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Batman takes on a week of alternate reality and consumer product lawsuits: Popverse Playlist for August 22-28, 2026

As Gotham City gets overrun by plants and evil, one coyote takes a stand for justice... and a man deals with his alternate reality self in another dimension, as you do

Guides by Graeme McMillan, Editor

Published on Tue Sep 22 2026

As the kids head back to school and the days start getting a little bit shorter each day, you might find yourself wondering if summer felt a little shorter than usual this year. This, dear friends, is the wrong question; the right question is, what should you be watching and reading before summer goes through its final days? What a good question, I say in response, because this is Popverse Playlist and what we care about here is not the seasons but the pop culture that makes those seasons feel so full of content! Content to be devoured!

This week: Alternate realities, Acme products, and Another Gotham City disaster! Join in the spectacle.

If you only watch one show this week, then it really has to be… Dark Matter, season 2

Sure, everyone has at some point or another wondered what it’d be like if they could cross over into an alternate reality version of their own life, but what Apple TV’s Dark Matter asks is, “what if you did… and it was because you’d been kidnapped by your own alternate self?” Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Jimmi Simpson and Alice Braga turn that admittedly out-there concept into a show that’s surprisingly tense, paranoia-inducing, and like Fox’s Fringe if it was having a really, really bad day. (I mean that as a compliment; I loved Fringe.) The nine-episode first season is already on Apple TV, the second season starts this week.

Dark Matter season 2 begins August 28.

If you only check out one movie this week, then it should be… Coyote vs. Acme

It’s the little movie that could, which feels only fitting given its subject matter. Sure, the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery dumped the movie into what seemed (at the time) into an inescapable limbo for financial reasons, only for it to be rescued by indie distributor Ketchup Entertainment wasn’t actually a marketing campaign for a movie about a little guy (Wile E. Coyote of Road Runner fame) taking a stand against an uncaring corporation that cares more about the bottom line than anything else, but it’s sure a fun coincidence. The fact that the finished movie is smart, funny, and a surprisingly fitting tribute to the staying power of the Road Runner’s always hungry nemesis is just icing on the cake. Or should that be ketchup, considering…?

Coyote vs. Acme will speed into theaters August 28.

If you can only pick up one comic this week, then make sure it’s… Batman: Bad Seeds - Sunset #1

Is it Batman crossover time again already? Apparently so, with the arrival of this first chapter in the end-of-summer storyline that will span DC Comics’ Batbooks and strangle Gotham City with the vines of one Pamela Isley as things come to a head on the Poison Ivy front thanks to some manipulation by forces familiar to anyone who’s been reading the (great) Matt Fraction/Jorge Jimenez Batman series. (Which is everyone, right? I hope so.) Given how strong the Batman line has been recently, the idea of everything coming together for a couple months is a particular exciting prospect, especially knowing that one-offs like a new Gotham Central story and Greg Rucka’s Gotham General are in the wings as a result.

Batman: Bad Seeds - Sunset #1 will be in comic book stores August 26.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for more than two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.