Comics: First look at Tom King's pregnant Catwoman; Rob Liefeld's Snake Eyes; The Union

Batman writer Tom King hit the news hard — and mainstream news, not just genre-focused entertainment news — when his storyline of the Dark Knight and Catwoman’s marriage (and its spoilery fallout) left him needing an actual bodyguard. But when he put the two back together after Batman beat a hasty retreat to Paris, love was still in the air. As this leads to King’s upcoming Batman/Catwoman series — his Bat-capper after a long run on the character — the writer is teasing some very big change resulting from that love: a pregnant Catwoman.

Yes, the writer posted a first image from the upcoming 12-part series showing off Bruce Wayne hugging a very pregnant Selina Kyle...who is still somehow squeezed into her spandex Catwoman suit. Maybe she had one made with a stretchy belly just for the occasion?

Regardless of the details, fans can check out the panel below:

Now the pertinent question for most DC fans is whether or not this union will result in a new version of The Huntress AKA Helena Wayne. The character had the same parentage in her origin on Earth-2, but this would be a gamechanger for the Earth fans know and love. It’d also be a pivot from the DCEU, which just introduced Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the Helena Bertinelli version of the character.

Nevertheless, King could just be yanking fans’ chains and there may never be a bat/cat hybrid. Guess reading Batman/Catwoman will be the only way to find out for sure.

Next, some more new art doesn’t tease a new addition to a superhero family, but rather welcomes back an old favorite into the limelight. Snake Eyes, the G.I. Joe ninja getting his own cinematic turn thanks to actor Henry Golding, is getting a new comic miniseries courtesy of muscle-mapper extraordinaire Rob Liefeld. 

Snake Eyes: Deadgame will be written and drawn by Liefeld for IDW Publishing, diving into the mysterious character’s past and, probably, what inspired Liefeld to give his fan-favorite hero Deadpool the ninja’s katanas. Fans can see a few first look images of the comic below:

“G.I. Joe was my first obsession,” Liefeld said in a statement. “Those were the toys in the sandbox with me, kung fu grip, eagle eye, I had them all. G.I. Joe is a world of characters that I have always aspired to participate in. Snake Eyes was a profound influence on my creating Deadpool. Producing this series is an all-time bucket list achievement for me.”
 
This book, building off the hype of director Robert Schwentke’s upcoming addition to the live-action G.I. Joe universe, will precede the movie by a few months — allowing for comic fans to get a taste of his backstory before watching it all play out.
 
Snake Eyes: Deadgame hits stores in June, before Snake Eyes hits theaters on Oct. 23.

Finally, Marvel’s latest superhero team is coming from across the pond. A new British team of heroes will defy real-world sociopolitical events (sorry, Brexit!) and join together as The Union for a new five-part series.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news, explaining that the events of the Empyre storyline will result in Union Jack teaming up with newcomers Snakes, Kelpie, The Choir, and Britannia to form a new supergroup tasked with representing the U.K. (quite literally, as each hero hails from a different country in the Kingdom).

Source: Marvel

Writer Paul Grist (Jack Staff, Judge Dredd) will team with artist Andrea Di Vito and cover/character designer R.B. Silva to bring the new team to life, as they link up over the course of a plotline that’s tightly under wraps. All that’s clear is that The Union will spin out of Empyre, which Marvel has been hyping as 2020’s massive Avengers and Fantastic Four-featuring event.

"Forty years ago, Roger Stern and John Byrne introduced a new Union Jack into the pages of Captain America," Grist said. "This is the comic I've been waiting 40 years to write! New heroes! New adventures! And a team that's falling apart before it's even begun!"

The Union #1 is set to drop after Empyre’s April debut, in May.