes, you read that right, the DCU Multiverse is officially a thing! This definitely opens up the floodgates of possibilities for different takes on some iconic characters, much like the recent Joker film and Matt Reeves’ take on Batman. Exciting news, for sure!

February 2021 will also see the extremely timely resurrection of Milestone Media, as panel host Marc Bernardin, actor Phil LaMarr, and comics creators Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan, and Jim Lee announced during their DC Fandome panel! They also shared a piece of key art by Milestone co-founder Cowan himself, and Hudlin said that they’re moving forward on a Static Shock movie, which is just cool to hear! The comics line will be revived, of course, with hopefully all of the original material collected in trade paperback form. All of this is amazing news and I’m sure that somewhere out there, beyond time and space, the great Dwayne McDuffie is smiling upon us. I only wish he were still here to see his creations come to fruition once again.

Overall, the DC Fandome event was an exceptionally well-run and info-packed online experience! The movie and video game announcements may have been the (no pun intended) flashiest part of the event and may have garnered the most coverage, but it was great to see Jim Lee front and center as the Publisher and face of the company, especially with his comic book clout and experience guiding the company into a new era. It was also neat to see Walter Hamada engage with the fandom, and to see his enthusiasm and candor was a lot of fun! While it is extremely sad and shameful that so many people at Warner Media, WB, and DC lost their jobs over the past few weeks, it heartens me to see that the company is still going strong, and I hope with all my heart that their former employees received a great amount of severance pay and benefits for their hard work.

Aww, the feels. Clark and his two most precious women, Lois and Martha.

Would I have liked to see more comic book news and more tidbits about my personal favorite characters, like former Batgirls Stephanie Brown/Spoiler and Cassandra Cain/Orphan? Of course! If WB Montreal somehow puts them in the Gotham Knights as DLC, I’d be so down for that! If they put them in their own games, I’d totally play that! However, what we did get in the event covered the big movies, TV, and gaming stuff, but also spared time for Sandman, the Milestone revival, and the Multiverse chat, and that’s way more than I asked for.

Marvel may have started the shared film universe concept in the MCU and put some of their lesser known characters to the forefront, which is excellent for them. As a lifelong fan of both Marvel and DC, I have to say that the fact that DC now has a chance to do the same, and is doing so, is music to my ears. Hope we get to see a response from the House of Ideas and Kevin Feige! What a time to be a comic book fan!