Attending WonderCon this weekend to show footage from his hotly-anticipated kaiju homage Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro has taken part in a Q&A, during which the fanboy favourite director offered an update on the status of his planned Justice League Dark adaptation, Dark Universe.
Stating that he intends Dark Universe to be his next project after after the haunted house feature Crimson Peak, del Toro revealed that he has completed a “bible” for the DC Comics adaptation, and plans to announce a screenwriter soon.
The film will revolve around (a blond) John Constantine as he locates and recruits the various members of the supernatural team, including the previously-revealed Swamp Thing, Deadman, Etrigan the Demon, The Spectre and Zatanna. “[Contantine] is basically trying to recruit,” explained del Toro, who stated that he plans to explore the characters’ origin stories as the film unfolds. “Swamp Thing is at peace with who he is, but Deadman is still trying to find out who shot him.”
Speaking to Collider, del Toro also offered a few more details about his plans for the adaptation: “Constantine is the guy who leads us in and out of the plot. We have Swamp Thing, Etrigan, we have Zatanna, we have — I will spoil it — the Floronic Man. We have stuff that those who love the darker side of the DC Universe are going to appreciate, and we’re trying to be true to the origins of the characters… I’m literally playing with two of my oldest and most favorite characters in my life — Swamp Thing and Etrigan. These were the guys I was drawing with crayons when I was a kid. I cannot tell you how happy I am.”
“I am finishing my bible, and then I deliver that bible, which is about 45 pages, to Warners,” del Toro continued. “We have a screenwriter that we like and that we talk to, but he is writing his own movie right now and is thinking about it. But I am going to try to wait for him. I won’t say who it is. I’m not allowed. But we’re waiting, and when the right time comes, hopefully that writer will take over, and then we’ll see if it’s directed by me or someone else and I’ll just produce. I don’t know.”
As always, del Toro is currently juggling a number of projects, and with Warner Bros. yet to officially give the green light to its proposed Justice League feature, it remains to be seen whether the studio will opt to take its DC movie universe ‘dark’ before ‘The World’s Greatest Superheroes’ assemble on the big screen.
Originally published March 31, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
