Newstime: The Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

Written by Sarah Minazzo, Chris Daniel & Kieron Byatt

It’s been another massive week for pop culture fans, with numerous TV and film trailers dropping, plus news across gaming, comics and more. Here are some developments you might have missed.

TV

Netflix has dropped a trailer for the second season of Marvel’s Luke Cage, which will premiere on June 22. In the teaser, the Harlem hero’s newest villain, Bushmaster, is revealed. Meanwhile, Iron Fist – starring June guest Finn Jones – has nearly wrapped filming its second season, with photos emerging online of the stars at a wrap party.

The 100 has been renewed for season six on The CW, which means Eliza Taylor will have plenty to talk about at the Supanova Sydney and Perth next month.

Film

Avengers: Infinity War has clocked over the $1 billion mark at the box office, earning 13th place on the all-time domestic earners list.

Speaking of the Avengers, one of the original Iron Man suits used in the 2008 Iron Man film was reportedly stolen from inside a prop storage warehouse in LA. Police are currently investigating.

Keanu Reaves and Alex Winter are on board for Bill and Ted Face the Music, a film that has been in talks ahead of the 30th anniversary next year.

The live-action version of The Little Mermaid has been given a US cinematic release date (August 17), which hopefully means Netflix will give Australian fans a local release timeframe soon.

Aquaman has scored his own LEGO animated feature film, Rage of Atlantis, which is set for release in July on DVD.

Gaming

EA has teased a new Battlefield game set for release this year. In a statement, it was revealed that the game “is unique, and every mode brings its own challenges – from the way you interact with the environment around you”. It will be playable at E3 next month.

Co-op sandbox survival game Fortnite has introduced a new limited-time mode, Infinity Gauntlet, where you can play as Thanos. The Gauntlet does not have a confirmed end date, but curiosity into whether it would be accompanied by other Marvel skins have since between shut down.

Cosplay

Registration is now open for the Cosplay Competitions at Supanova Sydney and Perth, which are quickly approaching. Register online early to avoid disappointment.

Cosplay Ambassador applications closed last week, so we now eagerly await the announcement of this year’s new Ambassadors.

Comics

April recorded a surge of issues sold in the US, with the landmark Action Comics #1,000 smashing the charts with over 449,787 copies flying off the racks, while Amazing Spider-Man #798 sold 233,000 copies.

Some unfortunate news for DC fans, the latest Batwoman trade paperback has confirmed that the series will conclude in August, soon to be joined by Superwoman, Super Sons, Blue Beetle, Trinity, Supergirl and Cyborg.

A little bit of good news, though, the highly anticipated Doomsday Clock #5 is now slated for a May 30 release, a week later than originally solicited, but it a month sooner than listed last week.

Meanwhile, Marvel has released the reading order of all prelude scenes for the upcoming X-Men event Extermination and George Perez, legendary artist of Infinity Gauntlet, returns to Thanos with an Infinity Wars Prime variant.

Batman: White Knight writer/artist double threat Sean Murphy has also hinted at a new Batman project and DC will be novelising classic comics like Court of Owls and The Killing Joke.

THIS WEEK’S COMIC PICKS

Venom #1 – Venom is back thanks to writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman which sees a new threat possibly coming between Eddie Brock and his symbiote other half.

Justice League: No Justice #1 – Heroes and villains team up for an epic new series that continues on from the hit Dark Knights: Metal written by Joshua Williamson, James T Tynion IV, and Scott Snyder and drawn by Francis Manapul.

The Flash #46 – Things are heating up ahead of the upcoming Barry vs Wally conflict in Flash War, which sees Wally West haunted by all his pasts. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Scott Kolins.

Barrier #1 – If you missed the online release followed by the Free Comic Book Day edition of this new drama sci-fi from writer Brian K. Vaughn and artists Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente, don’t worry, it’s been given a special edition re-release alongside issue #2.

RoboCop: Citizen’s Arrest #2 – If they haven’t done so already, fans of the original Robocop film should acquaint themselves with writer Brian Wood and artists Jorge Coleho and Doug Garbark’s second issue of their new series.