WIRE Buzz: Boss Baby sequel rattles new release date; Avengers gear up in Mech Strike trailer; more

Lil’ Teddy Templeton still has some growing up to do before we’ll finally get to see him in adult form. The Alec Baldwin-voiced, pint-sized star of The Boss Baby is shedding his diapers for the upcoming sequel, but thanks to a small shuffle in Universal Pictures’ slate of new releases, The Boss Baby: Family Business is hitting theaters six months later than originally planned.

Deadline reports that Family Business will be taking more than just a summer’s break beyond its original Mar. 26, 2021 release date, bouncing onto the big screen instead with a new premiere set for Sept. 17. The change stems from the same COVID-19-related production slowdowns and theater closings that’ve toyed with the release windows for upcoming blockbusters across the board, and it also shifts another Universal/DreamWorks Animation project — CGI-animated The Bad Guys — away from its original Sept. 17 release date and toward a still-unscheduled debut sometime in 2022.

Baldwin and a star-studded voice cast introduced Teddy to audiences back in 2017, with The Boss Baby’s precious, 7-year-old centerpiece quickly rising to the top of the food chain — both in the business world and with his adopted family. As the sequel’s trailer above shows, though, a lot of time has passed; the kids are all grown up; and there’s a new baby in town with a mind of her own.

Starring Baldwin, James Marsden as Tim (Teddy’s older brother), Eva Longoria as Teddy’s wife Carol, Ariana Greenblatt as daughter Tabitha, and Amy Sedaris as the upstart toddler Tina, The Boss Baby: Family Business gets the gang back together on Sept. 17 of next year. Also returning from the first film are Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow in the roles of the Templeton brothers' parents, while Jeff Goldblum joins the franchise as Dr. Armstrong — the nefarious director of Tabitha’s school.

(SYFY WIRE and Universal Pictures are properties of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.)

Back in November, Marvel teased a new comic that’s set to put Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the comforting embraces of metal mech suits. Avengers: Mech Strike is an upcoming limited comics series that imagines what the Avengers could do if everyone not named Tony Stark (or War Machine) got a powered-up suit of their own, and the first trailer shows off a cool, anime-inspired art style that’s still unmistakably Marvel.

Check it out:

Cap, Spidey, Hulk, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Thor, and even Iron Man get to step into an upsized suit of armor for Mech Strike, with the clip showing the briefest of new glimpses at how they’ll still manage to wear their superhero identities on the outside while inside those giant robot exoskeletons.

The five-issue limited series comes from writer Jed MacKay (Black Cat) and artist Carlos Magno (Fantastic Four). “We're going for non-stop, full-bore action, with a lineup of Avengers favorites going up against an unexpected new foe...that might end up being quite familiar,” MacKay shared in Marvel’s earlier tease. “Aliens, robots, dinosaurs, Martians... it's going to get worse before it gets better for our heroes.”

Watch for the first issue of Avengers: Mech Strike to arrive in February of 2021.

James Gunn took to Twitter today to remove some Peacemaker grist from the rumor mill, and also to shed some light as to what we can expect from the show when it premieres on HBO Max.

Contrary to at least one report, Gunn confirms the series will not air in any way, shape, or form on The CW. This isn’t surprising — the rumor wasn’t one that seemed likely to be true — but Gunn’s response debunking the claim sheds some light on what we can expect:

Gunn tweeting that Peacemaker “would be forty seconds long” if it aired on broadcast television suggests that the show will likely be extremely graphic and not suitable for fans of all ages. This also isn’t too much of a surprise, given the show is a spinoff of Gunn’s upcoming Suicide Squad film, and will have John Cena taking on the role of Peacemaker, a character who would kill everyone in the world in order to ensure peace.

The series will also star Danielle Brooks (Orange Is The New Black), Jennifer Holland (American Horror Story), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day), and Chris Conrad (Young Hercules). Suicide Squad is set to premiere Aug. 6, 2021. No news yet on when Peacemaker will air on HBO Max.