Just this month, DC Comics celebrated the 40th anniversary of its seminal “The Dark Knight Returns.” Not coincidentally, social media has recently been flooded with AI-created, fake but viral trailers for a supposed 2026 version featuring Christian Bale once again as the world’s greatest detective.
Warner Bros. has indicated no actual plans to film, and that might be just as well depending on what happens with a major different drama playing out in corporate boardrooms. Netflix and rival Paramount are fighting to acquire Warner, which owns DC Comics. If you thought Bane and the Joker were scary, wait until you see who’s backing the Paramount bid and potentially about to help orchestrate a takeover of one of America’s most beloved superhero franchises. Spoiler alert: It’s the Qataris.
Late last year, Netflix announced its intent to buy Warner Bros. The acquisition would be an $83 billion deal, causing some people to fret that it would put too many different intellectual properties under the same umbrella. Warner Bros. owns the rights to Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and on and on and on.
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