Hey remember that rumor that floated out about the ‘net a few weeks back about Christopher Nolan producing the Justice League movie and moving on to be the Tzar of DC Entertainments film properties? That Christian Bale might appear in a post-credits scene in Man of Steel? That Warner Bros. might actually have its cinematic universe on track? That was a fun dream, wasn’t it.

With the upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly boasting a flood of Man of Steel coverage, some information about the future of DC Comics movies is starting to surface. Let’s start with crushing a few fanboy’s dreams. EW is reporting that WB President Jeff Robinov has confirmed (rather ambiguously) that both Bale and Nolan will have no involvement with the still happening Justice League movie and that the Dark Knight trilogy stands apart from the future of a shared DC movie universe. The ambiguity is noted by EW’s Anthony Breznican:

‘When Robinov said “They do. Or they did,” I at first took that to mean he was leaving the possibility open to retroactively link-up those three most recent Batman films with upcoming DC-based films. But as I listen to the conversation again, I suspect what he actually meant was that upcoming Batman films wouldn’t necessarily exist in their own closed-off world the way the previous ones did.’

So what does the future hold for DC Comic characters? It sounds like they have a lot planed, and it all starts with The Man Of Steel (sorta.) As Robinov put it:

‘I think you’ll see that, going forward, anything can live in this world. [Nolan’s] Batman was deliberately and smartly positioned as a stand-alone. The world they lived in was very isolated without any knowledge of any other superheroes. What Zack and Chris have done with this film is allow you to really introduce other characters into the same world.’

So… they are other superheroes in Zack Snyder’s Superman universe? Can we expect some cameos or a post credit scene? Not really, according to the films scribe, David S. Goyer:

‘Chris [Nolan] dislikes it when you plan something, when you say, “I’m going to follow this up in the next film”. He’s always said put everything you have into this film and then worry about the next film later. That gives the film it’s own integrity as opposed to being part of an overall plan. So of course the comic book fans, it’s hard not to think about [crossovers] but I, having done three Batman films and worked in that way, it’s definitely the approach we took with Man of Steel.’

EW alludes to a few superhero Easter eggs in the movie, akin to the the Joker’s card making a brief and telling appearance in Batman Begins. So what does this all mean? What is the future of The Justice League and DC’s long rumored answer to what has happened over at the House of Ideas? Well, is sounds like we might know soon, Robinov left us to chew on this.

‘We’ll announce something in the next several weeks that will hopefully position the DC characters and the movies we’re going to be making.’

Movies? PLURAL? Is it possible that we are on the verge of a huge announcement that will map out the next few years filled with DC Comics on the big screen? Has Warner Bros. finally figured out what the hell they are doing? Will Marvel zombies and Avengers fanatics flock to the internet to bash anything and everything about DC characters on the big screen? Did anyone even notice I used that awesome Wonder Woman costume from the Axel Braun porn parody in the header? Why am I asking so many damn questions?

Source: EW Inside Movies

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Every day the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com.

ABOVE: I know what you’re thinking, hey, that’s Christian Bale in American Psycho. WRONG! This is dude who must have made some sorta deal with the devil and looks uncannily like Bale. Who then dresses like Bale’s characters to fuck with people. Hey, wouldn’t you? [Reddit via Fashionably Geek]

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This week on THE BASTARDCAST, Jason and Jeremy return after a brief hiatus to talk about why George Lucas hates you, Community pander-puppets, why nobody seems to care about Robin’s death… including Batman, and a pantsless drunk chick and her pow-pow-power wheel aided attempt to escape the long arm of the law.

Also on the show: Jason feels tough, Warner Bros. tries to buy back Christian Bale‘s Bat-love, Russell Crowe see’s a UFO, Jon Stewart opens the door for Craigers-Redux, and a space privateer wants to create the world’s worst sitcom… in space!

What, you want more? Fine! How about we bring you the first annual “Night of 1,000 Horrible Impressions” and the boys discussing a lego spill in West Virginia, the Late Night wars, headless giraffes, kosher porn, a way for Bill Murray to sell out for a good cause, The Walking Dead, Jeremy’s Poseidon-y Adventure, a lost tomb of wet comic books, the Tweet of the Week, one man’s ceaseless love of the white powder, the divine splendor of butter statues, and why everyone hates Megan Fox.

All that, the regrettable omission of the term “boob guns”, the “Ignition” of a debate about the National Anthem, and a desperate appeal for Dan Harmon‘s love and your hate.

The Bastardcast: In our free time, we write erotic Magnum PI fanfic.

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The latest bombshell Justice League movie rumor to hit the internet from El Mayimbe of Latino Review concerns the possibility that Christian Bale might reprise his role as Batman for a team-up with Henry Cavill‘s Man of Steel.

The pieces of this puzzle begin and end with Christopher Nolan. El Mayimbe is reporting that Nolan has been given the reins of everything DC over at Warner Bros. and everything to do with DC comic characters now goes through him, making him the architect of the Warner Bros. DC Comics universe.

I can’t think of anyone more qualified to take over the herculean task that isn’t already tied up with a number of other franchises. Joss Whedon has Marvel, J.J. Abrams has Star Wars and Star Trek, who else has the talent and proven track record to match those two nerdy juggernauts? If you can name one put it in the comments section below because I couldn’t think of anyone that would be a serious second to Nolan. I’d love to see a World’s Finest and a decent Wonder Woman movie before a complete Justice League roster movie.

Check out the video below where El Mayimbe lays out his case to support his beliefs in this round of Justice League rumors.

El Mayimbe also included some thoughts not in the video:

Closing Thoughts that I didn’t include in video:

• If you honestly think that Warners, especially with what they’re up against, aren’t going to move Heaven and Earth to try to make what I mentioned above happen, then you’re insane. They almost have no other choice.
• David Goyer I couldn’t confirm his participation at press time, and it was holding up publishing the scoop. Hence, unconfirmed but my gut tells me most likely true. He is an important part of the equation and works quite well with this team. At the very least, he will most likely come up with a story. He has some other projects as a director he is trying to launch off the ground but like Michael Corleone once said, “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in!“
• World’s Finest Again, unconfirmed. But certainly within the realm of possibility. Could we instead get just a team up between these two and then graduate to a Justice League movie? Anything is possible folks.
• Debunkers Our track record with DC is impeccable. We broke Routh/Superman, Ledger/The Joker, the opening of The Dark Knight, etc., just to name a few. Remember, when we first broke that Goyer & Nolan were involved with Man Of Steel and Thomas Tull made a call over here to debunk us? So, um, how did that end up turning out? False?

What do you think? Will we be getting some official announcements once the ink has dried on Nolan’s contract? The whole thing makes a lot of sense and I’m sure we’ll find out one way or another. I just hope they don’t rush through and screw up what could be an epic team up.

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I am not going to muddle this up or belittle this story with too much lead in. Christian Bale continues to be awesome. Following up his phone call a little while back with Zach Guillot, an eight-year-old boy hospitalized with leukemia, the Batman actor sent a Bat-themed care package to the boy. You can watch a video of Zach receiving the gifts below. (more…)

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Christian Bale once again proved that it’s the man behind the mask, and not all those wonderful toys, that can really make a difference in the world. Eight year old Batman fan Zach Grey has been fighting Leukemia, proving that not all heroes wear masks, or fight costumed criminals.

Christian called Zach to talk Batman and Zach’s family posted this video of the conversation. Bale is no stranger to lifting the spirits of children fighting life threatening diseases. He recently sponsored a trip to Disneyland for leukemia patient Jayden Barber and met his family for lunch at Disneyland’s Club 33.

It’s refreshing to see these kind of stories amidst all the soul draining news of the day. Take a look at the video below and recharge your humanity battery.

The audio the cell phone picks up is a bit rough, as is to be expected, but here’s some of the conversation and what Bale talked about.

“I don’t know if you can hear it in my voice, but I wasn’t born in America,” Bale said. “I was actually born in a country called England. A lot of people tell me that Seattle is a lot like England, because it’s kind of rainy.”
Bale thanked Zach for watching his films and said the boy embodied the film’s message. “The whole point of the movie is anybody can be Batman. Anybody can be as strong as that and help people and put good out into the world,” Bale said.
As Bale wrapped up the chat, he said he’d tell “the lady who plays Catwoman” (Anne Hathaway) — and, yes, even the man who played the evil Bane (Tom Hardy) — about their conversation.
“Even though he was not a good guy in the film, the man who played him is a very good guy. I’ll tell him…and the director as well,” Bale said. “He loves to hear when I speak to someone who is a big fan of the movies. It makes us all so happy.”
Bale ended the conversation by saying speaking with Zach had made his day.

Here’s a second video that shows Zach and his life long love of Batman.

Via: Thesuperficial

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Comic book creator Rob Liefeld gets a bad rap, some of it undeserved, but most fairly accurate. Of course, one of those things that makes him so misunderstood is an incredible sense of arrogance and self-aggrandizement, which is evidence at once by the fact that he’s not just working on movies based on his characters, but he’s working on a movie about his own life in the comic industry.

Sure, you may be saying, but people write about their own lives and times with incredible consistency, but there’s no money in writing a book until you sell it. Instead, Liefeld’s proposing that some studio or investor somewhere give him money to make a movie about himself. Now that’s the kind of hubris you can take to the bank. (more…)

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Ten years before Batman Begins hit theaters and jump started the ailing Dark Knight film franchise, Warner Bros released a decidedly different Batman movie called Batman Forever. The film was the first directed by Joel Schumacher and attempted to “lighten up” the darker Tim Burton movies with a convoluted storyline about  The Riddler and Two-Face turning the people of Gotham into TV watching zombies… Or something. But that wasn’t what Michael Keaton wanted.

The Batman/Bruce Wayne role was taken over by Val Kilmer in Forever, but originally Keaton was supposed to return. In a new interview with the WTF podcast, Keaton recounted meetings with the studio where he wanted to take the character next, as well as his admiration for what Christopher Nolan’s done with the Caped Crusader.

“The guy who’s doing them now, Chris Nolan, he’s so talented, it’s crazy. [Christian Bale] is so talented. It’s so good.” he enthused. “But I say that like I’ve seen them, and I actually haven’t. I didn’t even see much of the second one that I did.”

“You look at where he went, which is exactly what I wanted to do when I was having meetings about the third one,” he continued. “I said you want to see how this guy started. We’ve got a chance here to fix whatever we kind of maybe went off. This could be brilliant.”

Keaton’s portrayal of Batman and Bruce Wayne in Burton’s Bat-films still holds up and it remains some of the best, out-of-left-field casting ever in the history of blockbuster movies. Some of you young people might not remember, but there was once a time when the casting of Michael Keaton as Batman was highly controversial. He was, at the time, most famous for being Mr Mom and Beetlejuice after all.

And now you know the rest of the story…

Source: Collider

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Greetings from the new year of 2013!  And with a new year comes all new details from the upcoming Justice League movie, written by Will Beale. With the film slated for a release date some time in 2015, Warner Bros. is busy gathering their resources to step up against Joss Whedon and The Avengers.

At this moment, there are minimal details available about the Justice League project.  One of the few known details is that the film will be based off Gerry Conway’s 1980 Justice League Of America issues 183-185.  You would think, then, that the film’s details would be under some tight wraps right now. Not so, according to Cosmic Book News, who claim to have insider information on the character breakdowns for the Justice League and its roster of heroes that have made the cut. The information itself is slim — we know, for example, that Lois Lane and Alfred Pennyworth will be making cameos, but there are some connections to a few DC Comics related films underway.

Check out all the details after the jump.

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Let’s get this out of the way: there are going to be a ton of Dark Knight Rises spoilers in this article.

In my view, there was no questioning the skill with which Christopher Nolan ended his Batman trilogy, the only questions surrounded John Blake and whether his discovery of the Batcave signified a true ending or a new beginning.

Following the film, speculation swelled — were we headed for a straight-up reboot or a continuation of the Nolan films and would Joseph Gordon-Levitt return, and if so, would he play Robin, Nightwing, or the Bat-Man?

Well, according to HitFix Film Editor Drew McWeeny’s sources, Warner Bros. has made their decision: they want JGL back, they want him in the cowl, and they want him in The Justice League movie. More than that though, they also – potentially – want him in something else alongside another cast member from the Nolan films. A Man of Steel cameo perhaps? McWeeny was careful to tamp down speculation on a Batman/Superman appearance in Zack Snyder’s upcoming film, but I suppose anything is possible, especially since Nolan is serving as a producer on that project.

As for JGL’s previous statements about fully becoming Batman, he did tell HitFix during the press tour for Lincoln that the right script and a director that he connected with would force him to consider… well, in his words “anything”, but the insinuation was that he was not ready to close the book on playing Batman just yet.

So what about we delicate fanboys and fangirls? The question has to be asked: can we live with someone other than Bruce Wayne serving as Batman? Sure, Dick Grayson wore the cowl just before the switch to the New 52, but Blake’s origin story seems nothing like Grayson’s. If anything, it seems more like Jean Paul Valley’s, though Blake doesn’t seem to be psychotic.

No, what we have with Blake is a character that is independent of the comics with some loose similarities to some characters that are not, and while the purist in me hates the idea of a non-Bruce Wayne Batman leading the Justice League, I am intrigued to see how a Batman without Wayne’s resources and experience would fair on moral compass and street smarts alone. Frankly, I really wanted to see that as a stand-alone Batman film, but I’ll take what I can get and this beats the hell out of yet another reboot in my opinion. Here’s hoping McWeeny is right.

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