NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 107: "The Shakespeare Code" is Up!

"But are we safe?  I mean, can we move around and stuff?"
"Of course we can.  Why not?"
"It's like in those films -- if you step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race."
"Then don't step on any butterflies.  What have butterflies ever done to you?"
-- Martha Jones and the Tenth Doctor, Doctor Who: "The Shakespeare Code"

You guessed it, my partner in time Jesse Jackson and I are back with a new episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast!  This time, we're joined by special guest companion Christine Peruski to review "The Shakespeare Code", the 2007 episode from Series Three of Doctor Who, featuring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones!

In this episode, Jesse, Christine and I discuss things like Jesse and Christine's Game of Thrones Sadness List, Christine's Doctor Who background, Torchwood being Jesse's Doctor Who gateway drug, Christine's favorite Doctors and companion, my meeting David Tennant at Wizard World Cleveland, David Tennant in Hamlet with Sir Patrick Stewart, my seeing the Globe Theatre in London, the Doctor relating to Shakespeare, Christine using Gwen Cooper's Welsh accent in an audiobook recording, the problem with Martha Jones being the Tenth Doctor's rebound from Rose Tyler, Martha as Doctor Who's first black lead companion, the difference between UK and American actors staying with a series before moving on to something else, the Carrionites and the magic on Doctor Who, the Harry Potter references, my Reverse the Polarity segment, the correct pronunciation of J.K. Rowling, new feedback from Holly from Wisconsin and Paul from Australia, and more!

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Be sure to come back in two weeks as Jesse and I review "Infamy of the Zaross", the 2017 Doctor Who audio adventure from Big Finish Productions, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler and Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler!  Look for more of Next Stop Everywhere on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

GHOSTWOOD 030: "The Tapes of Agent Cooper" is Up!

"Diane, what you are about to hear is deeply disturbing..."
-- Special Agent Dale Cooper, "Diane...": The Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper

It is happening again...My co-host with the most Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast!  This time, we review the 1990 Simon & Schuster Audio book "Diane..." - The Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper, performed by Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper and set during the events of Twin Peaks Season 1 and the Season 2 premiere.

LET'S ROCK!

In our latest episode, Xan and I discuss things like Xan's recent trip to Spain, Xan getting the 100-year-old Phantom of the Spanish Flu, the first Twin Peaks season being Josie-centric, picturing Laura Dern as Diane Evans listening to Cooper's tapes, Kyle MacLachlan getting nominated for a Grammy, Henry Winkler and the Ron Howard movie Night Shift, remembering our first iPods, Xan as a walking & talking Simpsons quote machine, wondering why you would rent-to-own a pocket cassette recorder, Xan as Kim Carnes, wondering if everyone in the Blue Rose Task Force is expected to wear black suits, the disposition of Cooper's worldly goods, the vanishing roadside diners, Cooper geeking out about finding an "R" under Laura Palmer's fingernail, wondering why Cooper's recording stops just as he holds up a small box of chocolate bunnies, wondering who exactly was the mysterious "J" in Laura's diary, Cooper trying to solve JFK's assassination, Twin Peaks breaking ground with fishes in percolators, Canadian geese being total dicks, Cooper needing a cold shower after finding Audrey naked in his bed, Leo Johnson killing Waldo the myna bird, wondering whatever happened to Eric Da Re, Donna Heyward being a total jerk to Dr. Jacoby and Harold Smith, the presence of Nichelle Nichols, our mutual love of Tron and Tron: Legacy, and more!

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Be sure to come back in two weeks as Xan and I explore the roots of Twin Peaks and review David Lynch's first feature-length film, the surreal 1977 cult classic Eraserhead!  Look for more of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast on iTunes, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

Jon Favreau to Write & Produce STAR WARS Live-Action TV Series

Star Wars is finally hitting the small screen.

The official Star Wars site has announced that Jon Favreau will write and executive produce a new live-action Star Wars television series for Disney's upcoming streaming service.

Favreau, 51, is a longtime Star Wars fan, and is appearing as an alien in the upcoming movie Solo: A Star Wars Story.  Previously, he voiced the Mandalorian warrior Pre Vizskla in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  He remarked, "If you told me at 11 years old that I would be getting to tell stories in the Star Wars universe, I wouldn’t have believed you.  I can’t wait to embark upon this exciting adventure."

Favreau is best known as Happy Hogan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and as the director of Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Elf, Zathura: A Space Adventure, Cowboys & Aliens, and The Jungle Book (2016).  As an actor, he's appeared in the films Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Iron Man films, Daredevil, Batman Forever, The Jungle Book (2016), Entourage, The Wolf of Wall Street, John Carter, Swingers, and Rudy.

"I couldn’t be more excited about Jon coming on board to produce and write for the new direct-to-consumer platform,” said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.  "Jon brings the perfect mix of producing and writing talent, combined with a fluency in the Star Wars universe.  This series will allow Jon the chance to work with a diverse group of writers and directors and give Lucasfilm the opportunity to build a robust talent base."

The untitled Star Wars live-action series currently does not have a release date.

THE BOYS Casts Jack Quaid as Wee Hughie

Not Simon Pegg?  Come on...

Deadline has word that the upcoming Amazon series The Boys, based on the Dynamite Entertainment comic series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, has cast Jack Quaid as Wee Hughie.  He joins Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk and Erin Moriarty as Starlight.

According to the article, Wee Hughie is described as "After the death of his girlfriend by fast-moving Superhero A-Train (Jessie Usher), Hughie is approached by a mysterious 'government agent' named Billy Butcher, who drags Hughie into a covert war against a group of superheroes who are not what everyone thinks they are."

In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, The Boys revolves around a group of vigilantes known informally as 'the Boys,' who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.

Quaid, 25, is the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, and probably best known as Marvel in the film The Hunger Games.  His other movies include The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Rampage, Logan Lucky, Tragedy Girls, and Just Before I Go.

Created in 2006 by Ennis and Robertson, Wee Hughie first appeared in The Boys #1 as Hugh Campbell, an adopted child who grew up in rural Scotland.  He had a rather bizarre childhood, including a period of trauma from exposure to a giant tapeworm, the shock of being present when an airline pilot suddenly had a mental breakdown mid-flight, and a childhood friend called Det with an unnaturally powerful stench.

While attending a carnival with his girlfriend, Robin, they admitted their love for another, but Robin was accidentally killed during a superhero brawl between A-Train (a member of the premier superhero team the Seven) and a supervillain, while A-Train was traveling faster than the speed of sound.  Hughie, holding his dead girlfriend's arms, went into emotional shock because of the entire experience.  Due to this experience, Billy Butcher recruited him to take Gregory Mallory's vacated spot on the Boys, and later injected him with Compound V, without Hughie's permission.  

Hughie was an innocent to the Boys' world, which often resulted in him becoming hesitant in his actions.  Shortly after his first combat experience which resulted in his accidental killing of Blarney Cock, he became extremely worried about repeating the action, which nearly resulted in the escape of Swingwing in a subsequent operation.  He also became gradually disgusted with Butcher's easy willingness to torture their enemies and the others' apathy towards it.  As the series progressed, and the bloodshed gradually increased, Hughie grew angry with Butcher's dismissal of the constant violence ("big boys' rules") used in their operations.

Eventually, Hughie met Annie January, a.k.a. Starlight from the A-Train's superhero team The Seven.  The two happened to sit in the same park bench in Central Park, and Starlight was amused by Wee Hughie's thick Scottish accent.  The two strangers talked and they both experienced a positive lift in mood, although they chose not to tell the other about their real jobs.  The two soon began dating, with Annie believing her relationship with Hughie was "more precious than gold".  She intended to quit the Seven and move out, but was terrified Hughie would reject her if he found out what she did to get into the Seven.  This unfortunately proved to be true, with Hughie leaving their relationship after she revealed her true identity.  

During the events of the attempted coup of the US Government by the Seven's leader, the Homelander, Butcher captured A-Train with the hopes of getting Hughie to finally understand what it meant to be one of The Boys.  He made Hughie listen to recorded conversations of them discussing Robin, hoping to convince him to murder A-Train.  Hughie couldn't bring himself to kill the captured superhuman, so Butcher started playing further conversations of the Seven, a tactic Hughie saw through and refused to be provoked. However, when the tape reached the Seven's plan to hire Starlight so they could degrade her, Hughie finally snapped and kicked A-Train's head completely off.

In the aftermath of the fight with The Seven, Butcher told The Boys that Hughie was going to be second in command, which infuriated his teammates, due to Butcher's revelation that Hughie sought out the position, a deliberate act by Butcher.  It soon became clear that Butcher had been trying to get the team out of the way so he could carry out a mass murder of superhumans, even though the act would also likely kill those who only have trace amounts of Compound V in their system from simple interaction, which would mean the deaths of hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people.  Realizing that Butcher needed to be stopped, Hughie prepared by going to Mother's Milk's home and drinking his mother's breast milk, which allowed him to match the far stronger and older Butcher.  The two then fought one another other, ultimately ending with Hughie's victory.

By the end of the series, Annie left New York and Hughie behind, due in part to Hughie's continued discomfort around her.  She returned in the final issue, with the characters once again together, having decided to give their relationship another chance after both the Boys and the Seven were ended.

The Boys is expected to debut on Amazon sometime in 2019.

LEGION Season 2 Full Trailer Hints at War with The Shadow King

What's the last thing you remember?

After several teasers, FX has released the first full trailer for the second season of Legion, based on the Marvel Comics character.  The 90-second trailer teases a time jump and the upcoming war against Season 1 Big Bad, the Shadow King.

The trailer opens with memory artist Ptonomy Wallace (Jeremie Harris) asking David Haller (Dan Stevens), "What's the last thing you remember?"  We see David waking in a field somewhere, followed by a number of strange fleeting images.

"Where you been?" asks Sydney "Syd" Barrett (Rachel Keller), David's mutant girlfriend as we see a quick replay of the Season 1 cliffhanger where David was transported inside a small, floating orb device and kidnapped by a person, or persons, unknown.

We see fleeting images of David in some form of monastery meditating and the burned visage of David's former interrogator Clark (Hamish Linklater).

"I remember...trees," David replies.  "And...dancing?"  Suddenly, we see Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement), Melanie Bird's mutant husband and one of the founders of Summerland, participating in an elaborate dubstep dance number with David and Lenny Busker (Aubrey Plaza).

"We'll talk later," says Ptonomy.  "Okay," nods David.

"After you left," Ptonomy says to David in a different scene, "we joined Division 3, started working together to fight our real enemy..."

"The Shadow King," finishes David as we glimpse the true face of Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King (Navid Negahban).  

Syd asks, "You think he's infecting people somehow?"

"We all die eventually," remarks Melanie Bird (Jean Smart), David's psychiatric therapist.  "The real tragedy is forgetting to live."

Syd warns "It's coming" as we see a strange, oval-shaped coffin being raised.

"What's coming?" asks David as we see the coffin being opened, revealing the Shadow King inside.

Fleeting images of the previous Shadow King (Aubrey Plaza) tormenting Cary Loudermilk (Bill Irwin) and bizarre women in black leotards with page boy haircuts and mustaches follow, as the mustached women tell David, "The end of everything.  Do not fail."

"She lives in the future you're going to destroy," remarks the Shadow King to David, "and when you do, she will cease to exist."

David tells Syd he loves her and Syd replies, "Love...isn't gonna save us."

More images follow, this time of the Shadow King (Plaza) and Oliver lounging in a swimming pool side by side, the Shadow King (Plaza) handcuffed in the back of a truck with heavily armored police or soldiers, and David lying in the center of a floor marked with a large black number 6.

"You still trust him?" asks Ptonomy.

"He's my man," replies Syd confidently as we end with a close-up smirk from David.

If you'd like to check out the new trailer, you can view it below thanks to the official FX Networks account on YouTube...



Legion returns to FX for Season 2 on Tuesday, April 3rd.

THE BOYS Casts Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk

We have the first member of The Boys.

Deadline has word that the upcoming Amazon series The Boys, based on the Dynamite Entertainment comic series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, has cast Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk.

According to the article, Mother's Milk (real name unknown) is described as "Second in command of The Boys, he’s a great detective, highly intelligent and observant and an intuitive investigator."

In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, The Boys revolves around a group of vigilantes known informally as 'the Boys,' who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.

Alonso, 43, is probably best known as Billy Soto on the NBC series The Mysteries of Laura, and as Fenix Caulderon in the movie Fast & Furious 6.  He's appeared in the movies Detroit, Avatar and Constantine, and on episodes of Deception, Breakout Kings, Southland, Bones, Entourage, NCIS and CSI: Miami.

Created in 2006 by Ennis and Robertson, Mother's Milk first appeared in The Boys #2.  Born to a poor family in Harlem, Mother's Milk is the only member of The Boys to be born with Compound V in his blood.  His mother was employed as a worker at a factory owned by Vought-American, which had previously been used as a laboratory experimenting on Compound V.  Most of the women who worked there subsequently died or suffered from severe medical conditions.  Mother's Milk's brother was born mentally disabled, and later died due to complications related to Compound V.  His father spent years trying to fight Vought- American in the courts and, despite winning one case, he ultimately died while working on a follow-up case.

It was eventually revealed that Mother's Milk's name was related to the fact that due to the Compound V in his body, he had to continue nursing from his mother at an advanced age to survive.  When he was a child, his mother tried to wean him multiple times but he got progressively sicker and weaker each time, until his heart stopped the last time she tried.

To support his mother and his new wife, Mother's Milk decided to join the Army and became a member of the Army boxing team.  During the Army heavyweight championship, his Compound V derived powers suddenly activated and he accidentally punched off his opponent's head.  While being held as a prisoner by the military, he was approached by Billy Butcher and Greg Mallory with an offer to join the Boys and accepted.  Mother's Milk served as Butcher's second-in-command in the Boys and his calm logic was often an anchor within the team.  Butcher mentioned him as the glue holding the team together.

After Mother's Milk had been with The Boys for a year, Butcher accompanied him to rescue Mother's Milk's infant daughter Janine, whose mother, a drug addict, was incapable of raising her properly.  The pair rescued Janine from her mother's then-residence, a crack house whose addicts smoked crack cut with Compound V.  Mother's Milk. was later present at the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge, where he attempted to help a woman from a falling car.  Although he maintained his hold on her, she could not get free of her seat belt and was torn in half, dying in his arms.  The experience would haunt Mother's Milk, and serve as additional motivation for continuing the fight against Vought-American.

Later, Mother's Milk discovered that his ex-wife and daughter were in a pornographic movie together.  He was understandably furious at this revelation, and left to deal with the family issue.  Mother's Milk soon received a call from his daughter, telling him that she wasn't in her right mind, and has run away from her mother.  Mother's Milk attempted to get her location, but she stated that she wanted to be left alone, and when she was well, she would call him back to let him know.  He did, however, track her down, during which it was revealed that Butcher murdered the producers and cast of the adult film, including brutally murdering Janine's mother in front of her.  His final words, meant both as a warning and as a threat, were for Janine to leave Mother's Milk alone.

After he had a meeting with The Boys about stopping Butcher from using a weaponized version of the Compound V on the rest of the superhumans, Butcher questioned why he wasn't trying to fix his issues with his daughter, thinking that would get him out of the picture for good.  Mother's Milk questioned if Butcher was really going through with the plan and Butcher offered him a chance to walk away, but to no avail.  They started fighting one another, where Butcher revealed to him that he thought of killing his mother as well.  Before Mother's Milk could land a decisive blow, Butcher pulled out a grenade and stuffed it into Mother's Milk's mouth as it exploded.  Mother's Milk was left in critical condition, and Butcher later stopped Mother's Milk from breathing and killed him, while stating that he had no mates.

The Boys is expected to debut on Amazon sometime in 2019.

TITANTALK 003: "Titans: Rebirth" is Up!

"My name is Wally West.  I'm the Fastest Man Alive.  I used to be Kid Flash...but I'm not a kid anymore.  And all my friends have forgotten me."

-- The Flash (Wally West), Titans: Rebirth #1: "Titans: Rebirth"

That's right, my fellow TitanTalker Jesse Jackson and I are back with another new episode of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast! 

In this third episode of our three-part rollout, Jesse and I discuss Jesse meeting comics legend Jim Shooter, Jesse stepping away from mainstream comics in The New 52 era, recapturing the past in the DC Rebirth era, the pre-Rebirth era miniseries Titans Hunt, old school Titans villain Mister Twister, Arsenal's douchey backwards baseball cap, Dan Abnett writing the Titans as a family again, Titans Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West, Flash villain Abra Kadabra, Titans Vol. 2: Made in Manhattan, Wally and Superman being the only superheroes in the DC Universe that remember what happened before Flashpoint, the new Titans Tower, Tempest and Omen's budding romance, trust issues with the Titans' Justice League mentors, Justice League villain The Key, Geoff Johns writing a Doom Patrol episode of Titans, more characters coming up on the Titans TV show, speculating on some possible upcoming Titans TV characters, an update on the Nightwing movie, and more!

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Be sure to come back next month for Episode 004 as Jesse and I discuss the casting for Titans' take on the Doom Patrol, along with more news from the upcoming DC Universe series Titans!  Look for more of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

Kristen Wiig in Talks for The Cheetah in WONDER WOMAN 2

Wonder Woman is close to getting an arch-enemy.

Deadline reported late yesterday that Warner Bros. and DC Films are in talks with Kristen Wiig for the Wonder Woman 2 role of Barbara Minerva, better known to DC Comics fans as the supervillain known as The Cheetah.

According to the article, Wonder Woman 2 will be set in the 1980s during the Cold War, with Patty Jenkins returning to direct the sequel starring Gal Gadot as the superhero Wonder Woman.  The first Wonder Woman film received critical acclaim and brought in over $821 million worldwide.

Wiig, 44, is best known as a sketch performer on the NBC series Saturday Night Live, and for films such as Bridesmaids, The Martian, and the 2016 Ghostbusters remake.  Her other films include the Despicable Me films, How to Train Your Dragon, Downsizing, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Zoolander 2, The Skeleton Twins, Paul, MacGruber, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  Her other television work includes episodes of The Last Man on Earth, Arrested Development, The Simpsons, Drunk History, Portlandia, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Cleveland Show, and 30 Rock.

Created in 1943 by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter, The Cheetah first appeared in Wonder Woman (vol.1) #6 as Priscilla Rich, a Washington, D.C. debutante of aristocratic upbringing who had an overwhelming inferiority complex and suffered from a split personality.  After being eclipsed by Wonder Woman at a charity event and failing to kill her during an escapology act, Priscilla retreated to her room and collapsed before her makeup mirror.  There she saw an image of a woman dressed like a cheetah and the image commanded her to fashion a costume from a cheetah-skin rug.  The Cheetah framed Wonder Woman for a robbery by hiding the money in her apartment and tipping off the police, then set fire to a warehouse Wonder Woman was in, although Wonder Woman escaped.  She was presumed dead, but survived thanks to her fireproof costume.

In 1987, writer and artist George Pérez revamped the character in Wonder Woman (vol.2) #7 as Dr. Barbara Minerva, a British archaeologist born as the heiress of a vast fortune in the ancient family site in Nottinghamshire.  Ambitious, selfish, and severely neurotic, Barbara developed a passion for archaeology that eventually led her to search out a tribe in Africa who utilized a female guardian with the powers of a cheetah.  A band of marauders killed the guardian and most of what remained of her original expedition party.  Barbara, with the aid of a priest named Chuma, the caretaker of the ancient plant god Urzkartaga, took her place after being told that she would gain immortality.  She received her powers by ingesting a combination of human blood and the berries or leaves of Urzkartaga.  Unfortunately for Minerva, the host of the Cheetah persona was intended to be a virgin, but Minerva was not, so her transformations were part curse and part blessing, as she experienced severe pain and physical disability while in her human form and bloodthirsty euphoria while in her cat form.

This version of the Cheetah encountered Wonder Woman when Barbara discovered that Diana possessed the Lasso of Truth.  As an archaeologist, Barbara coveted the lasso and hoped to add it to her collection of historical items.  She first attempted to do so through trickery, claiming that there was a matching ancient Golden Girdle of Gaea of the same kind from which the lasso was fashioned.  Unfortunately, although the scheme proceeded far enough for Minerva to hold the lasso, its magical power to make people tell the truth forced her to confess her true intentions.  Diana, profoundly distraught that she would be so treacherous, took back the lasso.  Minerva resorted to attacking the Amazon as the Cheetah in order to rob her of the lasso.  Their initial battle ended with inconclusive results, with Diana's friend Julia Kapatelis shooting the Cheetah and forcing her to retreat.

The Cheetah's origin was reworked in 2016 with continuity changes made with DC Rebirth.  In this version, Barbara Ann Cavendish enjoyed mythology as a young girl and showed an affinity for language.  Her father disparaged her interest in myth, deriding it as childish, but her passion for myth and legend remained and as an adult, she took her late mother's maiden name of Minerva.  By age 26, she had mastered seven languages and earned two PhD's in archaeology.  On a dig in the Ukraine, she discovered proof of the existence of the Amazons, but the dig site collapsed.  Minerva was able to take photos before the collapse and followed her findings to the Black Sea, only to find what she believed was an empty island.  After Princess Diana of the Amazons returned US Navy SEAL Steve Trevor to the United States, the Navy called Dr. Minerva to translate Diana's language.  Minerva became close friends with Diana and Lt. Etta Candy, and taught Diana English as well as other languages.  After Ares attacked the naval base and several of the Olympian Gods (in the forms of animals) assisted Diana in Ares' defeat, Minerva became even more obsessed with the divine.  Seeking out proof of other deities, Minerva learned of Urzkartaga and obtained funding for an expedition to the fictional African nation of Bwunda from Veronica Cale.  Minerva was unaware that Cale was acting on behalf of the sons of Ares, Deimos and Phobos, who believed that by turning Minerva into a demigod, she would be able to locate Themyscira for them.  In case of emergency, Diana provided Minerva with a Wayne Enterprises GPS signaling device, which Doctor Cyber remotely disabled.  As a result, Wonder Woman was unable to prevent Barbara from being wed to Urzkartaga and becoming the Cheetah.  Blaming Diana for her forced transformation and the cannibalistic urges that came with it, Cheetah joined Cale's Godwatch group.

This will be the first time The Cheetah will appear in live-action, although the character has appeared in various animated projects, including Challenge of the Super Friends (voiced by Marlene Aragon), Justice League and Justice League Unlimited (voiced by Sheryl Lee Ralph), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Morena Baccarin), Justice League: Doom (voiced by Claudia Black), DC Super Hero Girls (voiced by Ashley Eckstein), JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time (voiced by Erica Luttrell), Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts (voiced by Laura Bailey), and Legion DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom (voiced by Cree Summer).

Wonder Woman 2 is currently expected to arrive in theaters on November 1, 2019.

TITANS Casts Dwain Murphy as Negative Man

The Doom Patrol is finally complete.

Den of Geek has revealed that the upcoming DC Universe digital series Titans has cast Dwain Murphy as Larry Trainor, better known to DC Comics fans as Negative Man, member of the team of strange superheroes known as The Doom Patrol.  

Murphy joins Bruno Bichir as The Chief, April Bowlby as Elasti-Girl and Jake Michaels as Robotman.  The Doom Patrol will make their debut in the series' fifth episode, "The Doom Patrol", written by Geoff Johns.

According to the article, Negative Man is described as "A pilot in the Air Force, Larry Trainor crashed his plane and was exposed to a mysterious “negative” energy.  Wrapped in bandages to protect those around him, Larry struggles with this new strange power."

Murphy, 32, is a Caribbean-born Canadian actor probably best known as Sean Duncan on the FX series The Strain and as Captain Maddox on the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery.  He's also appeared in episodes of Suits, The Mist, Killjoys, Lost Girl, Nikita, Warehouse 13, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Rogue, and Mohawk Girls.

Created in 1963 by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, Negative Man first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 as Larry Trainor, a test pilot accidentally exposed to a radioactive field in the atmosphere while piloting a test plane.  This experience left him radioactive himself, but also gave him a strange superpower -- the ability to release a negatively charged energy being from his body.  The being, also referred to as Negative Man, or later as the Negative Spirit, can fly at high speed, cause solid objects to explode, and pass through solid materials.  It resembles a shadowy silhouette of a human being, surrounded by a bright glow. The being is under Trainor's control and appeared at first to have no mind of its own.  Unfortunately, Trainor was left weak and defenseless while the being was separated from his body, and he could only risk sending it forth for 60 seconds at a time without risking death.  After his accident, Trainor resembled the Invisible Man and was forced to wear specially treated bandages over his entire body to protect bystanders from his radioactivity.

Larry was approached by Niles Caulder, who offered him a place among fellow "freaks" attempting to use their powers for good.  As Negative Man, he joined Caulder's team, the Doom Patrol.  Eventually, tragedy struck when the Doom Patrol's enemies, the Brotherhood of Evil, threatened a small New England fishing village.  The Patrol members opted to sacrifice themselves to save the innocents, and were killed in an explosion.

Inexplicably, Trainor turned up alive, permanently separated from the radio energy being, but still radioactive, bandaged, and weak in its absence.  The Negative Spirit possessed a Russian cosmonaut, Colonel Valentina Vostok, who became Negative Woman.  Initially, Vostok could transform herself into a radio-energy form, possessing the same capabilities as Trainor's "partner."   The Negative Spirit later revealed itself to be amoral, intelligent, and capable of speech.  Trainor pleaded with it to leave him alone, but it forcefully merged itself with both Trainor, a white man, and his physician, Dr. Eleanor Poole, a black woman. Together the three entities formed Rebis, a divine intersex person, who also needed to wear special bandages.  Rebis had all of the memories of all three beings as a compound being, frequently using "we" when speaking of itself.  Rebis had a larger range of powers than those of either Trainor or Vostok.  He could fly and was psychic, extraordinarily intelligent, and, most significantly, immortal.

In the current DC Comics continuity known as "The New 52", Negative Man and the Doom Patrol went on a mission to capture the Ring of Volthoom, which had attached itself onto a woman named Jessica Cruz.  Their mission put them in opposition of the Justice League. However, it was revealed by Lex Luthor that Caulder caused Larry and everyone else on the team's respective accidents, forcing them to lose morale and give up.  Some time later, Larry was mysteriously beamed to what was known as "the Negative Space" and separated from his negative spirit Keeg Bovo.  After being sent back to Earth, Larry was reunited with his fellow former Doom Patrol member Robotman and contacted by Keeg Bovo, who invited Larry to return to the Negative Space for trial.  Both Negative Man and Robotman went to the Negative Space and, despite Larry being sentenced to remain connected to Keeg, Robotman talked the council out of their decision, stating it was only fair for Larry to decide if he wanted to continue having powers or be normal.  Larry agreed to continue being Negative Man and accepted Keeg, hoping that his powers could be used to continue helping people.

This will be the first time the character will appear in live-action, although Negative Man has appeared in various animation projects, including Teen Titans (voiced by Judge Reinhold), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by David K. Hill), and in the DC Nation Doom Patrol shorts (voiced by Clancy Brown).

Titans is expected to debut on the DC Universe digital service sometime in 2018.

TITANTALK 002: "Cast of the Titans" is Up!

"R-Robin?  What's going on?"
"Can't you guess, Beautiful?  It's the one and only Changeling, live and in person!"

-- Wonder Girl and Changeling, The New Teen Titans (vol.1) #1: "The New Teen Titans"

That's right, my fellow TitanTalker Jesse Jackson and I are back with another new episode of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast! 

In this second episode of our three-part rollout, Jesse and I discuss what we know so far about the upcoming Titans TV series, the previous failed attempt at doing a Titans TV series on TNT, Jesse preferring substance over style, what we want to see from Titans, why a shorter season may benefit the series, the show's main cast and their previous acting credits, the costumes for Robin, Hawk and Dove, and more!

If you'd like to check out episodes of TitanTalk, you can find us on...

iTunes -- RIGHT HERE

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn --  RIGHT HERE

Google Play Music -- COMING SOON!

TitanTalk's Facebook page

TitanTalk's Twitter account

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Episode 003 as Jesse and I discuss the first two trade paperback volumes of the current Titans series from DC Comics, along with more news from the upcoming DC Universe series Titans!  Look for more of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

TITANTALK 001: "TitanTalk Together" is Up!

"I'd like to propose a toast -- an obvious one.  To my friends, past, present and future -- to the Titans."

-- Nightwing, Secret Origins Annual #3: "Pieces of the Puzzle"

After months of teasing this project, I'm very proud to announce that my longtime friend and fellow TitanTalker from back in the day Jesse Jackson and I have just launched our brand-new podcast, TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast, as part of the Southgate Media Group!  Our first introductory episode, "TitanTalk Together", was posted this afternoon and we hope you'll give us a listen.

In addition, we've set up a TitanTalk show page on Facebook, which you can check out HERE, and we're also on Twitter using the account @TitanTalkCast.  Be sure to share these with all of your friends, love interests, mentors, sidekicks, archenemies, otherdimensional beings, whomever, and help build our new podcast into something special.

In our first introductory episode, Jesse and I discuss being destined to do a Titans podcast, our other podcasts for the Southgate Media Group, our backgrounds as longtime comics and Titans fans, how Jesse and I met back in the day as members of the amateur press association TitanTalk, writing Titans fan fiction, zines being the original blogs, fans vs. fanatics, Jesse giving my wife Lori away at our wedding, Jesse recruiting me into the world of podcasting, covering other Titans material in addition to the upcoming TV show, our decision to resurrect TitanTalk as a podcast, things will be covering in upcoming episodes, how to email TitanTalk and follow us on social media, and more!

If you'd like to check out our first episode, you can find us on...

iTunes -- COMING SOON!

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn --  RIGHT HERE

Google Play Music -- COMING SOON!

TitanTalk's Facebook page

TitanTalk's Twitter account

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Episode 002 as Jesse and I discuss news from the upcoming DC Universe series Titans, including a rundown of the main and recurring cast!  Look for more of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

TITANS Casts Jake Michaels as Robotman

The Doom Patrol is almost complete.

ComicBook.com has revealed that the upcoming DC Universe digital series Titans has cast Jake Michaels as Cliff Steele, better known to DC Comics fans as Robotman, member of the team of strange superheroes known as The Doom Patrol.  

Michaels joins Bruno Bichir as The Chief and April Bowlby as Elasti-Girl.  The Doom Patrol will make their debut in the series' fifth episode, "The Doom Patrol", written by Geoff Johns.

According to the article, Robotman is described as "A former race car driver, Cliff Steele was in a horrific accident that left his body uninhabitable.  Cliff’s brain was saved by the mysterious Dr. Niles Caulder and he lives on in a powerful robotic body."

Michaels has previously appeared in episodes of Designated Survivor, Killjoys, Condor, Saving Hope, Suits, 11.22.63, Beauty and the Beast, Lost Girl, Nikita, Na dobre i na złe, and Transporter: The Series.

Created in 1963 by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, Robotman first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 as Clifford "Cliff" Steele, a race car driver who had an accident that destroyed his body (a later retcon had the accident intentionally caused by Niles Caulder).  Caulder subsequently placed Cliff's intact brain into a robotic body which had superhuman strength, speed and endurance. After the operation, Cliff suffered from frequent depression because he viewed himself as less than human.

Cliff was approached by Caulder, who offered him a place among fellow "freaks" attempting to use their powers for good.  As Robotman, he joined Caulder's team, the Doom Patrol.  Eventually, tragedy struck when the Doom Patrol's enemies, the Brotherhood of Evil, threatened a small New England fishing village.  The Patrol members opted to sacrifice themselves to save the innocents, and were killed in an explosion.

Although initially believed to have been killed by Madame Rouge, Cliff's brain had survived. Will Magnus, the robotics expert who created the Metal Men, recovered Cliff's brain and built him a new body.  Cliff then joined a new Doom Patrol headed by a woman claiming to be Caulder's wife, Arani.  Refusing to believe that Niles was dead, she formed this new team to search for him and took his place as leader, calling herself Celsius, due to her heat-and-cold-based powers.  This new Doom Patrol was eventually almost all killed in action, with the exceptions of Cliff, Tempest, Negative Woman, and Rhea Jones (who remained comatose).  Caulder had turned up alive by this time, and denied having been married to Arani, although he admitted having known her.

Cliff voluntarily committed himself to an asylum, having fallen into a state of depression due to his condition and the loss of his teammates.  In particular, he was angry about being in a metal body and unable to enjoy the feeling and senses that humans take for granted. Caulder sent Magnus to try to help Cliff, and he introduced Cliff to a person with "worse problems than [his]", a woman called Crazy Jane.  Forming a new incarnation of the Doom Patrol, Cliff became Jane's guardian, and eventually fell in love with her.  Later, his human brain was revealed to have been replaced with a Central Processing Unit (CPU), making him a robot in reality.

In the current DC Comics continuity known as "The New 52", Cliff Steele is an adventurer and daredevil who agrees to be injected with experimental nanomachines designed to improve and repair his body.  After he's involved in a fatal car crash during a high-speed race, the nanomachines respond by creating a robotic body in order to encase and protect his still living brain.  Though initially distraught over his condition, the nanomachines prevent Cliff from being able to kill himself.  After coming to terms with his new body, he becomes a freelance hero, later joining the latest incarnation of the Doom Patrol.

This will be the first time the character will appear in live-action, although Robotman has appeared in various animation projects, including Teen Titans (voiced by Peter Onorati), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Henry Rollins), and in the DC Nation Doom Patrol shorts (voiced by David Kaye).

Titans is expected to debut on the DC Universe digital service sometime in 2018.