BIRDS OF PREY Movie Casts Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz

Start tallying the days until the Birds of Prey movie comes out.

Deadline has word that the upcoming Warner Bros./DC film Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), based on the DC Comics superteam, has cast Chris Messina as the deadly villain Victor Zsasz.  

Messina joins Margot Robbie, who is reprising her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya, and Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain.  Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will be directed by Cathy Yan.

According to the article, Victor Zsasz is described as "a sadistic serial killer who carves a tally mark onto himself for each of his victims" and "will be working in cahoots with Ewan McGregor’s lead bad guy Black Mask."

Messina, 44, is probably best known as Malinov in the 2012 film Argo and as Dr. Daniel Castellano on the Fox and Hulu series The Mindy Project.  He has appeared in the films Julie & Julia, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, You've Got Mail, and Rounders.  In addition, he's appeared on episodes of The Newsroom, Sharp Objects, Damages, Medium, Six Feet Under, and Law & Order.

Created in 1992 by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, Victor Zsasz first appeared in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 as the head of his own international company who had amassed a large personal fortune in addition to his family's wealth.  At the age of 25, his parents died in a boating accident, sending him into a deep depression.  He turned to gambling, losing money in competitions around the world.  One night, he ended up in a Gotham City casino known as the Iceberg Lounge, where he gambled everything he owned and ended up losing it all to the Penguin.  Afterwards, he saw that his life was empty, driven by desire, and there was no point to his existence.  While he was attempting to commit suicide by jumping from Gotham Bridge, a homeless man tried to assault him with a knife after he refused to give him money. Instinctively grabbing the knife, Zsasz saw in the man's eyes that all life is meaningless and that nothing nor anyone matters.  He then proceeded to stab the man to death as a "gift" for saving his life.  

From then on, Zsasz dedicated himself to "liberating" others from their pointless existence (Zsasz often refers to victims as "zombies").  He usually preys on young women, but has no qualms over whom he murders.  He slits his victims' throats and leaves them in lifelike poses, adding a tally mark to himself each time.  He has been diagnosed as insane and is regularly incarcerated in Arkham Asylum courtesy of Batman, breaking out on occasion to carry on killing.

During his debut appearance in the storyline "Batman: The Last Arkham", Zsasz bribed a contractor to include a secret passage leading out from his cell during the asylum's reconstruction under its new head, Jeremiah Arkham, who inherited the asylum from his uncle, Amadeus Arkham.  Although Zsasz was restrained during the daytime when being treated personally by Jeremiah Arkham, he was brought back to his cell at night, where he would leave the asylum through the secret passage, unbeknownst to the night guards.  After murders fitting his modus operandi begin surfacing, Batman and Commissioner James Gordon faked Batman's insanity in order to get him inside the asylum and investigate Zsasz. Jeremiah Arkham was exceptionally brutal towards Batman, who had supposedly murdered a police officer.  Over the course of the "treatment", Zsasz had warped Jeremiah's mind and turned him into a mere henchman.  Due to these continuous conversations with Jeremiah Arkham, Zsasz realized that Batman was a plant and subsequently murdered both the contractor and another inmate at Arkham who knew of Zsasz's ploy.  Both Nightwing and Batman caught up to Zsasz when he tried to escape for the final time and put him back in Arkham.

Recently, Zsasz has appeared various times in DC Comics' current continuity The New 52 as an inmate of Arkham, and he was later seen attacking Batgirl in the Narrows, while on the drug Venom.  Zsasz was released from Arkham Asylum by the Joker prior to the events of the storyline "Death of the Family".  Later, he was hired by Ignatius Ogilvy, the Emperor Penguin, to "leave [his] mark on Gotham City" and given a knife with Emperor Penguin's insignia on it.  Zsasz was later instructed to put the Man-Bat serum on the knife, as part of Emperor Penguin's plan to turn the population of Gotham City into Man-Bats through an airborne virus.  Zsasz was temporarily transformed into one.  During the Forever Evil storyline, Nightwing had retrieved Victor Zsasz from Chicago and was bringing him back to Arkham Asylum, until he was abducted by Superwoman and Owlman.  After the DC Rebirth reboot, Batman and Duke Thomas investigated a series of murders that were linked to Zsasz.  Flashbacks to the story arc "The War of Jokes and Riddles" revealed that Zsasz had sided with the Riddler in a war against the Joker.

Messina will be the third actor to portray Victor Zsasz in live-action, after Tim Booth in the 2005 film Batman Begins and Anthony Carrigan on the Fox TV series Gotham.

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on February 7, 2020.

TITANTALK 015: "Donna Troy" is Up!

"You know, when Diana took me in, she showed me how to fill the hole that fire left in my life with love and with family.  That’s just what the Amazons do.  They have a tradition of empowerment and self-discovery.  Bruce filled that hole in your life the only way he knew how – with rage and violence.  Wonder Woman was born to protect the innocent and Batman was created to punish the guilty.  But we’re not them, either one of us."
-- Donna Troy to Dick Grayson, Titans: "Donna Troy"

Hello again, Titans fans!  My fellow TitanTalker Jesse Jackson and I are back with another new episode of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast!  This time, we discuss "Donna Troy", the eighth episode of the DC Universe series Titans, introducing Conor Leslie as Donna Troy, and featuring Andi Hubick as Young Donna Troy and Tomaso Sanelli as Young Dick Grayson!

TITANS TOGETHER!

In this episode, Jesse and I discuss things like the expectations for Donna Troy's debut on Titans, Titans Season One being setup for a long game, The Man in the High Castle, wanting a Teen Titans spinoff series with Young Dick and Donna, Conor Leslie as Donna Troy, Dick and Donna's younger brother/older sister relationship, seeing this Dick Grayson as a social introvert, Dick being more relaxed around Donna than the other Titans, Donna realizing she could do more good as Donna Troy than as Wonder Girl, the Easter eggs of Donna as a photographer and the fire from her childhood, wondering if the classic New Teen Titans story "Who Is Donna Troy?" will be adapted for Titans, Dick trying to keep up with Donna after she leaps over a truck, Donna having a beer with Dick to get a handle on who he is right now, my wife Lori thinking Conor Leslie's Donna Troy is "promising", Killdeer, Ohio not existing in real life, wondering if this version of Angela is setting Rachel up, Rachel making her mom breakfast, Angela wanting Rachel to grow up with a mom, Titans dancing around the name of Rachel's father Trigon, Kory possibly moving away from disco music to AC/DC, the tease of Kory escaping in a spaceship, Donna being able to translate Kory's Tamaranean language, Dick and Kory having an actual relationship beyond hot sex, our favorite quotes of the episode, Conor Leslie being a real-life photographer, the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle being developed as a movie, new feedback from Michael Rotton and DJ Nik in Milan, Italy, and more!

If you'd like to check out episodes of TitanTalk, you can find us on...

iTunes -- RIGHT HERE

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn --  RIGHT HERE

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Be sure to come back next week for Episode 016 as Jesse and I discuss "Hank and Dawn", the ninth episode of the new DC Universe series Titans, featuring the secret origin of Alan Ritchson as Hawk and Minka Kelly as Dove, and the introduction of Elliot Knight as Don Hall, the original Dove!  Look for more of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 127: "It Takes You Away" is Up!

"You are the maddest, most beautiful thing I've ever experienced and I haven't even scratched the surface.  I wish I could stay.  But if either of us are going to survive, you're gonna have to let me go and keep on being brilliant by yourself."
--The Thirteenth Doctor to the Solitract, Doctor Who: "It Takes You Away"

With Karen off in time and space, I'm joined this week by my partner in time Jesse Jackson for a new episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast!  This time, we review "It Takes You Away", the ninth episode from Doctor Who Series Eleven, featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Kevin Eldon as Ribbons of the Seven Stomachs, Eleanor Wallwork as Hanne, and Sharon D. Clarke as Grace O’Brien!

In this episode, Jesse and I discuss things like Jesse going down the negative Doctor Who fan rabbit hole once again, being able to say bad things about any TV show, wondering how you make something too politically correct, Columbus Doctor Who fan Steve Pompa, Eleanor Wallwork being the first blind actor playing a blind character on Doctor Who, the Thirteenth Doctor identifying a time and location by tasting something, getting new stuff vs. comfort food from Doctor Who, the Doctor's seven grandmothers and Granny 2 being a Zygon secret agent, Ryan finally referring to Graham as "Granddad", Graham's lingering pain over losing Grace, Graham keeping sandwiches on him, Ryan getting called out by Hanne, companion character development during Series 11, Erik's horrible parenting toward Hanne, Jesse feeling guilty about accidentally leaving his dog Ranger outside, wondering why the Doctor and Yaz left Hanne with Erik without making sure she'll be okay, M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, Yaz's cousin seeing the Arctic Monkeys' first gig, Ribbons cutting the Doctor's Hansel and Gretel thread, Jesse enjoying a Diet Coke, Ken from Chicago and "non-evil" villains in Series 11, the Solitract taking on the form of a talking frog, our favorite quotes of the episode, reversed Slayer t-shirts, a quick Reverse the Polarity segment, some feedback from David K. Proctor, Holly from Wisconsin and Paul from Australia, and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

Google Play Music -- RIGHT HERE

iTunes -- RIGHT HERE

Stitcher -- RIGHT HERE

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn --  RIGHT HERE

Next Stop Everywhere's Facebook page

Next Stop Everywhere's Twitter account

Next Stop Everywhere's Instagram account (NEW!)

And hey, if you'd like to pick up the officially official Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt, you can find it on TeePublic right HERE!  Help support the show and feel free to post pictures on our Facebook page of you or some other cool person you know wearing the shirt!

Be sure to come back next week as Jesse, Karen and I review "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos", the Doctor Who Series Eleven finale, featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair, Mandip Gill as Yasmin Khan, and Bradley Walsh as Graham O'Brien!  Look for more of Next Stop Everywhere on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

CAPTAIN MARVEL Monday Night Football Trailer Takes Carol Danvers Into Space

Captain Marvel's life began the day it nearly ended.

During last night's Monday Night Football game where the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Washington Redskins 28-13, Marvel Studios debuted the second trailer for Captain Marvel, the upcoming film based on the Marvel Comics character, starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn.

The two-minute, 15-second trailer opens with Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Larson) aboard a Los Angeles Metro Rail car in the 1990s, looking for her intended target while being stared at by astonished passengers.  We hear a voiceover from a younger Nick Fury (Jackson), who says, "So...Skrulls are the bad guys..."

Captain Marvel finds her target, an eldery woman who smiles upon being recognized, and unleashes a brutal right cross to the face designed to shock us.  The eldery woman shrugs off the blow, turns and abruptly launches into a drop kick that initiates a brief fight between the two until Captain Marvel subdues the elderly woman.  "...and you're a Kree," continues Fury, "a race of noble warriors?"

"Heroes," corrects Carol as we see a separate scene of her riding in a car with Fury.  "Noble warrior heroes."

As dramatic music builds, we see Captain Marvel slo-mo walking alongside other members of the Kree military group known as Starforce.  

"Your life began the day it nearly ended," remarks a voiceover from Annette Bening's unnamed character, a Kree who rescued Danvers and made her part Kree.  "We found you, with no memory, we made you...one of us.  So you could live longer, stronger, superior.  You were reborn."

We see fleeting images of Carol being infused with some sort of fluid, and Captain Marvel hanging upside down, forcibly restrained, as an alien device is doing something to her mind. 

"I keep having these...memories," remarks Carol, as we see a fleeting image of her in a flight uniform with her fellow pilot, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), the mother of another Captain Marvel from the comics, Monica Rambeau.  "Something in my past is the key to all of this."

Next, we see Carol wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. ball cap while at the controls of some sort of airship, with Nick Fury in the co-pilot's seat.  "You know how to fly this thing?" asks Fury.

"We'll see," replies Carol as she starts activating switches.

"That's a yes-or-no question."

"Yes," answers Carol, pushing the throttle forward and launching the airship from its hangar.  

Aboard a Skrull spaceship, Captain Marvel faces off against Talos (Mendelsohn), the film's big bad.  "Would you like to know...what you really are?" asks Talos in a voiceover.

We see Carol and Nick Fury researching something in a S.H.I.E.L.D. archives room.  "I think I had a life here," Carol remarks in a voiceover as we glimpse a brief shot of Mar-Vell (Jude Law), Carol's mentor and commander in Starforce.  "What aren't you telling me?"

"You've come a long way," Mar-Vell tells her in a different scene, "but you're not as strong as you think."

"This war...is just the beginning," says Talos as we see the back of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) as the two watch a battle in space.

"I'm not gonna fight your war," Captain Marvel states in a separate scene, followed by flashes from various points in Carol's life that end with Captain Marvel looking impressively formidable as she bursts with power.  "I'm gonna end it."

This is immediately followed by a brief sequence of Captain Marvel, now sporting her red helmet that creates a faux-mohawk with her hair, battling a Skrull invasion of Earth in space and destroying ships left and right.

In the trailer's final scene, we see Nick Fury in the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, bending down to pet a cat, saying "Aren't you the cutest little thing?  Aren't you cute?  And what's your name, hunh?"

"Fury," admonishes Carol, trying to refocus his attention, and nodding to address the matter at hand.

"I'll be back," Fury whispers to the cat before getting up to leave.

If you'd like to check out the new Captain Marvel trailer, you can view it below thanks to the official Marvel Entertainment account on YouTube...




Captain Marvel is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 8, 2019.

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 126: "The Witchfinders" is Up!

"Honestly, if I was still a bloke, I could just get on with the job and not have to waste time defending myself!"
--The Thirteenth Doctor, Doctor Who: "The Witchfinders"

With Karen off in time and space, I'm joined this week by my partner in time Jesse Jackson for a new episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast!  This time, we review "The Witchfinders", the eighth episode from Doctor Who Series Eleven, featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Alan Cumming as King James I, Siobhan Finneran as Becka Savage, and Tilly Steele as Willa Twiston!

In this episode, Jesse and I discuss things like Jesse and me being Time Bros, friend of the show Ken Schaefer's son Parker, taking the rough with the smooth with Doctor Who, Alan Cumming as King James I, Jesse needing to watch Downton Abbey, the Thirteenth Doctor having difficulty as a time-traveler because she's now a woman, a really awkward Next Stop Everywhere transition, Jesse cosplaying Graham O'Brien, wondering if the Doctor will be more sympathetic and enlightened toward her female companions, Jodie Whittaker getting to express some frustration through her character, King James I hitting on Ryan, Yaz being underwritten once again, the Doctor's clash of ideology with King James I, the no-win scenario of accused witches being "innocent" of witchcraft if they died, the Santana version of "Black Magic Woman", the Covers channel on Sirius XM, the mud monsters called The Morax, our favorite quotes of the episode, a quick Reverse the Polarity segment, some feedback from Holly from Wisconsin and Paul from Australia, and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

Google Play Music -- RIGHT HERE

iTunes -- RIGHT HERE

Stitcher -- RIGHT HERE

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn --  RIGHT HERE

Next Stop Everywhere's Facebook page

Next Stop Everywhere's Twitter account

Next Stop Everywhere's Instagram account (NEW!)

And hey, if you'd like to pick up the officially official Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt, you can find it on TeePublic right HERE!  Help support the show and feel free to post pictures on our Facebook page of you or some other cool person you know wearing the shirt!

Be sure to come back next week as Jesse, Karen and I review "It Takes You Away", the ninth episode from Doctor Who Series Eleven, featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair, Mandip Gill as Yasmin Khan, and Bradley Walsh as Graham O'Brien!  Look for more of Next Stop Everywhere on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

TITANTALK 014: "Asylum" is Up!

"If I had even the slightest chance of getting my mom back, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do."
"But…you said—"
"Yeah, I lied.  I just said what they wanted to hear.  You get pretty good at that when you live with Dr. Caulder.  If you agree with people, they tend to leave you alone."
-- Garfield "Gar" Logan and Rachel Roth, Titans: "Asylum"

Hello again, Titans fans!  My fellow TitanTalker Jesse Jackson and I are back with another new episode of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast!  This time, we discuss “Asylum”, the seventh episode of the DC Universe series Titans, introducing Rachel Nichols as Angela Azarath, and featuring Reed Birney as Dr. Adamson and Tomaso Sanelli as Young Dick Grayson!

TITANS TOGETHER!

In this episode, Jesse and I discuss things like enjoying our Thanksgiving weekend, Jesse binge-watching Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Jesse discovering the Next Time trailers after the Titans closing credits, Rachel Nichols being cast as Raven's mom, wanting Tomaso Sanelli to star in a Young Dick Grayson Chronicles series, Beast Boy giving in to his bestial side, wondering if Rachel reciprocates Gar's crush on her, Gar lying to Dick and Kory to get them to leave him alone, Dick Grayson being drugged and confronting his younger self, wondering if Dick is finally going to stop blaming Bruce for his anger, not knowing what was going to happen to Dick Grayson in the comics after he gave up being Robin, thinking we've finally seen the last of Brenton Thwaites as Robin, Kory getting a breathing tube down her throat, wondering if Kory is a mass murderer after burning down the asylum, Raven talking with Dr. Adamson alone, Dr. Adamson betting on Raven healing him by cutting his own throat, Rachel's raven tattoo, still waiting for the first mention of Trigon, wondering if we'll get to see Azarath, our favorite quotes of the episode, more on Kory's bad fashion choices, new feedback from DJ Nik in Milan, Italy, looking forward to Conor Leslie as Donna Troy, an update my wife Lori's opinion of Titans, and more!

If you'd like to check out episodes of TitanTalk, you can find us on...

iTunes -- RIGHT HERE

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn --  RIGHT HERE

TitanTalk's Facebook page

TitanTalk's Twitter account

Be sure to come back next week for Episode 015 as Jesse and I discuss "Donna Troy", the eighth episode of the new DC Universe series Titans, introducing Conor Leslie as Wonder Girl/Donna Troy!  Look for more of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

Sony Pictures Developing Animated SPIDER-WOMEN Film

The webbed women of Marvel are getting their own animated movie.

Deadline is reporting that Sony Pictures is working on an animated Spider-Women film that will "focus on three generations of women with Spidey powers."

According to the article, Bek Smith (Zoo) will write the script, with Amy Pascal producing.

It's not known if Spider-Women will be connected to the previous animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which featured Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen/Gwen Stacy.  The studio is already working on a sequel that continues with the Miles Morales Spider-Man.

Presumably, Spider-Women will be based somewhat on the recent Marvel Comics event storyline "Spider-Women", that was centered around the superheroes Spider-Gwen, the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman, and Silk.  

The Jessica Drew Spider-Woman was created in 1977 by Archie Goodwin and Marie Severin, first appearing in Marvel Spotlight #32.  At a young age, Jessica's family moved to a lab built by her father and Herbert Wyndham near Mount Wundagore in Transia, where she became gravely ill from months of uranium exposure.  To save her life, her father injected her with an experimental serum based on irradiated spiders' blood.  She was later captured by a HYDRA reserve unit under Count Otto Vermis, who erased her memories, brainwashed her, and recruited her as a HYDRA agent under the codename Arachne.  After an encounter with The Thing, she recovered from her brainwashing, and took on the identity of Spider-Woman. The two superheroes soon encountered Modred the Mystic, who removed HYDRA's memory implants and restored Jessica's memories.

Spider-Gwen, a.k.a. the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman, was created in 2014 by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez and first appeared in Edge of Spider-Verse #4 as the Earth-65 version of Gwen Stacy.  Instead of this Earth's Peter Parker, this Gwen Stacy was the one bitten by the radioactive spider during a demonstration on the use of radioactive rays at a science exhibit.  She became a superhero going by the name of Spider-Woman.  Shortly after she began fighting crime, Peter Parker attempted to exact revenge on those who bullied him in Midtown High School, becoming Earth-65's version of the Lizard.  Gwen subdued him, but Peter died towards the end of the battle due to a chemical that he used.

Silk was created in 2014 by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man (vol.3) #4, following a brief cameo in issue #1.  After the radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his Spider-Man powers, the spider bit Cindy Moon as well.  Soon after, Cindy’s abilities manifested, including organic webbing (unlike Peter), but she was unable to control them.  Some time later, the character known as Ezekiel approached the Moon family and offered his help with Cindy controlling her newfound abilities.  After six years of training to use her powers, Cindy was locked up inside a facility by Ezekiel to protect her and the other "spiders" from the villain called Morlun and his family known as the Inheritors.  After learning of her existence, Spider-Man immediately searched for Cindy to break her out of the facility where Ezekiel had kept her.  Cindy made her way out of the facility to finally see the city of New York, and became the superhero known as Silk.