Superhero Bits: A Spider-Man Actor Wore A Fake Butt, The Art Of The Batman Book & More

(Superhero Bits is a collection of stories, updates, and videos about anything and everything inspired by the comics of Marvel, DC, and more. For comic book movies, TV shows, merchandise, events, and whatever catches our eye, this is the place to find anything that falls through the cracks.)

In this edition of Superhero Bits:

• A Spider-Man actor in "No Way Home" allegedly wore a fake butt.

• The "Guardians of the Galaxy" game didn't do as well as hoped.

• "Peacemaker" results in an unlikely Billboard hit.

• "The Art of The Batman" book is coming. 

• All that and more!

The good news is, "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy" debuted to strong reviews and is widely considered to be a great game, a vast improvement over "Marvel's Avengers." The bad news is that it still failed to live up to sales expectations, as reported by GamesRadar. Publisher Square Enix recently revealed as much in an earnings report. The company's president Yosuke Matsuda had this to say.

"Despite strong reviews, the game's sales on launch undershot our initial expectations. However, sales initiatives that we kicked off in November 2021 and continued into the new year have resulted in sales growth, and we intend to work to continue to expand sales to make up for the title's slow start."

One can only hope that cheery outlooks comes to pass as it would be a shame for a good game to get left in the dust, thus ruining the chance for more good games cut from a similar cloth in the near future.

Some sad news to report today as Nancy Murphy has passed away. While Marvel fans may not know her name, Murphy was a mainstay at the company for decades working in the subscriptions and mailings department. In a time long before Hollywood found a way to make superheroes at the forefront of pop culture back when they were mostly in the pages of comic books, Murphy was a big part of the engine that drove Marvel Comics. She will be missed.

As we can see from the above image, a whole bunch of new Marvel figures have hit the market as part of the Avengers Comic Marvel Legends series. We also have a Retro Marvel Legends Rhino thrown in the mix for good measure. The various figures are now available at a variety of retailers with most of them retailing in the $24.99 range. For those who are interested to learn more or to order one, full details can be found at Toy Ark.

Andy Serkis is playing a new version of Alfred Pennyworth in director Matt Reeves' "The Batman" alongside Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne. With the movie hitting theaters in just a couple of weeks, Serkis popped by "Good Morning America" to debut a brief clip from the film, which sees Alfred and Bruce arguing in the Batcave. The clip starts at around the 2:55 mark for those who would like to get to the goods and skip the interview business. Admittedly, the clip doesn't reveal much but we do get a sense of the strained dynamic between these characters in the film, which is certainly unfamiliar.

We recently learned that all of the Marvel Netflix shows will be leaving the streaming service at the end of the month. What is going to happen to them beyond that? It is in the hands of Disney and Marvel Studios now but no answers have been provided. "Luke Cage" showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker has weighed in on the matter, revealing recently on Twitter that he is rewatching the series while he still has the chance.

Rewatching Luke Cage while I can on Netflix. They're going to do what they do. It's theirs. I just hope they don't sit on it for years to allow for an easier reboot, or re-air it with a different mix, or the N-Word muted. I'd love to do commentary tracks, or the original credits

— Cheo Hodari Coker (@cheo_coker) February 21, 2022

This doesn't sound like the most optimistic bit of input but it's understandable. Marvel Studios is exercising a lot of control over these characters and even acknowledging this corner of the MCU has been a challenge, with Daredevil's inclusion in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" arguably the only real acknowledgment to date. Hopefully, the shows will be moved to Hulu or even Disney+ without too many edits. Those interested can check out Coker's whole thread on Twitter, which contains a lot more commentary on the show and some ideas that didn't make the final cut.

Ever since the first trailer for "Peacemaker" dropped it was evident that the glam rock track "Do You Wanna Taste It" from Wig Wam was going to be an earworm associated with James Gunn's DC series. When the amazing opening credits choreographed to the number debuted, it went to another level. Now, as the show wrapped up its first season last week, Gunn has revealed that the 2009 track has topped the Billboard rock chart more than a decade after its initial release and that helps to demonstrate just how popular the show became during its run. It's no wonder HBO Max was quick to give it a season 2 pick-up.

There has already been a whole lot of discussion about a potential sequel to "The Batman" before it has even hit theaters. But before any of that talk can even happen, director Matt Reeves makes it clear that he would like a much-deserved rest, particularly a long nap. Speaking to Los Angeles Times En Español when asked about a sequel, the filmmaker said the following:

"I think the first thing is a very long nap and here's the thing, my feeling in doing the film was always that I would never treat it as chapter 1. Because chapter 1 assumes that there are more chapters. So what I wanted to do was to make this movie a satisfying experience so that people could experience a new fresh version of a character that the world has loved for over 80 years. I think that if we succeed on that front, I know that I have a lot of stories I want to tell and then we'll do chapter 2, but not because we didn't make this one a complete experience. Let's just see what happens, let's see the audience watch it. I hope they connect to it and if they do then yes there's definitely more to do and I will not be napping for too long!"

Safe to say, given the crazy pandemic-riddled production coupled with the pressure of rebooting this franchise, the man has earned his nap. Let him rest.

Tom Holland recently popped by "Late Night With Seth Meyers" while promoting his new movie "Uncharted" and, naturally, the subject of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" came up. It's one of the highest-grossing movies in history so that is not surprising. But what is surprising is that the actor revealed that one of his fellow Spider-Men, be it Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield, wore a fake butt while filming.

"I'll give you a spoiler, and I'm not going to tell you who, but one of us has a fake ass in their suit. You can figure out that for yourselves," the actor said. So look for a particularly juicy Peter Parker booty next time you watch the movie.

Lastly, Warner Bros., DC, and Abrams Books have revealed that "The Art of The Batman" is set to hit shelves on April 19, about a month and a half after the movie hits theaters in North America. It is written by James Field with a foreword by director Matt Reeves. A description of the book reads as follows:

Readers will get an insider's look at the design and production process for "The Batman," including insightful interviews with the filmmaking team and cast; never-before-seen conceptual paintings and set photos exploring this new version of DC's iconic Gotham City; shot-by-shot comparisons between the film and storyboards; and a closer look at the designs for the costumes, vehicles, gadgets, riddles, and more.

For those interested, the book is available for pre-order now and retails for $45. "The Batman" hits theaters on March 4, 2022.