It’s that time again, folks. That’s right, a brand new episode of The Flickcast is here and it’s yours for the taking. For free.

That’s right, free. As in free beer. And really, who doesn’t love free beer? Nobody, that’s who. Yeah, we’ve used that example before, but so what? It still works. Anyway. . .

Moving right along, Chris and Joe are back and ready to rock and roll with a whole slew of new and recurring topics. Some of these topics include the change in release date of Superman vs. Batman, Star Wars VII script news, Elementary, the return of Sherlock, fanboys and haters, the true meaning of life and a whole lot more.

No, not really. We just slipped that “true meaning of life” one in to see if you were paying attention.

This week’s picks include Chris’ pick of the novel Pandemic by Scott Sigler and Joe’s pick of the audio version of the novel Redshirts by John Scalzi and read by Wil Wheaton.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship, or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook, Google+ or via email.

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You may be thinking “Oh, look; another crossover where the good guys fight, figure it out and save the day.” I wouldn’t blame you. I had anticipated the same when I sat down to read this 2003 one-shot from DC Comics and Wildstorm Productions. Boy, was I wrong as this was definitely not your cookie-cutter team-up tale. Far from it.

While almost anyone reading comics has read Batman (or, at the very least, is familiar with the Caped Crusader), the same can’t be said for Planetary. With that, I can confidently state that my lack of exposure to the Planetary series and its characters didn’t hamper my reading experience at all. I’d actually argue that this is primarily a Batman-centric story; even though various members of Planetary get more “screen time” than Bats himself.

Which brings me to the creators. Warren Ellis is, well, Warren Ellis. If you don’t know what that means, you haven’t read much of his work. But if you have? You’re nodding along with me right now. Indefinable, he almost always seems to approach a story from a completely different angle than most of us can even conceive, and that’s part of what makes him a fan favorite.

His handling of Batman here is both exciting and (seemingly) an open love letter to the character. There’s barely a beginning or end to this original graphic novel, and frankly, it doesn’t need it.

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With Batman: Arkham Origins just around the corner, it was kind of a shock to hear about a season pass for the title. Traditionally, the format of the Arkham games didn’t lend themselves to enough DLC to warrant a season pass. When you finally read what you get for this $20 price tag and is also claimed to be a $30 value, it really doesn’t feel worth investing another 50% of the game’s original price for this extra content.

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I went for the tacky pun. I had to. Chris doesn’t let me put enough puns on the Flickcast. And it’s Zatanna. You really can’t expect me to post a story about her in any way shape or form and not mess with it at LEAST a little bit. So now that I have gotten that out of my system, let’s get down to business: Zatanna is coming to Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Though appearing in a number of comics such as Hawkman, Batman, Green Lantern and The Atom alongside the title heroes starting in 1964, it was more than a decade later before she was offered membership into the Justice League. The crux of her early appearances revolved around the search for her father, magician Giovanni Zatara. Unlike most magicians though, Zatanna actually possesses legitimate magical ability because of her mother Sindella, who is Homo magi. Staying true to her father’s profession, Zatanna’s costume resembles that of a Playboy bunny combined with a magician’s tux (though the New 52 version only wears that costume on stage).

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Like we originally said, the Martian Manhunter made his way to the cast of Injustice: Gods Among Us yesterday in the form of DLC. The first character not released as a part of the Season Pass, J’onn J’onzz as he is also known was released for 400 Microsoft Points over XBox Live and $4.99 on the PlayStation Network.

For the most part though, not many people know the full story behind the Martian Manhunter or even just how much power he holds. Luckily, Netherrealm studio has released a quick video to help bring people up to speed on those very important details of the Martian Manhunter that you chan check out below.

As it is discussed in the short, the Martian Manhunter has not only the strength and speed to go toe to toe with Superman but also owns a host of other unique powers that make him even more of a wildcard in battle. The ability to phase, turn invisible and shapeshift coupled with his abilities to read and even rewrite memories puts the Martian Manhunter in to a class of his own as a total wildcard in a fight.

When someone can attack you in so many different ways, how is someone able to prepare a defense against it? That is going to be the challenge for all Injustice: Gods Among Us players as the Martian Manhunter enters the fray for the first time in his new DLC pack.

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Back when NetherRealm gave us the Scorpion reveal trailer as the third piece of DLC for Injustice: Gods Among Us, they also teased Martian Manhunter at the end.

But, as all Injustice players know, they instead got Zod which just so happened to time out around the same time as the Man of Steel feature film release. Luckily, that tease ended up being true as the Martian Manhunter is still joining the likes of Lobo, Batgirl, Scorpion and General Zod as a member of Injustice: Gods Among Us’ DLC roster. Sadly though, because he is the fifth piece of character DLC, Martian Manhunter won’t be a part of the season pass.

For those who aren’t familiar with J’onn J’onzz, he has been around since the fifties and has played a variety of roles in the DC Universe. Currently, the Martian Manhunter is the top dog in the Justice League of America book from the New 52 as the corollary to Superman. With strength, speed, senses, intelligence, endurance, shapeshifting, invisibility and intangibility to name just part of his power set, the Martian Manhunter could very well be one of the strongest characters in DC’s lineup.

Considering the level of exposure through both the comics and animated series and his overall power, it makes sense that Martian Manhunter would be in that roster, especially more so than a character like Killer Frost. (To this day, I still haven’t figured out why Killer Frost is in that game, especially as her main adversary Firestorm is not.)

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Of all the great, iconic comic book characters in the world, near the top of out list is Batman. He’s a complex guy with issues who has to use his money, his brawn and his brains to fight crime. And that’s damn cool.

Sure, he’s a bot OCD sometimes, but that doesn’t make him any less awesome. So, when a new animated series featuring the character is on the way from Cartoon Network, we take notice.

In fact, we’ve even got a sneak peak of the upcoming series, called Beware the Batman, for you today. It hits the air on Saturday, July 13 10 am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

Check out the video after the break.

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Superman. Michelangelo. Kobe Bryant. Where could you possibly see them all in the same movie? Well since the title of the article already spoiled it for you, I don’t have to leave you in suspense before revealing The LEGO Movie as the answer. Chris Pratt will lead an ensemble cast including Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius, an old mystic, and Liam Neeson taking the role as Bad Cop. As you’ll see in the teaser below, The LEGO Movie is far from your typical film.

In a world where continuity barely exists, tons of LEGO licenses are brought together in what may be considered an ultimate mashup style movie. Similar to the vein of Toy Story where the setting explains why this variety of characters would be together, The LEGO Movie has Pratt’s character Emmet who mistakenly finds his way into a fellowship of Master Builders including Freeman’s Vitruvius, Batman, Superman and the like.

They will be taking on Neeson and Will Farrell (who upgraded from President to Lord Business) in this CG movie. Interestingly enough, the movie is presented in a stop motion fashion even though it is obviously CG. Even more interesting is that there are collections of YouTube creators out there making actually stop motion that looks smoother than that of the trailer.

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Take a look at the roster of Injustice: Gods Among Us and tell me, who do you think is missing? The Season Pass has already brought us Lobo and Batgirl but there are still so many of DC’s top tier talent or at least upper B-level stars yet to appear in the game. Scarecrow. Mera. Firestorm (who is conceivably the only reason Killer Frost is in the game). Deadshot. Guy Gardner. The Black Hand. Hell, even Ambush Bug. So who is the third character revealed in the Season Pass for Injustice: Gods Among Us?

That’s right. Scorpion. Yup, the fighting game that won’t let you perform fatalities was just begging for Mortal Kombat to make its way into its ranks. Now, I won’t be completely cynical about it. There is an awesome new redesign to Scorpion done by Jim Lee in the game (so we know what he would have looked like if he had been a Marvel mutant during the Claremont run of X-Men).

This is also a character who MK fans will instantly be familiar with his moveset allowing for a much slower learning curve to the character since his gameplay isn’t almost entirely new like most of the rest of the cast. You can check out his full trailer below.

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Even though we often bring you news of big, expensive Hollywood movies, epic games, cutting-edge tech and more geeky stuff, we don’t want to forget the little guy (or girl) that’s out there making things with nothing more than some friends, some love and maybe a few coins they found under the sofa cushions.

That delightful setup brings us to today’s example of what a few determined fans can do when they set their collective minds to something. The result? The live-action short Batman: Death Wish.

This short tells the story of Batman, Robin and Nightwing “as they investigate a mysterious assailant who is targeting the kingpins of Gotham’s criminal underground. As more of the rogues gallery is ensnared, a disturbing revelation about the attacker’s identity takes shape.”

We have to admit, we watched the entire thing. Twice. Sure, it’s not as epic or polished as a Christopher Nolan Batman film, but that’s okay. They didn’t even have Nolan’s budget for snacks to make this one but they still managed to do a great job.

It would be interesting to see what this creative team could do with an actual budget. Let’s hope they get the chance.

We’ll be watching. And you should too, after the break.

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