batman

While rumoured for several months, it has been officially confirmed via CBR that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill will both return to their iconic roles as Batman and The Joker in DC’s latest animated feature, an adaptation of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke. Hamill also unveiled the first look at the film’s animation style on Twitter, which seems to eschew an adaptation of Brian Bolland’s art in favour of the more generic style that has become popular with DC’s animated division. Tara Strong reprises her role as Barbara Gordon from Batman: The Animated Series, and Ray Wise will voice Commissioner James Gordon.

One of the stipulations when Ben Affleck signed on to star in Batman vs. Superman was that his Argo writer, Chris Terrio, would come aboard to help fix the script. Though Terrio was indeed brought in to rewrite the script (originally written by David Goyer), it seems Affleck still was not happy with it. According to a recent report, Affleck spent each day rewriting that day’s scenes until they were up to snuff. Oh, and he did it dressed as Batman.

Although cosplay has been present for decades within the comics, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, social media has played an integral role in the thriving communities of costuming that exist, such as Cosplay.com and the Superhero Costuming Forum. Over the years, the cosplay community has evolved into a creative outlet for many fans to establish and showcase some impressive feats of homemade disguise, craftsmanship, and sartorial superheroics at conventions. In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.

Whatever your feelings on FOX’s Gotham, we’re at least curious to see how the Bat-prequel handles two of the Dark Knight’s most iconic rogues, Mr. Freeze and Hugo Strange. We met the former briefly last year, and now his reign of icy terror continues in our first 2016 promo for Season 2’s return.

Neal Adams is one of those creators who has had --- and is still having --- such a profound effect on the medium of comics that it’s difficult to even know where to start talking about him. His work for DC Comics in the 60s and 70s was responsible for evolving our view of a number of characters, including Batman and Superman. At 74 years of age, Adams is as eager as ever to tell new stories with DC’s biggest heroes, and this month sees the release of the first issue of his new six issue mini-series, Superman: The Coming of the Supermen. To mark the occasion, we've compiled a collection of his best DC cover art.

In the tradition of ScreenCrush series like You Think You Know Movies and You Think You Know TV comes a new YouTube series: Top Five! Each week (or so; we’ve got a lot of other stuff going on), ScreenCrush editor and critic Matt Singer will count down a particular topic from the world of movies (and probably write these introductory posts in the third person).

Anyone else ready for March 25th?

One year ago, DC Collectibles opened its "vault" of unproduced prototypes in celebration of hitting a social media milestone. Included therein were figures based on DC Universe Online, statues for Ame-Comi Mary Marvel and a Black Manta bust, among others. Instead of leaving all of these first-party collectibles locked away forever inside the archives, DC Collectibles asked fans to vote for which item they'd like to see finally be produced. Then there was silence... until today when the dull winter sky was broken by a glorious rainbow in the shape of Batman. Yes, that's right; the Sheldon Moldoff-inspired Rainbow Batmen are coming and there's nothing you can do to stop it now. You had your chance to vote for 3.75" New 52 figures, and you blew it. Unless you voted for these, in which case, congratulations, all of your dreams are coming true in amazing technicolor fashion!

I think I'm starting to understand where Bruce Wayne gets all his money. I mean, the guy clearly licenses out his and Batman's likenesses to every company on the planet, and the fees he must recoup on return are clearly significant. Surely Wayne Enterprises can't still be making money after all these years of secretly funding Batman's war on crime. I mean, it was mildly feasible back in the early going when it was just Bruce rolling around Gotham. But now with all those subsidiaries and dependents running around the globe, it's hard to imagine anything Wayne Enterprises develops making as much money as birthday hats, cake pans, cookie cutters, wall paper, toothbrushes, video games, action figures and statues. I mean, we have to be serious about this for one minute. If all you do is military research and development projects you never let the military actually have, that money is going to dry up eventually. Probably. Then again, there are an awful lot of projects developed that never do see the light of day in practical applications, but those companies still keep cashing checks. I suppose though many of those manufacturers show the armed forces at least something to keep them dragging along. Batman just locks it up in a cave where only he and his butler can touch it. I guess that's why we see so many collectibles bearing his likeness, like this new bust from Prime 1 Studios.

Part of the fun comic book fans have had over the years is debating which superhero could defeat which superhero. Could Wolverine beat The Hulk? Could the X-Men beat The Avengers? There have been entire lines of books devoted to this very topic. Heck, Batman vs. Superman and Captain America: Civil War are both based on this very conceit. So, you can’t blame Matt Damon for getting into the fun when asked if his Jason Bourne, who he calls “my superhero”, could take his pal Ben Affleck’s Batman. As you might expect, Damon’s not stepping down from the challenge.

Batman Returns in the most badass way possible!

Anne Hathaway memorably played Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, but she very nearly played another catty superhero. The Oscar-winning actress was set to play Black Cat in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4, which would have also featured John Malkovich as Vulture. That film was canceled shortly before filming and Sony eventually decided to reboot the whole franchise. That’s just one of the facts packed into the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies, which goes completely batty with The Dark Knight Rises!