Hollywood may still be largely shut down as the pandemic continues to rage across the country, but that hasn’t stopped the superhero machine from chugging along. Black Widow’s release was delayed, so it will be a few months before we get the next phase of the MCU, and despite the fact that Wonder Woman 84 was pushed to fall and production on Matt Reeves’s The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, has been delayed, DC has been making news behind the scenes.

First, HBO Max announced their plans to release the Snydercut next year, and then details emerged about the long-awaited Flash movie. The most interesting nugget? That Michael Keaton will be reprising his role as Batman in a co-starring part as a mentor to the speedy superhero. And now there are whispers that DC has plans to bring another former Batman back into the fold.

The rumors, which Cosmic Book News reports first appeared on 4chan but have since been supported by leaks in other places, like The Cultured Nerd, suggest that Ben Affleck has already signed a deal with HBO Max to re-appear as Bruce Wayne and his vigilante alter-ego in future films related to Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

“Ben has indeed signed a new contract and he is coming back,” claims Taylor Murphy of The Cultured Nerd. “The official announcement is expected to happen either at DC FanDome or during JusticeCon. One of the two, we’re going to get that announcement but it’s going to happen before September. We’re going to get the official announcement and we are going to get the Snyderverse Batman is going to be returning.”

Murphy suggests that Affleck is returning because he is fully on-board with Zack Snyder’s vision, and now that Snyder’s Batman is back, so is Ben. Apparently, DC doesn’t see a conflict between the three Batmans – Affleck’s, Keaton’s, and Pattinson’s – and that part of the idea is for multiple Batmans to exist within a broader DC multiverse.

“They are bringing everybody back,” says Murphy. “This is planned… This is a design because of Zack. This is a plan that they’re moving forward with. I mean, I keep saying it is a great time to be a DC fan.”

It’s certainly might be if any of this is true. It’s hard to know, and until – and unless – an official announcement is made, it’s probably best to take this all with a grain of salt. After all, Affleck has spoken about the difficult time he had portraying Batman in Justice League, and he may not have any interest in revisiting the role.

But with the Snydercut on the way, and Keaton and Pattinson already on-board, it’s not that difficult to imagine DC bringing in a third Batman, and differentiating themselves from the MCU with a Batman triple-play. Hopefully Hollywood gets back to business soon so we can find out.

At the very least, three Batmans would give fans a lot to argue about!

For the uninitiated, “pop art” was a movement that emerged in the 1950s in which artists created bold, colorful, vivid depictions of familiar subjects, from celebrities to comic books to the everyday mundane. You probably know the style best from the time Andy Warhol painted 32 cans of Campbell’s tomato soup.

Now LEGO, who recently announced upcoming sets based on Home Alone and Seinfeld, is launching a line of LEGO Art products that will allow you to create stunning works of pop art. Each set costs $120, and includes a canvas, build guide booklet, and all the bead-like pieces you’ll need to assemble such iconic subjects as…

Marilyn Monroe

Build the iconic Andy Warhol print of Marilyn Monroe. This is LEGO ART. 🔥 https://t.co/SFoHdnp62o pic.twitter.com/HhNbCuzzV6

— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) July 1, 2020

Darth Vader

The Beatles

and Iron Man!

Some sets allow you to make multiple pieces of art. For example, you can make various versions of Iron Man’s suit, while the Sith kit shows you how to make Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and Kylo Ren.

And it gets better! Also included in each set is a unique QR code that, when scanned, provides you with a soundtrack you can listen to while you build. You can also combine canvasses to make even bigger, beadier, more badass pieces pop art to hang in your living space. The sets are expected to hit toy shelves on August 1st internationally and September 1st in the United States.

Your move, Mega Bloks!

Beer: It’s what’s for breakfast. We’ve already showcased Lucky Charms beer and one with Fruity Pebbles in it. Well, the hits keep on coming. Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer asks Apu for some Skittlebrau, a fake beer he imagined with candy floating in it?

Well, Homer’s dream has finally been actualized some twenty-odd years later. This month, the Pontoon Brewery in Sandy Springs, Georgia is bringing back its sweetest concoction: Rainbow Smiggles, a Berliner Weisse made with both Trix and Skittles, as well as strawberries, pineapple, vanilla. Also lactose, the sugar found in milk, to really nail down the illusion you’re getting loaded on cereal.

Pontoon Brewery has teamed up with The Sprayberry Bottle Shop to bring us this German sour which, once in the mixer, is infused with 500 pounds of Skittles and more than 100 boxes of Trix cereal.

We’ve seen more than our fair share of novelty beer labels in the last year. DuClaw Brewing Company released one based on the dad bod. More recently, Sheetz, a popular Pennsylvanian restaurant/convenience store, knocked it out of the park with their craft brew made from hot dogs. But, we gotta say, these Rainbow Smiggles are truly something to behold.

Head brewer Chris Baratz told Thrillist that Pontoon Brewing is committed to bringing craft beer enthusiasts exciting new flavors month after month. “We like to push the limits and go to extremes to keep the brewers and customers excited about each new sour.”

The last round sold out within 45 minutes at a small, in-brewery launch, so they made way more Rainbow Smiggles this summer. It is now available for pre-order right here on CraftCellr! Drink responsibly, silly rabbit.

When Jason Hartanov’s daughter sent him a picture of their house after it had been TP’d, she apologized and offered to help him clean it up. He had a different feeling…a giant THANK YOU to the kids responsible.

In a Facebook post that has since gone viral and been shared more than 1,000 times, the dad of four thanked the kids for restoring his hope in the youth. “Thank you for making me smile and reminding me of the best days of my childhood,” he wrote. “Thank you for giving us all a break from the issues in this world and thank you for finding a great use of the excess toilet paper people bought during COVID.”

He also thanked the kids for being kids and embracing that life is short, so we should all have fun. However, he had some pretty steep complaints about their parents.

“This is shoddy TP-ing work,” he wrote. “We should be ashamed. We need to teach out youth about doing things with excellence, and focusing on the details.”

He then gave some advice for the kids who did the job, advising them to use more TP because “the roof has little to no paper, the trees are too bare and you left half-rolls sitting on the ground.”

And, well, wouldn’t you know it, his house got his again later that week. Jason was still a bit unimpressed, so he mocked up a visual to help the perps do better on their next try.

He did say he loved the kids because of “their desire to improve” because they “are doing adventures instead of watching adventures.”

He said he has hope for this generation, but that they need to learn a thing or two from their parents.

“We would have been embarrassed to leave such a clean mess,” he wrote. “More TP. More people. BURY THE HOUSE IN TP! Ask your parents, we took pride in EPIC TP battles.”

Another week of the pandemic in the books, another fingernail ravaged. These are tense, uncertain times we live, and it’s of the utmost importance we’re doing routine maintenance on our mental and emotional well-being. That’s why each week, we like to round up all the good news, comforting facts, and pink puppy bellies we can find to offer as a reminder that there’s so much in life worth hanging around for.

Consider it your weekly brain reset. Clearing your brain’s recent browser history. An emotional palate cleanser, if you will.

Here… we… go…

Did you see the Reddit thread where everyone shared the most comforting fact they knew? Some of the most comforting include the fact that crows and ravens LOVE playing in the snow…

…blood donors in Sweden and Australia get text alerts when their blood is used to help someone…

…and all the sweaters Mr. Roger’s wore on camera were knitted by his dear mother!

Did you see this dad who’s been writing eye roll-worthy dad jokes on a white board for everyone to see? Thank goodness for dudes like him!

Hey! Did you see this Twitter thread of precious baby animals? Because I’ve already went back for seconds!

The world is a bit chaotic so here is a thread of cute baby animals 🥰 pic.twitter.com/eOnaqPd8gH

— Clowning 🤡 23rd July (@watergoldensuga) June 27, 2020

Did you hear we’re getting an 11th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm! Prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good!

Oh, and Beavis & Butt-head is coming back also! And they’re dads! Which means they finally scored! 

Need even more stuff to look forward to? Try this on for size: a Transformer made out of the DeLorean from Back to the Future. And they named it GIGAWATT. I know what I want for my next birthday!

And just for good measure, one more comforting fact from Reddit!

Aaaaaaand done. How do you feel? Re-calibrated? Hopefully, that was a nice breather from your regularly scheduled line graph-induced worry sesh. It’s healthy to periodically clean out the anxiety gunk and depression residue from your brain, so we hope this gave you a few reasons to smile and a few things to look forward to.

Stay safe and healthy, and remember: eight glasses of water means eight glasses of water!

There are but three certainties in life: death, taxes, and Marvel acquiring.

The media powerhouse, which itself was acquired by Disney in 2009, recently made a new acquisition with the Alien and Predator franchises, gearing up for a series of comic books based on the iconic sci-fi villains.

That’s right: going forward, the Xenomorph from Alien is effectively a Disney princess.

Today we were teased with a couple of pieces of concept artwork from David Finch, whose previous work can be seen in Batman comics.

“Alien and Predator are the two of the most identifiable, iconic characters of all time,” Finch told IGN. “I love them for that. But mostly, it’s being fortunate enough to be a kid when they were new. I’ve seen every movie they’ve ever been in, and I cannot wait to see them wreaking havoc in the Marvel Universe. I drew my pictures of them with a massive smile on my face.”

Here we see the Predator holding what’s either Iron Man’s mask or Tony Stark’s severed head. While this is insanely gnarly, it should be noted these characters won’t fully integrate with the Marvel Universe in this capacity, so don’t expect to see the Predator use its wrist blades on Hulk anytime soon.

And here we have Finch’s dope rendition of the Xenomorph from Alien, crouched, at the ready, fixing to bleed acid on anyone who dares cross her path.

“I can clearly remember where I was when I saw each of these modern masterpieces for the first time,” says Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski. “Reveling in how both masterfully weave extraterrestrial dread and drama into some of the most iconic scenes we’ve ever seen on film. And it’s that legacy that we’re going to live up to!”

The Alien/Predator rivalry can be traced all the way back to 1989 when Dark Horse Comics released a series of crossovers.

The comics found a small but devoted audience, who we can only imagine were furious about the squandered potential of 2004’s Alien vs. Predator. In the right hands, that movie could’ve been a cinematic work of art. Instead we got… pyramids? Something to do with pyramids. Pretty tedious, in retrospect. Oh, and Antarctica. They were in Antarctica. Also a total missed opportunity to give us Alien vs. Predator vs. The Thing.

Maybe with Marvel Studios at the helm, fans of the franchises will get the AVP they deserve, but until then we’re very excited to see what they’re able to do with these beloved characters in the pages of their comic books.

Westworld was a big deal.

When the HBO series about theme park robots who slowly realized they were theme park robots premiered, it was to huge fanfare. The show had a big budget, a big cast that included Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, and a high concept that had it primed to take over from Game of Thrones as HBO’s flagship series.

Unfortunately, the story of the show never quite lived up to the initial premise. Despite HBO’s announcement of a fourth season, which may be even more sprawling and include a dragon-infested medieval setting, the show never caught on with the public the way they’d hoped.

Season 4 is rumored to be show’s last, and now the duo behind Westworld, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, have a new project in the works. And it’s just as promising as Westworld once was.

Screenrant, they’ll be tackling another adaptation of existing science-fiction material, the popular video game series Fallout, for Amazon Prime.

The Fallout series, which includes sequel and spinoffs that add up to more than 50 hours of gameplay, is set in the United States in the late 21st century after a nuclear war has changed everything.

Amazing describes the Fallout world as “one where the future envisioned by Americans in the late 1940s explodes upon itself through a nuclear war in 2077. The magic of the ‘Fallout’ world is the harshness of the wasteland set against the previous generation’s utopian idea of a better world through nuclear energy.”

The games each focus on a different region of the country and feature robots, radioactive monsters, and a sprawling cast of characters. There is a lot for Nola and Joy to work with, as they acknowledged, saying “each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends.”

They refer to Fallout as one of the greatest games of all time, a sentiment no doubt shares but its many fans, who’ve been waiting a long time for it to be adapted. There have been some false starts, but it seems like it’s finally going to happen, and that it could be on the air for quite a while, thanks to the trove of material there is to work with.

Let’s hope Nolan and Joy have better luck with this futuristic world than they had with their last one!

Remember when people were furious over Michael Keaton being cast as Batman, or over Daniel Craig being cast as James Bond, or over Ben Affleck being cast as Batman, or over Robert Pattinson being cast as Batman?

Wait ’til you get a load of this. To tide us over while we wait for a TWINS remake with Jason Momoa and Peter Dinklage….

There’s a live-action big-screen version of Frosty the Snowman in the works, for some reason, and yesterday Deadline announced that the people behind the big-budget holiday flick have found the perfect person to play their walking balls of snow: Jason Momoa!

Before you start crying and beseeching God and lighting yourselves on fire, take a second to think about it. He’s already played Aquaman, and what is Frosty the Snowman is not a different kind of water? THE MORE YOU KNOW!

“From his role as a fearsome count in a land of ice and fire to the oceanic success we all had with Aquaman, it felt only right to realize Jason this time out of snow,” said producer Jon Berg.

The former and future superhero will only be voicing the snowman, so the role won’t be relying on his legendary brawn. Instead, it seems the people behind this movie focused more on Momoa’s inner warmth.

Producer Greg Silverman explained, “We know Jason’s as a true human being filled with love, compassion and a deep connection to ohana — all of which is the living spirit of Xmas and Frosty.”

I have to admit that I’m not well-versed in Frosty’s lore, having only the animated cartoons from my childhood to lean on. But I do remember the guy was quite friendly, as one would expect of a Christmas icon, and Momoa’s intimidating, smoldering looks aside, he does have a solid reputation as a good guy.

Let’s just hope all his hotness doesn’t melt the snow!

There are few athletes in recent American history as provocative as Mike Tyson. The former heavyweight champion of the world was feared inside and outside of the ring, often as much for his erratic behavior as for his fearsome punching power.

Even aside from his legendary run as a boxer and his stint in prison, Tyson’s lisp, his face tattoo, and his strange proclamations (“I want to eat his children!”) made him a fascinating character. Despite a few documentaries and even a stage show, there has yet to be a biopic of the boxer. That may be about to change.

For six years now, a Mike Tyson movie project has been in the works, with Jamie Foxx set to star, but numerous delays and setbacks cast doubt on the fact that it will ever hit theaters. Now it seems like it may actually happen. Last week, Foxx was interviewed on Instagram Live by Hollywood producer Mark Birnbaum, and he confirmed that the movie is going forward, and he is indeed going to play the notorious boxer.

“It’s a definitive yes,” Foxx told Birnbaum. “Doing biographies is a tough thing. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get it done but we officially got the real ball rolling. I can’t wait to show people what it is.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The greatest of our generation for the hour Jamie Foxx

A post shared by Mark Birnbaum (@markbirnbaum) on Jun 17, 2020 at 4:30pm PDT

Foxx, a former comedian and gifted mimic who rose to prominence playing a quarterback in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday and won an Oscar for portraying Ray Charles, is committed to some drastic weight change to transform himself into Iron Mike.

Speaking to Birnbaum, Foxx showed viewers a photo of his bulked-up physique discussed the work he’s doing to become the boxer, which includes 60 pull-ups, 60 dips, and 100 push-ups every other day as he aims to be between 216 and 230 pounds for the movie, which will portray Tyson through the years.

“I saw him at the height of his career, and then when things got bad and bumpy I also saw him as well. So what I’m excited about the movie is to show those moments,” he added. “I think everyone, young and old, will be able to understand this man’s journey.”

Tyson’s story is pretty insane, so it will be fun to see it on the big screen. Can Foxx pull it off? We’ll see. But we already know he can do the voice!

Beavis and Butt-Head are making a triumphant return. And just like Bill and Ted, this time, they’re dads. Turns out heavy metal fans turned out just fine. The pop-culture smash of the early-mid 1990s is being reimagined for a new generation as Comedy Central announced a revival, including a two-season commitment to the show and raising the possibility of other spin-offs.

The characters are being rebooted as Gen X parents raising their Gen Z kids.

The announcement is part of an overall deal with creator Mike Judge, who will write and produce the show, in addition to reprising his role as the voice actors for the two main characters.

#BeavisAndButtHead revival set at Comedy Central with 2-season order, spinoffs & specials planned in deal with Mike Judge https://t.co/Lg2CCZLAMo pic.twitter.com/ukpjqEZGf1

— Yahoo Entertainment (@YahooEnt) July 1, 2020

“Beavis and Butt-Head were a defining voice of a generation, and we can’t wait to watch as they navigate the treacherous waters of a world light-years from their own,” said a spokesman from Comedy Central.

So Comedy Central is green lighting a new Beavis and Butthead series where B & B are…parents.

One of the greatest questions of the 1990s has been answered.

They finally scored. pic.twitter.com/RRo2vKYjaT

— Tony Barker (@TonyWingdog72) July 1, 2020

In the briefest of statements, Judge himself said “It seemed like the time was right to get stupid again.”

Judge has since cemented his status as a comedy guru in the intervening years from the show’s first run (Beavis and Butt-head debuted in 1993), thanks to creating movies like “Office Space” and other TV comedy hits “King of the Hill” and more recently, “Silicon Valley.”

The revival is part of Comedy Central’s efforts to double down on animated content geared towards adults, as they try to program more shows to pair with “South Park.”

The news is already firing up fans on social media, who are mostly reduced to GIFs and an endless stream of “heh heh heh ehehs”.

It’s going to be great.

If there’s anything I’ve learned about kids, it’s that once they have a plan in mind there isn’t a whole lot you can do to stop them. When a picture of twins Kamari and Kamera’s lemonade stand was posted online, some grump questioned whether or not the 7-year-olds had a permit (seriously). Let’s see – mix powder with water, get cups, set up a table, make a paper sign with crayon – no, filling out permit papers was not on these 7-year-olds’ lemonade stand to-do list. Fortunately, this slight bump in the road was no match for the unshakable spirit of two kids with a plan (especially a plan that involves money).

Having a lemonade stand is a right of passage for every kid with an entrepreneurial spirit, and Kamari and Kamera of Savannah, Georgia weren’t about to let it slip away. The girls didn’t stop selling their “twin-monade”, as they call it. In fact, they filled out the necessary forms and actually got themselves a lemonade stand permit (I assume that’s what it’s called, I’m not a lawyer). Upon reopening, the twins were flooded with support from their community. There is consistently a line to purchase one of the many flavors of ice-cold lemonade the girls have on tap. In fact, on Juneteenth, there was an hour-long wait to buy a glass of twin-monade. There was quite literally a line down the block to support these two mini entrepreneurs. The girls have even made enough money from their lemonade sales to buy themselves phones.

“The fact that their parents didn’t let them get shut down and they just continued to encourage them that much, I think it’s really important”, a satisfied customer told CBS News.

These two small business owners overcame a potentially devastating roadblock and kept their adorable smiles through the entire ordeal.

7 year old Georgia twins lemonade stand is booming!!!! After a white woman tried to shut down their business asking them about a permit! pic.twitter.com/GFTXIXF49P

— Saycheese TV 👄🧀 (@SaycheeseDGTL) June 28, 2020

If your little lemonade tycoon is having trouble with the law, check out Country Time Lemonade’s “Legal-Ade” campaign in which they help kids obtain permits for lemonade stands. The lemonade mogul will also reimburse fines of up to $300 for kids who get caught running a lemonade operation without a permit. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. We raise our glasses (of lemonade) to all the kids out there keeping the age-old tradition of selling this refreshing summer staple alive.

The Princess Bride, like Back to the Future, is one of those perfect movies that fans do not want to see remade, under any circumstances.

Of course, the COVID-19 quarantine isn’t just any circumstances. So a bunch of celebrities – actors and comedians and musicians – decided to use their free time to make a new version of the 80s classic. The good news, it’s not for the big screen, and the production values aren’t exactly big-budget level, and it was for a good cause: to raise funds for World Central Kitchen, which helps keep restaurants afloat during the pandemic.

Director Jason Reitman (of the forthcoming Ghostbusters sequel) had the idea, which isn’t that different from the star-studded script readings he’s been organizing in Los Angeles over the past few years.

“The week that the stay-at-home order came through in California, I just woke up one of the first mornings, I think like most people did, feeling as though, All right, I need to be able to do something of value,” Reitman told Vanity Fair. “I just thought, Can we remake an entire movie at home? And I had seen that a fan-made Star Wars had been done. I just started reaching out to actors I knew, saying, ‘Is this something you’d want to do?’ And the response was kind of immediate and fast. It was like, ‘Oh—that sounds like fun.’”

Reitman recruited a whole collection of talented folks to step into the movie’s iconic roles, with multiple actors taking over throughout, including Common, Sam Rockwell, and Neil Patrick Harris in various scenes as Westley (originated by Cary Elwes), Tiffany Haddish and Jennifer Garner as Princess Buttercup, Hugh Jackman as the evil Humperdinck. Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner’s gender-swap Buttercup and Dread Pirate Roberts, Lucas Hedges pops up, as do Jack Black, Patton Oswalt, and Diego Luna.

It’s messy and fun, with bizarre props and makeshift costumes, and it’s time to stop reading about it and actually watch some:

Earlier today, the exciting news broke that Ozark was coming back for a fourth and final supersized season. 14 more episodes of the Byrde family’s trials and tribulations is exactly the kind of nerve-wracking entertainment we need to keep our minds off of nerve-wracking reality. Here’s hoping we get that final season soon.

Another bit of welcome news, featuring some nerve-wracking entertainment of an entirely different sort, was announced today. Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming back for an 11th season on HBO!

Larry David’s show doesn’t feature Mexican cartels or violent hillbillies, but it does feature a hefty share of cringe-inducing comedy as Larry unapologetically calls out – and gets called out – for all manner of social faux-pas, both real and imagined.

Last season saw the increasingly out of fucks Larry open a spite store to compete against a barista who offended him, as well as episodes featuring Jon Hamm, Vince Vaughn, Timothy Olyphant, Isla Fisher, as well as the show’s typical murderer’s row of co-stars, including Ted Danson, Richard Lewis, and plenty more. It was a hilarious season, and it’s great to hear that it’s coming back.

Even if, based on the quote accompanying the announcement, Larry himself is a little less than enthusiastic about it. But what do you expect, the dude makes his living off of griping. Thankfully, he’s genius at it.

No word yet on when the 11th – 11th! – season will debut, but hopefully, the pandemic will settle down so Larry and company can get back in the saddle ASAP.