Newstime: The Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

From film to TV, gaming to comics and everything in between, here’s what you might have missed in pop culture news this week.

TV

With New York Comic Con taking place last weekend, audiences have scored a wealth of trailers. With the usual suspects making an appearance from streaming services to major motion picture companies, fans caught the first glimpse of upcoming productions including Daredevil, The Boys, American Gods, Good Omens, Star Trek: Discovery and more. For a full update, check out Supanova’s trailer roundup.

Outside of Comic Con, a first look image of Ruby Rose as Batwoman (Newstime’s lead image) has emerged ahead of the annual CW Arrowverse crossover. At a glance, Rose’s Batwoman appears comic book accurate.

The latest seasons for The Walking Dead and Doctor Who premiered on Monday and currently sit on opposite sides of the ratings spectrum. Jodie Whittaker’s incarnation of the timelord received rave reviews, some claiming it’s the most audacious claim to the throne thus far. The Walking Dead, however, has recorded its lowest-rated premiere to date, down by nearly 50% in key demographic viewers.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich announced that Freya Allan (Into The Badlands) and Anya Chalotra (Wanderlust) had been cast in the upcoming Netflix series, playing Ciri and Yennefer respectively.

Patrick Stewart released first photos from the upcoming Star Trek series last week, but fresh news emerges from the writer’s room, announcing that the iconic role of Jean-Luc Picard may be spanning multiple seasons.

FILM

Film fans were also treated to a plethora of trailers at NYCC, including new looks at Peter Jackson’s Mortal Engines, Aquaman and more, all of which are available for your viewing pleasure in our trailer roundup.

The DC movie universe has been buzzing this week with the news that James Gunn will write the Suicide Squad sequel, albeit reportedly not exactly a sequel to David Ayer’s film. Knowing how well Gunn handled a similar team of misfits, this can only be good news for Warner Bros.

On the Marvel Cinematic Universe front, Chris Evans tweeted thanks after finishing up on the Avengers 4 shoot, leading to the mass speculation that this will be his final MCU outing. This is quite possible as his contract has been fulfilled.

Officially wrapped on Avengers 4. It was an emotional day to say the least. Playing this role over the last 8 years has been an honor. To everyone in front of the camera, behind the camera, and in the audience, thank you for the memories! Eternally grateful.

— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) October 4, 2018

As for the Avengers 4 title, Mark Ruffalo appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon seemingly dropping the title and revealing plot points, which are completely hidden by bleeps as a skit on spoilers. The Russo brothers tweeted after the show aired, joking that Ruffalo was now fired for giving it all away.

Rumours have also become rife this week that Marvel Studios are planning a Dark Avengers film. The studio is yet to confirm or deny.

Based on the seminal novel by Stephen King, horror fans will be delighted with the first-look trailer for Pet Sematary, which stars Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz and John Lithgow, and will open in cinemas on April 4.

Fox has released more details on the Deadpool film release in December. It turns out the film is, in fact, Deadpool 2, in a PG-13 format with 15 minutes of new footage and a new character. The new footage and new character presumably the sequence with Fred Savage featured in the sneak peeks that made it onto social media last week. This could also be alternate scenes that would suit the lesser violent rating. It has also been given the title, The Deadpool Before Christmas.

We’ve been given a first look at Kurt Russell as Santa Claus in upcoming Netflix film The Christmas Chronicles with the release of a poster and teaser trailer.

The first teaser poster of the live-action Aladdin film has also appeared via Will Smith’s Facebook page.

Speaking of, the teaser trailer dropped around lunchtime today, and we’re pretty excited!

A live-action Little Mermaid casting rumour was put to rest this week by Disney. Lady Gaga was said to have been cast in the role of Ursula the Sea Witch. Disney has since denied the claim via Nerdist and went as far to say that the production was not casting anyone at this point in time.

GAMING

If you’re still undecided about Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 (which is out today at 3pm AEDT), perhaps the two trailers that dropped during the week will convince you to drop all your plans for the weekend.

With a December 4 release confirmed, the Just Cause 4 story trailer was released during the week.

More details surrounding action survival shooter Left Alive have also been revealed through a story trailer, with the upcoming Square Enix release expected next March.

Last but not least, a new trailer titled CitizenCon has been released for Squadron 42, promising big things.

ANIME

DanMachi, aka Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?, has finally announced a February 2019 release date for its debut film, Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?: Arrow of Orion.

Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Resurrection (sequel film) also revealed new characters and a February release date this week, via a special video preview.

COMICS

New York Comic Con saw a gaggle of comic announcements, exclusives and reveals this week. Marvel announced a second ongoing Conan the Barbarian series entitled Savage Sword Of Conan to be written by Gerry Duggan with art by Alex Rosswhich.

Marvel also announced a relaunch for Champions due in early 2019 written by Jim Zub with art by Steve Cummings. Next year, Marvel will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Marvels by bringing back creative team Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. The company also announced a comic book adaptation of their hit podcast Wolverine: The Long Night, to be written by Benjamin Percy with art by Rafael Albuquerque, and an all-new Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man series written by Tom Taylor with art by Juan Cabal.

DC announced a new Young Justice series to be written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Patrick Gleason and Flash: Year One by writer Joshua Williamson and artist Howard Porter. Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok shared the first interior art for their hotly anticipated Three Jokers storyline, including the character designs of the three incarnations of Gotham’s Clown Prince. Johns also shared new art for Shazam and story details including a reimagining of the magic heroes’ origin story.

Fans of DC’s Swamp Thing will be ecstatic to hear that Greg Capullo is indeed working on a mega-sized 100 page Halloween issue of the warrior of the Green to be written by Brian Azzarello.

THIS WEEK’S PICKS

CURSED COMICS CAVALCADE #1 (DC COMICS) – Embrace the Halloween spirit with this horror-filled special issue compiling 10 bone-chilling stories, featuring the likes of Batman, Wonder Woman, Guy Gardner, Swamp Thing, Zatanna and more. Writers: Riley Rossmo, Tim Seeley, Bryan Hill, Becky Cloonan, James T Tynion IV and Gary Dauberman. Artists: Riccardo Federici, Riley Rossmo, Becky Cloonan and Mark Buckingham.

MURDER FALCON #1 (IMAGE COMICS) – Daniel Warren Johnson brings you the tale of Murder Falcon: an evil slaying bubonic bird from the world of heavy metal who is fuelled by shredder Jake and the power of rock! For a story featuring a Falcon with a biopic arm punching monsters in the face, look no further.

KICK-ASS #8 (IMAGE COMICS) – Someone is capturing and torturing Kick-Ass’ army of vigilantes in New Mexico. Will the new Kick-Ass have her identity revealed? Written by Steve Niles with art by Marcelo Frusin.

SPIDER-GEDDON #1 (MARVEL COMICS) – Every Spider-Man from every universe come together to fight against the end of the Spider-Verse. And that’s literally every Spider-Man and Spider-Woman: Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, the Spider-Man from this year’s hottest video game… ALL OF THEM. Written by Christos N. Gage and Dan Slott with art by Jorge Molina.

DREDD FINAL JUDGEMENT #1 (2000 AD COMICS) – The last comic book sequel to Karl Urban’s DREDD sees Judge Dredd face the ultimate judge, jury & executioner… DEATH! Written by Arthur Wyatt and Alex De Campi with art by Henry Flint.