DC FanDome: Watch The Batman, Justice League Snyder Cut reveals and more

DC FanDome had its first glorious day, revealing some spectacular new footage, including from The Batman, Wonder Woman 1984 and The Justice League Snyder Cut. The second part of DC Fandome follows on Sept. 12. 

The event, aimed at fans of DC Comics, features online panels, cosplay, fan art and comics, as well as special events for kids. The devoted DC fandom will be especially excited for looks at some long-awaited DC properties.

What is it?

Kinda like Comic-Con, but only for DC. So no Avengers (that’s Marvel). But if you’re a fan of DC characters such as Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman and Aquaman, you’ll want to tune in. And this fandom event should go well beyond the big names. The Aug. 22 event covered the whole DC world, from comic books to movies to TV shows and video games, and a second event of Sept. 12 will do something similar.

Unfortunately, the convention follows reports of mass layoffs at DC. Roughly one-third of the company’s editorial staff lost their jobs, according to The Hollywood Reporter, along with the majority of the staff of streaming service DC Universe as parent company Warner Bros. shifts its focus to the recently launched HBO Max.

Highlights

Here are highlights from the Aug. 22 event:

The Batman

Matt Reeves, director of The Batman, shared way more about the movie in a fantastic interview, and also revealed a trailer that looked pretty damn good, despite the fact the movie is only 30% shot at this point. The Batman stars Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame, with Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman. While the film isn’t scheduled for release until 2021, it’s already received a spinoff show about the Gotham police department, with Reeves producing.

Wonder Woman: 1984

Stars of the Wonder Woman sequel, including Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, joined director Patty Jenkins to talk about the movie and present us with the new Wonder Woman 1984 trailer.

Justice League: The Snyder Cut

The DC film Justice League came out in 2017, but original director Zack Snyder stepped down during editing when his daughter died. Some fans were disappointed in the finished film that was taken over by Joss Whedon, and clamored to see what Snyder would’ve put together if he’d had free rein. The Snyder Cut is that film, coming soon to HBO Max — and the teaser trailer for DC FanDome gave a glimpse of that long-awaited version, which will run in four hour-long parts. 

Gotham Knights

The developer behind Batman: Arkham Origins revealed its new game, Gotham Knights, a co-op adventure starring Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl and Red Hood as they protect Gotham City following the apparent death of Batman. They’ll face off against a villainous group known as the Court of Owls and other members of the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery.

The Flash

The panel revealed Barry Allen’s new costume, which was made by Batman. Director Andy Muschietti and screenwriter Christina Hodson also confirmed that the speedster’s movie will see Flash traveling through time to change the DC Multiverse.

We also got hints that this opens up the possibility of revisiting classic DC movies, with Danny Elfman’s Batman Theme playing in the background. Concept art also showed the Flash teaming up with Michael Keaton’s version of the Dark Knight — the 1989 Batman logo can be seen on his costume.

In a separate panel, Arrowverse boss Greg Berlanti also said he wants to include more DC film characters in future TV show crossovers after Ezra Miller’s Flash met Grant Gustin’s version of the character in last year’s Crisis on Infinite Earths event.

The Suicide Squad 

James Gunn revealed every character in his upcoming movie, The Suicide Squad. Idris Elba is playing Bloodsport; wrestler-actor John Cena is playing Peacemaker; and Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is playing Blackguard. 

He also shared a new teaser consisting of some movie footage and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the flick.

The Suicide Squad, about a crew of DC villains, is supposed to come out Aug. 6, 2021. Gunn wrote and directed the first two Guardians of the Galaxy films for Marvel, but signed on for The Suicide Squad after Marvel briefly fired him for off-color tweets. Producer Peter Safran has said The Suicide Squad is not a direct sequel to the original 2016 film Suicide Squad, though it features numerous returning characters played by the same actors. The similarity of the titles is confusing, but the second movie uses “The” in its title.

Suicide Squad video game from Rocksteady

Want more about Task Force X action? Rocksteady Studios, the British game company created the popular Batman: Arkham video game series, used DC FanDome to release a debut trailer for the new Suicide Squad video game. You’ll be able to play co-op with up to four players when this hits PS5, Xbox Series X and PC in 2022.

Black Adam

Dwayne Johnson teased his long-in-development Black Adam film, revealing that, in addition to Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, we’ll see the debut of the Justice Society of America (JSA) in the movie. Though no casting has been revealed, characters coming to the film will include Hawkman, Cyclone and Dr. Fate. More details can be found on our sister site GameSpot.

Aquaman

The Aquaman panel only provided a tease of what to expect for the eventual Aquaman sequel, with director James Wan noting the movie will be “a little bit more serious, a little bit more relevant to the world that we’re living in today.” The movie is currently scheduled for a 2022 release date.

Shazam 2

Shazam’s FanDome panel revealed the title of the Nov. 4, 2022 sequel: Shazam: Fury of the Gods. The panel also included an extended appearance by Sinbad, and it’s hard to tell if he’s actually part of the movie or was just there to pump up the panel’s humor. Check out GameSpot’s coverage for more details.

Sandman

An adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman was announced for Netflix last year, and the creator teased additional details during a Saturday panel. Gaiman confirmed work on Sandman for Netflix is still continuing and it will be “slightly looser, but still faithful” to the books. Gaiman said the pandemic has allowed for more work on the scripts, along with further tailoring of the story to fit a different time period.

“What we’re doing with Netflix is saying, ‘OK, It’s still going to start in 1916, but the thing that happens in Sandman No. 1– the point the story starts — is not 1988, it’s now,'” Gaiman said. More details about the Netflix adaptation can be found on our sister site GameSpot.

If you need a Sandman fix in the meantime, it was recently adapted for Amazon’s Audible and had an incredible cast.

Titans

Titans, the marquee series of the DC Universe streaming service, had its third season teased during DC FanDome — and this time it’s going straight to Gotham City, reports GameSpot. Titans’ third season will see Jason Todd (Curran Walters) become Red Hood after leaving the Robin identity behind. 

The show will also make way for Barbara Gordon, former Batgirl turned Gotham City Police Department commissioner, as well as Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow. Casting for those latter two characters wasn’t announced.

The Flash season 7

The Flash TV series is among the many whose previous season was shortened by the coronavirus pandemic, but a peek into the seventh season of the Arrowverse show made its debut Saturday. The teaser picks up from season 6, leaving Iris West (Candice Patton) inside of a mirror universe and faced with a choice between surviving or going mad. 

More information can be found on our sister site TV Guide, including Patton discussing how, when you’re standing up for other people, being labeled “difficult” is fine — if that means sticking up for what’s right.

What’s with the September event?

On Sept. 12, DC will offer a second virtual event starting at 10 a.m. PT. It’ll be called DC Fandome: Explore the Multiverse, and instead of just a rolling schedule of panels, fans can choose their own schedule from the on-demand selection of panels.

CNET’s Mike Sorrentino contributed to this report.