Welcome back to The Beat Digest, a twice-weekly round-up of the biggest comics-related news stories we’ve missed every Tuesday and Friday. Is there a story out there you think we should cover? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
§ Image will release Under York, an urban fantasy graphic novel written by Sylvain Runberg (Watch Dogs), with art by Mirka Andolfo. The book’s title refers to a magical, underground counterpart to New York, ruled by five covens of witches who “quietly manipulate the world that once cast them out.” It centers on Alison Walker, a young painter who was born in Under York, but no longer wants anything to do with its inhabitants. It’ll be released in comics shops on November 26, and bookstores on December 2. The comic’s first two issues were originally published in 2024, and the OGN collects them with the subsequent unreleased four.
§ Writer Mark Sable and artist Giorgio Pontrelli will reunite at Mad Cave for Circus Maximus, a heist thriller set in Ancient Rome. Starting November 5, the comic follows a motley crew as they break into Emperor Nero’s treasury, while the rest of the city is preoccupied with the games and races at the titular stadium – but escaping becomes much more complicated when the Great Fire of 64 AD transpires. It marks the creators’ second series together, following the Lovecraftian AfterShock title Miskatonic.
Mad Cave also announced Ferocious, a fantasy horror series that marks the comic book debut of writer Luke Piotrowski (the Hellraiser reboot). Penciled by Emanuele Ercolani (Dragonero, Kitsune), the book follows a tavern boy seeking revenge on a demon woman who destroyed his village. “But in order to fulfill it, he’ll have to seek training… from the warrior woman herself.” Issue #1 releases November 19.
§ Marvel will publish X-Men: Tales from the Age of Apocalypse, a one-shot reprinting the first issues of the 1995 crossover, namely Astonishing X-Men #1, Factor X #1, Weapon X #1, and Amazing X-Men #1. Featuring a new cover by Paco Medina, the book will be released on November 12. In the meantime, Jeph Loeb and Simone Di Meo will mark the story’s 30th anniversary with the sequel X-Men of Apocalypse, which’ll start with an alpha issue on September 10, before beginning properly in November.
§ To mark One Piece Day (August 9), Netflix dropped a first look at season two of the live-action show, while announcing it’s already been renewed for a third. Writer and co-executive producer Ian Stokes will join Joe Tracz as one of the showrunners, replacing season one and two’s Matt Owens, who stepped down earlier this year because he was experiencing burnout. Production will begin in South Africa later this year, before season two’s release in 2026.
§ Via TrekMovie, during this weekend’s Trek to Vegas convention, Vision Quest showrunner Terry Matalas revealed Orla Brady (Star Trek: Picard, Into the Badlands) is playing Tony Stark’s former AI F.R.I.D.A.Y. on the series. She succeeds her fellow Irish woman Kerry Condon, who voiced F.R.I.D.A.Y. in every prior appearance in the MCU. Todd Stashwick also shared he was cast as the mercenary Paul Denning/Paladin on the show, due out on Disney+ next year.
§ Disney revealed Marvel’s Avengers: Mightiest Friends, a preschool show starring child versions of Captain America/Steve Rogers, Black Panther/T’Challa, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Thor, will premiere on Disney Junior in 2027. They also announced Spidey and Iron Man: Avengers Team Up!, a 22-minute crossover between the network’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends, and the newly premiered Iron Man and His Awesome Friends; it will premiere on Thurday, October 16, and be added to Disney+ the following day.
§ Via THR, Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Social Network) is set to join the cast of the Clayface movie. He will play a Gotham City police detective dating the scientist (played by Naomi Ackie) responsible for transforming the title character (Tom Rhys Harries) into a shapeshifting monster. The horror film, directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan, rolls cameras in the UK this fall for a release on September 11, 2026.
§ Speaking of DC, THR shares director Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) wrote a Batman spin-off, before Barbarian‘s release in 2022. Titled Henchmen, the script, which is somewhat similar to the animated series episode “The Man Who Killed Batman,” follows a small-time crook who gains the Joker and Harley Quinn’s attention after managing to incapacitate the Dark Knight. Cregger has not pitched it to DC, who haven’t cast their versions of Batman and the Joker yet, although they are aware he’s interested. In the meantime, Weapons has topped the US box office, and Cregger is embarking on a new Resident Evil film.
§ Via Deadline, Kevin Hart and John Cena will star in and produce The Leading Man, an action comedy for Netflix, loosely based on the 2006 Oni Press series by Jeremy Haun and B. Clay Moore. The synopsis for the film version, written by Jon and Erich Hoeber (RED, The Meg, My Spy), reads, “When a self-absorbed movie star (Cena) discovers that his co-star/man in the chair (Hart) is an actual [secret] agent, he’s forced to swallow his pride and accept that action stars aren’t really action heroes… while trying to save the world.”
§ Finally, Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are now involved in a reboot of the animated Addams Family movies. The pair tell Deadline, “We’re rebooting the animated film franchise. So it won’t have anything to do with the two films before it, nor is it connected with this show. It will be a brand new Addams feature. There’s not really much we can say about it, because it’s in the very early stages.” The first two animated Addams Family films, starring Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron, were released by MGM to poor reviews in 2019 and 2021. Wednesday season two, part one, is now streaming on Netflix, with part two set to release on September 3.
