Superhero Bits: James Gunn Is Now Exclusive To DC, Deadpool Joins Marvel's Midnight Suns & More

(Superhero Bits is a collection of stories, updates, and videos about anything and everything inspired by the comics of Marvel, DC, and more. For comic book movies, TV shows, merchandise, events, and whatever catches our eye, this is the place to find anything that falls through the cracks.)

In this edition of Superhero Bits:

• James Gunn is done with Marvel (at least for a while).

• "Marvel's Midnight Suns" adds Deadpool, Morbius, and More.

• Yondu might be coming back to the MCU.

• The current status of "Man of Steel 2."

• All that and more!

Alex Ross is just about as good as they come in terms of comic book artwork and the man is back in action for Marvel's upcoming "Fantastic Four" series, which will start a new era for the heroes. Not coincidentally, the movie reboot is moving right along for a 2025 release. The publisher has revealed the above four portraits of Mr. Incredible, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing that will grace the first four covers of the new book, which arrives next month. In short, they are simplistic yet stunning. "Fantastic Four" #1 hits shelves on November 9, so be on the lookout.

Last week saw the release of "Gotham Knights," the first AAA "Batman" title (even though Batman is dead in the game) to come around in some time. The game has garnered mixed reviews but, be that as it may, quite a few people are surely going to want to play it. So, how much of your precious little time on this planet will it consume? According to HowLongToBeat.com, it takes an average of 14 hours for the main story, or 27.5 hours for the main story plus side missions. Completionists can expect to put in around 46 hours. Go forth and game, DC fans.

For the past week or so, the official Twitter account for the "Marvel's Midnight Suns" video game has been taken over by Deadpool, who has been lobbying to be included in the game. Well, the stunt "worked" as the developers confirmed that the Merc With a Mouth will be included as DLC with the season pass. But that's not all, Morbius (yes, Morbius), Venom, and Storm are also going to round out the season pass additions, and the above video teases that, in true Deadpool style. "Midnight Suns" hits shelves on December 2 and those interested can pre-order the game by clicking here.

We've got a pretty interesting, little-discussed tidbit regarding the upcoming "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special." As fans of the MCU will surely recall, Michael Rooker's Yondu met his end in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and director James Gunn has remained steadfast that the character is good and truly dead. Yet, Marvel.com officially lists Rooker as part of the cast for next month's special. So, is Yondu back from the dead? Are we going to get a flashback of some kind? Is Rooker playing a different character entirely? For now, all we have are questions but this is a pretty interesting wrinkle being thrown into the mix.

As noted by the folks at The Direct, a new production listing has confirmed that the upcoming "WandaVision" spin-off, "Agatha: Coven of Chaos" is set to begin filming on December 5. The series will see Kathryn Hahn returning as Agatha Harkness for some more witchy goodness. For the moment, plot details for the show remain firmly under wraps but it is expected to arrive sometime in 2023 as part of Phase 5 of the MCU. With filming getting underway before year's end, we should expect to learn more about casting and whatnot sooner rather than later.

Tonight, Marvel is holding the world premiere of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," meaning we will soon have reactions to the film online and, moreover, it cements that the sequel is just a couple of weeks away. For now, though, we can all enjoy the above TV spot (as well as Rhianna's new song for the film on Friday), which is part of the full-steam-ahead marketing train that Disney is now letting loose. This movie is clearly guarding a lot of secrets but this spot does feature some choice bits of new stuff to chew on. Mostly though, it's a lot of the same, but that's not a bad thing. The movie hits theaters on November 11.

The biggest of big news to surface in the superhero world in some time hit yesterday when it was revealed that "The Suicide Squad" director James Gunn and produce Peter Safran are the new heads of the newly-named DC Studios. In breaking down the news and the status of DC's slate, Variety revealed that the "Man of Steel" sequel is indeed moving ahead in the wake of Henry Cavill's return as Superman. Per the report, the studio is currently fielding pitches from writers, though nobody was named specifically. So, we're in the early stages but it does appear to be actually happening. Stay tuned.

Circling back to the James Gunn/DC news, it all came as a bit of a shock and seemingly out of nowhere. That being the case, we're all still dissecting the major elements of the deal. One thing that is worth pointing out is that Gunn and Safran signed a four-year deal to head up what is now called the DC Universe (RIP DCEU). That being the case, Gunn is not allowed to take on other projects at other studios, meaning his time with Marvel has come to a close. Though he still has to finish his work on "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." That should make for an interesting press tour next year.

Lastly, one more Gunn-centric thing in the form of the poster for "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special." The trailer for the Disney+ special recently dropped and clued us into the fact that Drax and Mantis will seemingly be front-and-center in attempting to carry out a Christmas good deed for Star-Lord. That involved kidnapping Kevin Bacon, which is a pretty remarkable way to get Kevin Bacon into the MCU. Check out the poster above and be on the lookout for the special on November 25.