DC movie fans just can’t have nice things, can they? Every time we get our hopes up that we might finally see a live-action Justice League Dark, our dreams are crushed, and it’s happened again.
With the ever-changing landscape of the DCU, it’s no surprise that Justice League Dark is not among the slate of upcoming DC movies. The plans had been seeded for such a venture a while back, but between the new movies in Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters and the Constantine 2 release date, it seems the foundations have fallen once more.
In a new report from Variety, it’s revealed that Keanu Reeves’ return as John Constantine killed JJ Abrams’ plans for a TV series based on the character, which would have been the start of a Justice League Dark mini-franchise.
Apparently, when the news broke of Reeves reprising his role as the popular DC character, it effectively meant Abrams’ Constantine “project was dead.” As exciting as it is that Reeves is coming back, it seems we were frustratingly close to a Justice League Dark mini-verse, as the Constantine series “had been far enough into development that a lead actor was already in talks to take on the lead role,” and four scripts were written, too.
As per Deadline back in 2020, Abrams and his Bad Robot production company were “developing both film and TV ideas” centered around the Justice League Dark line of DC’s roster of characters. The plans were sparse at the time, and very little actually moved forward in the period since aside from a Swamp Thing TV show that was cancelled after one season, so it’s no surprise really that things have fallen apart so easily now.
There is still hope, though. As part of James Gunn’s upcoming slate, there is a Swamp Thing release date in the offing. How the horror movie will tie into the wider universe remains to be seen, but with the character having a long history with the Justice League Dark team, there’s every chance Gunn could sprinkle some seeds for that side of the superhero realm once more.
Maybe that’s me being overly-optimistic as usual. Let’s be honest, it’ll likely never happen, but at least we have the Justice League Dark movie from 2017, which is one of the best DC animated movies around. It doesn’t have a place in our list of the DC movies in order, but it should be part of any marathon of the best superhero movies.
I don’t want to get your hopes up again, but you might fancy a little look at our guide of the best DC villains to think about all the nemeses the Justice League Dark team could face. However, if the pain is too much, you can always look ahead to the Aquaman 2 release date and Superman Legacy, for films that I’m 99% certain are happening.