DC Comics

George Pérez -- one of the most famous and prolific comic book artists of our time, with work in both DC and Marvel -- has died.

The famed penciller passed away Friday at his home, surrounded by friends and family -- this according to his official Facebook page, which announced the sad news. Perez was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, to which some outlets are attributing his death.

The tribute reads, in part ... "Everyone knows George's legacy as a creator. His art, characters and stories will be revered for years to come. But, as towering as that legacy is, it pales in comparison to the legacy of the man George was. George's true legacy is his kindness. It's the love he had for bringing others joy - and I hope you all carry that with you always."

Perez is, perhaps, best known for his work in DC ... although he technically got his start with Marvel, contributing drawings to the 'Avengers' series and 'The Fantastic Four' in the '70s.

It wasn't long, though, that he transitioned to DC -- where he did some of his most iconic artwork to date ... including helping launch "The New Teen Titans" in '85 alongside writer Marv Wolfman. They added key characters to the squad that would later become widely known and beloved on Cartoon Network in the 2000s -- namely, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven.

The new comic became a smash hit, but Pérez wasn't done leaving his mark with DC -- in addition to 'TNTT,' he also helped draw what became a divisive comic book series entry ... "Crisis on Infinite Earths," for which he drew much of the main art in the mid-'80s.

'Crisis' was big because it kinda put an end to the whole concept of the multiverse -- which was running rampant at the time in comics -- and unified all the DC superheroes in world/universe/earth ... and killing A LOT of the main costumed crusaders along the way.

In fact, so many heroes got knocked off ... that DC eventually had to reboot everything altogether just to crank out new storylines with some fan faves still in the picture.

In any case, Pérez helped helm the comic book giant through some of its most formative years -- and his work will be long referenced and remembered. He was 67.

Open your home to "The Flash" star Ezra Miller, and next thing ya know there's total chaos and you're dodging flying chairs ... at least that's what their most recent alleged victim told a 911 operator.

During the 911 call, a woman claims Ezra hit her in the head with a chair and then fled the property on Hawaii's big island. She says she'd offered up her home to them, and insisted she'd been very nice to Ezra.

You can hear how distressed she was, urging cops to show up and find Ezra before they could escape.

As we reported, the 29-year actor was arrested for second-degree assault last month after officers responded to the incident at a private residence in Pāhoa. Cops say Ezra got annoyed after being asked to leave, and that's when he allegedly hurled the furniture. The woman ended up with a half-inch cut to her forehead.

Of course, this isn't Ezra's first run-in with the law, in Hawaii. They were arrested another time, in March, for disorderly conduct in a karaoke bar.

Weeks before that incident, they were physically blocked from getting into another bar.

Josh Brolin just made comic fanboys' brains explode -- he says he was almost set to play the Dark Knight once upon a time ... that is, until the director went with Ben Affleck instead.

The veteran actor -- who's already got a couple superhero/villain roles under his belt now as Thanos ('Avengers') and Cable ("Deadpool 2") -- made the revelation this week on MTV's "Happy Sad Confused" podcast ... when they asked him about losing the role of Batman.

Brolin confirmed ... yes, Zack Snyder had, in fact, approached him as he was ramping up for 'Batman v Superman' -- and it sounds like JB was onboard and fully willing to do it.

But, as he explains, it was Snyder who decided to go with BA in the end -- which is a bummer (for some fans) because Brolin would've been more true to the version of Batman depicted in the flick ... namely, the older version from "The Dark Knight Returns" (the comic).

This is in the weeds, but Snyder kinda mashed up storylines for his 2016 movie -- including the one where Batman fights Superman -- and decided to employ a younger Batsy, plus ditch much of that comic storyline, including the fact Superman was a government pawn.

You can tell Brolin was excited by the prospect of donning the cape and cowl ... and even shouts out George Clooney for his turn on the character, no matter how panned it was.

Here's the good news ... Brolin might actually get a second bite at the apple here -- assuming anyone at the newly merged Discovery-Warner is listening. Lots of changes are on the horizon ... including Discovery honchos reportedly wanting to overhaul the DCEU.

That entails revisiting and revitalizing staple characters (like Superman) and perhaps further down the line ... maybe Batman again too. Robert Pattinson seems to be in the driver's seat for now -- but if Discovery wants to take another swing at 'TDR,' Brolin might be their man.

Ezra Miller certainly doesn't seem to be making friends in Hawaii -- not only were they just arrested for a karaoke bar dispute -- cops were also called for another disturbance at a bar just weeks before.

In the video, shot earlier this month, you see "The Flash" star get denied entry to a bar -- with a female employee physically preventing them from going inside the Chinatown-area watering hole. A witness tells us the confrontation went down after Miller was kicked out of another establishment across the street.

Things got so contentious between Miller and the female staffer that cops were called, and more than half a dozen officers showed up.

You can see Miller chatting with officers before they asked the actor to leave ... law enforcement sources say EM was given a trespass warning, but they were not arrested.

As we reported, Ezra was arrested Monday for disorderly conduct and harassment after an incident at a bar in Hilo on the Big Island. Cops say they responded to a report of a disorderly patron at a pub ... officers were told Ezra became agitated when folks at the bar started singing karaoke.

Ezra allegedly hurled obscenities and grabbed the mic from a woman who was singing ... and cops say they were told EM also lunged at a guy playing darts and refused multiple requests from the bar owner to calm down.

"The Flash" star Ezra Miller has been arrested in Hawaii ... local law enforcement tells TMZ.

A rep for the Hawaii Police Department tells TMZ ... Miller was busted for disorderly conduct and harassment shortly after midnight Monday after an incident at a bar in Hilo.

South Hilo patrol officers say they responded to a report of a disorderly patron at the bar late Sunday night. Cops were told Miller became agitated while patrons at the bar began singing karaoke.

Miller allegedly yelled obscenities and grabbed the microphone from a 23-year-old woman singing karaoke. Cops say they were told Miller also lunged at a 32-year-old man playing darts. According to officers, the bar owner asked Miller to calm down several times with no success.

We're told Miller was arrested and charged on both offenses and later released on $500 bail.

As we reported, footage circulated in 2020 that appeared to show Miller choking a woman at an Iceland bar, which led to him being kicked out by employees. No arrests were made.

Miller -- who plays The Flash in the DC universe -- was featured during Sunday night's Oscars ceremony, with a scene from “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” winning the newly-created Oscars Cheer Moment, a fan-picked award.

Matt Reeves really said "come as you are" to Robert Pattinson for his new Batman movie -- and he meant it in every sense of the word ... because Kurt Cobain is on his brain.

The 'Batman' director spilled the beans this week in a new Empire interview about the inspiration behind his version of Bruce Wayne -- with Pattinson playing the billionaire playboy by day, and the Caped Crusader by night.

Lo and behold ... it was the late Nirvana singer that actually inspired RP's look -- which makes a ton of sense. The guy looks pretty grungy, and now we know why.

Reeves says of the process behind figuring out a new take ... "When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana's 'Something In The Way.'"

He adds, "That's when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we've seen before, there's another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse. So, I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant's Last Days, and the idea of this fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor."

That's a pretty sweet tribute to Kurt, no doubt. But, fans are pointing out Pattinson's Wayne appearance is perhaps less punk rock ... and more emo. Or at least it was before this new shot of Bob surfaced, where his hair is a little more messy -- and he gives off Cobain vibes.

The Man of Steel is coming out of the phone booth like no other iteration before -- Superman's son will be bisexual going forward ... ushering in a new era under DC.

The announcement came down Monday by the comic book giant ... namely, that Jon Kent -- Clark Kent and Lois Lane's son, who's the new Superman -- is indeed both into guys and girls. Not just that ... but a male relationship will be explored within a forthcoming issue.

This new series, titled "Superman: Son of Kal-El," got underway back in July ... and it follows young Jon as he navigates taking on the red cape and the responsibilities as Earth's superest of heroes -- while his pops steps back. Starting in November, DC says Jon will officially come out ... with promotional photos of him kissing his pal, Jay, surfacing to tease the release.

The adventures of Jon are way more relevant and timely than anything Kal-El ever dealt with -- thus far, he's battled climate change crises, stopped a school shooting and even addressed immigration head-on ... not with fists, but with protest!

As for this new move to make him bi ... the series' lead writer, Tom Taylor, says they didn't want to pass up the opportunity to make Superman as modern (and inclusive) as possible -- saying the idea of making a new Superman another straight white savior seemed lame.

Of course, this comes on the heels of DC announcing that their latest version of Robin/Tim Drake would also be bisexual ... which was hinted at and way less explicit as this is.

Batman's sidekick, Robin, coming out as bisexual isn't just big for comic book superheroes, but it's also a major step in the right direction for society ... Dana Wheeler-Nicholson tells TMZ.

Dana's an actress best known for her roles in "Fletch" and "Tombstone," but she's also the granddaughter of Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson -- the man credited with the creation of DC Comics -- and she's thrilled about the latest plot twist in the DC universe.

She tells us she loves that Robin's bisexual, because having a classic, beloved, character come out bodes very well for tolerance and inclusion in the real world.

Dana says comic book figures are cultural icons, so when homosexuality is included in the storytelling ... it helps normalize that culture and hopefully encourages audiences to be loving toward those characters, if they weren't already.

She adds that Robin being bisexual is a shout-out of support for the LGBTQ+ community ... and she hopes gay and queer characters are featured more in art, literature and comics.

Holy LGBTQ, Caped Crusader!!! Robin's dropping big personal news in the latest installment of "Batman: Urban Legends" ... he's bisexual.

Tim Drake is the DC character who fights crime as Robin, and when the sixth installment of the comic book dropped Tuesday the story ended with Tim saying yes to going on a date with a guy named Bernard Dowd.

The story goes ... Robin had a "lightbulb moment" while fighting side-by-side with Bernard. After coming to his rescue as Robin, Tim later hits up Bernard's pad, and you can see the anticipation's building 'cause he hypes himself up, saying ... "It's OK, Tim. You got this."

When Bernard opens the door he's on the verge of asking out Tim on a date, but Tim interrupts with ... "I’m really glad you got home okay. I was relieved. And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, about that night. And I -- I don’t know what it meant to me. Not yet. But I’d like to figure it out."

Bernard responds, "I was hoping you would. Tim Drake … do you want to go on a date with me?” Robin says yes, and that's the cliffhanger ... until the next issue drops in December.

Not-so-fun fact about Batman -- he doesn't go down ... or so we've learned after DC Comics dropped the hammer on an oral sex scene in the "Harley Quinn" animated series.

Producers of the HBO Max adult animated series really tried to push the envelope, but co-creator Justin Halpern says he was told by DC he "absolutely cannot do that" because a) heroes don't do that, and b) how are they supposed to sell Batman toys if the hero's performing oral sex?

Halpern told Variety they get a lot more creative freedom when it comes to writing and developing villains -- they can do pretty much anything -- but there are all kinds of rules for the superheroes.

He says the cunnilingus confrontation went down during production of the upcoming third season of 'Harley.' BTW, you gotta love their retort to the DC suits. According to Justin, "So, we said, ‘Are you saying heroes are just selfish lovers?’"

You might notice DJ Khaled is now trending, with many fans joking that he's actually the Caped Crusader. If you're wondering why, look it up -- there's only so much we can say here.

HBO Max subscribers looking for some family fun were instead treated to an early look at Zack Snyder's "Justice League" ... with the streaming service leaking the film 10 days early.

Here's the deal ... folks who wanted to watch the PG-rated "Tom and Jerry" movie Monday on HBO Max were, instead, greeted with the R-rated "Justice League" thanks to a glitch on the streaming service.

HBO Max confirmed the accidental leak, saying the movie was "temporarily available" and "the error was addressed within minutes."

It appears a decent number of folks were able to catch a sneak peek of the highly-anticipated film ... including several Twitter users, who were quick to rub it in and crack jokes about staffers getting fired.

While HBO Max says the error was fixed "within minutes," some people say they were able to watch about an hour of the film before the feed was cut.

Snyder's version of the 2017 flick isn't set for an official release until March 18 ... so this is a pretty big oops.

Batman was first revealed in a comic book way back in 1939, and though kids could have bought it then for 10 cents ... a collector just paid $849,999.90 more to get his hands on one.

Detective Comics No. 27 is the vintage comic in which the Caped Crusader makes his first appearance, and there are fewer than 70 copies still remaining in the world ... according to online auction house ComicConnect.

One of those copies just sold for a whopping $850k, making it the second-highest sale price ever for that particular issue ... and one of the top comic book sales of all time.

Vincent Zurzolo -- co-owner of ComicConnect, which managed the sale -- says the comic probably would have gone for even more if it was in better condition, but it's only a 6 out of 10 on the CGC grading scale.

By contrast, another copy of No. 27 that was graded an 8 sold for a staggering $1,075,500 in 2010 ... setting the record for the Batman comic.

Zurzolo says the recent $850k sale reflects how the collectibles market is booming right now. As we've reported ... that's been evidenced by a Mike Trout rookie card netting a stunning $3.9 MILLION in August, and a LeBron James rookie card fetching $1.8 mil in July.

As for comic books ... Superman still reigns supreme. A copy of the 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1 where the superhero debuted sold for $1.5 million, smashing all previous records.

Here's Javicia Leslie taking over as the new "Batwoman" ... and TMZ has the first look at the new getup.

Javicia's in her full 'Batwoman' gear after taking over for Ruby Rose on the CW series ... and this is the first time she's been spotted filming for season 2 in the new-look costume.

As you know ... Javicia is making history here as the first Black woman to take on the role of 'Batwoman.'

Javicia's been teasing the new suit for a while on her social media, and now fans are finally seeing what it's all about ... and we gotta say, she looks like a badass who is more than ready to fight some crime.

As you can see, the suit is black with red accents, and Javicia's got red hair to top it all off. Her boots look like they could kick some serious butt.

Bad guys beware, there's a new 'Batwoman' in town!!!

Whaddaya do when the power is out, you have to get to work and your electric-powered gate won't open??

If you're Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, you channel your inner 'Black Adam,' rip that MFer right off the brick wall and slam it to the ground!!!

Seriously!!!

Johnson -- who was recently cast to play the super-strong DC Comic villain -- gave the play-by-play of what he's dubbing "not my finest hour" after a storm knocked his power out on Friday.

"I tried to override the hydraulic system to open the gates, which usually works when power goes out - but this time it wouldn’t," Rock said.

Oh no!!

"Made some calls to see how fast I can get the gate tech on site, but I didn’t have 45min to wait."

Double oh no!!

"By this time, I know I have hundreds of production crew members waiting for me to come to work so we can start our day."

So ... in true 'Black Adam' fashion, Johnson used the strength of Amon to rip the damn thing down!!

"I pushed, pulled and ripped the gate completely off myself," Johnson said.

"Ripped it completely out of the brick wall, severed the steel hydraulics and threw it on the grass."

Success!!!

"My security team was able to meet the gate technician and welders about an hour later — and they were apparently, 'in disbelief and equally scared' as to how I ripped it off"

Sure as hell seems like DC got the right guy to play 'Black Adam!!'

"Not my finest hour, but a man’s gotta go to work."

The Rock - 1  Gate - 0

New York-native Helen Slater's fame took flight in the early '80s when she landed the role of Linda Lee -- who uses the guise as Clark Kent's cousin to blend in with the people of Earth while also defeating Selena as Supergirl -- in the 1984 DC cinema spin-off, "Supergirl."

Slater shared the big screen with big names including Peter O'Toole as the spacey Zaltar, Mia Farrow as the Kryptonian Alura ... and of course, Faye Dunaway as the evil Selena.

Helen Slater can still be spotted on the CW version of the "Supergirl" TV show as the character Eliza Danvers.

Comic-Con may be 100 miles from Hollywood, but it seems Hollywood made the trek to San Diego 'cause everyone showed up.

Partial list ...  Angelina Jolie, Chris Hemsworth, Salma Hayek, Tom Cruise, Conan O'Brien, Natalie Portman, Cory Booker, Orlando Bloom, Olivia Munn, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston,  Taron Egerton, Jessica Chastain, Cara Delevingne, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeremy Renner, Jerry O'Connell, John Bradley, Maisie Williams, Kristen Bell, Patrick Stewart, Norman Reedus, and Aisha Tyler.

Some of the panels ... "Game of Thrones," "The Eternals," "The Walking Dead," "Star Trek" Universe, "Riverdale," "Veronica Mars," "Black Widow," "Terminator: Dark Fate," and Marvel Studios.