Television

Batwoman Wings her Way to the Arrowverse in the Next Big Crossover Event

Details are scarce, but filming has already begun.

The CW used Thursday morning’s upfronts to make a major announcement regarding their popular “Arrowverse” shared world of superheroes.

“We’re incredibly excited to announce that we’ll be doing another crossover event this fall on the CW, and we’ll be introducing a new character,” Arrow‘s Stephen Amell said. “For the very first time appearing, we’ll be fighting alongside Batwoman, which is terrific. The crossover is going to make it to air in December. I need to leave right now and start filming it.”

Adding to the excitement, one of the most important characters in DC comics is coming along for the ride: Gotham City.

“We are adding the city of Gotham into the Arrowverse,” said Mark Pedowitz, President of The CW.

This expansion into the Bat family and Gotham City will let the Arrowverse explore the world of the Bat family without ruffling feathers at WB, who had declared Batman himself off-limits for television. It’s not clear yet whether Batwoman will exist on “Earth 1” with the Flash and Arrow, or “Earth 2,” home of Supergirl.

The CW uses their annual crossover event to bring characters from it’s superhero franchises — Arrow, the Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow — together to fight bad guys that no one of them could tackle on their own.

Batwoman is secretly Kate Kane, a wealthy socialite and ex-military commando. As a lesbian, Kate was forced out of the army under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. An expert at hand-to-hand combat and independently wealthy, she takes up the mantle of Batwoman for her own reasons and doesn’t need Batman’s tutelage or Bruce Wayne’s money (She actually figured out Batman’s secret identity on her own.)

There was no announcement regarding future plans for the character, but if audience respond well, it is likely we will see Kate again, in her own series or as a guest star on others.

Marvel Announces ‘Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’ Animated Series

Black-ish producers are developing the stories of the preteen African-American genius.

Marvel Television announced the a Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur animated series is on the way from Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland, the producers of black-ish.

Based on the hit comic book series, the animated project follows the adventures of nine-year-old super-genius Lunella Lafayette, an African-American girl who teams up with her crimson-colored dinosaur and uses her smarts to save the day. Lunella, A.K.A. “Moon Girl,” was created by Brandon Montclare, Amy Reeder, and Natacha Bustos (and colored by Tamra Bonvillain) in 2015.

Fishburne will be playing Bill Foster  in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp feature, but has been hinting that he had another Marvel project in the works, causing some to speculate that we would get an opportunity to see Foster’s comic book alter-ego, “Goliath.”

Now we know exactly what he was referring to, and honestly?

This is better.

‘She-Ra’ Returns to Television with a New Cartoon

Noelle Stevenson brings a new take on the ‘Princess of Power’ to Netflix in 2018

For the honor of Greyskull! She-Ra is returning to television in 2018 via new animated series on Netflix, according to an article in Variety. Noelle Stevenson was announced as the showrunner, and she confirmed the news with a tweet early yesterday morning.

Stevenson is known for writing complex and strong female protagonists. She won an Eisner award for her creator-owned graphic novel Nimona and shares several others for her contributions to the breakout hit Boom! Studios comic Lumberjanes.

Noelle Stevenson By Jody Culkin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Noelle Stevenson By Jody Culkin

“I’ve been working on this in secret along with some really incredible talent for almost two years now,” said Stevenson. “Stay tuned for more details over the next few months – can’t wait for you to see what we’re doing.”

She-Ra: Princess of Power debuted in 1985 as a spin-off of the popular He-Man cartoon. She-Ra is secretly Princess Adora, twin sister to Prince Adam, a.k.a. “He-Man.” Adora was kidnapped at birth by the evil Hordak and taken to Etheria where she grew up and was mind-controlled to serve as a captain in the evil Horde. After being rescued by He-Man, Adora learns of her true heritage and gets her own sword of power. She decides to return to Etheria as “She-Ra” to help lead the “Great Rebellion” against Hordak.

The show was cancelled in 1986, after 2 seasons and 93 episodes, but it retained a cult following in syndication.

Very few details are known about the reboot. But with Stevenson running the show, it’s a safe bet it will be stranger and better written than the campy original.

She-Ra joins six other Dreamworks cartoons on the streaming service, including Trolls: The Beat Goes On, The Boss Baby: Back in Business, Harvey Street Kids, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants,Trollhunters (Part 3) and 3 Bellow.

This news is sure to bring a smile to Heroic Girl Stella Grace, who watched the show religiously when she quite little.

Jessica Jones Season 2 Gets a Release Date and a Trailer

Netflix announced that Jessica Jones will return on March 8, 2018, for a second season of our favorite booze-soaked, super-powered private detective.

We don’t know a lot about what Jessica will be facing in the second season, but we do know that she is not finished dealing with the past. David Tennant is back as Kilgrave, whispering into Jessica’s ear from beyond the grave.

Marvel’s Jessica Jones
Krysten Ritter, David Tennant

“Having David back on set was amazing. We had such a great run the first season, and it felt like a celebration, having him back.” star Kristen Ritter told Entertainment Weekly. “The content is maybe not much of a celebration [laughs], but having him be present and spending time with him on a personal level kind of felt like one.”

While Kilgrave left an indelible mark on our heroine, there are more issues in Jessica’s past that need to be dealt with, according to showrunner Melissa Rosenberg.

“In season 1, we focused on Jessica’s trauma, on Jessica facing her abuser, but in season 2, we wanted to go even deeper than that, she said. “As you’ve seen in season 1, she was somewhat of a mess even before Kilgrave came into her life, so it was really just about digging deeper into this chaos and peeling back those layers, just going to the core of her being. That was our objective.”

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Gets 20-Episode Order at Netflix

The occult horror series follows the success of the popular teen drama Riverdale.

According to Variety, a one-hour drama based on Archie Comics’ The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has moved to Netflix and been picked up for a full 30 episodes. The series was originally developed by the CW and envisioned as a companion piece to their popular dark take on Archie Comics Riverdale. It is unclear if the show will still be set in the same universe as Riverdale after the move to another platform.

The Chiling Advenuters of Sabrina #4 – Cover by Robert Hack

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic reimagined the teenage witch’s origins and adventures as a dark horror fantasy in line with The Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby. Sabrina struggles with her dual nature — she is half-witch and half mortal — as she fights back against the forces of darkness that would destroy her friends and family in Riverdale.

Sabrina was spun off into her own comic after playing a major role in Afterlife with Archie, a horror title that showed the the effects as a zombie apocalypse spreads through Riverdale and infects members of the “Archie” gang.

Melissa Joan Hart previously played the Sabrina in the family-friendly, live-action Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which aired for seven seasons. And a cartoon spin-off lasted another season after that. This will be markedly different.

Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is writing and producing. with help from Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Jon Goldwater — all executive producers from Riverdale. Berlanti is also responsible for the “Arrowverse” slate of comic-inspired shows on The CW (Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow.)

New ‘Marvel’s Runaways’ Trailer Has Powers and ‘Old Lace’

We loved Hulu’s first Runaways trailer, but like the recent trailer for The New Mutants movie, we were left wondering, “Are there superpowers in this superhero show?”

The second trailer gives us a definitive, “Yes.”

We see Molly (a.k.a. Princess Powerful) crushing a metal seat with her hand. Chase Stein is wearing his trademark x-ray specs (the “fistigons also make an appearance – but worn by his evil father Victor). Karolina Dean appears in her beautiful “rainbow” form. Nico Minoru has her hands on the “Staff of One” and damn it looks cool when it glows, and we even get a glimpse of Gertrude’s genetically modified telepathic dinosaur from the future, “Old Lace.”

I loved the comic Runaways, and I am hoping this show will live up to its predecessor.

Hulu is launching the first season of Marvel’s Runaways on Tuesday, November 21.