It’s official – Ben Affleck is back as Batman in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.

The upcoming sequel sees Jason Momoa return as Arthur Curry, the seafaring superhero known as Aquaman. But it looks as though he couldn’t resist revealing that he won’t be the only Justice League member returning in the movie.

“REUNITED,” he said via Instagram. “bruce and arthur. love u and miss u Ben WB studio tours just explored the backlot alright. busted on set all great things coming AQUAMAN 2 all my aloha j”

The official DC Comics Instagram simply replied: "Legends."

What’s surprising is that Affleck was reportedly done with Batman, officially hanging up his cape.

Of course, we knew that he was due to appear in the upcoming Flash movie, which was originally set to debut in November 2022 but has since been pushed to June 23, 2023. But this was supposed to be his final time on screen as the caped crusader. Instead, it looks as though someone, somewhere convinced him to return. And after his experience on Justice League, it couldn’t have been an easy conversation.

“I had a really nadir experience around Justice League for a lot of different reasons,” said Affleck. “Not blaming anybody, there's a lot of things that happened. But really what it was is that I wasn't happy. I didn't like being there. I didn't think it was interesting. And then some really s---ty things, awful things happened. But, that's when I was like, I'm not going to do that anymore.”

His return in Aquaman 2 then is a huge surprise, especially after he gave up starring in and directing his own version of The Batman.

Still, it looks as though Affleck’s Batman/Bruce Wayne will be back, but how he fits into the upcoming Aquaman sequel remains to be seen.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom stars Jason Momoa as Aquaman, alongside Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman. James Wan directed the film based on a script by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Jason Momoa.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn fans needn’t worry – she won’t be getting back together with The Joker anytime soon, at least not on her HBO Max series, now in its third season.

During an interview with AV Club, showrunner Patrick Schumacker explained that the Harley Quinn animated series won’t be bringing Harley and the Joker back together. Instead, it's all about Poison Ivy — a relationship that dates all the way back to Harley's inception in Batman: The Animated Series.

“We still have the occasional fan reaction of ‘I don’t like Harley and Ivy together. She should get back with the Joker,’ which we’re never going to do,” he explained. “Harley and Ivy will never break up in the series as long as we have a say. That’s something that we never want to touch again.”

Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) finally got together in the Season 2 finale. They then headed off on the road for their aptly-named “Eat, Bang, Kill Tour” which would see them on the run from Commissioner Gordon and creating havoc across the U.S.

A spin-off limited comic book run continued their story before Season 3 debuted.

But now, it looks as though the villainous pair is solid as a rock… and Harley won’t be turning her back on Ivy anytime soon.

IGN’s own review of Harley Quin Season 3 says: “Love is in the air, but that doesn’t mean Harley Quinn isn’t as insane, blood-soaked, and hilarious as it’s always been. Season 3’s take on Harley and Ivy’s newly romantic relationship is still unsurprisingly the highlight, tackling all their highs and lows in ways that are incredibly true to each character.”

Thankfully, it looks as though Harley will remain free from the Joker’s clutches for the long haul. And even Kite Man might be getting his own sort-of-happy-ending…

After being jilted at the altar by Harley, Kite Man will be starring in his own spin-off – a show that’s described as “Cheers for villains” which sees him running a bar where supervillains hang out.

Kaley Cuoco stars as Harley Quinn alongside Alan Tudyk, Lake Bell, Rahul Kohli, Diedrich Baker, Tony Hale, Matt Oberg, and Ron Funches. Harley Quinn was developed by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey with Halpern and Schumacker serving as showrunners.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Michael B. Jordan’s epic fight sequel Creed III has been delayed until 2023. The upcoming Creed sequel (and the ninth film in the Rocky franchise) was originally expected to debut on November 23 but has now been pushed back until March 3, 2023.

Jordan once again stars as Adonis Creed – the son of the legendary Rocky opponent, Apollo Creed. But this time around, Jordan will also be stepping behind the camera, making his directorial debut.

Jonathan Majors will appear as new challenger, Anderson Dame.

Creed III will be the first of the Creed films without an appearance from Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa – unsurprising, given his passing of the torch in Creed II. The second film ends with Adonis making peace with carrying his father’s legacy, while Rocky himself travels to Vancouver – patching things up with his son and finally meeting his grandson.

But with Jordan taking the helm and Stallone stepping away from the franchise, this could signal a new beginning for the long-running boxing series.

The plot for Creed III is still firmly under wraps but is thought to introduce the new character Anderson Dame as a challenger to Adonis Creed’s title.

But the upcoming Creed sequel isn’t the only new Rocky film on its way.

The news of Creed 3’s delay comes on the back of news of a new spin-off, titled ‘Drago’ which follows the Russian father and son boxing team, Ivan and Viktor Drago (played by Dolph Lundgren and Florian Munteanu).

Clearly, it’s a time of change for the Rocky films, ushering in a new generation of fighters with both the sequel and spin-off.

Creed 3 stars Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed alongside Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Florian Munteanu, and Jonathan Majors.

Michael B. Jordan will direct the film based on a script by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Peter Moore is known for wearing many hats around the games (and sports) industry. One stop in his career was at Microsoft where he helped oversee Xbox during the 360-era. In a new interview, Moore spoke about his time at Xbox and how they encouraged the console wars, but not for reasons you’d expect.

Moore recently made an appearance on one of Front Office Sports’ podcast to discuss his time as Liverpool FC CEO, in the process touching on his time at Xbox. While the games industry has shifted towards a more unified tone, during Moore’s tenure the console wars were arguably an even bigger part of the games industry — something Moore says was encouraged at Xbox.

“We encouraged the console wars, not to create division, but to challenge each other,” Moore says. “And when I say each other I mean Microsoft and Sony. If Microsoft hadn’t of stuck the course after the Xbox, after the Red Rings of Death, gaming would be a poorer place for it, you wouldn’t have the competition you have today.”

Moore joined Xbox in 2003 after serving as president and COO of Sega America. Moore is best remembered for helping launch the Xbox 360 and Dreamcast as well as his penchant for announcing high-profile games with fake tattoos. Xbox’s early dominance in the 360-era was driven by games like Halo as well as the launch of Xbox Live.

But Moore also talked about the lows such as the Red Ring of Death controversy. “If we didn’t resolve Red Rings of Death the way that we did I know darn well there’d be no Xbox today.”

Nowadays, the console wars are a bit more downplayed, especially given the current landscape of cross-platform and cross-play titles. Even when Xbox and Sony acquire developers like Activision and Bungie, there are still talks of keeping their biggest games multiplatform, at least for now.

Moore would later join EA to lead its sports division before becoming the CEO of Liverpool Football Club. He has since returned to the tech space and is currently a vice president and GM at Unity.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

The second annual Annapurna Interactive Showcase has just wrapped up, during which we got a look at a ton of new projects in development, updates, and a handful of upcoming releases from the publisher of Stray, Neon White, Sayonara Wild Hearts, and tons more.

In case you missed the show or want to remind yourself of that cool game you didn’t catch the name of, here’s everything we just saw at the showcase:

Thirsty Suitors

From Outerloop Games (Falcon Age), we got a new, deeper look at Thirsty Suitors, an upcoming RPG that mixes elements of dating sims, turn-based battles, and skateboarding mechanics. Play as Jala, a young woman who returns home for her sister’s wedding and is forced to confront and reconcile with her multiple exes, all while managing her family’s expectations and repairing relationships with friends and relatives. Though we didn’t get a release date this time around, we saw quite a bit of gameplay, and there’s a free demo out on Steam now. Thirsty Suitors will release for PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Game Pass.

Hindsight

From the creator of the elegant tree cultivation puzzler Prune, Hindsight got a brand new trailer today with a release date for the first time. Hindsight is a story-focused game going through a woman’s life, from birth to present day, where physical objects can become literal windows into the past. It’s out on August 4 for iOS, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.

A New Project from the Creators of Kentucky Route Zero

Cardboard Computer made an appearance at the showcase to reveal that following their near-decade-long work on Kentucky Route Zero, the studio is now working on a brand new project. Though we didn’t see a trailer, we did get a look at the team working on modeling a dog. And the team gave a handful of descriptions of the project, including that it’s the first project where Cardboard Computer is “really focusing on performance as a core part of the piece,” and that it has a “different tempo” from Kentucky Route Zero - it’s “faster” and “hopefully funnier.”

It might be a while before we get a proper look at whatever this new project is, but if it’s anything remotely like the beautiful, episodic Kentucky Route Zero, it’s sure to be worth watching.

Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem

Dinogod Studio revealed the game that it’s been working on at last, called Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem. It appears to be an Old West-styled shooter where the main character is a woman who pilots a cool mech, almost Titanfall-esque, and it’s all set to music by Brother Edge. Bounty Star will be out sometime next year for PlayStation, PC via Steam, and Xbox Game Pass.

Yarn Owl - Development Update

Texas and Georgia-based studio Yarn Owl popped in for a segment to talk about the studio’s founding, and its drawing inspiration from A Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. We didn’t get a look at gameplay or any clear details about what the studio’s project is, but we did see some models of cute characters jumping around a world with an adventure, almost Wind Waker-like vibe.

Outer Wilds

Last year at the Annapurna showcase, Mobius Digital announced (among other things) that Outer Wilds was coming to the Nintendo Switch. That hasn’t happened yet, and Mobius appeared again this year to reassure us that yes, the Switch version is still in the works, though the studio doesn’t have a firm date yet. However, there’s another update with a more concrete release on it: Outer Wilds is getting a 60fps update for Xbox Series X and S and PS5. The update is free, and it lands on September 15.

The Pathless, Maquette, and Solar Ash

A montage including The Pathless, Maquette, and Solar Ash played that revealed some new platform releases for all three games. The Pathless is headed to Xbox and Switch this winter, Maquette will be on Game Pass and Switch also this winter, and Solar Ash is headed to Steam and Game Pass on December 6.

What Remains of Edith Finch

Concluding the above montage, we learned that What Remains of Edith Finch is getting a 4k and 60fps upgrade for Xbox Series x and S and PS5. The upgrade is free, and surprise, it’s out now.

Forever Ago

German studio Third Shift appeared to talk about its formation, and the creation of its upcoming game Forever Ago. It’s a story-driven road trip adventure about an elderly man who embarks on a journey in his van, traveling across the different landscapes in North America and taking photos as he goes. It’s unknown for now what platforms or when Forever Ago might release.

Flock: Gather Your Friends

Flock: Gathering Your Friends was up next, featuring colorful landscapes with cute little bugs and other animals fluttering around. We didn’t see a lot of gameplay, mostly just gorgeous vistas, but it appears to be a game about a person riding a colorful bird, flying around these landscapes and collecting little floaty bug dudes to follow you. It’s coming to Xbox Game Pass, PC via Steam, and PlayStation at a later date.

Hohokum

Hohokum looks like Ynglet and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse had an adorable child, and puts you in the control of a colorful little ribbon guy bouncing around stages, sometimes with a bunch of other colorful friends following you or riding on your back. Okay, it’s a bit hard to explain, and pretty open-ended if you’ve ever played it before. But it’s actually a 2014 game developed by Honeyslug for PlayStation 3, 4, and the Vita, and it’s out now on PC via Steam.

Uvula

Katamari Damacy and Wattam creator Keita Takahashi is back at it again, this time with a new company called Uvula. Yes, the little dangly thing at the back of the throat. No, we have no idea what the game is actually about or what you do in it; all we saw was a cute Takahashi-style character gently snoring away, camera zoomed in on his uvula, and a dog licking his cheek. Looks cute, whatever it is!

Dreamfeel - Developer Update

The developers of If Found… appeared on the stream to talk about their inspirations wandering through ruins in Ireland, as well as tease their next project. Though we didn’t get a game title or any gameplay, we learned the next game will take place in a fantasy version of Ireland, and all the characters are cats. At the core of the idea is the phrase, “Everything drowned will someday rise from the deep.”

The Lost Wild

Finally, the show concluded with the reveal of a game from Great Ape Games, called The lost Wild. The Lost Wild appears to be some sort of survival horror game…featuring dinosaurs. Lots and lots of dinosaurs. We get a look at a first-person view of a dense jungle full of dinos, and a scared player character consulting a compass. There seem to be some serious Jurassic Park vibes though, too, as we see sections featuring modern technology, using a flare, lights, a white board, and more. No release date just yet, but you can wishlist now on Steam if you like.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Closing out today's Annapurna Interactive showcase, we got a first look at a new game from Great Ape Games that looks like a Jurassic Park survival horror. It's called The Lost Wild, and it's coming to PC...sometime.

The Lost Wild appears to be some kind of survival horror game in the first person perspective. We see a player exploring a dense jungle full of dinosaurs, some of which appear to be mostly harmless-ish (like a plant-eating stegosaurus) and others that are clearly full of teeth and ready to chomp down on a person.

There's some sneaking around the jungle trying to avoid these hungry dinos, and there are also some spooky looking interiors briefly shown that include whiteboard notes indicating science or research of some kind being done, and at one point the player tosses a flare to distract or confuse some threatening dinos. Though this isn't a Jurassic Park licensed game as far as we can tell, it's clearly playing off some of those vibes.

We're looking forward to seeing more of The Lost Wild as it gets closer to release. We don't have any detail on a release window or platforms yet, except that it has a page up on Steam as of today and you can wishlist it if you want. Hopefully we'll see more scary dinos soon.

You can get a full rundown of everything announced at today's Annapurna Interactive showcase in our roundup.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Update 7/28/2022 2:45pm: Apparently, Keita Takahashi's next game may not be called Uvula. Uvula instead appears to be the name of his new studio.

In the trailer published to the Annapurna YouTube page, the game is just called "???" with the YouTube description including "Developed by UVULA."

Does that mean Takahashi's game will be about uvulas at all? Who knows? There IS a uvula in the teaser. But otherwise, it now seems we know even less about whatever he's up to than we did before. Still looks cute though.

Original story 7/28/2022:

During today's Annapurna Interactive Showcase we got a brief teaser for Takahashi's next game. It showed a boy in Takahashi's signature art style gently snoring away, with the camera zoomed in close on his uvula - you know, the little hangy down thing in the back of the throat. It slowly zoomed out to his face, and a dog licks the boy's cheek. That's all!

It's anyone's guess how this is going to make a game, but if anyone can do it, it's probably Takahashi. All of his past games have been extremely quirky and original, from Katamari (a game about rolling every object on earth into a giant katamari ball to send into space and turn into a star) to Wattam, a game that inexplicably involved a lot of poop.

Notably, Wattam was developed by Funomena, which appears to have shut down as of earlier this year following a report from People Make Games alleging that studio head Robin Hunicke had emotionally abused the staff. A later report from Fanbyte stated that Takahashi and Hunicke had clashed over the design of Wattam and eventually physically barricaded themselves off from one another.

Annapurna Interactive published Wattam, as well as games by both Mountains and Fullbright, which have also had allegations levvied against them in the last few years. Annapurna has not commented on the situation at Funomena, and it is unclear whether anyone else from Funomena is involved in Uvula.

You can get a full rundown of everything announced at today's Annapurna Interactive showcase in our roundup.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Krysten Ritter is heading back to AMC as the star of Orphan Black: Echoes. Ritter, who featured on AMC’s Breaking Bad and starred in Marvel’s Jessica Jones, will also serve as executive producer for the new series.

Orphan Black: Echoes is set in the same world as the critically acclaimed sci-fi hit Orphan Black and will get a 10-episode first season run on AMC+. The series will be set in the near future and will take “a deep dive into the exploration of the scientific manipulation of human existence.”

Meet the star and executive producer of #OrphanBlackEchoes, @krystenritter. pic.twitter.com/p3DpoOxGr9

— Orphan Black (@OrphanBlack) July 28, 2022

Ritter will play Lucy, “a woman with an unimaginable origin story, trying to find her place in the world.” Orphan Black: Echoes will follow a group of women as they intersect with one another’s lives and embark on a “thrilling journey.” They’ll unravel “the mystery of their identity and uncover a wrenching story of love and betrayal.”

Ritter starred as the titular character in Jessica Jones on Netflix for three seasons. Both it and Orphan Black have a sense of moodiness in both its setting and characters. If Orphan Black: Echoes follows suit from its predecessor, Ritter should feel right at home.

Previously, Orphan Black had sequels as a comic book and podcast after its five-season run ended in 2017. The best part of Orphan Black was easily its lead, Tatiana Maslany, who portrayed a dozen or so different clones all with distinct personalities. Maslany would go on to win an Emmy for the role giving more credibility to the often overlooked sci-fi genre and will join the MCU herself as She-Hulk.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Hohokum – the beautiful, exploratory 2014 PlayStation exclusive – launches on Steam today.

Announced during today's Annapurna Interactive Showcase, the game became available on PC as soon as the show ended.

Hohokum was originally released for PS3, PS4, and PS Vita, and has players piloting a space worm-kite-thing through abstract, colorful environments, affecting elements of the world around you as you pass. The game is wordless, asking you to explore to find your way through its surreal scenes – backed by generative music that builds and changes with your actions.

In our 8.8/10 review, we said that Hohokum is "latest title in a long lineage of artistically inclined, thoroughly unique PlayStation exclusives. From Vib Ribbon through to LocoRoco, Flower, Tokyo Jungle, Sound Shapes and more, it’s in good company, and deserves to be uttered in the same breath as those much-loved cult classics."

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

During today's Annapurna Interactive showcase, we got two surprising upgrade announcements to two beloved games: Outer Wilds and What Remains of Edith Finch.

First up, Outer Wilds is getting a 60fps upgrade on Xbox Series X, S, and PS5 that's coming September 15, and the upgrade is free if you own the game already. Developer Mobius Digital also confirmed that the game is still planned for Switch at some point in the future, but haven't given a date for that just yet.

Meanwhile, What Remains of Edith Finch is getting a 60fps upgrade and 4k on Xbox Series X and PS5, and that update is not only free, it's also available today.

Both of these are pleasant surprise upgrades for two widely acclaimed games. We called Edith Finch "one of the finest magical-realism stories in all of games" back when we reviewed it on launch in 2017. OuterWilds was similarly beloved in 2019, and we called it "a true adventure in ways most games never achieve." Its DLC released late last year, Echoes of the Eye, was a "wonderful return" to the system of the original.

You can get a full rundown of everything announced at today's Annapurna Interactive showcase in our roundup.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.