by Conan Simmons – August 24, 2020 – 4:50 am
This past weekend saw the online global event for DC Comics called DC Fandome. It featured panels filled with big name stars showing off their upcoming movies, tv shows, video games and comic books.
The event was a fantastic idea put together on the fly as a replacement for all the canceled comic conventions (like San Diego Comic Con) due to the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The best part of this event was that it was absolutely free to the public, all you had to do was visit the website dcfandome.com and hope that you made it in time to catch your favorite stars and characters.
The big headliner for the event was director Matt Reeves unveiling the first trailer for ‘The Batman’ starring Robert Pattinson (who also introduced his director at the event). I have to say I had my doubts like most fans but the footage looks pretty cool. Robert Pattinson looks intense as Bruce Wayne and kind of reminds me of the animated series that was on in 2005. Jeffrey Wright looks cool as Commissioner Gordon and Zoe Kravitz just might be purrrfect as Catwoman. The element of the trailer that struck me the most was how unrecognizable Colin Farrell looks as the Penguin. Paul Dano is set to play the Riddler who was not featured in the trailer. Filming for ‘The Batman’ resumes next month with a release date set for October 21, 2021.
My favorite part of the event was the behind the scenes look at ‘The Suicide Squad’ directed by James Gunn and starring a large cast including Viola Davis, Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Nathan Fillion and Pete Davidson. Lots of good footage of how scenes were filmed and a crazy selection of lesser known characters.
There was also some very nice game footage for next years ‘Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’ developed by Rocksteady Studios. Both the game and James Gunn’s movie will feature the character King Shark.
Other movie news coming from the event was a new trailer for ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ featuring what Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah will look like along with Pedro Pascal as villain Maxwell Lord.
The title for the next Shazam movie has been revealed as ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ and will have Zachary Levi reprise the role for a release in 2022.
Director James Wan and star Patrick Wilson held a chat discussing the world building for ‘Aquaman 2’. They’ve collaborated several time previously not only on ‘Aquaman’ but on the horror films ‘The Conjuring’ and ‘Insidious’.
The online event was actually pretty fun. It did get a little glitchy at times as I’m sure bandwidth was affected by how many people would log in at any given moment. Hopefully they work that out for next time they hold this event. I’m most likely not alone in feeling like this is a good supplement for the usual annual comic con appearances and a great way to engage more fans who are unable to attend physical events. It was a success and I look forward to next year.