WIRE Buzz: Superman: Red Son first clip; Batman The Animated Series scores new comic; more

We're just days away from the release of the much-anticipated Warner Bros. Animation adaptation of Superman: Red Son, and now the first clip of a Soviet Man of Steel has arrived. 

First announced early last year as the latest in a long line of DC Comics-based animated movies, Red Son is adapted from the acclaimed three-issue miniseries of the same name by writer Mark Millar and artists Dave Johnson, Andrew Robinson, Walden Wong, and Killian Plunkett. An installment in DC's popular "Elseworlds" line of alternate-universe stories, the miniseries imagined what would have happened if the Kryptonian baby who would become Superman was raised in a Soviet farming collective rather than on a small family farm in Kansas. 

The clip, which was released late Wednesday night, takes the form of newsrool footage in which the Soviet Superman is shown off as a new weapon in the arsenal of the U.S.S.R. As a newcaster narrates, we see Superman — his chest emblazoned with the hammer and sickle — taking bullets and gouts of flame without a scratch, and hear the reaction as the American anchor tries to dismiss what he's seeing as propaganda. 

Superman: Red Son stars Jason Isaacs as Superman, Diedrich Bader as Lex Luthor, Amy Acker as Lois Lane, and more. It will be released digitally on Feb. 25, followed by a Blu-ray release on March 17. The film will hold its world premiere at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Feb. 24, with stars including Isaacs, Bader, Acker, Vanessa Marshall, Phil LaMarr, Roger Craig Smith, director Sam Liu, and executive producer Bruce Timm in attendance. 

Years after its TV run ended, Batman: The Animated Series remains one of the most influential pieces of superhero storytelling ever, and creators from comics to TV to video games still consider it a major inspiration. The beloved series continues to spawn new toys, board games, and merchandise years later, and now it's getting a return of a different kind thanks to a new comics miniseries.

Entertainment Weekly reports that this spring DC Comics will release Batman: The Adventure Continues, a six-issue series from writers (and Batman: TAS veterans) Paul Dini and Alan Burnett and artist Ty Templeton, who had a hand in crafting the animated series tie-in comic Batman Adventures. The series is doing double duty as both a new story in the Animated Series universe and a chance to introduce some new characters to the animated continuity, in the hope that they will also soon be added to the ongoing and popular toyline based on the series. 

According to Dini, that means familiar DC Comics faces like Jason Todd, Azrael, Deathstroke, and more will get to be immortalized in the legendary Batman: TAS style for the first time.

“We’d gone from Dick Grayson to Tim Drake, and we had left out Jason. What we’re doing with this is looking at this as a chance to go back and actually acknowledge that was a part of the animated Batman’s history,” Dini said. “For the first time, you’re going to see that story and you’re going to see what happened in that relationship. So, it’s our chance to not only to do Jason Todd but also the Red Hood. There are other characters like Azrael, who was popular in the comics around [the time of the show], and Deathstroke, who we never used in the animated series.”

Check out Dave Johnson's cover for the first issue below:

DC Comics

The new series, which will feature everything from giant robots to Azrael's attack to the return of Lex Luthor to Gotham City, will begin releasing digital-first chapters in April, followed by a physical release on May 6. For more information, and a peek at Templeton's art, head over to Entertainment Weekly. 

A few days ago, Joker ended what's been a dream run for any comic book movie — one that included record-breaking box-office numbers and loads of acclaim from various corners of the world — with two Academy Awards. The film was nominated 11 times at the 92nd Oscars and took home trophies for Hildur Guðnadóttir's original score and Joaquin Phoenix's lead performance as Arthur Fleck, the man who becomes the Joker.

Writer/director Todd Phillips may not have gotten to take home any trophies on Oscar night, but he still got to relish his place as part of one of the biggest movies of the year, and he's celebrating the film's awards season victories by looking back at what it was like to make Joker. Earlier this week, the filmmaker posted a series of photos to his Instagram account from the final day of shooting the film, which he called "bittersweet" while celebrating how it all "culminated" in Phoenix's Oscar victory Sunday night. The photos feature Phoenix in costume for the film's final scene in Arkham Asylum, as he and Phillips share hugs, conversation, and cigarettes while finishing up the shoot. 

Joker's triumphant box-office run included several victories for Phoenix, including a Golden Globe and a BAFTA to go with his Oscar. Could a sequel to the film be next? That, much like Arthur Fleck's own fate by the end of the film, is still an open question.