Author: Trafficblast

When Riverdale returns to The CW on October 9, it will be to remember actor Luke Perry, who died unexpectedly during Season 3. The Season 4 premiere, titled “In Memoriam,” will feature a tribute to the late actor. During the show’s annual panel at San Diego Comic-Con, it was also revealed that Riverdale had enlisted another of Perry’s former colleagues, 90210 co-star Shannen Doherty.

Doherty played Brenda Walsh, a love interest of Perry’s Dylan McKay, on the series. The two were also close friends. In fact, Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said in a statement that Perry had been hoping for Doherty to appear in the show since it began. “They were such good friends, and when we were putting together this tribute episode, we wanted to make it as special as possible, and so we asked Shannen to do a pivotal, super-emotional role. She read the script and immediately said ‘yes.’ It’s very impactful,” he explained.

According to Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead on the show, the various cast members getting to share scenes with Doherty was “very cathartic.” Being able to work with someone new to their world but so close to Perry was “beautiful” for them.

In discussing the episode, Aguirre-Sacasa said taking time to craft a memorial to kick off Season 4 was the best way they could honor him. “We wanted it to be a very sort of a special episode–kind of stand-alone,” he explained. It will honor the character and his impact on the various characters and the town of Riverdale itself.

The appearance by Doherty wasn’t the only news revealed in the panel. It was also announced that former Dawson’s Creek and The Fosters star Kerr Smith would be joining the cast as the new principal at Riverdale High, Mr. Hones. Aguirre-Sacasa described the character as “a bit of a hard-ass who takes a harder line with the students this year, especially with the seniors.” It’s about time someone puts these kids in their place.

Riverdale returns for its third season on October 9.

Avengers: Endgame was a box office powerhouse when it released in April, but despite its monster opening, the movie wasn’t quite able to take the box office earnings record from another enormous movie: Avatar. That’s no longer the case, according to Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, who just announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Endgame took Avatar’s box office record.

There’s a catch, though.

“I literally just heard from our folks at Disney Distribution that Avengers: Endgame will be the biggest film of all time,” Feige said during the Marvel Studios panel in Comic-Con’s Hall H. “You have to shout out to [Avatar director] James Cameron–if you adjust for inflation he still holds that title, but right now, thanks to you folks in Hall H, Avengers: Endgame is the biggest film of all time.”

That means that in straight numbers, Endgame has surpassed Avatar’s total box office take of $2.78 billion. But as Feige mentioned, the world was different in 2009, when Avatar was released, and inflation means that $2.78 billion was worth more then than it is now.

You might also recall that Disney and Marvel Studios worked pretty hard to get that record out of Cameron’s hands. The company returned Endgame to theaters on June 28 so it could soak up even more money. Before its “farewell” tour, Endgame had only raked in $2.74 billion. Still, a record is a record, and Disney fought to take this one.

There’s plenty more news coming out of Marvel’s Hall H panel, and you can find full coverage of all of it on our Comic-Con hub.

Arguably the best original series the DC Universe streaming service has produced so far is officially continuing. It was announced at the DC Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con that Doom Patrol, which stars Diane Guerrero, Brendan Fraser, April Bowlby, and Matt Bomer, has been renewed for a second season. There’s a bit of a catch, though.

In an interesting twist, the second season won’t just air on DC Universe. Instead, the series will be featured on both the DC Entertainment standalone service, as well as HBO Max, which is WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming offering. New episodes will premiere on both services simultaneously. Additionally, all Season 1 episodes of Doom Patrol will be made available on HBO Max when the service launches.

The other big live-action DCU news from the panel was the premiere date for Season 2 of Titans. The service will return for new episodes on Friday, September 6. Interestingly, Titans will still be a DC Universe-exclusive show at this point. While that could change in the future, for now, Doom Patrol remains the sole series jumping between the two services.

HBO Max will launch in early 2020 and in addition to Doom Patrol, it will also be the exclusive streaming home of classic shows like Friends and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Additionally, the service has a number of original shows in the works, including an animated Gremlins prequel series.

Sometimes all it takes is a tweet. One of the big announcements at Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con panel was the casting of Simu Liu in the lead for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings. But it seems that Liu’s starring role started with a tweet that the Kim’s Convenience actor sent to Marvel last year.

Although the Shang-Chi movie was officially announced at the SDCC panel, it was first reported that Marvel was planning a movie based on the Asian superhero in December 2018. Liu clearly knew that he was right for the role, so fired off this tweet shortly after the news broke:

Nearly seven months later, it was confirmed that Liu was indeed playing Shang-Chi. The actor was quick to remind fans where it all started, with this reply to his original tweet:

Of course, we don’t know the background to the first tweet and the conversations that happened in the time between. But it’s exciting to think that a tweet to Marvel is all it takes if you’re the right choice for the role.

Shang-Chi will also star Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) and be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who also helmed Brie Larson’s breakthrough film Short Term 12. It hits theaters on February 12, 2021.

At the SDCC panel, Marvel boss Kevin Feige also announced Black Widow and The Eternals in 2020, followed by Doctor Strange 2: In The Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder in 2021. The new Thor film will see Natalie Portman reprising her role as Jane Foster, who in this movie will become the Goddess of Thunder. There was also a big surprise at the very end of the panel when Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali was announced as the title character in a new Blade movie.

For a full recap of the panel, check out our rundown on everything announced at the Marvel Studios panel.