Late last year, J.J. Abrams and his production company Bad Robot signed a first-look deal with Warner Brothers, and fans have been anxiously awaiting the announcement of what their first project would be– and specifically, whether or not it would involve the DC Universe. And now it has officially been announced that Abrams and Bad Robot will be tackling ‘Justice League Dark’, although this is very early in the talking phase.
According to Deadline, who broke this news, Bad Robot’s Head of Motion Pictures Hannah Minghella and Head of Television Ben Stephenson are going to begin taking meetings soon to find the talent to spearhead this initiative. From the sound of things, this is going to be almost like its own shared universe, combining movies and TV shows, which will focus on various characters, none of which have yet been determined. It isn’t known what role Abrams will take, if any.
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The ‘Justice League Dark’ project originated under the name ‘Dark Universe’, an idea originated from the mind of Guillermo del Toro, but the auteur is so busy with multiple projects at a time, so this kept getting pushed back. (He originally began working on the project before the establishment of the “DC Extended Universe” of movies.) Warner Brothers was anxious to get this project made, so they parted ways with del Toro, but even after numerous writers and directors (including Doug Liman) were considered or actually attached, nothing came of it until now.
In 2017, a ‘Justice League Dark’ animated movie was released direct-to-video.
The first ‘Justice League Dark’ comic launched in 2011, as part of the New 52 relaunch. It brought together an assortment of magic-based characters including Black Orchid, Deadman, Etrigan the Demon, John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Swamp Thing, and Zatanna among others. The most recent iteration of the team from the comics was actually led by Wonder Woman, and included Detective Chimp and Man-Bat, in addition to Swamp Thing and Zatanna.
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Last year’s short-lived DC Universe series ‘Swamp Thing’ was also leading up to a Justice League Dark gathering, which would have included Ian Ziering as Blue Devil, but Warner Brothers axed the show after only one episode had been released.
The comic book ‘Justice League Dark’ has seen a revolving door of mystical characters, so there are many characters that could be integrated into these films and TV shows that Bad Robot is concocting.
What would you like to see in a ‘Justice League Dark’ project? What characters should appear?
