Ray Fisher Opens Up about getting 'Cyborg' Solo Film

How do you go from being an actor nobody's ever heard of to being the buzz of the Internet in a matter of minutes, all without a single movie credit to your name? Easy, get cast as DC Comics superhero Cyborg with a solo film in the works. That's what happened with Broadway actor Ray Fisher, who signed on for the role some months ago to little fanfare, probably because people didn't know whether to believe it was true that an unknown would be cast in such a prominent position in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. A few days ago we got confirmation that it was real, along with a slew of other big announcements from Warner Bros., and now Fisher is talking about the whirlwind experience of playing a prominent member of the Justice League. He tells EW...

“I didn’t know the extent to which DC and WB had planned on taking my character. When I signed on, I just wanted to be part of this world. But that specific information, I found out then and there. I didn’t think I’d be getting my own stand-alone film.”

So if he didn't know anything then, can he reveal anything about what's in store? While admitting he thinks fans will be in for a "hell of a treat", he didn't spill the details on much else except to say that he's already met most of his Justice League co-stars.

 "I met everyone in the Justice League except Henry Cavill and Ezra Miller. It was surreal. You get this idea of going to work on a Hollywood set as being really stressful and nerve-wracking. But it blew that stereotype away. If they did have stressful times, it wasn’t while I was there."

Fisher had recently added some much-needed muscle for a role on stage as Muhammad Ali, and it probably will serve him well as the robotic Victor Stone aka Cyborg. The actor has already wrapped filming on his scenes in Batman v Superman, and will then appear in both of Zack Snyder's Justice League movies before the solo Cyborg movie arrives on April 3rd 2020. 

Hey look, whatever one thinks of Warner Bros. approach to building their superhero universe, we have to give it up to them for beating Marvel to the punch. Not only are they giving us the first major female-led comic book movie with Wonder Woman, but also the first solo film for an African-American since Blade. These are the things fans have been begging for Marvel to do, and Warner Bros. got there first. Smart move. 

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Warner Bros. Reveals Full Superhero Lineup: Ezra Miller is 'The Flash', Jason Momoa's 'Aquaman' gets Solo Film

Get ready, Marvel, here comes the Justice League. Warner Bros. has taken a slow and steady approach to building their own shared superhero universe, a necessary after Christopher Nolan's Bat-trilogy wrapped and Green Lantern was such a dud. But with Man of Steel and the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice kicking things off, the studio has now revealed a wide and ambitious slate of film all the way through 2019, plus confirmations for Flash and Aquaman.

The biggest surprise is that Suicide Squad, which is led by End of Watch and Fury director David Ayer, is the first film post-Dawn of Justice. The antihero film will open on August 5th 2016. The following year we'll get both a Wonder Woman solo movie on June 23rd 2017, starring Gal Gadot as the Amazonian warrior. That will be followed by Justice League Part One on November 10th, which will be directed by Zak Snyder and star Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

Here's where things get huge. 2018 will see The Flash, who already has his own TV series, moving to the big screen with We Need to Talk about Kevin's Ezra Miller in the title role. Whoa. That film arrives on March 23rd, with Jason Momoa's Aquaman coming July 27th 2018. Shazam, starring Dwayne Johnson as the villain Black Adam, opens on April 5th 2019, trailed by Justice League Part Two on June 19th 2019. Yes, that's how big this Justice League story will be that it will take two movies to tell.

Those will be followed by Cyborg on April 3rd 2020, starring the previously-cast Ray Fisher, and a Green Lantern film on June 19th 2020. Don't expect to see Ryan Reynolds in that one, either.

Hopefully you haven't grown weary of superhero movies yet because they are going to be impossible to avoid for a long time to come.

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Ray Fisher is Cyborg in 'Batman vs. Superman'

Zack Snyder's Man of Steel sequel, currently going by the unofficial title of Batman vs. Superman, is starting to look more like a Justice League movie. With Ben Affleck added as the dark knight, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and reports of other heroes appearing, Variety is now reporting that Ray Fisher will take on the role of Cyborg.

Fisher beat out a number of actors that Snyder and Warner Bros. tested over the last few weeks, securing his first major film role after a career in theater. Snyder and David Goyer hinted that Cyborg, aka Victor Stone, was referenced in Man of Steel, and he does get talked about a little bit in the film's Blu-Ray special features. Cyborg's role is expected to grow in subsequent films while getting limited screen time in his debut.

In the comics, Victor Stone was the son of scientist parents who used him as a test subject, enhancing his intelligence artificially. Later, an experiment at STAR Labs goes terribly wrong, killing Victor's mother and severely mutilating his body. To save his son's life, Victor's father builds him a new body of experimental prosthetics.

There may be a reason why Warner Bros. is refraining to give the film an official title, using Batman vs. Superman as a cover for their real objective. Is it possible that they are actually planning Justice League now and don't want to give it away? Whatever the plan is, we'll see it unfold on May 6th 2016.

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DVD Review: 'Justice League: War'

So here we go, since I watch a ton of cartoons and am a known OG comic reader I thought I’d hold the Punch Drunk Critics readers down and watch this Justice League War. Now see it was kind of hard for me to watch this without any bias since I pretty much think the New 52 and the new Origin of Justice League in which this movie is based is full of wacktacularness. That being said I’ve liked most of the DC movies a lot even Flashpoint Paradox so I thought I could be surprised, but sadly I am surprised in the worst way.  Justice League War is so full of wack that I was shocked by the amount as it grew when watching it and then continuing to think about it.

Justice League War is about the first time the major superheroes in the DC universe come together and forms the Justice League.  The story starts us off in Gotham with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) giving chase to a shadowy figure that just kidnapped a woman of the street. The public and GL included think it’s The Batman since at this point in time Batman is just an urban legend.  GL is proven wrong when Batman comes out and saves the woman; Batman kicks the baddie, plus sons GL in the process. What we get from here in the first half is a buddy-cop relationship like K and J from Men in Black. Please note Hal Jordan is a complete and utter idiot in this version along with being overly arrogant. Batman is basically just Batman here. Their investigation in Gotham leads them to having to meet Superman for the first time in a not so peaceful way. 

What we get next is some vignettes of the other characters like Victor Stone playing football while his dad is off studying a device at S.T.A.R. Labs delivered by the Flash; Wonder Woman’s first trip to Washington with Steve Trevor; and the bonus of annoyingly bad Billy Batson being a fan of Stone.  Now here’s the thing: the production on this animated home release is pretty good. The animation is very solid along with pacing and staging of all the scenes. The real problem here is the story and the characterization of the main characters and the antagonist. Bear with even though I’m pretty public with my dislike of the whole post New 52 versions of DC Comics’ characters.

Here’s the thing it’s very hard to like any of the heroes in this story. Wonder Woman’s characterization is pretty sad, she’s mostly like let me smash this and stab that with my sword while screaming. She doesn’t seem heroic, honorable, a messenger of peace or a princess at all. Superman is just a meat-head jock type of guy. He doesn’t seem that inspiring or really threatening other than he can lift stuff and fly. Then we have poor Billy Batson and alter ego that is SHAZAM. He’s like every bad kid in a movie but in the end they never have you like the kid he’s just a little asshole who becomes that little asshole in a grownup body. There are no real arcs for many of these characters.

That being said there are a few good things in this. Barry Allen Flash is pretty likeable; he is just a very true classic interpretation of the character that you can root for in this story.  Another thing that was good is Victor Stone's arc to becoming Cyborg. We get the whole dynamic with his father and motivations for being in the situation he is in and how he becomes a hero. All of this was in comic version of the story but for me it is handling way better than it was in the original version.  One more thing that I didn’t like is how Darkseid us used and also how violently sensationalistic they are with showing all these battles. I don’t really think it helps anything in telling the story at all but you might just think I’m a fanboy prude.

Now the one thing that really stands out on this release is all the special features. The documentary on the career of Jim Lee (the modern comics GOAT in penciling) was really well done at covering his career and his impact on comics. For serious comic readers a lot of nice tidbits of history of Wildstorm is all through this. The Deconstructing Justice League feature with the director and Jim Lee discussing the comic version and the movie along with what was changed was quite enlightening and interesting. It might not be that fun to watch for those that don’t really care about the making of a cartoon or comic but if you are though man this is the real movie.  Now the last one that is the storyboard comparison to final animation is just pure creative nerd stuff. I loved it but I kind of draw for a living so it’s right up my alley.

So here it is, I don’t just  think Justice League War is not only the worst of these Warner bros animation DC comics home releases to date it’s the worst animated story they’ve done since modern DC superhero cartoon era started with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Even though it looks nice everything else is so mishandled that it's quite confusing. It has you questioning who else is getting involved in their creative process from picking the material to adapt to just constructing the story. Like let’s be honest here, Warner Bros. Animation has been dropping pure hit after hit since 1992 and now this. I hope this is just a minor blip on the timeline and not a foreshadowing of things to come from this continuing partnership. 

Oh and Aquaman got played out he didn't get a shot in the movie. 

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