Welcome to another edition of the DC Films News and Rumors Weekly Update where we have more news than Zac Efron has abs. This week we’ve got casting rumors with the aforementioned High School Musical star, film start dates, a return to mustache-gate, and, of course, Ben Affleck as Batman rumors. Here is the latest update of the announcements and rumors that have released from May 11-17.
First up are rumors floating around that Zac Efron is in talks to star as the titular character in Nightwing. The actor would definitely fill out the costume nicely and it’s only a matter of time before Efron is cast to play a superhero. Unfortunately, Nightwing director Chris McKay shot down the rumors, simply saying “Not true” on his Twitter account. McKay has previously stated that casting for the film is a long ways off so this rumor has been squashed… for now.
We’ve got a few tidbits of films starting production soon and one particular film wrapping up.
First up is Wonder Woman 2 which is expected to begin production “Shockingly soon” according to a director Patty Jenkins in a brief statement to Variety.
Meanwhile, Heroic Hollywood is reporting that Birds of Prey, the new film with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn front and center is expected to start filming in January 2019. Of note is the news that the film is aiming for an all-female crew which will be quite a win for gender equality in the comic book film industry.
And in other news, El Fanboy Podcast is suggesting that Man of Steel 2 is hoping to be released in 2020, but that’s strictly being filed under “rumor” for the time being.
Shazam! has officially wrapped filming according to a tweet by director David Sandberg. Now the film enters post-production. While official news from the film has been near silent, several set photos and leaks showed us the costume early leaving many to wonder why Warner Bros. didn’t counter with their own costume reveal. On that subject Sandberg tweeted:
Plans changed from what I’d been told. I don’t know what the current plans are. I’m now just focusing on making a good movie and trying not to talk about things before I’m supposed to talk about them.
I, for one, actually like the costume, it’s a complete throwback to the time of the original Superman films and, assuming he’s telling the truth, Zachary Levi has the muscles to make it look truly heroic. I can’t wait to see it in action.
I knew we’d eventually get to this point. There have been so many rumors that Ben Affleck wants to leave the role of Batman that we’ve actually looped back around and now there is a rumor that Affleck wants to stay in the role.
A Twitter user named Daniel R, who has tweeted some bits before they were announced recently and yet clearly the most reliable source, has said: “Tag it under rumor for now; I hear Ben Affleck now wants to stick around as the DCEU’s Batman.” Now it was thought that Affleck’s reluctance to step back into the cowl was a reason for Flashpoint becoming a solo Flash movie so, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, maybe Affleck truly doesn’t want to continue on as Batman. I think, however, that both Batman and Superman are going to be set aside for awhile so DC and Warner Bros. can work on other franchises so hopefully this will put an end to these types of rumors.
Speaking of Superman, Henry Cavill has given his thoughts on facial hair removal, and the Justice League movie as a whole in an interview with Empire and reported by CinemaBlend:
I was slightly surprised. When we decided to go for the mustache, I certainly wasn’t expecting all the events to unfold as they were going to unfold. I wasn’t expecting Justice League reshoots to be as extensive as they were. When it came to that, it was one of those things where I’m in the middle of another movie, and to change my look for a movie that should have finished already becomes a real problem. And as you will see when the movie comes out, to have a fake mustache on would not have been a possibility. You’ll think, ‘Okay, yeah, a fake mustache would perhaps have been blown off in this situation.’ Unfortunately, it led to much dismay when Justice League came out, but that’s the nature of these things. You can’t win every time.
Honestly, the mustache was not the biggest deal breaker of the film, and Cavill also acknowledges that keeping Superman out of the marketing was a bit of a mistake as it was always known he would be in the movie. It’s time to move forward from Justice League, rather than focusing on what went wrong, Warner Bros. should learn from their mistakes and move forward.
And finally, we lost Margot Kidder this week, who will forever be Lois Lane to many of us. She will be missed.
That’s all for this week. Sound off in the comments on any of the news and rumors above and let us know who you think Zac Efron should play in the DCEU.
