Warner Bros.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series is now more than just a celebration for fans. Warner Bros. reveals an official Blu-ray remastering of The Dark Knight’s animated adventures will hit shelves in 2018.

Someday, someone smarter than me  —  or at least better than me in Photoshop  —  will create a visual scale of the various Justice League posters, trailers, and images released over the past two years. This scale would also include key moments in the evolution of the DC Cinematic Universe, including the triumphant release of Wonder Woman earlier this year and the announcement that Joss Whedon would be taking over for Zack Snyder in post-production on the film. My guess? This progression of photos will show a clear and marked lightening of the Justice League images, serving as a nice parallel to the shifting conversation around the property itself.

In their mad rush to kickstart a cinematic universe without actually giving new characters individual movies, Warner Bros. has often struggled in the shadow of its Marvel competitors. Fans who are rooting for the success of the DCEU  —  those willing to see see the good and the bad of the movies, at least  —  know that movies like Wonder Woman are important because they create personal and well-rounded characters that we can then smash up against each other in movies like Justice League. After all, nobody would care who gets invited to an All-Star Game if there wasn’t an entire season’s worth of plays and memories to get us to that point.

I’m always of two minds when it comes to critics asking actors about superhero movies at film festivals. On the one hand, I understand the needs of our industry; if you don’t at ask at least one or two questions about Marvel and DC movies, another publication will, so there’s no point in pretending that any of us are above the fray. On the other hand, though, actors who have just put their all into a dramatic performance deserver better than questions about summer blockbusters that happen to be years away. Save your superhero questions for the very end and get off them as quickly as possible, that’s my motto.

The love for Mad Max: Fury Road runs deep, and fans have celebrated the recent sequel with fantastic cosplay and art since the movie arrived in theaters two years ago. However, one way wastelanders haven't been able to show their appreciation is with displaying action figures or collectibles of the Fury Road's iconic characters in their homes. Until now, George Miller and Warner Bros. hadn't opted to offer the licensing rights to anyone. Somehow though, Funko was able to work its magic and will be the first company to bring Furiosa, the Doof Warrior, and Max Rockatanksy to life as toys.

With a flurry of DCEU announcements this past week  —  we’re getting two more Joker movies with two separate Jokers! The Batman isn’t going to be one big crossover affair!  —  the writing seems to be increasingly on the wall for some of the second-tier Warner Bros. projects. Projects like Gotham City Sirens, the woman-driven comic book movie featuring popular characters Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman. Gotham City Sirens was noticeably absent from Comic-Con this year, and while alleged director David Ayer recently took to Twitter to reassure everyone of his involvement, things have been quiet. A little too quiet, maybe.

Over the weekend, DC Comics (via Heroic Hollywood) released another version of the same character designs, this time ramping up the Alex Ross influence by having our favorite superheroes standing in profile together. It also aligns pretty well with that Comic-Con trailer, emphasizing both the Flash and Wonder Woman and downplaying (a little) Batman. All part of your lighter, brighter, and funnier Justice League, right?

With Warner Bros. sharing updates for so many of its DCEU films at this past month’s Comic-Con, you’d be forgiven for overlooking the in-production films that were absent from the presentations. Films like Chris McKay‘s Nightwing. Earlier this year, McKay explained that his Nightwing movie would serve as a kind of counter to the traditional Batman films - exploring what it’s like to come from nothing instead of a life of privilege - and fans who loved The LEGO Batman Movie were cautiously optimistic about a standalone Dick Grayson film. So it came as a bit of a surprise, then, when the DCEU executives remained silent on their latest project.

Given the film’s box office success and surprising - albeit extremely preliminary - Oscar buzz, it’s probably fair to declare 2017 as the year of Wonder Woman. And all this Wonder Woman excitement has fans asking: after we see the character again in this fall’s Justice League, what’s next for the star of the DCEU? Will she jump forward to the modern world in Wonder Woman 2? Will we continue to see her adventures unfold throughout the 1900s? Or will Warner Bros. do something really wacky with her character, like, I dunno, make her the villain of another DCEU movie?

One of the big items to emerge from last weekend’s Comic-Con was the news that Zack Snyder would be taking a backseat in the DCEU going forward. This report - which falls somewhere between a rumor and a substantiated story - spoke directly to a shifting creative hierarchy behind the scenes at Warner Bros. With Geoff Johns now serving as DC’s answer to Marvel’s Kevin Feige, things look increasingly uncertain for the ‘old guard’ of DCEU filmmakers, including both Snyder and Suicide Squad director David Ayer, despite both directors’ involvement in upcoming films.