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Friday, February 27, 2015

CW Developing ARROW/FLASH Superteam Spinoff Series


Get ready for The Brave and the Bold.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that The CW is developing a third series based in the shared television worlds of DC Comics series Arrow and The Flash.

Originally hinted at back in January as a possible Atom spinoff series, Arrow and The Flash executive producers Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim are working on a new series that will team Arrow's The Atom/Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and The Canary/Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) with The Flash's Captain Cold/Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) and Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber).

The recent crossover between Arrow and The Flash proved very successful, with additional character crossovers already in the works.  According to the article, the project could go straight to series for next midseason, and three additional DC Comics characters not yet introduced will have important roles in the new series.

The Atom's armored suit made its debut on Arrow two days ago, while The Canary was killed off earlier in the season and replaced by her sister Laurel as Black Canary, but may return somehow.  (Lazarus Pit, presumably?)  It seems unclear how Captain Cold will factor in as a villain paired with heroes, and Professor Stein's connection to Ronnie Raymond as Firestorm could be severed for the spinoff series.

And then there's the question, will Arrow's Felicity Smoak follow Ray Palmer over to the new series?

The Flash returns for new episodes on The CW on Tuesday, March 17th.  Arrow returns for new episodes on Wednesday, March 18th.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

SUPERGIRL Casts David Harewood as Hank Henshaw


He just has to be the Season One Big Bad, right?

The Hollywood Reporter has word that the upcoming CBS series Supergirl has cast David Harewood as DC Comics character Hank Henshaw, better known as the supervillain Cyborg Superman.

According to the article, Henshaw will be "a one-time CIA agent who now runs the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), which tracks extraterrestrial threats on Earth."

The English actor, 49, is probably best known as David Estes on the Showtime series Homeland and as Joshua Naismith in the final David Tennant Doctor Who story "The End of Time." Harewood has also had roles on the television series Selfie, Robin Hood (2006) and Ballykissangel, as well as film roles in The Merchant of Venice (2004) and Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

Created in 1990 by Dan Jurgens, Hank Henshaw first appeared in Adventures of Superman #466 as a DC version of Marvel Comics' Reed Richards as a crew member of the NASA space shuttle Excalibur that was exposed to radiation from a solar flare.  Henshaw's physical body rapidly decayed and expired, but he was able to transfer his consciousness into a LexCorp mainframe and became able to control technology.

During the epic "Death of Superman" storyline, Henshaw returned as an impostor called the Cyborg Superman in an attempt to destroy Superman's reputation.  After being exposed, Henshaw assisted Mongul in destroying Coast City then attempted to launch a nuclear warhead designed to convert Metropolis into an Engine City.

In the current New 52 continuity, Henshaw is once again human and works as a doctor with the Advanced Prosthetic Research Centre as a colleague of Caitlin Fairchild.  A new Cyborg Superman has been revealed to be Supergirl's father Zor-El.

In other Supergirl news, Chyler Leigh has been cast as Alexandra "Alex" Danvers, the "the confident foster sister of Kara.  Fascinated by Kara's powers from a young age, Alex developed a lifelong obsession with science that inspired her to become a doctor."  Arrow and The Flash executive producer Andrew Kreisberg has joined Supergirl as an executive producer and writer.

Supergirl will most likely debut sometime this fall on CBS.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 018: "The Mark of the Rani" is Up!


"How would you like to meet a genius?"
"I thought I already had."

We know, it's been far too long, but my good friend and co-host Jesse Jackson and I are FINALLY back with another episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast! And this time, we reverse the polarity back to the 1985 Colin Baker classic, "The Mark of the Rani"!

Exploring this story from Season 22 of the original series of Doctor Who, Jesse and I discuss things like Jesse's adventures in Manila, the first appearance of Kate O'Mara as The Rani, Jesse's first impressions of the Sixth Doctor, the need for a ticking clock, Peri as the only American companion, Doctor Who's last female director for 22 years, running down the various Masters, the need for Psychic Paper, the Doctor actually following through on a threat, turning humans into trees, the Rani's magic knockout dust, fun with out of control TARDISes and T-rex embryos, Jesse's Reversing of Reverse the Polarity segment, new on the upcoming Series Nine, and more!

And for those who still aren't aware of this yet, we're available on iTunes RIGHT HERE as well as Stitcher RIGHT HERE, so please subscribe and tell your friends about us. If you're looking for direct MP3 downloads, you can find them RIGHT HERE as well. Oh, and don't forget we have an officially official Next Stop Everywhere Facebook page and Twitter account, so be sure to Like and/or Follow us, okay?

Be sure to come on back for our review of the Sylvester McCoy classic, "Remembrance of the Daleks," and look for more of Next Stop Everywhere on iTunes, Libsyn, Stitcher and the Southgate Media Group website!

Monday, February 23, 2015

SUPERGIRL Casts Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant


Presumably, she's not just a cat, but a cougar as well.

The Hollywood Reporter has word that the upcoming CBS series Supergirl has cast Calista Flockhart as DC Comics character Catherine "Cat" Grant.  Flockhart joins Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El/Kara Danvers, Mehcad Brooks as Jimmy Olsen, and Laura Benanti as Supergirl's mother Alura Zor-El.

Cat Grant is described in the article as "the self-made media magnate and founder of CatCo. Cat started her career as a reporter and has built her company into a global powerhouse. Kara works as Cat Grant's assistant."

Greg Berlanti (executive producer of Arrow and The Flash) and Ali Adler wrote the script for the pilot and will executive produce the drama series through Berlanti Productions' Warner Bros. Television-based banner.  Berlanti Productions' head Sarah Schechter will also executive produce.

Flockhart, 50, is best known for her title role on the Fox series Ally McBeal and for playing Kitty Walker McCalister on the ABC series Brothers & Sisters.  In addition, Flockhart has appeared in the films Quiz Show, The Birdcage and the 1999 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.


Created in 1987 by Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway, Catherine "Cat" Grant first appeared in Adventures of Superman #424 as a gossip columnist for The Daily Planet.  Newly divorced and a recovering alcoholic, Cat was a single mother who came to Metropolis with her son Adam to get a fresh start.  Cat became instantly attracted to Clark Kent, becoming romantically involved with him for a while until Clark realized his true feelings for Lois Lane, whom he eventually married.

In the current New 52 continuity, Cat left The Daily Planet with Clark to form an independent news blog Clarkcatropolis.com until Clark eventually returned to the Planet as a reporter.

Flockhart will be the third actress to portray the character in live action, after Tracy Scoggins on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Keri Lynn Pratt on the series Smallville.  Cat also appeared on the animated series Young Justice, voiced by Masasa Moyo.

Supergirl is expected to debut on CBS sometime in fall 2015.

Friday, February 20, 2015

SUPERGIRL Casts Laura Benanti as Supergirl's Mom Alura


The Girl of Steel has a mom.

Deadline has revealed that the CBS pilot for Supergirl has cast Laura Benanti as Supergirl's mother Alura Zor-El.  Benanti joins Melissa Benoist and Mehcad Brooks in the pilot and her character Alura is described in the article as "A strong noblewoman, Alura sends Kara to Earth to escape Krypton’s destruction.  Her wisdom and guidance echoes across space and time, proving invaluable on Kara’s journey toward becoming Supergirl."

Benanti, 35, is probably best known as Sadie Stone in the ABC series Nashville, and has appeared on The Sound of Music Live, The Playboy Club, The Big C, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Elementary, Nurse Jackie and The Good Wife.

Created in 1959 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, Alura Zor-El first appeared in Action Comics (vol.1) #252, which featured the first appearance of Supergirl.  Alura In-Zee was born on the planet Krypton and became part of the science guild, where she learned to dismiss all emotions as simple primitive instincts and to observe the world in a pure mathematical and physical fashion.

However, Alura ended up falling in love with a young artist called Zor-El, brother of Superman's father, Jor-El.  Zor-El taught her to watch the world as more than just mathematical equations and to see the beauty in things. They soon married and gave birth to a daughter, Kara, until the family was forcibly separated when the planet Krypton was destroyed.

Benanti will be the second person to portray Alura in live action, after Mia Farrow in the 1984 film Supergirl.

First Look at Jason Momoa as Aquaman in BATMAN V SUPERMAN


All those jokes about how lame Aquaman is?  Yeah, not so funny anymore.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder went on his Twitter account late last night and posted the first official look at Jason Momoa as DC Comics superhero Aquaman.  Here's Snyder's post...


The "Unite the Seven" tagline and hashtag is most likely a reference to the seven members of the Justice League coming together in the film, which means we will most likely see additional teaser photos of The Flash, Green Lantern and Cyborg along with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Momoa's Aquaman costumes appears to be based on the long-haired, bearded warrior design from the 1994-2001 Aquaman comic book series originated by writer Peter David and artists Martin Egeland and Jim Calafiore.

The 34-year-old actor is best known as Khal Drogo on the HBO series Game of Thrones and as Ronon Dex on Stargate: Atlantis. Momoa also portrayed the lead role of Conan in the 2011 remake of Conan the Barbarian. He joins Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent, Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Ray Fisher as Cyborg/Victor Stone.

Created by Paul Norris in 1941's More Fun Comics #73, Aquaman is a founding member of the Justice League whose Atlantean mother fell in love with a lighthouse keeper named Tom Curry. Discovering as a youth that he could survive underwater and communicate telepathically with sea life, Arthur Curry eventually used his superhuman strength and swimming speed to become the defender of Earth's oceans and often assuming his destiny as the King of Atlantis.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 25, 2016.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

LUCIFER Gets Pilot Pickup from Fox


The Morningstar has abandoned Hell...and now he's fighting crime with the LAPD?

The Hollywood Reporter revealed today that Fox has handed out a pilot pickup for Lucifer, a proposed new television series based on the DC Comics/VERTIGO series by Mike Carey that ran for 75 issues and the Lucifer: Nirvana one-shot from 2000 to 2006.  

According to the article, the drama centers on Lucifer Morningstar, "who is bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell and resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the beauty of Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals."

Californication creator Tom Kapinos will provide the script and executive produce the proposed series under his Aggressive Mediocrity banner.  Jerry Bruckheimer and Jerry Bruckheimer Television head Jonathan Littman will executive produce, while the company's KristieAnne Reed is set as a co-executive producer.  Sleepy Hollow's Len Wiseman will executive produce and direct the pilot.

Lucifer joins CBS' Supergirl as the second DC Comics property to receive a pilot for the 2015-16 season, with Titans in development at TNT and Krypton in the works at Syfy.  It will be the the sixth drama pilot filmed for Fox's new season.

Created in 1989 by Neil Gaiman and Sam Kieth, and based physically on David Bowie, Lucifer Morningstar first appeared in The Sandman #4 as the Lord of Hell for 10,000,000,000 years after rebelling for three seconds after Creation.  Over that time, he manipulated the various demons of Hell against each other, provided a place for dead mortals to be tormented, and led the war against Heaven. He became tired of his reign over Hell, and deemed it an unfair punishment that he should have to rule Hell forever simply because he once rebelled.

In the Sandman story arc "Season of Mists", Lucifer expelled all demons and damned souls from Hell before locking Hell's gates and handing over the key to Hell to Dream of the Endless.  Eventually, control of Hell was handed over to two angels, Duma (the angel of silence) and Remiel ("set over those who rise"), while Lucifer simply retired to Earth, initially to Perth, Western Australia and later to Los Angeles, California.

Later, in the solo spinoff series Lucifer, Lucifer ran a piano bar (an element introduced in the Sandman arc "The Kindly Ones") called "Lux" in Los Angeles, with the assistance of his female consort, Mazikeen, who is a Lilim, one of the races descended from Lilith.  Lucifer is portrayed as a sophisticated and charming man, in addition to being the stereotypical gentleman devil.

ALIEN 5 Confirmed with Neill Blomkamp Directing


In space, no one can hear your sequel being greenlit.

Back in January, District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkamp teased fans with conceptual art for a possible fifth Alien movie.  The project seemed to be little more than wishful thinking that stalled at studio 20th Century Fox...until now.

Posting this update yesterday on his official Instagram account, Blomkamp revealed that Alien 5 will be his next movie, which has been confirmed by Variety.

A photo posted by Brownsnout (@neillblomkamp) on

Based on the concept art above, the upcoming sequel was apparently designed with Alien star Sigourney Weaver in mind, as well as Michael Biehn, who played Corporal Dwayne Hicks in the 1986 sequel Aliens. According to Variety, Alien 5 is set years after the upcoming Prometheus sequel, both of which will be produced by Alien director Ridley Scott's production company, Scott Free.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

DANGEROUS HABITS 013: "Waiting for the Man" is Up!


"My point is, we can all shape our destiny, but none of us get to escape our fate.  So when my time's up, that's it."

My friend and co-host Karen Lindsay and I are back with our final (?) episode of Dangerous Habits: The Constantine Podcast!

We give our thoughts on "Waiting for the Man," the possibly final episode of NBC's Constantine, including things like the Archer episode "The Rules of Extraction
," the NBC May upfronts, the Constantine-phone, Karen's issues with Stanley Kubrick, my issues with Stephen King, both of our issues with J.R.R. Tolkien, a Satanic serial killer's bachelor party, the return of Gary Lester, buying tampons for Papa Midnite, Zed being torn between two lovers, Buzzkill Manny's fondness for pickles, completely thumbing your nose at the 8 p.m. timeslot on a major network, our demand for deleted scenes, the proper way to kill a zombie, another grammar fight, the big cliffhanger ending, Nielsen Twitter ratings, Constantine episodes 14 through 16, the importance of officially streaming, and (drumroll please) our new show, The Fandom Zone Podcast!

You can check out the episode HERE and for those of you who use iTunes, we're already available HERE, so please subscribe and rate us! If direct download MP3s are more your thing, you can find those HERE as well. In addition, we have our Dangerous Habits show page on Facebook, which you can check out HERE.


Unfortunately, we don't know if Constantine (and therefore, Dangerous Habits) will return for Season 2, but keep checking our NEW Facebook page for The Fandom Zone Podcast, and the Southgate Media Group website for updates.

And in the meantime, stay tuned for the first recording of our new show, The Fandom Zone Podcast!

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE Casts Kodi Smit-McPhee as New Nightcrawler


Eine neue Nightcrawler?  Wunderbar!

Late last night, X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer revealed on his official Instagram account that his upcoming 2016 movie will feature the return of the Marvel Comics character Nightcrawler, now played by Kodi Smit-McPhee.  Here's the Instagram post from Singer...

A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on

The 18-year-old Australian actor is probably best known as the voice of Norman Babcock in the 2012 animated film ParaNorman, and has appeared in a number of films including The Road, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Congress and Let Me In.

Created in 1975 by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, Nightcrawler first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 as Kurt Wagner, a mutant with somewhat demonic physical characteristics who has the ability to teleport along with superhuman agility.  As the son of Mystique and the demon Azazel, Kurt was raised by sorceress and Gypsy queen Margali Szardos in a small Bavarian circus until he was rescued from an angry mob in Winzeldorf, Germany by Professor Charles Xavier.  Adopting the code name Nightcrawler, Kurt became a member of Xavier's second class of X-Men.

In recent years, Nightcrawler was killed during a battle with Bastion, but was later resurrected when his father Azazel launched an attack on Heaven using his connection to Kurt as a gateway.  Kurt used small versions of himself called Bamfs along with that same connection to return to Earth, which prevented his father from attacking Heaven once again.

Smit-McPhee will be the second actor to portray Nightcrawler in live action, after Alan Cumming in Singer's previous 2003 film X2: X-Men United.  The character has appeared in a number of animated projects, including Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (voiced by Stanley Jones), Pryde of the X-Men (voiced by Neil Ross), the 1992 X-Men animated series (voiced by Paul Haddad), X-Men: Evolution (voiced by Brad Swaile), and Wolverine and the X-Men (voiced by Liam O'Brien).

X-Men: Apocalypse in scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 27, 2016.

Monday, February 16, 2015

GOTHAM's Cory Michael Smith Discusses Edward Nygma's Future


In addition to Robin Lord Taylor's depiction of The Penguin, one of the surprise breakout characters on the Fox series Gotham is Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma, the future Batman villain known as The Riddler.

Comic Book Resources has posted a new interview with Smith, who discusses things such as Edward's slow evolution compared to other Gotham villains, Edward's infatuation with Kristen Kringle, and what's coming up in future episodes that finally starts making Edward more than just a socially awkward forensic scientist for the GCPD.  Here are some of the highlights...

CBR: Over the course of the roller coaster ride that is the first season of Gotham, with so many things happening so quickly, there's actually been a slow burn for Edward Nygma instead of him swiftly becoming the Riddler.

Cory Michael Smith: I'm in such a fortunate position. They are taking their time with my character. A lot of the other villains, especially with Penguin and [Fish] Mooney, they've charged the series from the very beginning. It's been their responsibility to bring the terror to Gotham City. We've relied on that to shock us and stun us. They are running the city in their own way.

Then there's sweet Edward Nygma, who is playing with bodies when he shouldn't be doing that. It's a completely different world that I'm living in. At times, I get super impatient because I know how fun this character can be on the other side of the game. As soon as I get my patience in check, as an actor, I really couldn't ask for anything more exciting than to have a full, long, healthy, complex fall from innocence. He's so enthusiastic and full of well intention. He loves his work. Kristen Kringle (Chelsea Spack) has played a big part in putting him off center. We're going to find him in circumstances that are far less than fortunate, and he's going to have to respond to those.

CBR: How do you go about putting your own stamp on such an iconic Batman foe?

Smith: What is more terrifying than approaching a character on the national stage after Frank Gorshin was celebrated by an older generation? Certainly, my parents talk about him. This man had a very celebrated performance in a show that is stylistically and tonally quite different than ours, but still the same universe.

And then, following one of my favorite actors, Jim Carrey, is a bit of an undertaking. I guess I have bigger balls than I thought I did. These are the origin stories. The whole point is to show how these people become these characters. For me, that's the most exciting part, certainly psychologically, how someone changes and evolves. I wanted to be able to tell a story of someone that was forced to become this way or chose to.

[Executive Producer] Bruno Heller made it very clear to me that Nygma is someone who is working on the good side, is someone who loves his job and likes Jim Gordon. We were starting with no reason whatsoever for him wanting to cause anyone harm. I wanted to stay as far in that corner as possible. That was a goal, early on. Then, what is my job as an actor? I have to play the role in the world that I'm given. The circumstances that we built were, he's in the GCPD. No one understands him and no one appreciates him. They find him quite irritating. They give him responsibility because he's undeniably brilliant. You've seen him give tidbits to the cops that have solved a number of crimes thus far. They will say, "Thank you. That's good work, Ed." But it's still Jim Gordon who gets the handshake at the end of the day. The little things will add up.

What was so exciting for me was when they introduced Kristen Kringle, because I'm like, "It's great to see this guy that is loving his job and doing it well." But, then, when I got to show his social ineptitude and his inability to feel people, to interpret what they are really thinking, that was great. Perhaps he's a complex guy, but he doesn't think he is. All of this stuff has been really fun. Is it perfectly matched with the comics? I don't know. I like the version we're creating.

CBR: Kristen seems like she can bring out the best in Nygma -- and quite possibly the worst.

Smith: We spend a lot of time with Kristen, now. Very soon, we'll see Ed try to stop dancing around the issue and go for it. He stops flirting and just goes for it and sees where he stands. We're going to see slight confidence, and when you get more confidence and more brave, the reaction to what happens is either a bigger celebration or a bigger letdown. We're going to see his behavior executed with more confidence. It's just going to get bigger and bigger.

CBR: Besides Nygma's crush on Kristen, what else is going to further lead him down the rabbit hole?

Smith: It's mostly circumstances that are directly related to that relationship. Nygma gets a little quiet in the next two episodes. In episode 18, "Everyone Has a Cobblepot," that's when he gets some confidence and puts on his A-game. By the end of this season, Nygma finds himself. For the first time in the series, he's going to have a giant secret, and what he does with it will be very shocking.

CBR: Will the show continue to explore Nygma's infatuation with riddles and puzzles.

Smith: Oh, certainly. There will be a figure coming up soon, who is related to Kristen Kringle, that is going to be asking Ed riddles. His lack of enthusiasm for being asked riddles will be very apparent. 

CBR: In "The Scarecrow," Nygma and Oswald Cobblepot come face-to-face in the police department. Despite both of them being destined to be some of Batman's biggest foes, how are they different? And what were your thoughts on their first encounter?

Smith: Their standing in the city is quite different. In terms of survival, Oswald is playing the two biggest mob bosses in the city. I'm trying to survive my feelings for this girl and not be humiliated. Nygma is circling around Valentine's Day. But I'm certainly curious who Oswald is when he comes in. I have this position in the police force, so I know what's going on. I know who Jim has interacted with. So, when this strange creature comes in, this odd little bird, I am too curious not to interact with him. His antagonism from the very beginning is slightly off-putting, but interesting.

We had so much fun shooting that. I was kind of freaking out. I talked to Bruno about it. When I read something like "Edward Nygma and the Penguin meet," my chest gets heavy. I don't want to screw this up. This is the first meeting. I feel very responsible for this to be interesting, if not brilliant. There's some weight to that, but I feel really good about this charged-moment that we gave each other where at the end, it could still go many ways.

CBR: Lastly, are you dying to spout that iconic line, "Riddle me this?"

Smith: That line comes in the comics when Nygma is a fully-fledged villain. The appropriate time, and I certainly hope that's in the lifetime of our show, should be reserved for when he's a man in charge and feeling like his identity as the Riddler is clear and haunting. That line should drip with glee. That is the raising of the gun before the race. It's like, "Bring it, bitches, and let's get this on." That can't come before he feels, at least at the beginning of a game he sets up, completely fearless.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

DEADPOOL Casts Gina Carano as Angel Dust, Colossus to Return


She should've been Wonder Woman and now she's a Morlock.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that the upcoming Fox movie Deadpool has cast action star and mixed martial artist Gina Carano as obscure Marvel Comics character Angel Dust.  Carano joins star Ryan Reynolds and T.J. Miller in the film, to be directed by Tim Miller, which will start filming in March somewhere in Vancouver.

Carano, 32, is probably best known as Riley Hicks in Fast & Furious 6 and as Mallory Kane in the 2011 film Haywire.  She recently appeared on the Fox television series Almost Human as the XRN Danica, and is slated to appear in the 2015 reboot of Kickboxer.

In addition, the article also mentions that X-Men member Colossus (played by Daniel Cudmore in the films X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Days of Future Past) will be appearing in Deadpool, although it's not known if Cudmore will reprise his role once again.

Created in 2002 by Geoff Johns and Shawn Martinbrough, Angel Dust first appeared in Morlocks #1, as Christine, a young girl who lived happily with her parents until her mutant powers of increasing her adrenaline to giver herself super-strength emerged.  Afraid of what her parents would think and the possible danger they could be placed in, Christine ran away from home and soon joined up with the outcast group of mutants known as the Morlocks.

Later on, Angel Dust was one of the many mutants who lost their powers in the wake of M-Day, an event created by the mentally ill Scarlet Witch.


Deadpool is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on February 12, 2016.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

DANGEROUS HABITS 012: "Angels and Ministers of Grace" is Up!


"I want to tell you something about me that nobody knows.  I wake up every morning, and for the first five minutes of the day, I imagine that everyone I care about is dead.  I lie there, and...I meditate on that.  So that when it inevitably happens, then, uh... it lessens the blow."

My friend and co-host Karen Lindsay and I are back with another episode of Dangerous Habits: The Constantine Podcast!

We give our thoughts on "Angels and Ministers of Grace," the possibly penultimate episode of NBC's Constantine, including things like Hamlet by way of Star Trek, heroin vs. crystal meth
, Chas' injuries counting as his 47 lives, Karen's icky file folder face, signing up your enemies for Penthouse magazine, John Constantine on the beach, breaking the fourth wall, getting rid of that damn scrying map, aspiring writer tips, how to distract someone with a screwdriver, Schwarzenegger tumor resets, the Prime Directive for angels, Torchwood: Miracle Day, Sloth from The Goonies, DC Comics supervillain Eclipso, the real Dr. Galen, that Cinelinx rumor about Constantine moving to Syfy and being renamed Hellblazer, upcoming DC Comics series Constantine: The Hellblazer, listener support for Karen taking more pain meds, important advice for Karen's podcast crushes, and more!

You can check out the episode HERE and for those of you who use iTunes, we're already available HERE, so please subscribe and rate us! If direct download MP3s are more your thing, you can find those HERE as well. In addition, we have our Dangerous Habits show page on Facebook, which you can check out HERE. And we're also on Twitter using the account @DangerousHabit5 because some bloody arse already claimed @DangerousHabits.

Be sure to share these with all of your friends, enemies, demons, angels, sorcerers, ghosts, whomever, and help build our new podcast into something special. Oh, and send us your thoughts about the show or the podcast via Twitter and Facebook. As soon as we get some more, we'll be reading them on the podcast.

Don't forget to watch the season (hopefully not series) finale, "Waiting for the Man," this Friday on NBC, then keep checking iTunes, Libsyn and the Southgate Media Group website for our next Constantine review!


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Sony & Marvel Agree to Share Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield Out


Now, if only Marvel can rescue the Fantastic Four and the X-Men from Fox...

After weeks of speculation, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have reached a deal to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  According to the official press release from Marvel, Spider-Man will first appear in an upcoming Marvel film, followed by a new Spider-Man movie from Sony now scheduled for July 28, 2017 that will be co-produced by Marvel's Kevin Feige along with Sony's Amy Pascal.

The new deal also affects four of Marvel's upcoming films, with Thor: Ragnarok, originally scheduled for the same date as the new Spider-Man movie, has moved to November 3, 2017.  Black Panther will now be released on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel moves to November 2, 2018, and Inhumans is bumped to July 12, 2019.  Both Avengers: Infinity War films will remain at their respective dates of May 4, 2018 and May 3, 2019.

In addition, The Wrap reports that Andrew Garfield, who starred in the two Amazing Spider-Man films directed by Marc Webb, will not reprise the role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker.

This news seems to hint heavily that Spider-Man will first appear in Captain America: Civil Warslated for May 6, 2016, since the character features so prominently in the Civil War limited series by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.  In the series, Spider-Man was originally convinced by Iron Man to join the pro-superhero registration side before quitting and joining Captain America's underground movement.

Here's the original press release from Marvel...

Marvel's Kevin Feige to Produce Next Installment of the Spider-Man Franchise with Amy Pascal

(Culver City, California, and Burbank, California February 09, 2015) – Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced today that Sony is bringing Marvel into the amazing world of Spider-Man. 

Under the deal, the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel's Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sony Pictures will thereafter release the next installment of its $4 billion Spider-Man franchise, on July 28, 2017, in a film that will be co-produced by Kevin Feige and his expert team at Marvel and Amy Pascal, who oversaw the franchise launch for the studio 13 years ago. Together, they will collaborate on a new creative direction for the web slinger. Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films.

Marvel and Sony Pictures are also exploring opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films.

The new relationship follows a decade of speculation among fans about whether Spider-Man – who has always been an integral and important part of the larger Marvel Universe in the comic books – could become part of the Marvel Universe on the big screen. Spider-Man has more than 50 years of history in Marvel's world, and with this deal, fans will be able to experience Spider-Man taking his rightful place among other Super Heroes in the MCU.

Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company said: "Spider-Man is one of Marvel's great characters, beloved around the world. We're thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic new opportunities for storytelling and franchise building."

"We always want to collaborate with the best and most successful filmmakers to grow our franchises and develop our characters. Marvel, Kevin Feige and Amy, who helped orchestrate this deal, are the perfect team to help produce the next chapter of Spider-Man," said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "This is the right decision for the franchise, for our business, for Marvel, and for the fans."

"Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios share a love for the characters in the Spider-Man universe and have a long, successful history of working together. This new level of collaboration is the perfect way to take Peter Parker's story into the future," added Doug Belgrad, president, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.

"I am thrilled to team with my friends at Sony Pictures along with Amy Pascal to produce the next Spider-Man movie," said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. "Amy has been deeply involved in the realization on film of one of the world’s most beloved characters. Marvel's involvement will hopefully deliver the creative continuity and authenticity that fans demand from the MCU. I am equally excited for the opportunity to have Spider-Man appear in the MCU, something which both we at Marvel, and fans alike, have been looking forward to for years."

Spider-Man, embraced all over the world, is the most successful franchise in the history of Sony Pictures, with the five films having taken in more than $4 billion worldwide.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com/.

ABOUT MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy-five years.  Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing.  For more information visit marvel.com. © 2015 MARVEL

Monday, February 9, 2015

THE FLASH Casts Emily Kinney as The Bug-Eyed Bandit


So much for the sweet little songbird...

VixenVarsity is reporting that the CW series The Flash has cast Emily Kinney as Brie Larvan, a female version of obscure DC Comics supervillain The Bug-Eyed Bandit.  Kinney will appear in the series' eighteen episode "All-Star Team Up," which also features guest appearances by Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), who head to Central City to get S.T.A.R. Labs' help working on Ray's A.T.O.M. Exosuit.

The article cites Instagram photos of Kinney flying out to Canada five days ago taken from PunkdImages, with the caption "#WalkingDead’s Beth.. @EmmyKinney arrives in VanCity to be #TheFlash’s new Bug Eyed Villian #BrieLarvan @SpoilerTV #YVRShoots @olv #HeardItHere1st"

Kinney, 29, is best known as Beth Greene on the AMC series The Walking Dead and this will be her first role since leaving the series.  In addition, she has appeared in episodes of Forever, The Following, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Big C, The Good Wife, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Created in 1966 by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane, the Bug-Eyed Bandit first appeared in The Atom #26 as an inventor named Bertram Larvan who designed a mechanical insect to control insect pests but had no financial support to develop his invention.  So naturally, he turned to crime to steal money for his invention and developed an army of mechanical insects before being defeated by The Atom.

After fighting The Atom a number of times, the Bug-Eyed Bandit was killed during the landmark limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths before being briefly resurrected as a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night event.

Kinney will be the first actor to portray the Bug-Eyed Bandit in live action, although the character did appear in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

The Flash airs Tuesday nights on The CW at 8 p.m. EST.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

DANGEROUS HABITS 011: "A Whole World Out There" is Up!


"Well, you know me.  I'm well-versed in the art of pretending to be a gentleman."

Getting back on track somewhat, my friend and co-host Karen Lindsay and I are back with the next episode of Dangerous Habits: The Constantine Podcast!

We give our thoughts on "A Whole World Out There," the eleventh episode of NBC's Constantine, including things like the impressive resume of director Thomas J. Wright, Karen's big secret wish, what would happen if Disney bought DC Comics, the fictional DC Comics city Ivy Town and Ivy University, the mini Lost reunion, drinking alone to Warren Zevon, what the hell happened to Johnny Depp's career, the deepness of transcendence and enlightenment, the Outlander book and television series' connection to Doctor Who, Jeremy Davies' Matthew McConaughey impression, shoutouts to Hellblazer #7, the a-ha music video for "Take On Me," 
Ritchie Simpson becoming The One, casting Matt Ryan in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Dark Universe, The comic strip Bloom County and Karen's crush on Steve Dallas, the arrival of @Predator_Cat on the Twitter masheen, my depressingly low amount of Twitter followers, and more!

You can check out the episode HERE and for those of you who use iTunes, we're already available HERE, so please subscribe and rate us! If direct download MP3s are more your thing, you can find those HERE as well. In addition, we have our Dangerous Habits show page on Facebook, which you can check out HERE. And we're also on Twitter using the account @DangerousHabit5 because some bloody arse already claimed @DangerousHabits.

Be sure to share these with all of your friends, enemies, demons, angels, sorcerers, ghosts, whomever, and help build our new podcast into something special. Oh, and send us your thoughts about the show or the podcast via Twitter and Facebook. As soon as we get some more, we'll be reading them on the podcast.

Don't forget to watch the next episode, "Angels and Ministers of Grace," this Friday on NBC, then keep checking iTunes, Libsyn and the Southgate Media Group website for our next Constantine review!


Full DAREDEVIL Teaser Trailer Debuts Without Fear


Those of you not buying into the whole "teaser for a teaser" nonsense can relax.

IGN has released the full 90-second trailer for the upcoming Netflix series Daredevil, based on the Marvel Comics superhero.  Apart from Charlie Cox's Daredevil/Matt Murdock, we get our first glimpses of Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Karen Page, Stick and the The Kingpin.

The trailer opens with a voiceover from Matt, who is taking confession with a Catholic priest.  "Bless me, father, for I have sinned," he begins.  "It's been too long since my last confession.  I've been preoccupied of late with questions of morality..."

We see Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) being held in police custody with Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) meeting with her as her lawyer, presumably because she's been accused of murdering someone with a knife.  We then see Scott Glenn as Stick as elevator doors close.

"...of right and wrong," Matt continues.  "...good and evil."

Next we see the back of The Kingpin/Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is staring at an empty white and grey painting before him.

"Perhaps this will be easier if you tell me what you've done," suggests the priest.

"I'm not seeking forgiveness for what I've done, father," Matt says as images of him donning a black, ninja-like outfit similar to the costume he wears in the Daredevil: The Man Without Fear limited series by Frank Miller and John Romita, Jr.  "I'm asking forgiveness for what I'm about to do."

Action scenes of explosions, gunshots and Daredevil fighting criminals follow, with a final remark from Matt -- "I'm just trying to make my city a better place."

If you'd like to check out the trailer, you can view it below thanks to IGN's official YouTube account...



All thirteen episodes of Daredevil Season One will be available on Netflix on April 10, 2015.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

STAR TREK 3 to Feature New Female Characters and Villain


And the human adventure continues...

Film Divider has some interesting new details concerning Justin Lin's upcoming Star Trek sequel for 2016.  According to the the article, the film (written by Doug Jung and Star Trek actor Simon Pegg) will feature three new female characters and a new male villain.

Although Alice Eve's character Carol Marcus was introduced in the previous film, Star Trek Into Darkness, a rather pointless scene showing Carol in her underwear resulted in much criticism about how female characters are portrayed in Star Trek.  So with that in mind, here are the new female characters described...

1)  The President of the United Federation of Planets -- Although there's been a male human UFP President in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and male alien UFP Presidents in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, this will be the Star Trek's first female President.

2)  A Captain of a Federation starship -- While there have been various female starship captains, primarily Kate Mulgrew's Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager, this one will be the first in the new continuity timeline.  The article mentions that this captain is "being set up as Kirk's match" and the producers are "looking for somebody with the energy and vitality of Chris Pine."

3)  Bones' Ex-Wife (Jocelyn Darnell?) -- Getting a brief mention in Star Trek (2009), Dr. Leonard McCoy's ex-wife who supposedly left him with nothing but his bones will finally make her appearance on screen.  The character was created as Jocelyn Darnell Treadway in the Star Trek novel Shadows on the Sun, but may be someone completely new in Star Trek 3.  If nothing else, pairing Bones with his ex-wife should give Karl Urban far more to do than his previous outing in Star Trek Into Darkness.

As for Star Trek's latest Big Bad, the article states that the villain is "supposed to be Bryan Cranston-like, to the point that Cranston himself has had words with the studio about taking the role."  This is no indication that Cranston will actually take the role, however, since he's been rumored in just about everything since his AMC series Breaking Bad ended.  But if you're familiar with Cranston's TV character Walter White, you probably have some idea of what the producers have in mind.

Star Trek 3 is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 8, 2016.