Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro has discussed his now-cancelled plans for the DC universe, which included two years of work on a Justice League Dark screenplay, and the suggestion he could have helmed Superman movie Man of Steel.
Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, del Toro was open with his ideas for Justice League Dark, which he worked on between 2013 and 2015. The director has spoken in the past about his plans to feature John Constantine, Swamp Thing, The Spectre and Deadman in the team-up movie, which at one point would have been part of the now-defunct DC Extended Universe.
Now, del Toro has revealed more about the project — which would have featured Constantine as its star, and seen his crew call on a certain Bruce Wayne for backup.
“[The lead] was Constantine, and the plot made absolute, perfect sense,” del Toro said. “I really loved how they got tangled into the Floronic Man as one of the villains, Swamp Thing was really fleshed out.”
“I was not casting yet,” del Toro continued when asked who he’d wanted to play Constantine. At one point, the project had been planned to feature Constantine TV series star Matt Ryan reprising his role, though it was previously reported that this idea fell through when the show was not renewed for a second season.
“I knew I wanted Doug Jones to be Deadman,” he continued, referencing the DC superhero capable of possessing other people’s bodies, “only because I knew physically he could do the suit, I knew his mannerisms.” Jones would of course go on to star in del Toro’s The Shape of Water instead.
Discussing his favorite planned setpiece from the movie, del Toro said it would have featured a chase sequence where Deadman is seen “jumping from one body to the next. It would have been an 80-year-old lady in Central Park, running after the antagonist and then jumping into a traffic cop, or mounted cop… it would have been a thrilling thing.”
How else might Justice League Dark have tied into the DCEU? Well, in a surprising admission, del Toro revealed he had planned for the film to also feature a Batman cameo.
“There was a moment where Batman came in briefly,” del Toro revealed. “[The team] said, ‘We need a plane,’ and [Deadman] 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.”
Still, perhaps the most startling moment of the whole interview comes as del Toro is asked about the long-standing suggestion he was once in the frame to direct Superman movie Man of Steel (a job that ultimately went to Zack Snyder). When the question is asked, del Toro pauses for a very long time, before ultimately breaking the moment’s tension by simply saying: “Next.”
This isn’t the first time del Toro has been questioned about being offered the job. Back in 2010, in an interview with Deadline, del Toro was asked about a couple of Warner Bros. projects he was apparently offered, including a new Wizard of Oz movie and the job of resurrecting Superman.
“I came out of The Hobbit, and it was the biggest heartbreak I’ve experienced as a filmmaker, because I will never know what that movie would have been,” del Toro answered back in 2010, referencing the period where he was once set to direct The Hobbit before The Lord of The Rings director Peter Jackson came on board instead. “I was very mindful that I didn’t want to have a rebound movie, as happens sometimes when somebody comes off a long romance.” He concluded: “There were very big, lucrative, beautiful projects on the table.” What might have been…
Image credit: Lia Toby/Getty Images for Netflix.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
