Superhero Bits: Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Gets A Release Window, The Flash's Final Season Gets A Trailer & 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:

• "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" video game gets a release window.

• The Rock passed on a "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" cameo.

• A big Marvel TV auction.

• Our first trailer for "The Flash" season 9.

• All that and more!

Marvel Comics just signed an industry talent to an exclusive contract, with artist CAFU signing a deal with the company. The artist made the announcement on Twitter, sharing that he will now be the artist on the ongoing "Venom" title moving forward. The cover artwork above offers but a taste of what we can expect from him in the near future. I'm no artist, but it looks like Marvel has locked down a damn fine one.

"Superman & Lois" season 3 is coming our way in March, and it looks like a new version of Lex Luthor will be appearing on The CW series. Fans may wonder if Jon Cryer will be reprising his role as the villain since he did so in the Arrowverse previously on "Supergirl." However, the actor took to Twitter to confirm that it will, indeed, be a new actor this time around.

"Since this news is about a new Lex Luthor casting call for @cwsupermanlois that means I'm not going to be playing him this time around. Godspeed to the guy who gets it! It's a terrific show."

So the question becomes, who's it gonna be? Place your bets.

All good things must come to an end and, after nearly a decade on the air, such is the case with "The Flash." The show that helped make the Arrowverse what it is will be calling it quits following season 9 next year. Now, we have our first look at Grant Gustin's final adventures as Barry Allen in the form of the above trailer. Rightfully so, The CW is framing this pretty emotionally. Break out the tissues. "The Flash" season 9 premieres February 8, 2023.

Fans of the Man of Steel and high-definition physical media are in luck. Warner Bros. has confirmed that the "Superman" 5 movie collection is coming to 4K Ultra HD in 2023. While no firm release date has been set, the collection will include 4K copies of "Superman: The Movie," "Superman II," "Superman III," "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," and "Superman Returns." So hey, some potentially good news about Supes for those who are bummed to hear that Henry Cavill won't be returning to the role in the current DC Universe.

Marvel Television was shut down a couple of years back so that everything could be folded into Marvel Studios, which helped pave the way for MCU TV shows like "WandaVision" on Disney+. So, what about all of those props and costumes from the Marvel Television shows like "Daredevil" and "Jessica Jones?" Well, the folks at Propstore have partnered with Marvel for a huge auction taking place from January 12 to 26, 2023. Over 500 items will be on the auction block, going to the highest bidder. Those interested in getting in on the action can register for the auction by clicking here.

So very much is changing in the DC Universe now that James Gunn and Peter Safran are in charge, but we've still got several movies that were previously completed that have to make their way out into the world. One of the most anticipated is "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," which will not, it turns out, feature Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Black Adam. But it looks like the actor was asked to make a cameo. This, according to The Wrap reporter Umberto Gonzalez, who made the reveal in responding to a thread on Twitter about the fact that Shazam and Black Adam will likely never square off. "Rock passed on doing a cameo in Shazam 2 when he was asked," Gonzalez said. Why, exactly, did Johnson pass? That remains unclear but it's pretty interesting that Warner Bros. at least tried to make this happen. And that might have been our last chance to see the character as a "Black Adam" sequel is extremely unlikely at this point.

Next year will see four DC movies hit theaters, with "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," "The Flash," and "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" all on deck, and all of which are connected, in some way, to the so-called Snyderverse. But "Blue Beetle" is an all-new story, with an all-new hero. Recently, several journalists and others in the industry posted photos of a poster for the film that was sent to them with a message that reads, "This is just the beginning." Does this imply that "Blue Beetle" is going to be part of the new DC Universe that James Gunn and Peter Safran are putting together? It very well could be! If they kept ties to the previous continuity to a minimum, it would not be hard to use this movie to service the future. We'll see what happens come August of next year.

Lastly, Insomniac Games has finally confirmed when we can expect to play "Marvel's Spider-Man 2," which serves as a sequel to 2018's "Spider-Man" video game. While no firm release date has been announced, a release window of fall 2023 has been confirmed. That means, we've still got a solid wait ahead of us, but it also means we should be getting more information, and perhaps a more comprehensive trailer, sooner rather than later. Let us not forget that Venom, as voiced by Tony Todd, is coming to the party for this one. More details on the game can be found by clicking here.