Warner Bros. is currently in a massive state of flux with regard to its upcoming slate of movies, most prominently the ones within the struggling but expansive DC Universe. Included in that mix is Static Shock, which features a bright up-and-coming Black hero, although it's struggled to even get off the ground for the studio through its merger with Discovery.

Michael B. Jordan is set to serve as an executive producer on this mysterious DC movie, which centers on Virgil Hawkins as he learns about his electromagnetic powers. But with so many movies being canceled or delayed in the DC Universe, most famously Leslie Grace's Batgirl, fans have major concerns that Static Shock will find itself meeting the same fate and never going further into development.

But as these rumors continue to spread across the internet, one of Static Shock's key comic artists has cleared the air on what's going on with the hero's live-action movie debut.

Static Shock comic writer and artist Nikolas Draper-Ivey took to Twitter to dispel the rumors that the Static Shock movie has been canceled.

Draper-Ivey made it clear that it may take time, but that Static Shock is still in development:

"I mean it’s true! People just make up whatever and have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes," Draper-Ivey said. "Things are shifting, but they aren’t going to mess with Static. There’s a lot in the works, but these things take time." (via The Direct)

While the weekend box office looked a bit soft at first glance, taking in only $72 million domestically, it really wasn’t that big of a drop from the same weekend last year, dipping just 7%. And the film in the top spot has quite a bit to be happy about. Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron posted a $12.8 million giving the studios and animated filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, their biggest openings ever in the U.S./Canada marketplace. The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes took second place with $9.4 million in its fourth weekend while Toho’s latest, Godzilla Minus One, grabbed $8.3 million in its second weekend. Two more animated films rounded out the top five with Trolls Band Together in fourth with $6.2 million and Disney’s Wish taking fifth with $5.3 million. The battle between those last two films has been interesting to watch as Disney’s latest has been falling behind the film from Universal, as the Troll lead film is staying one slot ahead even though it’s a week older and has taken in over $33 million more to date. Its also interesting to see that three of the top five films of the week are all animated.  

The third and final 60th Anniversary special for Doctor Who has changed the character significantly by changing the way the doctor regenerated. The final episode of Jodie Whittaker’s run as the time-traveling adventurer had the character regenerate back into David Tennant for a series of specials as showrunner Russel T. Davies, the man responsible for bringing Doctor Who back to television in the early 2000s, returned to run the series. It was never planned for Tennant to stay long with the selection of Ncuti Gatwa as the next actor to portray the beloved sci-fi hero, but how the 15th incarnation of the Doctor was introduced was unique as the character “bi-generated” and literally split into two, leaving both the 14th (this version of Tennant’s Doctor is considered a separate version from the 10th) and the 15th standing next to each other. This change would allow for the franchise to tell stories with either Doctor moving forward if they’d like. But it also has the potential to set up something they had done during the 50th anniversary special, the Day of the Doctor, which brought back actor Tom Baker who had been the 4th Doctor in the role of the Curator and who had a conversation with the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, “Eleven:  I could be a curator.  I’d be great at curating.  I’d be the great curator, ha ha.  I could retire, and do that.  I could retire, and be the curator of this place. Curator:  You know, I really think you might. Eleven:  I never forget a face. Curator:  I know you don’t.  And in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few.  But just the old favorites, eh?” Could the bi-generated ending set up this moment from a decade ago?  

With the successful completion of Loki season two, many fans are wondering about a third season and what that would entail with the ending that we got. TV Line asked that question of Loki producer Kevin Wright who would very much like to continue working with the group from the series, he doesn’t want to just rush into a third season. "For two seasons, I’ve loved working with this team… I would love to keep telling those stories with them, in this world. I don’t think any of us would ever want to rush into a Season 3 if there’s not a good story to tell. But I think this team could go off and tell other stories. Maybe it’s not 'Loki' Season 3. Maybe there’s something we can continue to do at the TVA, and it’s like our 'Better Call Saul' to 'Loki's' 'Breaking Bad.' That would be cool, to me. That isn’t because we want to end the story. But it forces all the filmmakers involved to bring their best… If this is the only opportunity we get to work together to build something, let’s make this as fulfilling as possible. And if there’s more to tell down the road, we can do it." 

When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 came out, it included graphic depictions of animal cruelty that was met with fierce opposition on-line. But it also received strong support from various groups including PETA. Now the group have made director James Gunn their 2023 Person of the Year, referring to the film as “simply marvelous” and applauding it "For using impressive and stunningly well-crafted CGI animals to inspire tens of millions of moviegoers—who flocked to theaters to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3—to have compassion for the millions of animals killed by experimenters in laboratories.” 

Illustrator, writer, editor, and art director Daerick Gröss has passed away at the age of 76. Gröss won the Russ Manning award for Most Promising Newcomer in 1991 and worked for a various publishers over the years including Marvel, DC, Innovation, Image, Malibu, Heroic and many more. In 1988 he created the latina-mutant Murciélaga She-Bat which was published by Heroic in the early 1990s. From there he painted the interiors for Innovation’s 12-issue adaptation of Anne Rice’s Vampire Lestat and in the mid-90s he worked for Marvel on Excalibur, Spider-Man, X-Force/Cable and Domino. His work for DC included the first two issues of Batman: Two Face Strikes Twice. In his later years he would turn to producing T-shirts and prints with his work on them and even dabbled in political cartoons. His passing was announced yesterday on his Facebook page by his family. 

Peacock has renewed its action-comedy series Twisted Metal for a second season. Series star and executive producer Anthony Mackie made the announcement Thursday night during The Game Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The series was nominated for Best Adaptation. Based on the classic PlayStation franchise season 1 follows a motor-mouthed outsider (Mackie) offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a badass axe-wielding car thief (Stephanie Beatriz), he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown (Joe Seanoa, Will Arnett) who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck. Twisted Metal is currently streaming on Peacock.  

Like many directors, James Gunn likes to hire actors he’s worked with in the past and one of the ones he’s worked with the most is his brother Sean Gunn. Both were a part of the MCU with Sean doing the on-screen body work for Rocket Raccoon and playing the Ravager Kraglin in James Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and the pair moved over to DC to do The Suicide Squad with Sean playing the part of Weasel. With James and Peter Safran taking over DC Studios, it was announced that one of the early projects would be an animated series based on the Creature Commandos and that Weasel would be part of the team meaning Sean had more work. It was later announced that he would also be voicing G.I. Robot in the series and James has said that the voice actors in the animated projects would be the same actors who played the roles if they moved to live-action. It looks like Sean may be extremely busy as Deadline is reporting that the younger Gunn has recently been cast to play ambitious and morally corrupt businessman Maxwell Lord. Lord has an interesting history in the comics and live-action having once been the man funding a version of the Justice League to later being revealed as a powerful psychic who kills Ted Kord aka Blue Beetle. On television he appeared in the first season of Supergirl in a Lex Luthor type role played by Peter Facinelli and then later we see a version in Wonder Woman 1984 played by Pedro Pascal. Rarely is Lord played as an outright, mustache twirling villain, but rather as someone more complicated and that appears to be what James is thinking as he commented on the idea of Lord being a bad guy: “Call Max a villain is a bit reductionist as far as I’m concerned. What do you say, @jm.dematteis?” For his part, J.M. DeMatteis, one of the creators of the character, described Lord: “He's flawed (and in the early stories manipulated by a sentient AI), a bit of a con man, but, in the end, Max has a heart of gold and loves his team. But I'm sure you know that!”  

BOOM! Studios today revealed a first look at PINE AND MERRIMAC #1 from Eisner-award nominated writer Kyle Starks (I Hate This Place), fan-favorite artist and co-creator Fran Galán (The Amazing Spider-Man) and letterer Pat Brosseau (Batman: The Knight). A new detective tale arrives in comic stores in January 2024. In Jamesport, on the corner of Pine and Merrimac sits a small, unassuming detective agency. Former homicide detective, Linnea Kent–along with her husband, an ex-professional MMA fighter and the unofficial brawn to her brains–puts her former life behind her and moves far away from the violence and death of her job in the big city to open up a quiet little detective agency in a quiet little town. At first, the simple cases this nook of the world has to offer were exactly what she was looking for. But there’s more to the quaint hamlet than Linnea could have possibly imagined, and something truly sinister pulling the strings… PINE AND MERRIMAC #1 features covers by Fran Galán, Erica Henderson (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl), Annie Wu (Black Canary), and Jae Lee (The Dark Tower). PINE AND MERRIMAC is the newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera; Grim by Stephanie Phillips and Flaviano; Stuff of Nightmares by R.L. Stine and A.L. Kaplan; Damn Them All by Simon Spurrier and Charlie Adlard; Once Upon a Time at the End of the World by Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Leila del Duca, and Nick Dragotta; Know Your Station by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas; A Vicious Circle by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo; The Neighbors by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Letizia Cadonici; Ghostlore by Cullen Bunn and Leomacs; Sirens of the City by Joanne Starer and Khary Randolph; Coda by Simon Spurrier and Matías Bergara; Rare Flavours by Ram V and Filipe Andrade, and the upcoming Underheist by David and Maria Lapham. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties, including Dune: House Harkonnen from Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Michael Shelfer; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers by Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice; and The Expanse: Dragon Tooth by Andy Diggle and Rubine. PINE AND MERRIMAC #1 will be on shelves January 3, 2024. It is available for pre-order at your local comic shop. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle.

Pine and Merrimac #1 A Main: NOV230017

Pine and Merrimac #1 B Variant: NOV230018

Pine and Merrimac #1 C 1:10 INCV: NOV230019

Pine and Merrimac #1 D 1:25 INCV: NOV230020

Pine and Merrimac #1 E FOC Reveal Variant: NOV230021

Pine and Merrimac #1 F Unlockable Variant: NOV230022

Denis Villeneuve participated in a “Dune: Part Two” press conference in South Korea and went on record saying the upcoming “Part Two” is a “much better” movie than his 2021 original. The sequel, arriving in theaters in March 2024, once again stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya and picks up the story of Paul Atreides as he leads the Fremen in a battle against the villainous Harkonnen empire. Considering the first “Dune” movie was a box office hit with $402 million (despite being released on streaming at the same time) and an awards darling with 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and six wins (original score, sound, film editing, cinematography, production design and visual effects), it’s quite notable Villeneuve is going on record calling the upcoming sequel a better movie. The director has also gone on record expressing interest in making a third “Dune” movie, one based on Frank Herbert’s follow-up novel “Dune Messiah.” Back in August, Villeneuve told Empire magazine: “If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream. I will say, there are words on paper [for a third film].” (via Variety)

In Jonathan Hickman’s 2019 House of X and Powers of X, the dawn of Krakoa ushered in a revolutionary period of X-Men comic book storytelling. Now, the Krakoan age comes crashing down and the current group of X-creators are making sure it goes out on a high note! Two interconnected series—Gerry Duggan and Lucas Werneck’s FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X and Kieron Gillen and R.B. Silva’s RISE OF THE POWERS OF X—will close out the era. The mythos-shattering events of these twin sagas will bleed out into special limited series including CABLE, DEAD X-MEN, RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO, and X-MEN FOREVER. In addition, current X-Men ongoing titles WOLVERINE, X-FORCE, and X-MEN will also deal with the dramatic repercussions of Krakoa’s fall with the culmination of nearly five years’ worth of intricate plotting and redefining character arcs. Today, fans can learn about the various X-Men issues hitting stands in March. It’s the peak of the FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X and the final war of Krakoa is fought on multiple fronts throughout time and space! Harsh defeats and inspiring victories await as Nathan Summers teams up with his younger self to take down the new threat of the Neocracy in CABLE, Betsy Braddock assists a group of fallen X-Men on their desperate mission in DEAD X-MEN, and Storm and Magneto face off against an iconic X-Men villain in the afterlife in RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO. In addition, the Phoenix Force’s role in mutantkind’s future is revealed in X-MEN FOREVER and one of the greatest best friend duos in the Marvel Universe reunite for some good old fashioned vengeance in X-MEN #32! Also in March, Wolverine and Sabretooth continue their bloodiest and most momentous showdown ever in new installments of SABRETOOTH WAR and Beast finally gets what’s been coming to him as X-FORCE reaches its milestone 50th issue.