DC Comics is still competing with Marvel to see which of their movie studios can produce the most insane number of super-hero films for the decade. A director very popular with geeks, Guillermo Del Toro has reported big things for another super-film in the works that introduces the “dark side” of DC’s Justice League:
After being prodded about his attachment Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment’s “Justice League Dark,” Del Toro announced the next film he’ll likely shoot is “Crimson Peak,” a turn of the century supernatural thriller.
That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been working on “JLD” though.
Del Toro says he’s finished a bible for the film and hopes to announce a screenwriter soon. But, as always, Del Toro left the audience with something to get excited about.
“The lead character that guides us through that is Constantine and he’s blonde,” Del Toro says referring to the dark-haired version of the character Keanu Reeves starred as in 2005’s “Constantine.”
Justice League Dark is traditionally about lesser-known DC super-heroes that are the misfits of the super-litter. These are the chosen few in DC Comics that don’t work well with general audiences, so they are relugated to the dusty annals of comicbook-dom. The super-heroes are such as:
- John Constantine
- Swamp Thing
- Madame Xanadu
- Deadman (wonder what his super-power could be…?)
- Zatanna
- Mindwarp
Ever heard of any of these?
Color me uninterested. If DC Comics knew what was good for them, they would produce a traditional Justice League film with characters like Batman and Superman working together. That concept of a film franchise has been in and out of very early pre-production purgatory for more than a decade, and the idea never gets going because of movie franchises — like The Dark Knight trilogy — getting in the way.
But what do we want more of? We want more ensemble hero stories, like The Avengers. Joss Whedon’s direction of Marvel super-films makes one thing very clear: audiences want to see how all these super-people work together, and how their own adventures compliment the whole of a combined mythology.
Very nerdy of me to take this position, I know, but nerds are inheriting the earth. Nerds are the new mainstream.
Get with the people like me, DC. Show us the “light side” of the Justice League soon. Save Justice League Dark to be the last movie franchise you produce.