Black Lightning Scoop: Khalil Payne’s DC Comics Inspiration Revealed
We might not be seeing Jennifer Pierce and Khalil Payne rekindling their love on The CW’s Black Lightning any time soon.
But… we’ve at least gotten confirmation that the character of Khalil is inspired by an actual villain from the Black Lightning comic book.
According to the description on official promotional photos released by The CW, Khalil, played by Jordan Calloway, is the television version of Painkiller, a short-lived supervillain created in the ’90s who had the ability to anesthetize his opponents.
Painkiller debuted in Black Lightning Vol 2 #2 (1995) and was created by Tony Isabella and Eddie Newell. In the comics, he has the metahuman ability to anesthetize his targets or dull their senses. He has great strength and fighting abilities. He also has dreadlocks with knives on the tips that he uses as weapons.
Black Lightning airs its season finale this Tuesday at 9pm ET on The CW.
Jason Momoa Shares Aquaman Set Photo
Aquaman Is the next DCEU movie to come out later this year and we haven’t gotten any footage from the movie yet. However, we have seen some photos in the past from the set and official photos. Jason Momoa took to his Instagram to share a set photo for Aquaman that they are doing reshoots of after a test screening in February.
Check out the post below and make sure to scroll to the second photo for the Aquaman set photo:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhZdHsNnnxf/
Aquaman will be released in theatres on December 21st, 2018.
Source: Instagram & Batman-News.com
First Look at Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire From Titans Set
While Titans is still filming in Toronto right now, we haven’t seen any footage from the series. However, we do now have our first looks at Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire. Although these are not official photos, these set photos do offer a great look at how the characters will look in Titans.
You can check out the photos down below:
Titans will debut later this year on DC’s upcoming streaming video service.
Source: Facebook & Batman-News.com
Colton Hayes Will Be Returning To Arrow Season 7
It’s time to suit back up! Colton Hayes will be returning to Arrow for Season 7. Even after the two-episode arc in Season 6 felt like a goodbye arc, Hayes will be returning as a series regular for Season 7.
“We’re very fortunate and excited to welcome back Colton to Arrow,” the Arrow executive producers said in a statement. “While we’ve always enjoyed Colton’s returns to the show, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him return as a proper series regular and we’re very excited about all the creative opportunities Roy Harper’s return affords us.”
Colton Hayes said, “I could not be happier to return to my role as Roy Harper alongside my Arrow family.”
Arrow airs Thursdays at 9 pm, on The CW.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
Review: Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay
Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay is the latest DCAU movie to come out and you can bet that it looks like one hell of a ride. Does the movie live up to the hype? Or should it just be terminated?
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV7_tOeOf7Q[/embedyt]
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
What makes this movie different from the rest is that it is a 100% brand new story. Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay doesn’t base itself on any previous Suicide Squad arc or comic. It goes to show that DC Animation can craft their own stories and they can be entertaining as hell.
Another thing I want to address is that this is an R-rated movie. While you may be thinking that it doesn’t hold much significance, DC has been giving most of their Animated Movies R ratings nowadays. While most of them don’t really feel like an R, this one is the first true DC Animated movie that actually earns its R rating. There is plenty of blood, violence, partial nudity and swearing that it makes it entertaining and not safe for kids.
The story follows the Suicide Squad as they go out on a mission to find a literal “Get out of Hell” card. Amanda Waller (Vanessa Williams), wants this mystical card so she can use it on herself, either today or maybe a couple of years down the line. This mission sees the squad go on a road trip in an RV (To keep things lowkey), to track down Maxum Steel (Greg Grunberg), who is a previous host for Doctor Fate. Steel lost the card after it was stolen from him by two women who he was looking to score with. These ladies were Scandal Savage (Dania Ramirez), and Knockout (Cissy Jones). Scandal wants to give the card to her Dad, Vandal Savage (Jim Pirri), so he can use it to finally die and go to heaven. Halfway through the mission, Waller calls up Deadshot (Christian Slader), and she tells him that if he can deliver the card to her personally, she will let him walk a free man. This doesn’t go as planned because we learn that Eobard Thawne (C. Thomas Howell), who we last saw got shot in the head in the Flashpoint Paradox, is somehow alive and he is also after the card. Thawne is barely still alive and is running on borrowed time (Sorry, not sorry). This all leads to a battle at the end in Vandal’s HQ where we see that Vandal used Professor Pyg (James Urbaniak), to surgically put the card into him. This guarantees that anyone who tries to take the card from Vandal will kill him and the card will be used up. This leads to a bloody battle with only Deadshot and Captain Boomerang (Liam McIntyre), left standing. Before Waller arrives, Deadshot gives the card to the dying Bronze Tiger (Billy Brown), and is able to let him use the card so he can die in peace. Deadshot gives Waller the card, doesn’t tell her that Tiger used it and he is now a free man, Deadshot is now able to see his daughter for the first time in a long time.
The voice acting in this movie is awesome. Christian Slader voices Deadshot and he does an amazing job. Slader brings his own uniqueness to the character and it helps him stand out from the rest. C. Thomas Howell is amazing as Thawne and I didn’t think he would be in this movie so it’s truly a surprise. Howell voiced Thawne in Flashpoint Paradox as well and he is truly a standout villain in this movie. I also loved Vanessa Williams as Waller. No matter what version I see, I have never heard a bad Waller before and Williams is able to continue this streak. I really do love Amanda Waller as a character in general and she is both fierce and manipulative at the same time. Everyone else did an awesome job in this movie.
One thing I can say about this movie is that it is filled with dark humour and is wildly entertaining. I love how the squad just travels around in an RV and they keep getting into trouble and screwing up. Along the way, we see various people get shot, frozen, taken over by mind control and also have their explosives go off.
This movie doesn’t hold back when it comes to the main characters. By the end of the movie, half of the cast is dead. The only ones left standing are Deadshot, Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang. While this isn’t a bad thing, you think they would keep some of the members alive for future movies but no. It really does show that the writers knew what kind of movie they were writing and that on the Suicide Squad, everyone is replaceable (Except for the three mentioned above, they are the money makers after all).
The Verdict:
Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay is a dark, bloody, entertaining and funny animated movie. I wasn’t expecting to walk away loving this movie so much. The movie isn’t perfect by any means. However, if you are looking for a bloody good time, look no further then Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay. Just don’t try and look for any connections to past stories, you won’t find any here.
8/10
First Look at Animated Death of Superman Movie and Casting
After they announced a 2-part animated Death of Superman and Reign of Supermen at Comic-Con last year. We haven’t gotten any details on it, until today. We have finally got some fresh info on Death of Superman.
The casting for the movie features Jerry O’Connell in his fourth DCAU film as Superman, Jerry’s wife Rebecca Romijn as Lois Lane, and The Office’s Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor. Other cast members include Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern, Christopher Gorham as The Flash, Matt Lanter as Aquaman, Shemar Moore as Cyborg, and Jason O’Mara as Batman.
There were also three images released alongside the casting announcement that you can view down below:
This last one comes from the iTunes extras menu for the sneak peek of Death of Superman from Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay:
The Death of Superman will be out this summer with Reign of the Supermen coming out early next year.
Source: TVInsider & iTunes
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Official Season Finale Synopsis
The Legends of Tomorrow season 3 finale is just around the corner and The CW has released the official synopsis.
The season finale is titled, “The Good, The Bad, and The Cuddly,” a play on the Clint Eastwood Western, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”
But why a Western title?
Well, the episode takes place in the Old West and co-stars Johnathon Schaech as Jonah Hex, a DC Universe antihero who has recurred on Legends at least once per season.
And the” Cuddly?” It’s possible that this could refer to Beebo, the stuffed animal first seen in the episode “Beebo, the God of War.” Beebo dolls later appeared in an episode of The Flash, and last week’s episode of Legends featured someone wearing a pair of Beebo socks. However, no mention has been made of Beebo.
Read the official synopsis below:
The Legends plan to vanquish Mallus but using the totems doesn’t go as planned, forcing Rip (guest star Arthur Darvill) to improvise. The team finds itself regrouping in the Wild West where they run into their old pal Jonah Hex (guest star Johnathon Schaech). Sara (Caity Lotz) leaves Ray (Brandon Routh) in charge of watching Damien Darhk (Neal McDonaugh), while she comes up with a new plan. Meanwhile, Amaya (Maisie Richarson-Sellers) is determined to find a way to use the totems to destroy Mallus.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT. “The Good, The Bad, and The Cuddly” will debut on April 9, after which Supergirl will return to finish out its season starting on April 16 in the same time slot.
Source: Comicbook
First Look at Shazam Logo and Behind The Scenes
SHAZAM! We got our first look at the upcoming movie through set photos which we reported on earlier. Now, We got our first look at the logo for the movie from Entertainment Weekly:
We also got the promise of a live stream today from the set of Shazam by Entertainment Weekly as well.
You can check out the stream down below:
https://www.facebook.com/entertainmentweekly/videos/10156458490544701/
Shazam will be the next film in the DCEU after Aquaman and will be released on April 5, 2019.
If you want more DCEU stuff, check out our Review of Justice League
Source: Entertainment Weekly’s Facebook
REVIEW: Justice League
Today is the day, Justice League finally released on Blu-Ray and it is packed with bonus features! One of the most important being scenes we didn’t see in theatres.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-DM9uBtVI[/embedyt]
Is Justice League worth the watch or is the DCEU dead?
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WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
Before I get into it, I will say that I think that the film is a mess. The fact that it’s only 2 hours long when Batman V Superman gets to be a 3 hour or 2/30 hour movie depending on which version you watch, really hurts this film so much. It gets to the point where you feel like there could have been more done with it if WB would have just given the directors more time to work with.
Anyways, rant over. I’m not gonna go too much into detail with the story because it is kind of simple and I want to get this review out fast so I can go back to working on other reviews.
The movie is about Batman (Ben Affleck), gathering together the Justice League after encountering a Parademon. Batman slowly gathers all six members including Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). Batman brings the league together in order to stop Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), who is gathering the three Motherboxes he needs to create the unity. The unity is what happens when you combine the three Motherboxes together so that they can transform wherever they are into Apokolips. Steppenwolf has already gone to Themyscria and Atlantis for two of the Motherboxes and sets his sights on the third, which is with Cyborg. After the Justice League battles Steppenwolf for the first time and gets their asses kicked, they decided to use the last Motherbox they have to resurrect Superman (Henry Cavil). They succeed in bringing back Superman but he isn’t very happy about it. He fights the team and kicks their asses until Lois Lane (Amy Adams), is able to stop the fight and Superman takes her away back to Kansas. Steppenwolf gets the last Motherbox while the Justice League is distracted by Superman, and combines the three to start the Unity. This leads the Justice League to travel to Russia and stop Steppenwolf from transforming the world. Steppenwolf clearly has the upper hand and when all seems lost, Superman joins the fight and helps the League win and save the day. After they stop Steppenwolf, everyone goes their separate ways and it seems like the world is saved…… until the next invasion.
The acting in this movie is great, Justice League has a well-rounded cast with everyone doing a great job. Even when they had to come back for multiple reshoots, you can tell they are enjoying themselves and no one looks out of place (Except for Steppenwolf, he is bad).
The villain in this movie is just ugly and bad. Steppenwolf is not a good choice for a villain, he is a C-List villain who feels like a cheap version of Darkseid. Just seeing Steppenwolf makes you wish that we got Darkseid instead of the ugly Steppenwolf.
The editing in this movie can also feel very jarring and choppy at times. When you watch the movie, you can tell that some scenes were really cut up to save time and this makes them feel rushed and it really does hurt the film. That is the overall feeling you will have when watching and after the movie is done. WB really did screw things up with Justice League and was so desperate for a hit that they ended up making fools of themselves instead.
Now, let us move on to the special features. Justice League is packed with specials but the biggest one that is a selling point for the movie are the extra scenes that were not shown in theatres. There are 2 scenes, one where Superman goes to his fortress and we get to see his different suits (Including the Black Suit!), and the other one showing Superman going to Alfred. The second clip was shown in the trailers but of course, it didn’t make the cut. These scenes are short and feel like they are tacked on just to sell the movie to fans who want more (Like me). I feel like they should have just put these in the actual film because they are so short and cool that they would have fit right in without taking away too much from the movie itself.
Overall, it’s really hard to recommend this movie. I would still recommend it and out of all the DCEU movies we have gotten, this one is my favourite (Sorry Wonder Woman, you are second). I really do like what we got from the movie and I think that it’s fine on its own. However, for the people who have been burned too many times from the DCEU, I don’t see how this movie will change your mind. I still say to give it a watch but, I’m not gonna force you too.
The Verdict:
Justice League is a mess, it really hurts to say that as a DC fan. However, I have seen the movie enough times now that I feel I can say that but, I do enjoy the movie. The story is simple, the heroes are great, and the CGI is also good. The villain sucks and the runtime also sucks because it feels like there is more to this movie that the studio doesn’t want to give us. With that being said, Justice League is still a fun time and I would still recommend you pick it up if you haven’t seen it or have already watched it. Just don’t go in expecting the best movie in the world because this movie doesn’t reach that league.
7/10
Let’s hope that WB can learn from their mistakes and make the DCEU or just DC movies in general, great again!
Shazam Set Photos Give us Clear Look at Both Hero and Villain
While not much is known as the upcoming Shazam film. Shazam has been filming in Toronto for the past few months and we have gotten some blurry and not so clear photo leaks from the set.
That all changes today because we finally have some better looks at Zachary Levi as Shazam and Mark Strong as Dr Sivana.
You can check out the photos below:
Shazam will be the next film in the DCEU after Aquaman and will be released on April 5, 2019
Source: Facebook