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Scoop, Rumour And Wrong Of The Year – The 14th Annual Rumour Awards

Rumour Of The Year

it may never be officially approved. But you know it's true. Or at least it should be true.

This year we told you that the planned Wonder Woman movie starring Gal Gadot was set in the nineteen twenties, with sequels to take the story to World War II and then to the present Justice League day. Still no word, official or otherwise…

Talking of films, there was the story that Fox asked specific other directors and writers to take over Josh Trank's Fantastic Four – but said no. Fox officially denied the story, but my sources on this was the best. It happened. But no one will ever cough to it – though it may have led to the film's delay.

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Talking of rumours that no one will ever admit to, while the cancellation of the Fantastic Four comic was confirmed, the reasons were not. But plenty of people at Marvel were eager to talk to me about it off the record. That it was a decision made by Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter after some particularly strained negotiation with Fox Studios over the movie and licensing rights went south, and Perlmutter didn't want to give the Fantastic Four movie even the slightest promotional bump, through comics, through toys, through posters, through sketch cards, through media appearances and famously didn't even want to see anything Fantastic Four related as he walked through the offices.

There were also rumoured bust ups between Marvel and Disney over Big Hero 6 that led to Marvel not publishing any Big Hero 6 comics and keeping the original series out of print.

We revealed that Disney and Jack Kirby's estate settled on a mid-level eight figure sum over the Marvel characters rights – we estimated between $30-$50 million.

We're still waiting on that Gen-13 plan for this year to come to fruitioneither of them… but know it's not by Tony S Daniel.

They may be in Wolverines, but they havent actually taken over from Wolverine yet. Sabretooth is in the suit, but will X-23 wear the cowl as a Female Wolverine? There's also the rumour that The Punisher will end in 2015, but be split into two books…

We're less confident of the suggestion that Wolverine was created by fan Andy Olsen sending in a competition entry, but stranger things have happened.

And we were really pushing the boat out with Misfits as part of the Marvel Studios Universe. But we also told you how Vin Diesel got the role of Groot… and told you about the first time Marvel tried to make an Inhumans movie.

And we have gotten the impression that Secret Wars will rather focus on Mister Fantastic and The Infinity Gauntlet.

There is the rumour that DC Comics are planning a mini-relaunch for June this year, and have asked creators to wrap up stories ahead of time. and to consider blue sky creative thinking, with pitches being taken. We are yet to hear confirmation about a Batman comic by Marc Silvestri or a Green Lantern comic by Pat Broderick.

But rumour of the year? Has to be the planned Dark Knight Returns threequel by Scott Snyder and Frank Miller with a whole host of other names attached. Still on the drawing board I'm told, but a definite DC Comics project in the works.

Scoop Of The Year

The stories we got right, despite the odds, with everyone ridiculing its veracity. Plenty to choose from…

From 2013, there was the rumour that Marvel lifer John Romita Jr wasn't reupping at Marvel and has been offered the Superman book at DC Comics – which led to some rather obsequious behaviour from Marvel at the John Romita Jr Spotlight panel. And now he is getting the writing job too, though we also revealed that initially Geoff Johns would be his writer. We also scooped the new look of the character, which saw DC Comics legal folk send out cease and desist letters. We did neither.

That year we also told you that Five Years Later would make up the 2014 DC Comics September event for 2014, the Return Of Damian Wayne, an Earth 2/Earth DC War. and 2013's year's Rumour Of The Year was the Death Of Wolverine in 2014 originally back in February and then ran news that may suggest it was coming in September. It did. We weren't resting on our laurels however. We also had the death of Nick Fury to boot.

We knew that Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen would be writing Star Wars comics for Marvel and that a Princess Leia comic was on the way too. And a new Angela series by Gillen and Marguerite Bennett.

Back in February, many months ahead of announcement, we told you that not only David Finch but Meredith Finch were joining Wonder Woman – but also told you where you could buy Meredith's only published credit at that point. I then bought it. That Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen were reviving the Forever People. That Nicole Perlman would write a Gamora series for Marvel and that ComiXology would introduce a DRM-free option.

And how Adventure Time #30 was banned in the UK.

We also told you that Greg Land and Dennis Hopeless would relaunch Spider-Woman for Marvel, That the scratch'n'sniff Harley Quinn would include a cannabis scent. That there would be an Amazing Spider-Man #1 by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos – and that Marvel and Diamond held crisis talks over damages. And that Marvel were to publish Superior Iron Man  and send Superior Spider-Man to the future.

While other sites panicked, we confirmed that Milo Manara's covers for Marvel weren't cancelled, merely postponed while he worked on his graphic novel. How Miracleman was originally meant to be in Original Sin.

We looked past the online innuendo from other reporters and just published a (censored) Yale Stewart dick pic and then followed up with DC Comics' new attitude to his work, We revealed the troubles behind DC Comics new creator contracts.

Thre were plenty of staff changes that Bleeding Cool got the drop on, as well as a large look at who at DC Comics was staying or going. Although two changed their mind…

We told you that the new Wally West would be reinvented as a black kid for The Flash, and that Captain America would also be black, the previous character of Sam Wilson, The Falcon, filling his boots.

One of the big main continuing stories was what Bleeding Cool dubbed the Band Aid. an event that would see a bunch of comic books prepared months early to cover DC Comics' move from New York to Burbank. Not only did we confirm the Band Aid, (not Blood Moon), later named by us as Convergence, was probably our biggest scoop that was eked out over several articles, created in advance, spread over two months, detailed by DC creators, further definitions, a love letter to DC fans, from to the Pre-52 being a part of it, naming creators and Scott Lobdell being a part of the weekly and how it would all come together. We were pretty much bang on the money…

We told you when Jonathan Ross was to present,then was no longer presenting the Hugo Awards. When the first five Doctor Who Series 8 scripts hit the internet We were the first to tell you what all of 2015's Free Comic Book Day titles would be, over a long week.

And there were plenty of staff moves you will have read first on Bleeding Cool.

We told you what Axis would be about and how Time Runs Out. We told you that Wolverine And The X-Men would be cancelled and be replaced, for a time, by Spider-Man And The X-Men.

We told you about Warren Ellis and Josh Howard's Trees.We told you about Aquaman And The Others, Justice League United and Secret Origins. And we revealed that famed Guardians Of The Galaxy co-writers, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning had fallen out and were no longer working with each other,

How Marvel were planning to persuade people to buy Inhumans over X-Men. How a Pre 52 version of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold were to return to DC Comics.

Two TV scoops stick out, that Warners were making a Supergirl TV show (though we got the producer wrong) and that David Goyer was making a prequel to Man Of Steel TV show, Krypton. Both were later officially confirmed.

More seriously, Bleeding Cool not only was willing to report that Rat Queens co-creator Roc Upchurch has been charged with domestic assault in an incident regarding his ex-wife, but was able to report his own side of the story, when others were unwilling to do so.

But scoop of the year, for me certainly, was learning that Amazon was to buy ComiXology three weeks before it was officially announced. No one seemed to see that one coming and everyone doubted, I thought it might end up in the next category, until it all went official.

Wrong Of The Year

the story we got most utterly wrong… hopefully slightly fewer to choose from.

Tony Daniels on Teen Titans. And Gen 13. Wrong and wrong. There were details regarding Spider-Verse and the like which came out of a rather scrambled translation of a podcast featuring Humberto Ramos. We told you about Daredevil regaining his sight – but not as permanently as we might have thought. Astonishing Avengers by Remender and Ribic? So, so wrong. And Kate Leth and Noelle Stephenson getting a new Marvel comic? No.

And DC Comics were not to buy Dynamite. If they still need a New York base, they now have Mad Magazine, remaining in the city.

Hopefully this last category will shrink further for next year.


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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