Here you will find all of BOF’s coverage of DC FanDome 2020. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
UPDATE #12 (11:30 PM CT): BOF’s recap of DC FanDome 2020…
Wonder Woman 1984, the next big DC Comics movie, started the day off strong with the opening panel! Lynda Carter even dropped by to offer her support, sharing a personal story about how Jenkins and Gadot’s torch-bearing affected her daughter. It was sweet to hear that Gal calls Lynda “Mama Bear.” You can feel the affection between the two and the embracement of the legacy they share. The cosplay and fan art segment was fantastic, setting the stage for the reveal of the second trailer! Cheetah looks amazing and you can see that the characterization, personal drama, and heart are all back again.
Zach Levi was up next, introing the next Batman game — GOTHAM KNIGHTS! Brace yourself-Bruce is dead and the Bat-Family-Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin are being hunted by the Court of Owls! We learned there is co-op play, the Belfry is an important location, Mr. Freeze is one of the villains you’ll face, and there is a mystery bigger than the Court of Owls! I’m ready to buy!
Neil Gaiman followed, talking Sandman!m Willow Wilson, Dirk Mags, and Michael Sheen joined the conversation, hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown. The Netflix show gets brought up, mentioning that they’re using the break to make the scripts as perfect as possible.
A quick aside to new Batwoman, Javicia Leslie, followed, with a question as to how she will relate to the established characters. We need to see more of her!
The Multiverse 101 panel was next. Tiffany Smith moderated a panel featuring Jim Lee, Walter Hamada, and Greg Berlanti. Aspirations for next season’s Crisis aren’t quite as large, especially post-COVID. The Ezra Miller cameo in CRISIS was last minute, but they knew how meaningful it would be. Ezra becomes The Flash due to Grant and there was a lot of improv on set. They acknowledge the separation of film, TV, and comics and how they feel they can use it differently now. Hearing that really got me excited for the future! Oh, and when they talked about a separate Earth from what they’ve established in MoS they showed The Batman camera footage! Reeves can build out his Gotham and explore it on HBO Max! It WON’T impact Aquaman 2. There also has to be a reason for them to explore these versions across the Multiverse. It sounds like Berlanti was a big proponent for these different iterations coexisting in live-action.
Flash time!!!! Ezra Miller is joined by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Christina Hodson. Muschietti’s It Easter eggs are pointed out, lots of Flash Facts are given, and the Multiverse is going to be born from this movie!
Beyond Batman is a fun short of Batman Beyond viewing a different Earth-one where Adam West is Batman! The Joker’s mustache is…mesmerizing.
“Some kind of Suicide Squad” panel takes the virtual stage next. Sorry, this is THE Suicide Squad. Jake from State Farm asked a question, which raised an eyebrow. Good to hear that Gunn talked to Ostrander and that Gunn looked at the movie as a sequel to Ostrander’s comics. Also, is Bat-Mite actually in The Suicide Squad? We finally get a “who is who” in the Squad! The cast all join Gunn and they have a rowdy camaraderie that I can’t wait to see on the silver screen!
Patty Jenkins was joined for a discussion with Venus Williams about all things Wonder Woman and her influence on not just them, but fashion and the world at large. I had no idea Venus was a fan! She even has an activewear brand, Eleven, that draws inspiration from Wonder Woman!
The Females of Color panel, hosted by DJ D-Nice, was a great way to shine a spotlight on the fantastic actresses that bring so many DC characters to life. Meagan Good, Javicia Leslie, Candice Patton, Tala Ashe, Nafessa Williams, Chantal Thuy, Anna Diop, and Damaris Lewis talk about the adversity they’ve faced, the encouragement they’ve received, and how important representation is. It was phenomenal to hear them all speak, especially Candice Patton, who as Iris West on The Flash, has been leading the way for those who come after.
Legacy of The Bat saw the return of Jim Lee to the stage. He was joined by Caroline Dries, Patrick Redding, John Ridley, and Brenton Thwaites. Javicia Leslie was brought on mid-panel, talking about how monumental it was for her, to be the first Black Batwoman. Dries expounded on that and what it means for the legacy. John Ridley will be working on Batman, joined by Nick Derrington, starting in January of 2021. Batman will be a person of color as he dives into the Fox family. Jake from State Farm returned to ask a question on behalf of a fan. Lee said Adams was an inspiration for his Batman, along with Frank Miller. Unfortunately, no Batwoman suit reveal, although she features on Lee’s FanDome art.
Lucius Fox is coming to Pennyworth, season 2.
Chris Daughtry sang a song inspired by Man of Steel, “Waiting for Superman”. I love his wall of Batman art! It’s been a very Batman-centric day in my mind, so it was nice to get some love for the Man of Steel.
Joker’s 80th anniversary got a quick spotlight before Jim Lee gives some art tips to an up and coming artist.
Marc Bernardin led the surprise Milestone panel with Reggie Hudlin, Jim Lee, Denys Cowan, and Phil LeMarr. I loved hearing all the stories and smiled fondly when LeMarr talked about Wizard and how important Static is. Oh, and Static is coming back to comics!
Joivan Wade, Doom Patrol’s Cyborg, spoke a moment about mental health and how it pertains to Vic.
Batman is back on the stage for “I’m Batman: The Voices Behind the Cowl”! Will Arnett kicked things off, introducing various actors from around the world, who dub the Dark Knight for global audiences. Having seen these movies countless times over the decades, it was certainly trippy hearing different interpretations! I was curious about how many of them have played Batman in different media or projects. Can you imagine if Kevin Conroy dubbed every Batman performance, be it animation, games, or live-action?
Now the flagship show of the Arrowverse, The Flash TV cast share their thoughts on the show. A black and white version of the episode “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach” will be on the box set that drops in August. The 20th episode of season 6, which got shut down mid-production due to the pandemic, will be repurposed for the premiere of season 7.
Another long-awaited moment-the Black Adam panel-obviously had Dwayne Johnson share his love for the iconic DC villain, showing off a logo and art. Noah Centineo joins the star briefly, and they talk some Atom Smasher. The Rock reveals that Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher will be the Justice Society in the film during another concept art voice-over trailer. The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change…
Kevin Conroy returns for another animated short, this time teaming him up with Diedrich Bader, Troy Baker, and Will Friedle for what the various Batmen are doing during month six of the pandemic.
Titans, go…to the next virtual panel! The cast dropped their thoughts during a “best of” clip show segment, but the villain for season 3 was revealed-Red Hood is coming to the show! We’ll also see Scarecrow and Commissioner Barbara Gordon!
The Aquaman panel was ready to rock with James Wan and Patrick Wilson. They chatted it up with each other, but no big reveals that I caught. They’re excited to explore more of the oceans.
DC Universe’s Harley Quinn got her own brief Q&A. Her favorite Robin is Red Robin! Go, Tim!
Next year is Wonder Woman’s 80th anniversary, so Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, and Lynda Carter have an all too brief panel to celebrate and reveal the logo we will hopefully see everywhere in 2021.
Jim Lee is back again, with the Gold House feature, showcasing Asian artists and writers. The importance of diversity was again highlighted, with mention of John Ridley’s Batman series being four issues. This segued into how he designed the art for FanDome.
Shazam! Zachary Levi also makes his return for the Shazam 2 panel, bringing along his big-screen family to tease the mystery of their upcoming sequel-Shazam: Fury of The Gods!
Wonder Woman 1984 time again as the cast play Werewolf 1984 with Rooster Teeth. There were a lot of people talking over each other here and I was a bit lost following this game.
Speaking of games, Rock Steady is back with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League! Will Arnett hosted the panel, introducing the trailer and characters. It looks fantastic, especially as it’s for next-gen systems and continues the Arkham Universe they’ve built. 1-4 character co-op and you play as who you want to from the cast. Looks like a blast! That ending for the trailer…whoa.
Finally, main event. The Batman. I’ll let you read Bill’s write-up, but I am in awe of the tone Reeves has established in his preview. There have been some classic takes of Batman on the big screen, but Reeves has somehow managed to find a unique take that rings true to the essence of The Dark Knight. And you just know that one scene was included to silence the naysayers that Edward of Twilight couldn’t be Batman.
It’s a different world that we’re currently in, but DC FanDome managed to pull off a fun con-at-home experience that captured the flavor of being there-and there’s still another day to go next month! I had an exciting afternoon immersing myself in the DCU from the comfort of home and can’t wait for what the future has in store! To the Batmobile! – Javier E. Trujillo
UPDATE #11 (7:30 PM CT): The Batman is coming!
UPDATE #10 (6:35 PM CT): BOF’s recap of the “Multiverse 101” panel…
The first day of DC FanDome has primarily been about the upcoming slate of films being released in the near future.
BUT…
Stuck in the middle of the movie madness was a nice panel discussion between the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, Jim Lee, President of DC Films, Walter Hamada, and Executive TV Producer Greg Berlanti about the beginnings of the Multiverse and what it will entail going forward.
The idea for the multiverse really began in The CW Arrowverse’s with the success of The Flash. When the show was able to portray the character’s abilities within the speed force, Lee began to ponder how this could work within the framework of the DC Universe as well. Armed with the knowledge that the “Crisis of Infinite Earths” crossover was happening in the Arrowverse, Lee proposed the idea to Berlanti and Hamada about using Ezra Miller’s Flash in the event. This was the seminal moment in the creation of the DC Multiverse.
The most revealing thing to come from the panel discussion was Hamada’s admission that all of the DC Film properties exist in different timelines. While there is a way they could eventually cross paths there is no plan for that to happen in the immediate future. So the idea of Robert Pattinson’s Batman and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker meeting up in a movie is probably nothing more than fan fantasy. However, if 2020 is any indication of things to come who knows what they’ll decide to do. – Eric Holzmann
UPDATE #9 (6:25 PM CT): BOF’s THE SUICIDE SQUAD panel recap…
The next big DC live-action film at DC FanDome to follow WONDER WOMAN 1984, was the highly anticipated, and rather quiet, THE SUICIDE SQUAD.
The panel kicked off with writer/director James Gunn gushing about his experience making the film, and how it’s “the most fun” he’s had on a movie. Obviously, nobody is going to come on and say anything negative about a film in pre/post-production, but Gunn seemed very genuine here, making it easy to believe he’s loving this DC experience.
He followed up his intro with a few questions from fans (including Jake from State Farm!). Here are a few quick blurbs that I find beneficial toward knowing about the film:
*The first time he read SUICIDE SQUAD comics was John Ostrander’s very first issue. He loved all of the characters.
*Gunn was most excited to write Harley Quinn.
*He can’t confirm the number of crashes and explosions, but it’s the most he’s ever had in a movie.
*Ostrander inspired his take on the movie. He welcomed the talent to the set and told him this was a sequel to that original comic book run and that the movie has the spirit and blood of those stories.
*Gunn’s favorite growing up was Batman (YEAH!) and his favorite villain was Bat-Mite (HAHA!), and he seriously thought about putting him (Bat-Mite) in the movie.
The panel continued with a quick video (scroll down to see it), that showed us which actor will be playing which DC character, then brought in that cast.
Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) and Joel Kinnamen (Rick Flagg) chose their own squad and answered trivia questions from Gunn. These were some deep pulls for even comic readers, so it was fun to see that the cast did their research.
Finally, as many of us had been waiting for, we saw a fun behind the scenes video that showed a lot of footage that looked great. Gunn followed the video saying he is so happy with the movie thus far, the studio is overwhelmingly happy and he can’t wait for us to see it.
Overall, this was a great panel for DC FanDome. We got to hear a lot of information on a movie that has been under the radar during its filming. On top of that, we got to see and hear from the cast, who genuinely had a blast bonding with each other.
It was a lovely blend of chaos and fun. In other words, THE SUICIDE SQUAD. – Ryan Lower
UPDATE #8 (6:00 PM CT): WB released the logo/poster for BLACK ADAM. And I CAN NOT WAIT to see the Justice Society! – Bill “Jett” Ramey
UPDATE #7 (4:36 PM CT): GOTHAM KNIGHTS video game panel recap…
And we didn’t just get the name of the game, we got what might just have been one of the best initial reveals of a modern AAA video game ever.
An initial extended cutscene/trailer was shown that sets the stage (scroll down to see it): Bruce Wayne is dead and he’s left the Batfamily (Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, and YES — Tim Drake’s Robin) to pick up the pieces, protect Gotham City, and uncover a deep mystery that involves The Court of Owls.
When games like this get announced, that is about all you can expect — but the panel didn’t stop there! Immediately following that trailer, an extended gameplay video was shown to demonstrate what the game looks like in action.
Here are the big-ticket items: the game has some Arkhamverse-ish gameplay elements, but due to the nature of the team-based structure, it will be playable either solo or two-players online. In addition to mission-based gameplay, the game features a Gotham City that can be traversed on foot as well as Batcycle (here’s looking at you PSOne BATMAN & ROBIN)! And finally, in a move that will make a wide variety of gamers happy, the game is scheduled for release in 2021 for the next-gen consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X, & PC) AND the current-gen consoles (PS4 and Xbox One)!
Personally, I thought the game looked incredible and for someone who’s a HUGE fan of the Batfamily characters, it’s seemingly a dream come true to have something that takes cues from James Tynion IV’s Gotham Knights comic book arc and transforms it into a new thing for the gaming world.
And make no mistake — Gotham Knights is a completely new thing. WB Montreal has already confirmed that this game is not connected to Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse, despite some early story-based connections. At the end of the day, though, this should allow WB Montreal the freedom to make Gotham Knights something incredibly special. – Ryan Hoss
UPDATE #6 (4:19 PM CT): WONDER WOMAN 1984 recap…
It was Jenkins herself who opened the panel by discussing the film’s first trailer that she debuted in Brazil over 8 months ago. Jenkins was then (remotely) joined by stars Chris Pine, Kristin Wiig, Pedro Pascal, and, of course, the one and only Gal Gadot.
Jenkins, Gadot, and the rest of the cast spent some time answering fan questions, including a surprise celebrity question from tennis superstar (and DC fanatic) Venus Williams! Here are the highlights:
• Jenkins shot the movie with the intention of it looking incredible at the cinema and still believes that a theatrical release is in the film’s best interest.
• 1980’s fashion plays a big role in the movie, from power suits to fanny packs to over-sized eyeglasses.
• The cast genuinely seems to have made strong friendships and would spend time with one another after filming had wrapped for the day, leaving Jenkins still at work and jealous.
• Kristin Wiig greatly overestimates Cheetah’s tennis skills.
• The scope of the production is huge with Pine recounting a major scene in Washington DC shutting down city blocks to create their world.
Following the fan question section, the cast was joined by another Wonder Woman legend, Lynda Carter! Carter, who seems to have found the fountain of eternal youth, shared comments from her time portraying Diana, her hope to meet Wiig in person sometime soon, and how the first Wonder Woman film helped her realize exactly why fans across the globe are in love with the character.
The panel wrapped up with the debut of the film’s second trailer — which you can watch HERE or just scroll down a bit!
• We are getting to see Diana as a child again.
• Max Lord seems to be a tech/communications giant ahead of his time along with his wish-fulfillment powers.
• Cheetah is born out of hurt, jealousy, and low self-esteem.
• There is a lot of lasso work in this flick, much more and more dynamic than what we’ve seen before.
• Cheetah looks much better than I was expecting.
• While I wasn’t hyped for Steve Trevor to return, having the role reversal with him playing the fish out of water and getting dressed up by Diana this time around looks really fun.
This has all the makings of a blockbuster and a step beyond the original. I can’t wait to check it out! – Garret Grev
UPDATE #5 (3:03 PM CT): THE FLASH panel recap…
The Flash panel at DC FanDome went by in a, well, flash.
Ezra Miller was joined by director Andy Muschietti, producer Barbara Muschietti, and screenwriter Christina Hodson for a snappy look at their upcoming film.
This is as real as this movie has felt — in regards to actually happening — in a long, long time. The group had great banter and a sense of playfulness, something that I hope comes through in the finished product. Flash should be fun and hopeful, even with this retconned tragedy added to Barry’s backstory.
Miller dropped “Flash Facts” throughout the panel, but of course, the big moment was the reveal of concept art from the film! Flash’s new suit looks to be an improvement over the past iteration, becoming more organic and making the cowl wings more pronounced.
While the panel didn’t touch on the dual casting of Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck, they did hint that this movie will open up the DC cinematic Multiverse for the future.
The Flash is my favorite DC character that’s not Batman, so to see them teaming up “Brave and The Bold” style on the big screen is something I dreamed about as a kid. The fact that we get to see Keaton again makes it that much sweeter! This movie can’t come out fast enough and it’s sure to electrify fans! – Javier E. Trujillo
UPDATE #4 (2:40 PM CT): Warner Bros. has sent over the “Character Reveal” video for director James Gunn’s THE SUICIDE SQUAD — and it ain’t no sequel!
UPDATE #3 (2:11 PM CT): During THE FLASH panel, director Andrés Muschietti revealed some concept art and basically confirms Michael Keaton will be in the film as Batman!
UPDATE #2 (1:22 PM CT): The new video game from WB Montreal is called GOTHAM KNIGHTS and it seems like it picks up the story after the events of BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT. Check it out below. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
UPDATE #1 (12:39 PM CT): Warner Bros. has sent BOF the new trailer for WONDER WOMAN 1984. Check it out below! – Bill “Jett” Ramey
