Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

In addition to the reveals on the Snyder Cut of Justice League,  Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad and The Batman movie and TV show, there were other pieces of news revealed at the DC FanDome on August 22.

The new Flash movie will be a time travel story, according to director Andy Muschetti. The Flash’s new suit will be designed for him by Bruce Wayne – although it wasn’t revealed if this will be the Ben Affleck version or Michael Keaton’s. Both will appear in the film in “substantial” roles.

Dwayne Johnson confirmed that the Black Adam movie will feature Hawkman, Dr Fate, Cyclone and Atom Smasher. The origin story was provided by Johnson in a voiceover: “5,000 years ago, Kahndaq was a melting pot of magic and powers. Most of us had nothing except the chains around our necks. Kahndaq needed a hero; instead they got me. I did what needed to be done…and they imprisoned me for it. Now, 5000 years later, I’m free. And I give you my word…no one will ever stop me again.”

Static Shock will be returning, with a movie in development, Phil LaMarr, who voiced the lead character Virgil for the animated series, noted,” Virgil is what I always wanted as a comic book kid growing up: Black Spider-Man. A good (comic-book) story can make you live it, feel it, and when it does, it resonates on a whole other level. It was so real world, and a textured story removed from the 1930s ‘We are exhibiting the world’. I felt like it was drawn by somebody who lived in a building I could go into. It touched on archetypes as a comic fan that I loved, but also touched on my life as a Black man in the real world.”

The Shazam! sequel will be entitled Fury of the Gods, but few other details were revealed. Zachary Levi will be returning as the superhero with  Asher Angel, Meagan Good, Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman abd Adam Brody. David F. Sandberg will be directing.

Future crossovers between the TV and movie DC universes are possible, but with the pandemic affecting production across the board, it’s not likely to be in the immediate future, Greg Berlanti warned. “In terms of what our next crossover event will be next year, I think truly because of COVID right now and the pandemic, our aspirations aren’t quite as large… We’d just like to start shooting again.”

“It became this really weird situation where the fans love the characters, they just want to see the characters,” Warner Bros. Pictures President of DC Based films Walter Hamada explained. “This sort of opens the door for us to do more crossovers, to really lean into this idea of [the multiverse] and acknowledge the fact there can be a Flash on TV and one in the movies, and you don’t have to pick one or the other, and they both exist in this multiverse. I do think moving forward there are more opportunities to do things like this.”

The DC multiverse will continue, with Jim Lee noting, “You see this endless spectrum of character you can create so this allows us to create different versions and lean upon that canon as we change up the mythology to better reflect the true diversity that our audience wants and lives in.”