Lego Batman

If you’re not particularly a fan of Jared Leto’s Joker aesthetic in Suicide Squad, then the latest Joker-centric news may put a smile on that face (sorry): Zach Galifianakis is in talks to join Will Arnett’s Batman and Michael Cera’s Robin in the LEGO Batman movie as the voice of the iconic clown prince. Cue laughter.

I'm going to be real with you, folks: even though we're looking down the barrel of 38 superhero movies over the next few years, the one that I'm looking forward to the most is easily Lego Batman, starring Will Arnett as the Caped and Blocky Crusader. It's been something I've been looking for ever since it was announced, but now, I've got an even bigger reason to want to see it, because we finally have a detail about the plot. According to a red carpet interview with Arnett, along with cowriters and directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the 2017 Batman movie will focus on answering one question: Can Batman be happy?

If you've played one of the previous two LEGO Batman games, or really any of developer Traveller's Tales LEGO games, there's a certain degree of knowing what you're getting into with LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. Though it certainly has a new coat of paint on it, so to speak, many of the mechanics and gameplay objectives are the same as they've always been. The developers make up for that by giving players more of everything: playable characters, levels, collectibles, power-ups, costumes side quests, Easter eggs and locations. Mix that more-is-more mentality with an enduring charm and sense of humor, and you've got a pretty compelling package, albeit one that tends to bring out some of my worst tendencies as a player.

For anyone who remembers the days when just one Spider-Man movie seemed an impossible dream, the above infographic is an astonishing representation of how comic book superheroes now dominate popular entertainment. ComicsAlliance’s own graphics maestro Dylan Todd put together this timeline that reveals what the next six years of superhero movies look like, with some dates and titles still to be announced. The graphic will be updated as new information is released.

To this day, The LEGO Movie remains one of exactly two movies about Batman released in my lifetime that I missed out on seeing in the theater. The other, incidentally, is Mask of the Phantasm, and I'm as surprised as you are that I somehow missed out on that one, but considering that I didn't have a car or my own source of income when I was 11, I can at least use that as an excuse. Sadly, missing out on The LEGO Movie is entirely on me, and remains one of my greatest regrets. But here's the good news: It seems that I'm getting another shot at seeing the blocky, thumbless incarnation of the World's Greatest Detective on the big screen, because Warner Bros. has announced a LEGO Batman movie coming to theaters in 2017.

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is going to be a positively huge video game. I got to see that first hand when I played a brief demo at DC's booth at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend. First off, it's got a huge playground for players to explore. The "Beyond Gotham" of the title refers to outer space, and the game will go to a whole host of different worlds. Then there are the playable characters--105 or so, according to the game makers, and they include characters in both their superhero guises and as their secret identities. A new feature enables players to change from Clark Kent to Superman using a phone booth, for example.

I don't think it's going to surprise anyone if I mention that the LEGO Batman series has produced some of my all-time favorite superhero video games. I mean, I like LEGO and I certainly like Batman, so that's a no-brainer, but the truth of the matter is that they've started off strong and just keep getting better. The second game's expansion into a huge, open LEGO version of Gotham City populated with the heroes of the Justice League was really fantastic, and I've often wondered how they were going to top it. I figured maybe they'd throw in a few visits to other cities and call it a day. Turns out, I vastly underestimated the developers at TT Games. They, along with Warner Bros. Interactive, have just announced LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, and this time, IT'S IN SPACE.

We've put a lot of fan-made LEGO creations into the spotlight over the past few years, and usually, they represent the hard work of dedicated fans, using pieces pulled from dozens -- sometimes hundreds -- of sets. As cool as it is to see a towering Arkham Asylum or a motorized Joker's Funhouse, it's always a little bit disappointing that you can't run out to the store and buy one of your own, even

There've been a number of sprawling Batman Lego sets, but the latest to be unveiled at BrickCon 2012 in Seattle over the weekend may be the most impressive yet. In January Batman fans will be able to pick up Lego DC Universe Super Heroes set #10937, Arkham Asylum...

Apparently, you won't have to wait for a future Justice League movie to see DC Comics' World's Finest superheroes team up on the silver screen - although you might think that the next time you see both heroes onscreen, they're kind of acting like blockheads...