Guillermo del Toro has opened up about his scrapped superhero movie Justice League Dark, revealing which characters would have appeared in his take on the DC universe.
When it came to who would lead the project, Toro said, “It was John Constantine, and the plot made absolute sense, perfect sense," on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast. "I loved that screenplay. I was in love with that screenplay. I thought it brought everybody in effortlessly, you know."
In fact, del Toro wanted to include a cameo from our favourite vigilante. "There was a moment where Batman came in briefly. They said, ‘We need a plane,’ and he said, ‘I know a friend of mine has a plane.' and then you were in Bruce Wayne’s office. You know I would have loved to have done that, but now I wouldn’t, you know.” The Frankenstein director also had an antagonist in mind. "We had the Floronic Man was one of the villains, and it was really great because Swamp Thing was very fleshed out."
So, what happened to Justice League Dark? In 2013, it was announced that del Toro would adapt the Justice League Dark comic series into a movie of the same name. The comics follow a superhero team, featuring John Constantine, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, Deadman, and Etrigan, that would take on supernatural cases that the main Justice League couldn't handle. The movie also had the working title Dark Universe.
Although del Toro never cast anyone in his Dark Universe, the director wanted Doug Jones to be Deadman. "Physically, I could do the suit, and I know his mannerisms and all that." The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman was also attached to direct. But the live-action movie never came to fruition, and del Toro moved on to other projects such as Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water.
One reason for Justice League Dark's failure to make it to the big screen might have been because of the state of DC Studios at that point. As Zack Snyder's DC universe began to grow, the studio was a little more strict, with Toro saying his movie would have had to fit into the new extended universe. But now, with DC under James Gunn, we are seeing more fluidity in the franchise, with more characters hitting the screen. Earlier in the podcast, the Crimson Peak director praised Gunn's Superman and his overall treatment of his DCU: Chapter One.
Del Toro is not attached to any further DC projects at this time. For more, check out our guide on how to watch the DC movies in order, and keep up with other upcoming DC movies and shows.
