Full Cast and Details for "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox"!

Way back when, we dropped the details on DC's 2013 animated film lineup. The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 was released in the beginning of the year, while Lego Batman: The Movie and Superman: Unbound are slated for release next month.

We finally have details for the last movie announced for 2013: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox!  Slated for release on July 30, 2013, The Flashpoint Paradox (a slightly updated title from its original) follows Barry Allen, as he wakes up in a world completely unlike the one in which he fell asleep.  I mean that literally: Allen falls asleep at his desk and wakes up in a world unlike the one he knew.  Superheroes are at war, dead characters are alive, alive characters are dead, and, most pertinent to Allen, he has no powers!

Official synopsis:

When time travel allows a past wrong to be righted for The Flash and his family, the ripples of the event prove disastrous as a fractured, alternate reality now exists where a Justice League never formed, and even Superman is nowhere to be found. Teaming with a grittier, more violent Dark Knight and Cyborg, Flash races to restore the continuity of his original timeline while this new world is ravaged by a fierce war between Wonder Woman's Amazons and Aquaman’s Atlanteans. With breath taking action and an all-star voice cast, it's a bold, emotional vision that will forever change the landscape of the DC Universe.

While the Geoff Johns/Andy Kubert Flashpoint miniseries isn't my favorite DC event in the recent history, The Flashpoint Paradox is easily the most ambitious comic-to-film adaptation DC has ever done, and I'm certainly looking forward to it.  The cast is a little Grey's Anatomy heavy, but there are few names here that should make any DC animated fan happy.

• The Flash/Barry Allen: Justin Chambers ("Grey's Anatomy")
• Batman/Bruce Wayne: Kevin Conroy ("Batman: The Animated Series")
• Flashpoint Batman: Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting, "Grey's Anatomy")
• The Reverse Flash/Professor Zoom/Eobard Thawne: C. Thomas Howell ("Southland")
• Aquaman: Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, plenty of awesome things in the early 90s)
• Wonder Woman: Vanessa Marshall ("Young Justice," "Metal Gear Solid 2")
• Cyborg: Michael B. Jordan ("Friday Night Lights")
• Superman: Sam Daly ("The Daly Show," and, er, "Grey's Anatomy")
• Gen. Sam Lane: Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
• Green Lantern/Hal Jordan: Nathan Fillion ("Castle")
• Deathstroke/Slade Wilson: Ron Perlman (Hellboy)
• Lois Lane: Dana Delany ("Body of Proof")

That's one hell of a lineup, don't you think?  Kevin Conroy returns as Batman; Nathan Fillion again donning a green ring (figuratively); Dana Delany returning as Lois; Ron Perlman reprising his Deathstroke, and even Sam Daly taking up his father's mantle as Superman... there's a lot here to like (or at be intrigued to see.)

With a July release, there's no doubt we'll be seeing more of this from Comic-Con. We'll keep our ears to the ground and let you know if we hear more.

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is set for release on July 30 on DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital download.

UPDATE: Hit the jump for the full press release!

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'Man of Steel' Trailer #2 Arrives Online

Scheduled to be seen in front of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey this Friday, the newest trailer for Man of Steel has debuted online today. Check it out below!

More action-oriented than the first teaser that arrived this summer, this new look at Zack Snyder's reboot of the Superman franchise looks to feature many things we weren't expecting, such as Kryptonian spacecraft and our hero in military custody.

In my humble opinion, I think we might be getting the Superman movie we've been waiting for.

Directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, and Diane Lane. Look for it in theaters on June 14th, 2013.

NYCC 2012: DC Animated's 2013 Film Lineup

Continuing our New York Comic-Con coverage (and today's DC Animated coverage), we have the report straight from the Saturday's "Dark Knight Returns" panel: there are some pretty amazing projects slated for the DC Animated in 2013!

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2

Coming up first in late January/early February 2013, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 concludes the animated adaptation of the 1986 Frank Miller epic that started with Part 1's release in September.  Directed by Jay Oliva and starring Peter "Robocop" Weller as the aged Bruce Wayne, Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off: after the defeat of the Mutant leader and the formation of "Sons of Batman" to take Gotham back from crime, Batman takes on the last son of Krypton (played by Mark Valley), while dealing with the "rehabilitation" of Batman's greatest foe, The Joker (Michael Emerson.)

Hit the jump for a preview of the full lineup, including the just-announced movie that we think is DC's most ambitious animation adaptation to date!

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NYCC 2012: "The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2" Roundtable with Bruce Timm

You just can't get enough DC at a comic-con these days. In addition to our NYCC coverage of what to expect from Green Lantern in comics and from Arrow on television, we're also excited to share what we've heard about the future of DC home video. We sat down with the architect of DC Animation, Bruce Timm, at a roundtable discussion to talk about Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, the latest home video release from DC Entertainment.

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Most film adaptations of comic book properties tend to abridge the material and leave certain parts on the cutting room floor. Was there anything from Frank Miller's orignal story that didn't make it into the film?

Bruce Timm: There's nothing really big that was left out. We had a lot of elbow room since we had two movies to spread out in. I think we got all of the important stuff in there.

Since the story has been broken up into two parts, was it difficult to find an appropriate point to separate the two halves?

BT: It's a pretty even split. The original comic was four thick issues and we split it right after issue two. We jury rigged the endng [og Part 1] a bit, moving up the scene where Joker wakes up in Arkham Asylum in order to make that the cliffhanger, but other than that, it was pretty obvious where to do it.

The Dark Knight Returns carries a PG-13 rating and there have been rumors that The Killing Joke might be adapted to an animated feature. Can this potentially push animated films towards an R rating?

BT: There is a discussion that comes up now and then about broadening the marketplace and maybe doing an R-rated DC adaptation. For a while, we were talking about The Killing Joke. After the theater shooting this summer, I don't think anyone wants to go that route with these animated movies at the moment. But the possibility does still come up of us doing something a little more adult. It almost happened with Dark Knight, Part 2. Part 2 is actually pretty violent in places and we were crossing our fingers, hoping we wouldn't get an R rating and have to go back and cut something out. But we got PG-13, thankfully, but it could happen down the road. It's tricky. You don't want to make an R-rated Batman movie just for the sake of making an R-rated Batman movie, so it has to be something that feels appropriate for the material. We'll see what happens down the line.

Is there a possibility of seeing a part 3 and 4?

BT: You mean Dark Knight Strikes Again? I would be willing to give it a shot. If the numbers come back on this one and are huge, and we get interest from [Warner] Home Video to do more, I'm ready.

Hit the jump for the full discussion with the true architect of the DC Animated Universe!

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NYCC 2012: "The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2" Roundtable with Andrea Romano

"I wish Andrea Romano was my grandmother. Is that weird?"

That's an actual comment on an interview with Andrea, and, quite frankly, not the first time I've heard something to that effect.  And for the record, no, it isn't weird (although you should brush up on your understanding of the subjunctive mood.)  She's just that delightful.

Andrea Romano, eight-time Emmy award winning voice director, is responsible for casting and directing the voices behind practically all animated projects that have been truly great from the past 20 years.  Whenever you see her name attached to an project, you can implicitly trust that it's going to be amazingly acted and worth watching.  Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: the Animated Series, Spongebob Squarepants, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Justice League, The Boondocks, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra... her list goes on and on, and the quality of each project maintains an astoundingly high level.

More than that, though, if you have had the pleasure to meet her, you know she is just an amazingly kind woman with an incredible directing talent in her own right.  Her smile lights up the press room, and you could literally listen to her read the phone book for hours.

We sat down with the legendary voice director at New York Comic Con to talk about Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, and the incredible talent she has worked with over her prolific career.

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With all of the success of the Chris Nolan movies, was there a pressure to differentiate your sound with this similarly dark, but ultimately very different Batman?

Andrea Romano: I love the voice actors that I work with.  It makes me very happy because they're really skilled at this work, for the most part.  It's all about finding the right actor first of all, and then just letting them do what they do.

But I don't try to compare myself to the live action films; they're such a different animal.  There's a lot of things we can do because it's animated that live action films just plain can't do.

The fight walla, that stuff is always a challenge, and these particular two films - part 1 and part 2 of this Dark Knight piece - are so fight heavy. So, that's just one of those voice things where you just try to make sure you don't rip the actors' throat out because after two or three hours of just [glottal grunts], it could be painful.

Michael Emerson [cast as the Joker in TDKR]: did you find him or did he find you?

AR: I found him at Comic-Con San Diego a couple years ago.  I had admired his work on Lost so much, and I asked him, "would you be interested ever in doing an animated project if the right role came up?"  And he said, "I think that would be great fun."

When this piece came up, I said, "Oh well, would you like to be the Joker?"  And he jumped on it, and he had a great time.  Although he did tell me that he thought it was the hardest work he's ever done. I think it was kind of out of his wheelhouse; it wasn't something he had much experience in.

And so we recorded him - I was in LA; here was here in New York shooting Person of Interest, I believe. It was the first time I've ever recorded by Skype so I could watch him because working with an actor when you can see them, as opposed to only hearing their voices, is very helpful.  And then, for them to be able to see me, so that I can direct them physically - as they say, a picture would be worth a thousand words - that was very helpful too.

Peter Weller can invest heavily in a character. Was there anything about his technique that really stood out for you?

AR: The thing is Peter is a good actor, in and of himself. [What] I didn't know was that he was a major comic book fan, so he was really familiar with the source material.  I think that's what appealed to him about doing it was he knew already how good the graphic novels were. Bob Goodman wrote a beautiful script, adapted from the graphic novels, and so all of those things combined made [Weller] say, "Yes, I want to be a part of this."  And I think he was familiar with some of our previous projects, so that was all good too.

But I think as far as -- if I can't use Kevin Conroy (because I do love using Kevin Conroy whenever I can, and Mark Hamill as well) -- this was a really good bit of casting.  I'm not just saying that; I don't just cast all by myself. There's a group of about 10 people that have input as to ideas of who we could cast. We create a list of the number one choice, two, three, four... And sometimes that's in no particular order [in terms of ability] - it's just that we think we can get a fast response if we go to [a particular person.] But Peter, I think, was top choice, and he said yes right away, and that was very, very good.

Hit the jump for the full interview with the amazing voice director, including tidbits on with whom she'd like to work and what makes Kevin Conroy so special!

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NYCC 2012: "Arrow" Panel Report

Sunday at NYCC kicked off bright and early in the IGN theater with a panel showcasing Arrow, The CW’s newest live action series based in the DCU. Since Arrow had already premiered four days prior (as the most-watched show on the CW in three years), the audience was able to provide feedback and opinions on what they had seen, as well as receive a few hints about what to expect in season one.

Moderating the panel was DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, who clearly gets to do a lot more than write comics now. Joining him was Arrow executive producer, and fellow comic writer, Marc Guggenheim, and cast members Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance), and Willa Holland (Thea Queen). Before the discussion got going, the audience was treated to a new trailer for season one, featuring some DC heroes, villains, and a few surprises. Check out the trailer below.

Sharp-eyed fans will spot Deadshot, Deathstroke, Huntress, China White, and The Royal Flush Gang among the DC characters that will cross Oliver Queen’s path this season. And I think I speak for many fans when I say, “Holy sh*t, John Barrowman!”

Hit the jump to read more about what to expect from Season One of Arrow!

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'The Hobbit' Will Be A Trilogy

Roads go ever ever on...

Peter Jackson has declared that his hairy pair of Hobbit feet films will now be a threesome. (There's a troll joke there somewhere...) Confirming rumors that first saw light at San Diego Comic-Con, the Oscar-winning director has made the decision to cover every possible scrap of story from the original novel, as well as additional material found in the appendices J.R.R. Tolkien included at the end of "The Return of the King." Jackson had this to say about the endeavor:

It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made. Recently Fran, Phil, and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie - and a large chunk of the second. We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.'

We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance. The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.

So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.

It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, "a tale that grew in the telling."

Cheers,
Peter J

I guess The Hobbit wants to be in the same league as its big brother, the LOTR trilogy. The first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will hit theaters on December 14. The Hobbit: There and Back Again will follow on December 13, 2013. The currently untitled third installment is slated for release in summer 2014, unfamiliar territory for a Tolkien film. Personally, I'm hoping for The Hobbit: Still Not King.

The Newest Trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises"

July looms on the horizon...

The latest trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has hit the web. Check it out below!

A new TDKR trailer was slated to appear in front of Marvel's The Avengers this Friday, but it is unclear if this is that trailer. I'm inclined to think so, but I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong if it means a few more glimpses at the upcoming blockbuster.

The Dark Knight Rises will conclude director Christopher Nolan's Batman epic on July 20th.

Review: Justice League: Doom

When it comes to the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, it’s hard to know what to expect.  Ranging from amazing (Wonder Woman) to horrendous (Superman: Doomsday), the ongoing series of direct-to-video movies tends to be hit-or-miss.  Thankfully, Justice League: Doom, the 13^th and most recent film in the series, ranks near the top.

Loosely based on the comic JLA: Tower of Babel, written by Mark Waid and originally published in JLA #43-46 in 2000, the members of the Justice League find themselves at the mercy of some of their most formidable foes.  Having stolen Batman’s secret files pertaining to the heroes’ weaknesses, the new Legion of Doom, led by Vandal Savage, systematically incapacitates the Justice League, leaving the world undefended.  It’s not exactly a new story, having also been adapted in Justice, the 12-issue series from 2005 – 2007 by Jim Kruger and Alex Ross, but Justice League: Doom manages to tell it well, exposing the physical and metal vulnerabilities of these larger-than-life superheroes.   Heavy on the action, but not skimping on drama, the film keeps your attention and even has a few good moments that will make the fans cheer.  However, like past films Justice League: The New Frontier and Superman: Doomsday, JL:D feels rushed as a result of compressing a multi-issue story into an under-90-minute movie.  Much of the Tower of Babel story is left out, most notably the communications breakdown that occurs throughout the entire planet. The story is stripped down to its barest elements.

JL:D also falls victim to the all-powerful force of marketing, taking plenty of creative liberties in order to tie the film into the current state of the DCU.  Gone are Aquaman and Plastic Man, who appeared in the original Tower of Babel comic, only to be replaced by Cyborg in order to reflect his Justice League membership in the New 52.  Kyle Rayner and Wally West are also absent, replaced by their Silver Age predecessors, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, both of whom have been resurrected since 2000, and are extremely prevalent in ongoing DC storylines.  Bane appears as well, joining up with the Legion of Doom.  I’m sure his starring role in The Dark Knight Rises prompted his inclusion.  The replacement that makes the least sense is that of Vandal Savage in the place of Ra’s al Ghul.  It’s essentially an exchange of one immortal for another.

The biggest treat, however, to come out of JL:D is the cast.  Voice director Andrea Romano opened up her little black book and brought back almost every major player in the DC animated universe from the last 20 years.  Leading the cast are, of course, the only men who should ever be allowed to voice the World’s Finest, Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly as Batman and Superman, respectively.  Joining them are Justice League alumni Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), Carl Lumbly (J’onn J’onnz), Michael Rosenbaum (The Flash), Phil Morris (Vandal Savage), and Olivia D’Abo (Star Sapphire).  Rounding out the core of the League is none other than Nathan Fillion, reprising his (rightful) role as Hal Jordan from Green Lantern: Emerald Knights.  Even David Kaufman, the voice of Jimmy Olsen from Superman: The Animated Series makes an appearance.  Having heard many of these voices coming out of these characters for so long, it’s hard to imagine an animated Justice League without them.

It has its shortcomings, but Justice League: Doom is a great deal of fun for both fans and casual viewers alike.  Spectacular action coupled with great character moments make it one of the better installments in the DC animated movie series.  Directed by Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight) and written by Dwayne McDuffie (All-Star Superman, Justice League), Justice League: Doom arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on February 28^th.

Justice League: Doom is dedicated to writer Dwayne McDuffie, who died in February 2011.

New Trailer for The Dark Knight Rises........rises!

Beacuse a teaser and a prologue preview just aren't enough to satisfy fans, a new full-length trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was released this weekend in front of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  Check it out below!

Adding to the ominous vibe already seen in the teaser trailer, the new footage showcases just about every actor in the cast, and also gives us our first sample of the voice that will be coming from behind the mask of Tom Hardy's Bane.  Sounds a little muffled, to be honest, but my faith in Christopher Nolan has paid off in the past, so I'm willing to roll with this one.

Bringing an end to Nolan's on-screen legend, The Dark Knight Rises will arrive in theaters on July 20th, 2012.