‍Big Changes in the Works for Batman

Fresh off the heels of DC’s annual FanDome event, a lot has come out about what’s in store for the caped crusader. 

In terms of movies, the trailer for Robert Pattinson’s gritty The Batman reboot promises a moody, noir-y origin story with very young nemeses and a Hitchcock vibe. Meanwhile, the trailer for the long-awaited “Snyder Cut” of Justice League, set to premiere in 2021, includes a cut-from-the-original callback to Batman V Superman, implying we may well see a different approach to the Justice League’s battle with the Man of Steel. 

It’s also been revealed that Batman and Superman will soon face a new, familiar-seeming nemesis: Composite Batman/Superman, a villainous AI invented by Brainiac (and what seems to be a throwback to Silver Age villain Composite Superman, minus the AI). 

And we should also be expecting a 4-issue miniseries penned by Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley, best known for 12 Years a Slave. This one, long rumored to focus on the family of Wayne Industries’ Lucius Fox will have, per Ridley, “a 47% chance [Batman’s] going to be a person of color.”   

What Should Museums Be Right Now?

Vanity Fair just released a monster of a September issue, guest-edited by Ta-Nehesi Coates and featuring an Amy Sherald portrait of Breonna Taylor on the cover, in which curator Kimberly Drew asks the question of several art workers: What should the museum look like in 2020?

The responses are varied and thoughtful, but many make similar points: on the philosophical side, museums “should root themselves in community”; they should be “spaces of mobilization and organization for real and thorough change”. On the more structural side: Thomas Lax of MoMA says museums need to “topple vertical order of institutional hierarchies” and listen to their more junior staff, while some, like curator Taylor Brandon, suggest “[a] complete overhaul is in order that centers Black voices until museums are abolished.”

The story’s release on Monday made a striking background for the surprising news on Tuesday that the Whitney Museum acquired a number of prints from Black artists at rates intended for charity for its planned Collective Actions show, which was then quickly cancelled after backlash from the art community. 

Of Interest

• What if Michael Jordan had signed with Adidas instead? 

• Ai Weiwei’s latest (surprise) film release documents Wuhan under lockdown. 

• Supreme’s upcoming drop includes a Mortal Kombat cabinet. 

• The rare Banksy Basquiat-homage painting ‘Banksquiat’ went up for sale for the first time. 

• How tongueless Jordans explain the sneaker world. 

• What should monuments look like? 

• A deep dive into the sneakers on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

• What happens to seized counterfeit shoes?

News From the Otis Collection

• GQ profiles Travis Scott’s rise to becoming king of the youth. (And leaked details of his upcoming McDonald’s collab just dropped, too.)  
• The Brooklyn Museum will host a major KAWS showcase called “WHAT PARTY.” in 2021.
• Virgil Abloh has signed Lucien Clarke as the first Louis Vuitton sponsored skater, with a new shoe dropping soon.