Historically, Superman has been a figure for truth, justice, and the American way. And in the tried and true story of his alter-ego, Clark Kent, that post was served under the cover of a mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet.

But with DC’s new Black Label imprint, another chance to reinvent the origins of Smallville’s own personal superhero has been granted, and to legendary comic writer Frank Miller nonetheless. No stranger to exciting reinvention himself, Miller’s Superman: Year One is going to take the character to a place he’s never gone: Navy SEAL boot camp.

Released onto comic shelves today, the first of the three-volume limited series sees Clark Kent’s origins as a kid with unlimited power come alive on the DC page yet again. But this time, Clark’s childhood of holding back his abilities spurs him to eventually rebel, as well as join up with the elite fighting force known as the Navy SEALs.

By time we catch up with him in August’s second volume, we’ll see the young Kent going into boot camp, which means that in the final volume, Superman will finally debut. Only this time, he’ll be doubling down a little harder on that American way bit of his creedo; something that made the Military Times smile when they recalled the very different path Superman took in his previous departure from form, Mark Millar’s Superman: Red Son.

With DC’s Black Label imprint, traditional characters have seen radically different and more R-rated translations into the pages of comic series like Superman: Year One and Batman: Damned. Operating as a sort of Elseworlds for mature audiences, this new series has given Frank Miller to work his special brand of hardcore magic on a character that he’s been known to be at odds with. Or at least, that’s what the public story has always said, as in this same interview Miller stated that it’s not him who dislikes Superman, but rather his interpretation of Batman.

It’ll be interesting to see if this new Superman: Year One story finds its way into the hot hands of readers in large enough quantities that Warner Bros will be moved to either option the story as a big screen adventure, or even as a DC Universe original series. In either case, a reinvention could lead to some inspired casting, especially if Michael B. Jordan’s vote of confidence among the fandom sees him donning the blue and red suit in the name of defending American freedom.

We’ll have to wait and see if Superman: Year One is a hit or a dud with comic audiences, but as the book is launching onto comic shelves as of today, we probably won’t have to wait too long to see what the result turns out to be. In any case, if you’re looking for that book on your comic store’s roster today, or in the near future, look out for the awesome looking cover below:

If you’re already a DC Universe subscriber, you might be interest in checking out the Swamp Thing reboot, despite the fact that it’s recently been cancelled. And if you’re looking for superhero action at the movies, the 2019 release schedule is available to help you decide which hero to follow to the multiplex.

By now, it has become fairly clear that DC fans are seriously excited for Ben Affleck's solo Batman movie. New details continue to trickle in regarding the mysterious project, and each new morsel of information only gets us more pumped. Batfleck has two successful stints as The Caped Crusader under his utility belt so far, and the future looks incredibly bright for this dark hero. That being said, the upcoming Batman movie has a long silver screen legacy to contend with.

With that in mind, Joe Manganiello's recent comments about the Batman movie have us scratching our heads. The Deathstroke actor has asserted that the upcoming film will be unlike any Batman movie in history. That's a tall order when we consider the fact that The Dark Knight is arguably the most well-worn comic book character in the history of cinema. To help Mr. Affleck out, we've compiled a list of ways for him to set his solo movie apart from everything that has come before him. Check out our entries and let us know what you think the upcoming Batman movie needs to do in order to keep itself distinct from its predecessors!

Move Away From Frank Miller

For decades, Frank Miller's dark and psychologically tormented version of The Caped Crusader has remained the go-to version of Batman on the silver screen. While it's certainly a tried and true method, we would like to see Ben Affleck strike out in a new direction and draw inspiration from other legendary Batman writers. From Scott Snyder's brooding, yet eternally optimistic, take on the character in The New 52 run to Grant Morrison's swashbuckling playboy version of Gotham's protector, it's all gold. Batfleck can still retain certain aspects of Miller's anguished version of the hero, but it's time to start drawing inspiration from other Batman creative legends.

Place More Emphasis On The Bat Family

While Batman has definitely had a few sidekicks throughout the course of his silver screen career, the Batman movies have never really delved deep into the overall dynamic of The Bat Family. This ever-growing familial unit of crime fighters serves as Batman's core support base throughout his war on Gotham's underworld, and each member brings something different to the table. From Dick Grayson's upbeat demeanor, to Jason Todd's anti-heroic sense of rage, to Tim Drake's sheer intellect, we want to see thorough exploration of the other costumed heroes that support Batman and make him a better protector for Gotham City. Few other Batman movies have ever placed much emphasis on his supporting cast, and that creative decision could really help set the next Batman movie apart.

Explore The History Of Gotham City

Gotham City existed long before the creation of Batman, and it will continue to exist long after he's gone. That's an idea that is echoed consistently throughout the comics, but it's not really something that gets repeated very often in Batman's movies. If Ben Affleck wants to craft a genuinely cerebral story that bucks tradition, he shouldn't be afraid to delve deep into the history of Gotham City as a character. He could show us the tragic origins of Arkham Asylum, or tease the existence of the Court of Owls, or even take a crack at the "Pale Man" origin story for The Joker.

Don't Focus On Thomas & Martha Wayne

As an audience, we can only watch the pearls hit the pavement so many times before we stop caring about the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne. The origin of The Dark Knight has generally become common knowledge to even the most cursory comic book movie fan, and the death of Bruce Wayne's parents was already covered by Zack Snyder during the events of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. We do NOT need the solo Batman movie to remind us why Bruce Wayne has chosen the life of a crime fighter, and we do not need the film to spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on his survivor's guilt. Instead, Affleck should focus that psychology on other things that torment Bruce Wayne, such as the death of Jason Todd, the betrayal of a good friend like Harvey Dent, or the fact that he likely will never have a normal relationship.

Examine Bruce Wayne's Relationship With Gotham City

During Scott Snyder's beautiful run on Batman during The New 52, he allowed the character to properly express why he stays in Gotham City, and why he's so dead set on defending it. In the eyes of Bruce Wayne, Gotham is a crucible; if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. That's a sentiment that Ben Affleck should really focus on, because few Batman movies have ever really tackled the reasons why Bruce Wayne actually wants to be in Gotham. Sure, it's his home, but most of the previous Batman movies have taken that idea for granted. With a beautiful city like Metropolis waiting across the bay, there needs to be a reason for a billionaire to want to stick around.

Bring In Non-Batman DC Characters

Up until now, Batman movies have been forced to rely almost exclusively on characters solely from the Batman mythos. However, the creation of a cohesive DC cinematic universe has fundamentally altered how characters can appear in The Dark Knight's next solo movie. We already know that Deathstroke -- a villain not exclusive to The Dark Knight's rogue's gallery -- will appear in the upcoming film, and Ben Affleck should double down on that idea to include an army of non-Batman DC characters. Maybe he will pay Amanda Waller a visit, or jet over to Metropolis to see Clark Kent and Lois Lane (a la Hush). No matter what, we want the Batman solo movie to genuinely feel like it exists within a larger universe.

What do you think Ben Affleck's Batman movie should do to set itself apart from previous Batman films? Let us know what you think in the comments section below to keep this conversation going! We will bring you more information related to the solo Batman movie as new details become available to us.

Few comic book writers have maintained a consistent influence on the silver screen incarnation of Batman quite like Frank Miller. His dark, brooding take on The Dark Knight's mythos became the standard interpretation of Bruce Wayne and his moody alter ego for an entire generation. To put it bluntly: the guy knows the character inside and out. Now he seems to have advice regarding how to make a proper Batman movie, and it all boils down to simplifying the story. Miller explained:

Frank Miller recently talked to Variety about his career as a comic book writer, and addressed what a proper Batman movie really needs. By his own estimation, the trick to a good Batman story is to scale things down in order to focus on Bruce Wayne's intimate connection with crime, criminals, and Gotham City itself. Rather than revolving around the spectacle of his "toys" like the Batwing or Batmobile, a good Batman movie should level its focus on the man under the cowl, and the trauma that drives him as a hero.

Miller goes on to draw comparisons to Batman's opposite number in DC Comics, Superman. While the Man of Steel often finds himself taking on potentially apocalyptic threats, The Caped Crusader feels more driven to take on average street crimes because that's what made him Batman in the first place.

Few scenes in comic book history encapsulate Bruce Wayne's dark, personal attitude towards crime quite like his return to the cape and cowl in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Check out one of the coolest sequences in the animated version of the story to get a better sense of that small-scale, dark atmosphere.

Our collective hope is that the creative forces behind the DCEU take statements like this to heart. Spectacle will obviously play a major role in future DC films (that's pretty much a given with comic book movies), but they shouldn't lose sight of the personal nature of a character like Batman. Even if Batfleck takes on Steppenwolf and an enormous alien threat in Justice League, the core themes of Affleck's solo Batman movie should really simplify the character to his most basic elements.

What do you think of Frank Miller's advice? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. CinemaBlend will bring you any and all relevant DC updates as more information becomes available to us.

Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice did well at the box office, but it didn’t necessarily connect with every member of the audience. Heck, the movie’s supporting cast (personified by Jeremy Irons) recently came out and dismissed Dawn of Justice as "overstuffed." The negative reactions even led to a Sad Affleck meme, but we might be able to perk the Batman actor up, because one very important person weighed in on the side of his Dark Knight.

Frank Miller, noted scripter and illustrator, created the version of the Batman for The Dark Knight Returns on which Ben Affleck clearly borrowed. In that story, published in 1986, an older Batman comes out of retirement to battle a series of foes including Two-Face, the Joker and, eventually, Superman. The armor that he wears to battle the Last Son of Krypton is what inspired Snyder and Affleck, and so, when Frank Miller was asked at MegaCon 2016 in Orlando what he thought of Affleck’s take on the Bat, Miller replied:

And with that, Ben Affleck should be able to put his mind at ease about any negativity his performance in Batman v Superman collected. The man responsible for this version of Batman approves of what you did, via quotes obtained by DCComicsMovie.com. Mission accomplished.

Not that Affleck was receiving the brunt of the criticism aimed at Batman v Superman. If anything, more people praised Affleck’s interpretation of Bruce Wayne, and Warner Bros. worked behind the scenes to get this Oscar-winning talent more involved in the DC Films process. His solo Batman movie potentially has been fast-tracked to an earlier release date. He has taken on a greater role in the Justice League movie. If anything, Frank Miller’s words about Ben Affleck’s work on Dawn of Justice are being

echoed around Warner Bros.

Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has to be the most discussed blockbuster to reach theaters this year. Love it or hate it, fans (and detractors) can not stop analyzing every aspect of this film. The reason, I believe, is because so much of the success of the DC Film Universe needs to track back to what Snyder floats in Dawn of Justice. There are seeds of Justice League villains, of Flash cameos and the origin of Cyborg. DC and Warner Bros. need their fans to be invested if they are going to continue building this world, so a vote of confidence from someone as influential as Frank Miller may actually go a long, long way.

Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has officially hit theaters, and has driven comic book fans wild. For the first time ever, the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel have faced off on the silver screen, in one of the coolest cinematic showdowns ever committed to film. If nothing else, Dawn of Justice has proven that Zack Snyder knows his stuff, and has no trouble adapting comic books source material to the big screen.

It’s been well publicized that Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice takes ample inspiration from Frank Miller’s classic graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. One look at the general appearance of Ben Affleck’s Batman decked out for battle could tell you that. However, the film contains numerous, more obscure references to the source material that casual audiences might not have picked up on. We’ve combed through Batman V Superman and picked out ten of the best references to The Dark Knight Returns...

"My parents taught me a different lesson..."

Chris Terrio wrote a top notch script when he penned Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but he made sure to throw in some of Miller’s best lines for all of us fans, as well. He adapted numerous quotes from various iconic DC stories, but one of the best moments comes towards the end of the titular battle, when Batfleck utters the iconic speech: "My parents taught me a different lesson... lying on this street... shaking in deep shock... dying for no reason at all. They showed me that the world only makes sense when you force it to." It’s heartbreaking, and completely encapsulates the psychology of this version of Batman. He’s been hurt before, and he’ll never let himself be hurt again.

Nuking Superman

We’re not going to lie, we completely geeked out when Zack Snyder included this moment in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. During his battle with Doomsday, Kal-El takes the Kryptonian beast into space, and holds him while the United States government strikes them both with a nuclear warhead. The blast doesn’t kill either of them, but it severely weakens Superman for a brief period of time. Following the detonation, the last son of Krypton looks incredibly emaciated, and almost like a zombie, and then slowly heals as he takes in sunlight – similar to how he looked when he stopped a nuclear blast over Corto Maltese during the events of The Dark Knight Returns.

The Machine Gun

One of the most utterly badass references to The Dark Knight Returns comes when Bruce Wayne saves Martha Kent from Lex Luthor’s henchmen. After completely decimating a room full of men, KGBeast and another thug cover the only door into the room. Instead of bursting through the door, Batman punches his way through the wall and grabs the thug’s M-60 machine gun – which he uses to shoot KGBeast’s flamethrower and save Ma Kent. This moment is almost directly lifted from a sequence in The Dark Knight Returns, where Batman pulls the same move on several members of the Mutant gang in order to save a kidnapped child; Snyder even got the type of machine gun right.

The Heartbeat

We aren’t going to deny that Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice ends on a low-note for our heroes. The Man of Steel falls, and those close to him attend his funeral in Smallville, Kansas. However, there’s a brief moment towards the end of the sequence that sees Lois Lane standing alone by his graveside. As she drops dirt onto Clark’s coffin, a faint heartbeat can be heard. While this obviously indicates Superman’s imminent resurrection, it also seems like a reference to the end of The Dark Knight Returns, when Superman himself hears Bruce’s heartbeat from inside his coffin after the Caped Crusader faked his death to escape the government.

The Sniper Rifle

When Batman decides he is going to steal a large chunk of Kryptonite from Lex Luthor in order to combat the Man of Steel, he tracks the shipment from a dock by placing a homing beacon on a truck. The sequence begins with him standing on a crane holding a sniper rifle. As Batman will never use a firearm to kill, the imagery represents a clear homage to The Dark Knight Returns, where he similarly used a scoped rifle to fire a grappling gun between two towers during a battle with Harvey Dent a.k.a Two Face. Snyder ultimately changed the purpose of the gun in Batman V Superman, but the visual similarities cannot be denied.

Batman’s Tactics Against Superman

We’ve got to hand it to Zack Snyder. Although the fight between The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel isn’t very lengthy in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, he managed to make it about as badass as it could possibly be. Part of the reason we love this fight so much is the way in which Snyder directly used tactics used by Batman in the original fight, and adapted them for the silver screen. From the power armor, to the use of sonic guns, booby traps, and even a cloud of kryptonite gas, Snyder did his homework on how Miller’s Batman took down the last son of Krypton.

Bruce Wayne: Heavy Drinker

It’s a fairly well established nerd fact that almost all iterations of Batman don’t drink alcohol. One of the most notable exceptions came in the form of the aging Bruce Wayne from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Having experienced a long career full of death, loss, and darkness, both Miller and Snyder’s versions of Batman have looked to the bottle as a means of coping with the evil and chaos that has enveloped them. It’s an incredibly minor detail, but one that die-hard fans of the character most surely picked up on when they saw Dawn of Justice for the first time.

The Robin Suit on Display

It’s an element from the film that’s never fully explained, but also needs no explanation for die-hard comic fans. Bruce Wayne keeps the uniform of a dead Robin on display in the Batcave as a means of reminding himself of the friends he has lost, as well as the reasons he does what he does. Robin’s uniform on display in the Batcave has become so ingrained in our minds, that many of us likely don’t even know that The Dark Knight Returns was where the idea originated – several years before A Death in the Family ever eve hit shelves. Like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Dark Knight Returns provided very little details into the demise of Jason Todd, instead opting to just let audiences see what the death had done to the psyche of Bruce Wayne.

The Cover

This is one of those "blink and you’ll miss it" references, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome. There’s a brief moment during the climactic battle with Doomsday where Batman quickly uses his grappling gun to escape the giant beast. As he latches onto a building and fires off a second grappling hook, a bolt of lightning strikes behind him. The pose he makes during that quick moment perfectly mirrors that now iconic cover image from The Dark Knight Returns, and has become one of the most beloved images of the modern Caped Crusader in the years since the book’s release.

The Use Of News Media

One of the most unique aspects of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is the way in which the writer uses news media to inform how different segments of the Gotham City population feels about the return of Batman to his crime fighting ways. Zack Snyder employs a similar tactic in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice at one point by featuring a lengthy montage of various notable figures – including Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Holly Hunter’s Senator Finch – discussing the role metahumans play in our society, and whether or not someone like Superman is the hero this planet really needs.

Given how much of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is based on the 1986 comic story The Dark Knight Returns, it made sense that its author, Frank Miller, attended the movie’s red carpet premiere this past weekend. When it comes to his work at DC Comics, Miller has cemented himself as one of the most popular Batman writers of all time. It’s a good thing, then, that Batman has a big future ahead him in the DCEU, and Miller hopes to see another character, Carrie Kelley, be a part of it.

When asked by Comicbook.com which of his DC creations he’d like to see be adapted for the movies, he named Carrie Kelley, the Robin who assisted the older Bruce Wayne when he donned the cape and cowl again in The Dark Knight Returns. He said:

Carrie Kelley was introduced in The Dark Knight Returns as a 13-year old girl who Batman said from a gang of Mutants. Inspired by the Caped Crusader, she made her own Robin costume and managed to save him, thus earning his respect and allowing her to be his partner. Within that continuity, she was the third Robin, as Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne hadn’t been created yet. She later became Catgirl in the 2001 follow-up, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and she is currently appearing in The Dark Knight III: The Master Race.

Carrie Keley was brought into the main DC Comics continuity in the New 52’s Batman and Robin #19 as Damian Wayne’s acting instructor. Outside of the comics, her media appearances include The New Batman Adventure’s episode "Legends of the Dark Knight," the Teen Titans Go! episode "The Best Robin," and, of course, the two-part The Dark Knight Returns animated movie, where she was voiced by Modern Family’s Ariel Winter. Of course, if she were to be included in the DCEU at some point, this would be her big debut for regular moviegoers.

Back when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was shooting, it was rumored that Jena Malone was playing Carrie Kelley. While director Zack Snyder is still staying mum on the matter, the most common belief is that Malone is actually Barbara Gordon, but fans we’ll have to wait until the R-rated, extended "Ultimate Edition" comes out to see who she is playing. As far as the DCEU’s Robins go, all we know for certain is that one of them met their demise at The Joker’s hands, and the common belief is that, like in the comics, it was Jason Todd. Whoever it was, Batman may be more hesitant to take a new sidekick at this stage of his life, which would make Kelley’s inclusion more difficult.

Still, with a new Batman solo movie in development, maybe he’ll run into Carrie Kelley in that story and form a bond, thus granting Frank Miller his wish. Let us know in the comments if you’d like to see the Carrie Kelley Robin brought into the DCEU.

Even before we get to Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Dark Knight has already had a long, distinguished career on the silver screen. After the franchise took a nosedive with the disastrous Batman & Robin, but before Christopher Nolan breathed new, gritty life back into with his Dark Knight trilogy, Warner Bros. tapped Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky to bring the Caped Crusader back with his version of the character, inspired by Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One story. Development went on for a while, but, according to Miller, there was one big issue, it was too dark.

Consider how bleak and grim the Christopher Nolan Batman films got at times, the idea of too dark may initially seem a bit redundant, but Darren Aronofsky had some pitch-black ideas to be sure. Even too dark for Frank Miller, who has made a career out of penning gritty, violent comic tales. About their collaboration, Miller told The Hollywood Reporter:

After the bright, almost goofy antics of Batman and Robin in the two Joel Schumacher-directed films, Batman Forever in 1995 and Batman & Robin two years later in 1997, Darren Aronofsky planned to take the character somewhere very, very different. Like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aronofsky’s Caped Crusader was going to be an older incarnation, and he even said he wanted to cast Clint Eastwood at one point.

Darren Aronofsky also wanted to shoot in a wholly different fashion than any version before, or afterwards for that matter. He floated the idea of using Tokyo as a stand-in for Gotham City, and intended to shoot entirely on the streets, with no sets, visiting inner cities across America to give it the grit he was after—he called his vision Death Wish meets Batman.

And it didn’t end there. The script featured an incarnation of Catwoman who was an abused prostitute, a Bruce Wayne who was a total car fanatic, and Commissioner Gordon fighting police corruption. This was not going to be a movie to take your kids to; this was going to be dark, grim stuff indeed, and wouldn’t do much to drive toy sales.

Over the decades, Batman has gone though countless evolutions, but this would definitely have been a Caped Crusader like none other. At the end of the interview, Frank Miller was asked why not turn the story they hashed out into a graphic novel, to which he responded, "Maybe I will."

What to you think? Would you have liked Darren Aronofsky’s Batman to come to pass? Would you read the story as a graphic novel? Or do you think that it’s best it never materialized? Let us know in the comments below.

Just because a popular comic book character is being adapted for a movie or TV show doesn’t mean their creator will approve. Case in point: when writer Frank Miller was asked last month what he thought about Elektra appearing in Daredevil Season 2, he made it clear he didn’t approve of her inclusion whatsoever. To be fair, Miller has no interest in the Netflix series as a whole, having never watched it, but his words were nonetheless biting. Now, one of Daredevil’s producers and showrunners has jumped to Elektra’s defense.

Doug Petrie, who co-runs the new Daredevil season alongside Marco Ramirez, opted not to fire back at Miller during a recent interview , instead saying how much he respects the creator and wants to do justice to his creation, who is being played by G.I. Joe: Retaliation’s Elodie Yung. As Petrie put it to EW:

Since Miller doesn’t like watching other adaptations featuring any of the characters he’s worked on (including the Batman movies), there was really no way for the Daredevil folks to adapt Elektra in a way that would please him. Miller created Elektra in 1981 as Matt’s new love interest, who also happened to be a talented assassin and in bed with the wrong people. She was eventually killed by Bullseye, but was later resurrected, despite an agreement promising not to do so without Miller’s permission. She’s had a consistent presence in the Marvel universe since then, but Miller clearly will never like what’s being done with her. Outside of the printed page, she was played by Jennifer Garner in the 2003 Daredevil movie and her own 2005 spinoff, though from what little we know about the TV show’s Elektra, it sounds like she’ll be more faithful than the cinematic version.

Not much has been about how Elektra will factor into Netflix’s Daredevil. Those who watched Season 1 know that Elektra was referenced (though unnamed) in Season 1 as one of Matt Murdock’s girlfriends at law school. She’ll work her way back into his life right as he’s dealing with competing vigilante Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, played by Fury’s Jon Bernthal. She’s also been described as “Matt’s wild side,” causing him to be both “repulsed and deeply drawn” to her crazy antics. Since Elektra will also be wielding her trademark sai, she’ll also be deep in the action of the Man Without Fear’s sophomore outing.

Daredevil Season 2 will premiere all 13 of its episodes Friday, March 18 on Netflix. To see when everything else is premiering over the next few months, check out our midseason TV schedule.

Many Marvel Comics fans have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Daredevil Season 2, which has been in the works over at Netflix for some time. With big characters like Elektra, Punisher and more set for the next set of episodes, it should be exciting to see how the new characters interact with the core cast when the show returns to the small screen. But there’s at least one person who is not excited about the addition of Elektra. During a fan Q&A at Brazil CCXP, Frank Miller was pretty short when asked about the addition of the character on Daredevil. In fact, he bashed the fact she exists, at all.

It’s clear that Miller still feels like he birthed the character and should have full creative control over who Elektra is and what value she has for Marvel. This likely isn’t the first time Miller has been annoyed about Elektra returning in some form or another. Miller actually created the character back in 1981. At the time, she was a love interest of Matt Murdock’s and she was training as an assassin. Bullseye later caused her death and around that time Miller reportedly worked out a deal with Marvel to keep her from being used in future projects. Unfortunately, that was back when Marvel was a private company, and Miller no longer has any clout when it comes to the character’s use. You can read more on that here.

It’s also pretty clear Miller isn’t a fan of what Marvel is doing over at Netflix as a whole. The comics creator also admitted in the same Q&A that he hasn’t even bothered to watch Daredevil, as noted by Bleeding Cool, so his comments aren't coming from a fan standpoint. If he had watched, we can hope he would find a series that is visceral and dark but still compelling, although we doubt it would change his feelings on Elektra’s use.

Back in July, Marvel and Netflix announced that Élodie Yung had been signed on for the role. We don’t know exactly how the character will appear in Season 2 or what her function will be, but the first Season 2 teaser trailer did give us our first good look at the character. We also know that she will be a “mysterious character” who Matt Murdock knew in the past. Yung’s role will mark the second time the character has come to life in live action, following Jennifer Garner’s take on the character.

Along with Elektra, the Punisher is supposed to play a huge role in Daredevil Season 2, and we know a little bit about what that appearance should entail. You can find out more when Daredevil returns to Netflix sometime in 2016.

To call Frank Miller a polarizing figure would be a serious understatement. While many of his works have gone on to become instant classics in the world of graphic novels – see: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City – plenty of others have fallen flat – see: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Dark Knight III: The Master Race has not even hit shelves yet, but now it seems that Miller is gearing up for a fourth installment of the Dark Knight series.

Miller fully intends to begin work on an untitled fourth installment to his Dark Knight series as soon as Master Race finishes its eight-issue run, according to CBM. While the third book has been co-written by Brian Azarello, it seems at this point Miller will be the sole writer of the fourth installment – barring any future developments, that is. Miller has repeatedly stated that he would be done with the Dark Knight series, but he explained to CBM that the immortality of Batman makes it almost impossible for him to not want to keep writing new adventures for the character.

Miller’s influence on the Batman mythos cannot be understated. His work on The Dark Knight Returns brought the Caped Crusader home to the shadows after a few decades of lightness and camp inspired by Adam West’s tenure under the cowl. That graphic novel painted Bruce Wayne as a man obsessed – a force to be reckoned with whose sole purpose in life had become the mission to rid Gotham of the criminal underworld. Miller’s work on Batman: Year One similarly reinvigorated the genre by giving the world the definitive Batman origin story – much of which would be adapted in Christopher Nolan’s masterful Batman Begins. Even his short-lived (and wholly underrated) work on the All-Star Batman & Robin series gave the world the iconic phrase “the god damn Batman.”

Even the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice seems poised to take cues from Miller’s work. The aesthetic of Batman’s outfit, as well as the concept of an older, seasoned Bruce Wayne seems ripped straight from Miller’s universe.

So it looks like Bat-fans can rejoice at this news. We are only a few days away from the release of the first issue of The Dark Knight III: Master Race, and if Miller fires on all cylinders, we could very well have two new instantly classic Batman graphic novels on the horizon.

We’ve all been thinking that Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was based on Frank Miller’s classic graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. It features a similar face-off between the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel, it sees Batman don a similar mech-suit to battle Superman, and the visuals look similar to the comic’s brooding edge. Miller himself even consulted with Snyder on the film. But, as it turns out, we were wrong.

Batman co-creator Bob Kane posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Snyder came out for the ceremony. During this time, he spoke with Comic Book Resources about his upcoming superhero pic and the Miller influence. He clarified,

So, if Frank Miller’s comic isn’t the main source material for Batman v Superman, what is? Let’s look at what we’ve seen so far from the trailers…

Taking place in the aftermath of Man of Steel, the film sees the world divided on how to handle Superman. Is he their savior or an alien invader with the power to wipe out humanity? If you ask Bruce Wayne, it’s the latter, which is why he sets out to best his might. However, this is a smoke screen — and, based on Snyder’s statements, seemingly in more ways than one. Lex Luthor, envisioned as a young, Zuckerbergian entrepreneur, has his own devious plans. We know he has the deceased body of General Zod in his possession, as well as Superman’s ultimate weakness, kryptonite. We also see Batman fighting an army of soldiers wearing black suits and sporting Superman’s emblem. We still have a few months before Batman v Superman hits theaters on March 25, 2016, but we still haven’t seen any official looks at the characters played by actors Callan Mulvey, Scoot McNairy and Jena Malone.

Then there’s also the latter half of the film’s title to consider. Dawn of Justice points to this film being a precursor to the two-part Justice League coming down the road. As such, we’ll be seeing our first looks at Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, and reportedly Ray Fisher’s Cyborg and Ezra Miller’s The Flash. We know that these characters don’t appear in the film for too long, but we’ve seen the Amazonian warrior fighting some unknown but strong figure on a fiery battlefield.

With all these moving parts, it’s difficult to hone in on one comic book at the root of all this. Batman v Superman already seems to be taking the Winter Soldier approach, in that it seems to suggest one storyline, but another, more jaw-dropping one is waiting to reveal itself.

Comic book writer Frank Miller may have almost 60,000 followers, but he isn’t the most active Twitter user in the world. In fact, before today, he hadn’t tweeted anything since back in October of 2011. But when he took to the social media platform, he certainly made it count, revealing the he’s writing a new Dark Knight series that comes out later this year. Check it out for yourself.

Titled DK III: The Master Race, this will be the third in Miller’s massively influential run for DC's Batman. Set in a dystopian near future, Miller’s Dark Knight comics give readers a Caped Crusader who is older, more grizzled, and coming closer and closer to the end of his days fighting crime. Actually, when the first installment, 1986’s The Dark Knight Returns begins, Bruce Wayne, now 55-years-old, has been out of the game for ten years. But a rising tidal wave of crime sweeping Gotham gets him to put on his iconic cowl once more and face off against a new generation of threats, as well as a newly awoken Joker, who had been catatonic in Arkham Asylum.

The four-part series was a huge success, helping to usher in a new, more adult-friendly surge of comics to follow, as well as pushing Batman into increasingly dark territory content wise and thematically. He also goes toe to toe with Superman in a manner that looks very similar to what we’ve seen thus far from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, especially Batman’s armored get up.

When the follow-up arrived in the form of 2001’s miniseries The Dark Knight Strikes Again, it wasn’t nearly as successful, critically or from a sales standpoint. Since then, Frank Miller has been more focused on his Sin City comics and film work, though he did dabble in the Batman pool again with a short run, All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, which was well received, but had, lets just call it a sporadic publishing schedule.

Right now there aren’t many more details available for DK III: The Master Race, which is an ominous title to be sure. According to Miller’s tweet, the new title will hit the shelves of your local comic book retailer this fall, so we may hear more before then, but at the moment there’s nothing more specific than that.

When Ben Affleck’s batsuit was revelead months ago as a tease for the upcoming Zack Snyder film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice all we got was a dark, monochrome photo leaving colors of the suit up to the imagination. In the few months following the first photo release, fans added their own color schemes to the photos, creating the colored batsuits they’d like to see. But, now ComicBook.com saw what no one else seemed to notice. They found if you scroll over the thumbnail photos for the upcoming film on Synder’s Cruel Films website, the image becomes colorized.

The blown up version of the thumbnail, seen above, features a greyish suit with black detailing. The color scheme, while incorporating a darker grey that doesn’t contrast quite as well with the black detailing is most closely related to Frank Miller’s batsuit in The Dark Knight Returns comic book series.

While Ben Affleck’s suit does feature some high tech-looking materials, similar to the suit we saw in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight series, it has a more authentic look in relation to Batman in the comic books. We’ve heard a bit about the suit for the upcoming film, and gotten a tease with photos, but big news also happened a couple months ago when word came out about a second batsuit featured in the film. The second suit apparently is completely armored and can even shoot missles, very similar to another suit seen in the Frank Miller classic comics.

At this point, it has become very clear that Miller’s comics are big inspiration for the upcoming film, and now seeing the color scheme of the basic batsuit in the film plays even more homage to the comic book art. I can’t wait to see what modern capabilities this classically colored suit brings, and what a realistic version of the Miller armored batsuit entails.

There’s still work to go on the film, and even some more casting (including a 12-year-old portrayal of Bruce Wayne) but every little detail we get proves that the film is well worth the wait. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters on March 25, 2016.

Today is the day that we celebrate Thanksgiving – the one day a year specifically put aside to look back on the previous few months and give thanks for everything in our lives that makes us happy. For fans of comic book movies, there is plenty to be thankful for.

The genre has certainly been growing steadily over the last few years, but we very well may look back on 2014 as the year that superhero properties truly took over Hollywood. We’ve not only seen some truly fantastic movies – including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men: Days of Future Past - but huge steps were also made securing the comic book industry’s place in the film and television worlds for the next six years. Both the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes are growing, there are some big plans for Spider-Man, and the future of the X-Men looks surprisingly bright.

To celebrate this year’s Thanksgiving, I have recorded a special episode of Hero Blend this week, thanking some key people for all of the great work that they have done moving the comic book genre forward in 2014. There’s obviously a lot of ground to cover, so hit the play button above!

Frank Miller is a comic book author known and admired for his deeply dark brand of visual storytelling, perhaps most recognized from the movie adaptations of his graphic novels Sin City and the upcoming Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. It turns out, Miller is outright hostile to movie adaptations of his characters that he himself didn't have a hand in helming, and that includes every single Batman movie. In fact, he hates them. Every. Single. One.

In an interview with Playboy, Frank Miller admits he's not much of a fan of the movies made from his comics, like Daredevil and Electra. Fair enough, those movies are generally regarded as poor to terrible. But Miller extends that sentiment to every representation of Batman, a character he re-imagined as a grizzled, fifty-something who was essentially a sociopath back in the late 1980s.

He tells Playboy :

To be clear, Miller doesn't just mean Tim Burton's gothic Batman or Batman Returns, or Joel Schumacher's flashy Batman Forever and infamous Batman & Robin. Asked if his disdain for Batman movies included Christopher Nolan's fanboy-adored Dark Knight trilogy, Miller was frank, saying:

Miller won't likely give a second thought to dismissing the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, even though an early look at the costume Ben Affleck will be donning as the Dark Knight looks like it pulled serious inspiration from Miller's time as Batman's writer. Dare to compare with the pic below. The colors may be different, but the bulkier Batman and shorter "ears" draw parallels.

It seems guaranteed that Miller's comments will draw the ire of Batman and Dark Knight Trilogy fans. But it's unlikely Miller will care. Asked if he prefers Batman to Superman, Miller seemed to sneer, saying, "Do I love Batman more? They’re not people. They’re only lines on paper."

Regardless of the outrage his statements may cause, Frank Miller has achieved one thing. He's scored headlines for Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, a (too) long-awaited sequel that could use the added ink ahead of its Friday release.

Frank Miller and Zack Snyder go way back. Snyder's adaptation of Miller's graphic novel 300 was his giant breakout hit, and Snyder adapted Miller's Xerxes for the upcoming sequel 300: Rise of an Empire. So when Snyder took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con two weeks ago to announce his big Superman-Batman team-up, it shouldn't be a surprise that he accompanied it with a quote from Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. And yet, Miller was surprised anyway.

According to The Independent, who spoke to an anonymous source "close to Miller," the author had no idea that the Superman-Batman announcement was coming, and especially that Snyder would enlist actor Harry Lennix to read the quote from The Dark Knight Returns. Snyder has been adamant that he's not specifically adapting Returns, just using it for inspiration, but he may hew closer to Miller's work than you think; The Independent also says that Snyder and Miller will be meeting in the coming days, "to go over the plans for the Superman film."

That word "plans" is vague to the point of maddening, and could suggest literally anything from Snyder saying "Yeah dude, it's exciting, come see the movie in 2015" to asking Miller to collaborate with him on the screenplay. My guess is it's somewhere in the middle, Snyder reaching out to an old collaborator to run some ideas by him, talk about the characters that Miller knows fairly well and give his buddy an insider glimpse at an exciting new movie. The world of DC Comics films is undeniably dark, following in the footsteps of The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel, but it's hard to imagine much of Miller's R-rated style translating to a film intended to be as gigantic as Batman vs. Superman, or Superman vs. Batman, or whatever they end up calling it.

We're already closely following the tiny amounts of knowledge we've got on the film, which so far has confirmed Snyder to direct, David S. Goyer to write the screenplay, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas to executive produce… and that's about it. You can hold out hope that Miller will be added to that list of collaborators, but I'd say 300: Rise of an Empire is probably your next and best chance to see Miller's work on screen.

Frank Miller’s "Batman: Year One," the famous retelling of the Caped Crusader's origin story, was made into a full length animated feature last year by Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. On the heels of B:YO's success, the comic book author's other most famous work "The Dark Knight Returns" is now also getting an adaptation. More accurately, two since the sprawling tale of an aging Bruce Wayne re-donning the cowl is being split into Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1 and B:TDKR: Part 2.

THR reports that Warners and DC have cast several actors for their upcoming animated version of Miller’s classic 1986 Batman comic book run. Peter Weller, most famous for his role as Robocop, will voice Batman/Bruce Wayne in a near future where the Bat has since retired and Gotham City has managed to become an even worse place to live. A gang of hooligans called The Mutants terrorize Gotham to the point where it finally forces the now 55-year old Bruce back to crime fighting, now with a new and female Robin by his side. Bruce Timm, the executive producer of all 15 of DC’s animated movies said that Weller has “the proper weight to his voice. He definitely brings all of the world-weariness of the character and inner core of optimist covered in a cynical shell.”

Modern Family’s Ariel Winter has been cast in the role of Robin and her alter-ego Carrie Kelly. This is one of my favorite incarnations of the sidekick and Winter seems like a perfect fit for the spunky yet sharp Robin. The article also caught up with Winter who said she watched the previous Batmans and asked herself, “How can I make her different from the other Robins, other than just being female? She’s really tough and she needs to have an edge in her voice so I tried a lower register for her.” Also in the voice cast are Wade Williams as Harvey Dent/Two-Face and This is Spinal Tap's Michael McKean and David Selby.

The Hollywood Reporter followed up the casting news with the first few looks at the adaptation of the four-book mini-series from 1986. What do you think?

The colors are definitely more muted than Miller's original (with Lynn Varney) but that was probably a wise choice. I also dig the crack at the iconic lighting bolt cover. Head over to THR for the full set of photos. With Zack Snyder once interested in pursuing a live-action adaptation of Miller's classic, it's a fitting coincidence that Jay Oliva, the artist who storyboarded Snyder’s Man of Steel, is directing the project. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1 will be released this fall with the second coming in early 2013. How long before The Dark Knight Strikes Again?.

Ordinarily, straight-to-DVD releases get a bad rap. It's understandable, considering they're frequently terrible. But now and again, certain works end up in the DVD pile simply because there's not enough of an audience to warrant a wide release, no matter how solid the material itself might be. Animated comic book adaptations are perhaps the most frequent victim of this widespread lack of interest, but by now, all involved are used to the treatment and plan budgets accordingly. That was the case with Watchmen's Black Freighter a few years back, and it'll be the case with the upcoming animated Batman.

Almost a year ago, we found out Frank Miller's Batman origin story, Year One, was heading into production for a straight-to-DVD animated release. Now comes the word, according to Bleeding Cool, that it'll be followed in short order by The Dark Knight Returns. Not be confused with Christopher Nolan's upcoming Dark Knight Rises, it should ultimately remain close to the graphic novel it's based on, though that won't be officially confirmed until a director and a screenwriter are found for the project.

There are still no release dates for Year One or The Dark Knight Returns, but word is production has begun on the former and will soon commence on the later. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Zack Snyder is still promising a sequel to 300 and, for the first time, we have word that he’s gone from just promising to actually working on it. Snyder tells the LA Times, “We closed the writing deal on Xerxes. We started writing about a week ago. So we're doing it. It's happening.”

Xerxes is what they’re calling 300: The Next and he’s working on the script with his 300 collaborator Kurt Johnstad. 300 was based on a Frank Miller comic and Xerxes will be based on Frank Miller’s sequel to it. Actually it’s not exactly a sequel, nor is it really a sequel. It’s more of a side-jump, a movie happening in parallel to the events of 300. Snyder explains it this way:

Do 300 fans care about why the Persians invaded? Wasn’t sort of the fun of 300 the fact that there wasn’t a lot of thinking and it just sort of leaped into the story of naked men stabbing each other? Maybe Snyder and Miller have been listening too much to all those Persian protest groups who had a cow because their ancient ancestors were the movie’s bad guys.

Since this is a movie happening in parallel though, that should put an end to any speculation that Gerard Butler will be back. For that matter, aside from Xerxes, it sounds like they’ll need a whole new cast. This won’t be 300, just another story told in a similar style.

One of the main reasons Christopher Nolan's Batman films have been so incredibly successful is that they have used parts from some of the greatest Batman stories ever told. In developing the major characters for both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, the Nolans and David S. Goyer used multiple elements from comics like Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, Jeph Loeb's The Long Halloween, and Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, but ultimately went a separate path to develop the story arc. Now one of those comics is getting an adaptation of it's very own.

Comics Continuum reports that Miller's famous Batman origin story will get its own full length animated films to be put out Warner Home Video. Speaking with unnamed sources (Warner Bros. didn't "confirm the film's existence"), they also said that Sam Liu, who has previously worked on Batman material in the form of seven episodes from the WB series The Batman and the most recent Warner Home Video release, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, will direct the project.

Though arguably not as good as The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One is an incredible story that many view as the quintessential origin for one of the greatest comic book characters of all time. For those concerned that an animated film won't do the book justice, go out and rent Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Gotham Knight, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. You may be pleasantly surprised by how fantastic they are.

If Frank Miller wanted to write a sequel to 300, then he should have done it at some point in the eleven years since he wrote the first one, not waited around until someone made a successful movie out of it before going to work on another. It just seems sort of cynical to grind a sequel out of something that you didn’t think was sequel worthy until someone backed a Brinks truck up to your writing desk.

Alright, got that out of my system. From now I’m staying upbeat because, hey I loved 300 and would probably also love more of it… if it’s as good as the first one. I doubt that’s possible but let’s hope for the best.

As long as we’re hoping for the best, here’s the latest on where 300: Part 2 stands. Superhero Hype talked to director Zack Snyder who told them that Frank Miller is drawing away on the new comic they’ll use as the basis for their adaptation. Of where this thing may be headed Snyder says, “[Miller] told me, it would be bigger as far as landscape and terrain. We're going to see Athens and the Aegean and other places. There would be an opportunity for bigger visions, though I'd hope for the same aesthetic.”

The video game adaptation of Frank Miller's comic book series Sin City seems like it had a good shot of being released, what with the huge critical/commercial success of the film adaptation. However, things don't look promising for the video game.

Red Line Entertainment, the company planning the game, has released a statement (via Destructoid) that pegs the game's release date as "fiscal 2012." They're not even sure if they'll get it out by then, either. The game will only survive "if we can raise sufficient funds to continue operations".

The fate of the game is really tied to the film. As with any video game adaptation, financial backers need to be convinced that the movie is such a hot shit property that the game will naturally be lucrative as well. Unfortunately, Sin City's four years old by now and Sin City 2 is in limbo so there's probably not much of a push for this game.

A few weeks ago we brought you an early review of Zack and Miri Make a Porno. This week we bring you the man behind the movie. Filmmaker Kevin Smith sits down with us and talks about his upcoming film, other projects on the horizon, and then sits in as we do our regular thing, talking movies, geek fare, and the usual bunch of B.S. for a show so large, one hour couldn't contain it. Special Guest - Kevin Smith (Warning: This episode does contain a Kevin Smith level of profanity).

Show 155 - Guest Starring Kevin Smith