Superhero Bits: Tom Holland On His Future As Spider-Man, Joker 2 Rumors & 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:

• Tom Holland remains noncommittal about his future as Spider-Man

• The "Joker" sequel may actually be happening

• "Titans" adds some new key cast members

• Marvel celebrates "Carnage Forever" in style

• All that and more!

Today is Lunar New Year, and the folks at Marvel did not forget about it. As noted in the post, it is the Year of the Tiger, for those who observe. To all who do celebrate, happy Lunar New Year, and may it be a good one.

McFarlane Toys have revealed a few new figures inspired by "Batman The Adventures Continue," a recent DC Comics run that continued the events of the much-beloved "Batman: The Animated Series."

The action figure line will include Batman, Catwoman and The Batman Who Laughs. The figures are retailing for $29.99 and are currently available for pre-order. They are set to arrive in April of this year. For those who are interested, full details and pre-order information can be found at Toy Ark.

It is absolutely no secret at this point in time that "Spider-Man: No Way Home" has made a ridiculous amount of money at the box office. Domestically, it has performed insanely well, and to help illustrate that point, Box Office Guru founder Gitesh Pandya recently pointed out that "No Way Home" has made more than Tom Holland's previous two solo entries combined.

#SpiderManNoWayHome has now grossed more than the other two #TomHolland #SpiderMan movies COMBINED!

$334.2M Homecoming, 2017
$390.5M Far From Home, 2019
$724.7M (combined)
$727.6M #NoWayHome thru JAN 28#boxoffice #Marvel #MCU

— Gitesh Pandya (@GiteshPandya) January 29, 2022

Indeed, the ticket sales for both "Homecoming" and "Far From Home" coupled together can't compete with the power that is "No Way Home," which is truly staggering. Both of those previous movies were wildly successful and weren't contending with a pandemic. It's probably safe to say that Sony is probably going to do whatever they can to keep Holland in the suit (more on that in a bit).

The official "Titans" account on Instagram reveals that three new cast members have joined for the upcoming fourth season. Get ready to see Joseph Morgan as Sebastian Blood, Franka Potente as Mother Mayhem, and Lisa Ambalavanar as Jinx. The new cast additions will be ushering in a violent cult known as the Church of Blood. This seemingly points in the direction of what Dick Grayson and the gang are going to have to contend with when the show returns. The post contains some artwork from the comics to go along with the actors who will be bringing them to life. There is no word yet on when the show will return with new episodes, but things seem to be gearing up, so perhaps later this year or early 2023.

Tom Holland is currently making the press rounds to promote his latest film "Uncharted," which hits theaters in the coming weeks. During a stop on "The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show," the actor revealed that he has actually had conversations with his fellow MCU star Florence Pugh about a potential crossover between Spider-Man and Yelena Belova. Holland said:

"[A crossover] hasn't been suggested to the big bosses yet, but Florence and I have definitely spoken about it, and hopefully one day we can make that happen. That would be very cool."

Given what happened in "Hawkeye" and "Black Widow," it seems highly likely we'll be seeing more from Yelena in the future, and it's hard to imagine that Spider-Man is going anywhere. So it sounds like someone needs to put in a call to Kevin Feige.

In a little DC Comics news, a fan account on Twitter that tracks news related to DC projects, cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski has quietly been added to the "Blue Beetle" movie. Indeed, he is now listed on IMDb and appears to be the man for the job. Even though IMDb can have questionable information from time to time, this is the kind of this that's usually accurate.

"Blue Beetle" had been in the works for HBO Max but recently shifted to a theatrical release, which signifies that Warner Bros. has confidence in the release. As for Pogorzelski, he is extremely accomplished, having worked on both "Midsommar" and "Hereditary," as well as the Bob Odenkirk action flick "Nobody." So having him on board bodes well for the comic book movie.

Until this is confirmed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Joaquin Phoenix, or Todd Phillips, this should probably be regarded as a rumor. Having said that, the folks at Heroic Hollywood are reporting that the "Joker" sequel is on track to begin filming sometime in 2023. Per their reporting, the first draft of the screenplay has been handed in and things are moving forward. For what it's worth, Phoenix has said he's open to returning, and the first movie made a truly ridiculous amount of money at the box office, so this seems plausible. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for something more official.

Even before the release of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" Tom Holland was being a bit wishy-washy about his future as the MCU's Peter Parker. Be that as it may, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios clearly have plans for future movies involving the webslinger. So what's going on? Well, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Holland commented on the matter again, with equally unsatisfying results. Holland explained:

"We've had conversations about the potential future of Spider-Man, but at the moment they are conversations. We don't know what the future looks like."

The actor also says he's not thinking about the future and is "still riding the wave of the success" of "No Way Home." If I were a betting man (and I am on occasion), I would wager that Holland is holding out to get a very rich deal for future appearances as the character, and he's certainly earned it. 

Lastly, today brings some new variant covers from Marvel that were done up in honor of the 30th anniversary of the fan-favorite villain Carnage. The covers see various heroes from the Marvel Universe, such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, becoming hosts to the symbiote. The covers will be published across a variety of titles throughout March timed to the anniversary.

Prepare to scream as your favorite Marvel heroes become new hosts of the Carnage symbiote in new 'Carnage Forever' variant covers, coming this March: https://t.co/l0VQkoM9Mf (2/2) pic.twitter.com/dnux5fOq06

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) January 31, 2022

The variant covers come from artists such as Francesco Manna, Dan Panosian, Humberto Ramos, and David Nakayama. The publisher promises that these are just the first handful, with others to be revealed in the coming weeks. Full details on the titles that will get "Carnage Forever" covers can be found by clicking here.