Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro discussed his now-cancelled plans for the DC Universe, which included two years of work on the “Justice League Dark” script and a suggestion that he might direct the Superman movie “Man of Steel.”
I’m talking about Josh Horowitz Happy Sad Confused podcast, del Toro opened up about his ideas for Justice League Dark, which he worked on from 2013 to 2015. The director has spoken in the past about his plans to put John Constantine, Swamp Thing, The Specter and Deadman in a movie together that would, at some point, be part of the now-defunct DC Extended Universe.
Now del Toro has revealed more about the project, whose star was supposed to be Constantine, and his crew called on the aid of a certain Bruce Wayne.
“I haven’t done any casting yet,” del Toro continued when asked who he would like to play Constantine. At one point, it was planned that Constantine star Matt Ryan would reprise his role, although it was previously reported that this idea fell through when the series was not renewed for a second season.
“I knew I wanted Doug Jones to be Deadman,” he continued, referring to the DC superhero capable of possessing other people’s bodies, “just because I knew physically he could play the suit, I knew his mannerisms.” Jones, of course, would have starred in del Toro’s The Shape of Water instead.
Discussing his favorite planned set piece from the film, del Toro said it would include a chase sequence in which Deadman “jumps from one body to another. It would be an 80-year-old woman in Central Park running after the antagonist and then jumping on a traffic cop or a cop on horseback… that would be exciting.”
How else could Justice League Dark tie into the DCEU? Well, in a surprising confession, del Toro revealed that he planned for the film to also feature a Batman cameo.
But perhaps the most surprising moment of the entire interview comes when del Toro is asked about the long-standing suggestion that he was once in the picture to direct the Superman film Man of Steel (the job ultimately went to Zack Snyder). When the question is asked, del Toro pauses for a very long moment before finally breaking the tension of the moment by simply saying, “Next.”
This isn’t the first time del Toro has been questioned about a job offer. In 2010, in an interview for Deadlinedel Toro was asked about several Warner Bros. projects he has apparently been offered, including the modern Wizard of Oz film and the quest to resurrect Superman.
“I came out of The Hobbit and it was the greatest disappointment I’ve ever experienced as a filmmaker because I’ll never know what that movie would have been like,” del Toro replied in 2010, referring to the period in which he was once set to direct “The Hobbit” before “The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson came on board instead. “I really felt that I didn’t want to make a film about rebounding, as sometimes happens when someone ends a long romance.” He concluded: “There were very big, lucrative and beautiful projects on the table.” What could have been…
Image credit: Lia Toby/Getty Images for Netflix.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s news editor. You can contact Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
