Variety is reporting Jessica Biel is in talks to play the Amazonian Warrior in the Justice League of America film.  Guess this means yesterday’s rumor is just another rumor.

But what of Superman, Batman, the Flash, and Aquaman?

…the film’s likelihood hinges on the studio’s ability to assemble a cast of superheroes in a small window of time. Christian Bale and Brandon Routh — Warner’s reigning Batman and Superman, respectively — are not expected to join the production.

Instead of announcing the roles as they are cast, the studio will announce the entire cast at once.

So for now, guess we’re playing the waiting game.  My guess is we won’t have to wait long, the film is expected to begin shooting in February 2008.

via Variety

Moviehole.net is reporting that actress Victoria Hill has auditioned for the role of Wonder Woman in the George Miller helmed Justice League of America.

Hill’s surfing a wave of victory at the moment – she starred in, co-wrote and produced Geoffrey Wright’s “Macbeth” and followed that up with roles in the recent Aussie films “BoyTown”, “Hunt Angels” and “December Boys”. The actress, who is now represented by UTA in the states, is not only beautiful but she’s insanely talented too – so I’m sure if she did get the gig to play ‘Wonder Woman’, fans wouldn’t be picketing.

To be honest, I know nothing about this actress.  She is pretty, but I don’t think she has the look to pull off Wonder Woman.

JLA is being fast tracked for a 2009 release.

via Moviehole.net

Well I didn’t think the series was that bad, but because it was strung out for so long, I did lose interest.  The big reveal at the end did have me wondering “WTF?” After all, unless you knew there was a big New Gods story coming down the pipe, a reader could be seriously messed up.  And there is the little matter of knowing who Granny Goodness is in the first place - something many new readers of DC comics might not know about.  I give the series 2.5 out of 5 Stars, but that is nothing compared to the beating series writer Will Pfeifer is taking over at his blog site.

Ouch!

So what did you think of Amazons Attack?

via X-Ray Spex

DC Comics announced the creative team of Gail Simone, Terry and Rachel Dodson will not debut, as intended, with Wonder Woman #13, but instead will kick off their run starting with Wonder Woman #14.

Instead, WONDER WOMAN #13 will feature a story by J. Torres with art by Julian Lopez & Bit and a cover by Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson. In this issue, the war with the Amazons may be over, but the wounds haven’t even begun to heal. Wonder Woman has her hands full with anti-Amazon sentiment in America, much of it targeted toward Wonder Girl! When it comes to hate and fear, even a magic lasso can only do so much!

According to Senior Editor Matt Idelson, the one month push allows Terry Dodson to catch up on a few other commitments first.

I’m sure fans are going to be slightly miffed they don’t get the Simone Wonder Woman for another month, but I have feeling, once it starts, it is going to rock.

via DC Comics

Superman - Doomsday is set for a September release, with New Frontier and Teen Titans: The Judas contract soon to follow. According to a supposed leaked internal memo, Warner Bros. Animation will bet taking on Wonder Woman and Batman next.

The Batman movie is said to be a compilation of six Batman stories told in an anime style. The PG-13 DVD will be targeted toward hard core fans (aka me), and the tween market and will tell tales of Batman between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. According to the images, David Goyer, Brian Azzarello, and Josh Olsen are contributing stories. Batman Anime should be released 2 to 4 weeks before The Dark Knight.

Wonder Woman will be an origin story. Primary target audience is Men and Women 18+ and girls 9-17. Wonder Woman will also be a PG-13 animated movie, with a late 2008, early 2009 release expected.

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G4 could be A LOT better. This clip of Olivia Munn as Wonder Woman is on the right track - sorta.

Death of a New God

Last week readers got a few clues into the mystery of Jimmy Olsen, Mary Batson stumbled upon a repowered Black Adam, Stinky made the other Monitors angry, and Karate Kid continued to hang out in a JLA cell. So what becomes of our key characters this week?

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Or - “The Next Big Thing You’re Probably Not Reading.”

Comics ain’t what they used to be. That’s certainly not a bad thing, especially if you use 1993 as your definition of “used to be,” but in a world of Attacking Amazons, Hulking World Wars, hugely vaunted relaunches and basic empire-building, you gotta question why a classic story of a woman fighting for justice and the people who support her has had such a hard time finding an audience. It’s a throwback to the old days of superheroing, with some fresh twists on classic material, and it’s been cancelled twice in the last twelve months even though it seldom fails to bring the awesome. Manhunter: It’s What’s for Dinner.

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Or - “Torn Between ‘It’s Better Than Before’ And ‘When Does Gail Start?”

I’m not sure what bothers me more about Wonder Woman: The fact that original writer Allan Heinberg’s schedule was such that it took nearly a year to publish four issues, or that, since DC’s next big crossover event (Didn’t we just FINISH one of those?) ties into Wonder Woman and her backstory, we’re now seeing WW’s book more often than I fill my gastank. I gotta tell you, as much as I wanted to see this revamp succeed, I’m about Wonder Woman’d out. The disappointment connected to the first storyarc (still unfinished!) cascades into every new issue, and the rapid-fire release schedule creates a Diana-flooded-market, causing the issues to just sort of run together into a homogenous blur.

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One thing you should never do is make a bunch of Amazon warriors angry. DC has made a preview of Amazons Attack #1 available for you to check out. I’ve read the first issue and it isn’t too bad at all. While it won’t rock the DC Universe to its knees there will be several lines drawn that will last for a couple of years.

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You guessed it yesterday, and it was confirmed today by DC’s VP of Sales Bob Wayne; Gail Simone will be the new writer of Wonder Woman. Hooray! Now keep the Dodsons on board for the art, and DC will have a number one book before they know it.

Congrats go out to Gail on this dream job!

via Newsarama

Or - “How NOT To Relaunch Your Core Franchises, Part Deux…”

Regular Spoilerheads may recall me using the term “stunt-casting” in reference to certain recent books, notably Flash and Wonder Woman, but the term also applies to Marvel’s “Spider-Man & Black Cat,” “Daredevil: Target,” and to a lesser degree, the cover work of Michael Turner and Alex Ross. I use the term to describe a sales tactic where the selling point of a book is the CREATOR, and not the title/character/team itself. Sometimes it works, as seen by sales, but other times it doesn’t. In my mind, Flash and Wonder Woman are damaged titles, forced to wash off the stink of failed relaunches where the stunt creative team simply wasn’t up to the challenge (whether creatively or schedule-wise) of giving us a coherent, monthly title featuring believable story & characters. Flash has it easier, with issue #9 pretty much hitting the reset button, and repackaging the character (though curiously, repackaging it into a PREVIOUS iteration of the Flash, with Bart Allen becoming a Xerox of granpa Barry), while Wonder Woman’s erratic schedule actually forced DC to jettison the finale of the first arc from the schedule (it will be published as a standalone special somewhere down the line). The new writer has made some puzzling choices with this issue, to mixed effect…

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Or - “What’s In A Name? You Wouldn’t Ask If Yours Was ‘Hortense.’”

In the DC Universe (or, to be honest, the streamlined and updated DC/Quality/Fawcett/Charlton/Etc Universe), the name “Manhunter” has carried with it a bit of a stigma, for some reason. The first Manhunter (from Quality Comics) was Dan Richards, a police officer who put on the mask to clear a friend’s name. He was retconnedly brainwashed, and later murdered by a later claimant to the name. Paul Kirk, the second Manhunter, had an abbreviated run in Adventure comics, was trampled by a Rhino, cloned, killed, cloned, killed, cloned, ad infinitum. Mark Shaw, next up for the pain train, was brainwashed as well, and found the only thing in his life that he valued to actually be a secret cult run by alien robots. Chase Lawler had to wear one of the worst costumes I’ve EVER seen, and was murdered shortly after taking on the role. Kirk DePaul (a Paul Kirk clone), murdered. the 1986 ‘Manhunter’ movie with William Peterson was better than “Red Dragon,” another take on the same book. Even J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter, gets no respect (his new look reminds me of the Cocoa Puffs Cuckoo). And now, poor Kate Spencer lives her comic life on the edge, a few issues at a time, cancelled thrice. The worst part of it all? She’s probably the best Manhunter since Archie Goodwin’s run in the 1970’s.

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Or - “It’s Like When You Can’t Quite Break Up With The Unhealthy Girlfriend…”

Well, it’s time to review Manhunter, and that means it’s time for…

CANCELLATION WATCH 2007!! *cues dramatic music/graphics package*

Attention Mr and Mrs America and all the ships at sea! Manhunter, originally cancelled with issue 25, then revived, then recancelled with issue #30, has officially been uncancelled. DC, always a bit manic depressive with cancelling Manhunter, announced at the New York Comicon that Kate’s title is ongoing again, and this time it’s for the long haul. None other than Dan Didio announced at the convention that this is not just an extension, Manhunter will continue for the foreseeable future. I don’t know if it’s the cameos (Batman AND Wonder Woman appear this issue), the variant cover, or just the fact that people love the underdog, but the adventures of Kate and company are off the chopping block, and I, for one, couldn’t be happier. Wanna see why? Click ‘er and let’s roll!

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Oh man, if a delayed Wonder Woman #5 wasn’t enough, DC Comics has announced the issue will have a brand new story when it hits stores March 14.

Here’s how DC Comics describes the issue:
Wonder Woman learns that a new women’s movement has begun, inspired by her killing of Max Lord - and leaving Diana torn between the good intentions of the movement and the validation it gives her violent act. Worse yet, she’s ordered to investigate a possible connection between Wonder Woman and this movement by Sarge Steel and the department of Metahuman Affairs!

The story is written by Will Pfeifer with art by Jean Diaz, Geraldo Borges, and Wellington Diaz.

The original fifth chapter of “Who is Wonder Woman” will be rescheduled for a future date. First the Donner Superman, now the Dodson Wonder Woman. I hate it when a company breaks up a story just because it isn’t shipping on time. It makes it that much harder to finish the story later, when there is a gap like this. DC did so well with 52, and now it is stumbling around like “Civil War” with its late One Year Later titles.

via DC Comics