Superhero Bits: Marvel's Midnight Suns Reviews Arrive, Amazon Is Getting Into DC Animation & 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:

• Reviews for "Marvel's Midnight Suns" are in.

• The "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" Oscars campaign begins.

• "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" is going to be pretty long (but not as long as some other superhero movies).

• Amazon is probably getting into the DC animation business.

• All that and more!

The DC social media team has been celebrating the decade that was the 1990s as of late. Their most recent bit of fun? They shared the above '90s playlist connected to that particular era of DC on screen. I don't want to spoil it, but fans of "Batman Forever" will probably be quite happy to throw this playlist on because it does include one heck of a banger. Enjoy.

Very little has been revealed by way of specifics about "The Boys" season 4, but we do know that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is getting in on the action. Who is he playing? What will he be doing? We have no idea! But the actor recently shared the above post on Instagram providing a little tease of the script he's working with, while also that he is "sure as s***" ready for his turn on the show. We'll see what they've got in store for us in due time.

The folks at Zavvi have partnered with Mondo and Marvel to bring a pretty impressive steelbook 4K Blu-ray to select shelves next year. The above "Ant-Man and the Wasp" 4K steelbook is now officially available for pre-order. The big draw here is the impressive artwork that accompanies the release. Perhaps not coincidentally, the movie is being released right around the time that "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is set to hit theaters, bringing Kang along with it. The steelbook currently retails for $46.99. Those interested can secure a pre-order right now by clicking here.

It appears as though the runtime for director David F. Sandberg's "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" has been revealed. Per One Take News, the DC sequel will clock in at 2 hours and 10 minutes. Or, to put it another way, two minutes shorter than the original "Shazam!" which hit theaters in 2019. As we've increasingly seen superhero movie runtimes climb up close to three hours, with "Avengers: Endgame," "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," and "The Batman" serving as a few examples, this appears as though it's going to be in the minority. For what it's worth, as we reported in this very column, Sandberg is completely done with the movie, so the runtime isn't going to climb in the lead up to the release.

A big, brand new Marvel game is hitting shelves on Friday in the form of "Midnight Suns" from Firaxis Games, the folks behind "XCOM." So, how is it faring with critics thus far? Pretty damn good! As it stands, the PC version of the game holds an 83 average on Metacritic, with many reviews scoring in the high 80s, all the way up to a perfect 100 from GamesHub. So, for those who were maybe on the fence about picking up a copy, critics largely believe this one is worth the time. Do with that information what you will.

Recently, Quentin Tarantino made headlines when he said that Marvel actors aren't movie stars — rather, it's the characters, such as Captain America, that are the stars. Well, one of Tarantino's frequent collaborators and an MCU mainstay, Samuel L. Jackson, takes issue with that. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly recently, the longtime Nick Fury actor addressed the topic and kindly disagreed with Tarantino's sentiment.

"It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about? That's not a big controversy for me to know that, apparently, these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can't refute that, and he's a movie star."

I'm not going to inject my opinion here, but I think it would be safe and fair to say that, well before he took up the mantle of Nick Fury, Jackson was (and is) a movie star. So maybe he's got a bit of a healthy perspective on the matter, eh?

2018's "Black Panther" made history as the first superhero movie to garner a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, while also earning the first Academy Award wins for Marvel Studios. Will Ryan Coogler's sequel achieve the same success? Marvel and Disney are hoping so. The official "Wakanda Forever" social media accounts recently shared the above poster which reveals that the studio has launched an official "for your consideration" campaign, with the film seeking any and all nominations, including Best Picture. We here at /Film are firmly in the camp that believes Angela Bassett should be nominated for her performance, for whatever it may be worth. We'll see what The Academy has to say when the time comes.

Buckle up, DC fans, because we've got some unexpected news. Channing Dungey, the head of Warner Bros. TV, revealed during Content London that WBTV is about to close a big deal with Amazon that would see Prime Video producing DC animated projects. Yes, you read that right! While HBO Max is still going to be the main DC hub, Warner Bros. Discovery is comfortable making deals to have projects go elsewhere, and Amazon is ready to make a deal. Per Deadline, Dungey said the following:

"With animation we used to be about staying in-house but now we are doing it on different platforms. HBO Max is the first stop but we are in the process of closing a big deal with Amazon featuring DC branded content in animation."

As for what projects might be headed to Amazon? It's too early to speculate, but one thing we do know is that "Batman: Caped Crusader" is no longer happening at HBO Max and is in need of a new home. Maybe that would be a good place to start? Either way, this is an intriguing prospect.

Lastly, with "Midnight Suns" due to hit shelves on Friday, Marvel decided to give us one last trailer in the form of the above launch trailer. The trailers up to this point have been incredibly cinematic, and this is no exception. While we don't get a ton of the turn-based style of gameplay that players will enjoy, we get a great sense of the story and the cinematic nature of it all. It seems fair to say that if it's as fun to play as this trailer is to watch, we're in for a treat. Those interested in securing a copy of the game can do so by clicking here.