John Cena and the Power of Shazam!

There are a few rumours floating around about actors in consideration for DC's upcoming Shazam movie. We already know that Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson has been cast as Black Adam (or whatever they call him because... that name ain't getting through editing) and, funnily enough, one of the names in consideration for Shazam the superhero is John Cena.

Three times in a lifetime, eh?

Anyway: how perfect would that be? Is there a better person to play a superhero who is the idealised self-projection of a ten year old boy? That's basically what John Cena's in-ring persona (and much of his actual personality, it often seems) is anyway. Yes, he plays up to the kids in the audience and that's absolutely a corporate decision but its hard to say he doesn't make it work.

Plus, just look at the man. You couldn't get a more perfect superhero physique if the man was an actual Jack Kirby creation. He has such a wonderfully innocent perplexed expression that would be perfect for Billy encountering complex adult things and being utterly baffled.

There are other actors under consideration, at least according to the rumours, but I really hope this happens because more perfect casting does not exist. 

A Nightwing movie, eh?

The big news is that Lego Batman director Chris McKay has been brought on board to direct this thing. That's a good sign, that fact they've picked a man who just had a big hit with a Batman-themed comedy to help a DCEU Batman spin-off gives me hope that we might get a film about Nightwing and not Batman-lite.

Because the thing about Nightwing is, despite the dark and brooding costume, that he's fun Batman. He's driven by his parents' deaths just as Batman is but he's actually managed to process his trauma and build a life outside the war on crime. Yes, some of that life is decidedly unconventional like the fact his best friends are a team composed of the other first generation kid sidekicks but... actually, that's not a bad place to start.

There's a fantastic issue of Nightwing where he's moving into a new apartment (in Peter J. Tomasi's run, I think) and the other Titans are just there helping him move. The Justice League don't do that sort of thing for each other. When the League meet up out of costume its either business or a really important event meant to promote bonding but the Titans just meet up to hang out randomly.

So, yeah, Nightwing is the Batman who has fun with his life: he hands out with his friends who are all superheroes, he leaps of tall buildings and survives instead of falling and dying like any normal person would, he grew up driving the Batmobile! That's fun!

Unfortunately, a large segment of fandom who have an outsized influence on the way DC thinks about their adaptations. There are a lot of people who are wrong and think Dick Grayson is too silly a character, that the whole Robin legacy is a terrible perversion of the Batman concept and must be expunged. Its a contingent of fandom that got a lot of unfortunate traction out of the whole mess that was the Batman and Robin movie.

So I'm kind of worried that instead of the fun-loving and emotionally healthy character I just spent a couple paragraphs describing what we'll get will be closer to this... 

Who should be the next big screen Bat-villain?

So, obviously, Ben Affleck is going to be in some solo Batman films somewhere along the line when he isn't busy turning up in all the other DC movies because of editorial insecurity.

But who is going to be the villain? This is a very, very important thing, perhaps more important here than in any other superhero franchise. You see, the problem is, and there's no way to put this gently... Batman is very, very boring. The character is basically immune to character development; he can't go more than two hours without a recap of his incredibly famous origin; and, if you let a general audience think about his actions for too long they might question why the hero of this story is a very rich person beating up very poor people instead of seeking treatment for his obvious PTSD or using his massive wealth to do any actual good in the world.

Who, though? The Joker, Catwoman, Bane and Two-Face have all had two films each; Penguin, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Ra's al Ghul and Talia have scored a film; and, Scarecrow jobbed his way through the entire Nolan trilogy.

Who does this leave? To me, there is only one choice, and not only because this will bring further torment to my non-comic fan best friend's life.

The Condiment King! Complete with ketchup and mustard guns!