DC Comics rolls outs heavy hitters for ‘Fandome’ event

“All of these stories and characters can start to collide,” said Hodson. “The cinematic multiverse is going to be born out of this movie.” For Miller, whose long hair and beard Variety likened to Jesus Christ Superstar, the panel marked his first public appearance since a disturbing video surfaced in April showing what looks to be him choking a young woman in Iceland during an apparent dispute outside a bar.

There were two components of the James Gunn-run panel for The Suicide Squad that stuck out most. One is just how much the writer-director loved the filmmaking experience. “By far the most fun I’ve ever had on a movie,” said Gunn, who double- and triple-downed on that sentiment throughout the presentation. (Don’t tell the Guardians of the Galaxy crew.) The panel included a newly revealed behind-the-scenes featurette that teased the follow-up to DC’s ill-received 2016 ensemble Suicide Squad as a “gritty 1970s war movie” that incorporates Gunn’s comedic sensibilities, according to producer Peter Safran.

The other thing is just how massive the cast is. There were no less than 1,800 — sorry, 18 — cast members who joined Gunn for the presentation, including Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena (in a suit, as always), Viola Davis, Pete Davidson, Nathan Fillion, Jai Courtney, Alice Braga, Flula Borg and longtime Gunn favorite (and perennial punching bag) Michael Rooker. There were so many cast members on the panel that a couple others, including A Wrinkle in Time breakout Storm Reid, were relegated to dialing in to ask them a question. “Don’t get too attached,” though, one actor teased in the preview, likely foreshadowing a high death rate in the film. “It’s the greatest cast I’ve ever worked with,” said Gunn. “I’m so grateful to all of you guys, except Rooker.” Ouch, to Rooker, but also the Guardians again.

In the day’s shortest film panel, ironically for Zack Snyder’s four-hour director’s cut of The Justice League, the filmmaker talked about his experience interacting with DC fans who for years lobbied Warner Bros. to #ReleasetheSnyderCut (the disappointing final product was finished by Joss Whedon after Snyder stepped down following the tragedy of his daughter’s death by suicide). “It was cool to have this conversation with the fans, I could feel this energy,” said the director, who produces alongside his wife Deborah Snyder and is using the project as a fundraising effort for suicide prevention. “It changed us, and made us feel incredibly grateful,” he said of first hearing that Warner Bros. was greenlighting a project many long dismissed as a fantasy. Snyder wrapped up the presentation by unveiling a first look at the cut, a warmly received montage of its many characters fittingly set to Leonard Cohen’s version of the church hymn “Hallelujah.”

From Justice League to Justice Society — and speaking of long-gestating fantasy projects — Black Adam has been in the works since at least 2014, when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was originally cast to play the 5,000-year-old villain who will likely be reimagined as an antihero. The Rock appropriately referred to the film as a “passion project” while hosting the panel (mostly) solo, at one point patching in costar Centineo (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), who asked Johnson a question about his “squat game” that was more likely an inside joke. Johnson narrated two videos featuring concept art that dug into the mythology of Black Adam, the latter involving Justice Society’s character reveals. He then ended the presentation with a warning from his alter-ego to DC’s other supes: “Things will never be the same. The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change.” That will have to wait, though, until late-2021, when Black Adam finally, hopefully releases (the film has not yet begun shooting).

While The Rock held down the Black Adam offerings, fellow bruiser Jason Momoa was conspicuously absent from the Aquaman panel (he also missed an earlier Justice League team-up). Instead it was director James Wan and costar Patrick Wilson, who mostly reflected on their experiences filming the 2018 franchise starter, but also teased its planned 2022 sequel Aquaman 2. “I think the second one is a little bit more serious, a little bit more relevant to the world we’re living in today,” said Wan. “I’m excited for some new worlds, hopefully,” said Wilson, who will reprise his role as Orm. “I can absolutely guarantee you new worlds in this next one,” answered Wan.

The Shazam! panel followed Aquaman’s mold: a lot of remembrances from the first film, very little to spill about the upcoming sequel. Star Zachary Levi was joined by castmates Asher Angel, Meagan Good, Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman and Adam Brody as well as director David F. Sandberg. And did we mention Sinbad? A strange internet theory has long posited that Sinbad once played a genie named Shazaam in a 1990s comedy, though no proof of the project exists. The A Different World and Sinbad Show comedian joined the panel to the feigned “surprise” of Levi. “Sinbad, are you in Shazam 2?,” Levi asked. “You tell me, John Krasinski, am I? Because everybody thought I was in ‘Shazam 1’ before it even existed. Google it,” replied Sinbad. The phenomenon takes an interesting twist: The question is no longer whether Shazaam exists, but whether or not Sinbad will be in Shazam! 2: Fury of the Gods.

Finally, Robert Pattinson — now unavoidably known as R.Batz — introduced the night’s big closer, The Batman, acknowledging the fact the film had to shut down two months into production due to the coronavirus. “I’m very anxious to get back to work,” said Pattinson, whose appearance in the ‘dome would be short-lived.

It was director Matt Reeves’s show from there, as the filmmaker told host Aisha Tyler about the film’s thrust (it’s “a detective story” that is “incredibly personal), time setting (Bruce Wayne’s second year as Batman), inspirations (The French Connection, Taxi Driver and other “‘70s street, grounded stories”) and cast. He threw particularly high praise at Paul Dano, who he said “plays a version of The Riddler that no one’s seen before,” and shared similar sentiments on Zoë Kravitz, who plays Catwoman.

But in what was easily the juiciest video reveal of the day, Reeves showed the first teaser for the film, which opens on a crime scene with a victim whose face has been duct-taped (you really can use it on anything) and a note egging on The Batman. You wouldn’t know Reeves and company only had two months of shooting in the can from the wide-ranging preview, which hits the hardest in the final moments as the caped crusader pummels a gang leader with merciless shots to the face. This Batman has got some grit.

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