In the 2010s, there were various efforts to feature the Justice League Dark in live action, be in a movie or TV show. Regarding the film version, Guillermo del Toro wrote a screenplay focused on this team of magical and supernatural DC Comics characters, and for a while this movie was slated to be part of the DC Extended Universe franchise. Now that del Toro has revealed new details about his Justice League Dark, including how Batman fit into the story, I hope that James Gunn decides to revive it for the DC Universe slate of upcoming DC movies.
Justice League Dark, also known for a time as Dark Universe, came up while Guillermo del Toro appeared on Happy Sad Confused to talk about his latest movie, the Netflix subscription-exclusive and critically-acclaimed Frankenstein. When host Josh Horowitz asked the filmmaker to confirm if Colin Farrell had indeed been cast to play John Constantine in the DC movie, he started off by saying:
No, I was not casting yet. I knew I wanted Doug Jones to be Deadman, only because physically he could do the suit and I know his mannerisms and all that. I love that screenplay. I was in love with that screenplay. I thought it brought everybody in effortlessly.
Doug Jones playing Deadman in Justice League Dark makes all the sense in the world, both because his lanky physique his a great fit for the spectral Boston Brand, as well as how often these two work together. They even had prior comic book movie experience as a duo from Jones playing Abe Sapien in del Toro’s Hellboy movies. In addition to Deadman and Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna and Black Orchid were confirmed to appear in Justice League Dark.
Josh Horowitz followed that up by asking who among in these ensemble would have been considered Justice League Dark’s main protagonist, and that’s how Guillermo del Toro brought Batman into the conversation. In his words:
It was Constantine. And the plot made absolute perfect sense. I really loved how they got tangled into … you had the Floronic Man, [he] was one of the villains. And it was really really great because Swamp Thing was very fleshed out. 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. I would have loved to have done that, but now I wouldn't.
While Batman isn’t a member of the Justice League Dark in the comics given that he’s as far from magical and supernatural as they come, he did team up with these heroes in the DC Animated Movie Universe flicks Justice League Dark and Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. It also sounds like this would have just been a cameo, perhaps with Bruce Wayne not even wearing the Batsuit when Constantine and the gang went to collect that plane.
Guillermo del Toro wrapped up this portion of the conversation by sharing how Justice League Dark would have shown off Deadman’s ability to possess other people, which would be amazing to see in live action:
The screenplay is there. It's not like it's not chitchat. It was a couple of years of development for that screenplay. We never got to the art, but it had great set pieces. My favorite one was a chase, Deadman on a long chase jumping from one body to the next. Wow. It would be an 80-year-old lady in Central Park running after the protagonist and then jumping into a traffic cop. It was a really thrilling thing.
Justice League Dark may not have worked out for the DCEU, but after hearing these new details from Guillermo del Toro, it would be great if DC Studios co-head James Gunn could dust off that screenplay and make it work within the DCU continuity. Since we already have James Mangold’s Swamp Thing on the DCU slate, it’d be easy enough to have that movie pave the way for the Avatar of The Green to team up with those other superheroes who are mystically gifted. And if for some reason del Toro can’t direct Justice League Dark, ideally he could just closely collaborate for whomever is available for the job, like what was going to happen in the DCEU era when Doug Liman took over helming duties for a time.
Maybe this is all too much to ask for, but it’d be a shame if Guillermo del Toro’s Justice League Dark script continued to just sit on a shelf somewhere to never be made. I’ll keep my hopes up nonetheless, and in the meantime, Supergirl will fly onto the 2026 movies schedule on June 26, followed by Clayface on September 11 of the same year.
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