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James Gunn Shuts Down Hopes for Guillermo del Toro's JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK Movie — GeekTyrant
For years, fans have imagined what a Guillermo del Toro-directed Justice League Dark movie would've looked like. A gothic dream team of Constantine, Jason Blood, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and Deadman wrapped in the filmmaker's signature visual flair.
With James Gunn now steering the ship at DC Studios, some hoped that project might finally take shape. Unfortunately, according to Gunn himself, that's just not happening.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gunn addressed the long-whispered possibility of reviving del Toro's abandoned Justice League Dark project. Gunn said:
'By the way, Guillermo's never said that to me. I hear all these things about, 'Guillermo would love to do Justice League Dark. Well, Guillermo's never said that to me. 'Just let Steven Spielberg do his Blackhawks movie that he wants to do!' Steven Spielberg, who I love above anyone else, has never said that to me.
'So these things get blown out of proportion. Years and years ago, I said I wanted to make a Thunderbolts movie. I was in a convention somewhere, and somebody asked me, 'What did I want to do that wasn't Guardians of the Galaxy?' I said Thunderbolts.
'And for years and years, it's like, 'James Gunn should be allowed to make his Thunderbolts movie.' I have a million things that I thought I wanted to do in certain moments.'
Del Toro did spend a chunk of time developing a Justice League Dark film years ago, and his affection for DC's monsters and magical misfits is no secret. But, that project officially fizzled out in 2018, and nothing solid has emerged since, not from del Toro, not from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot, which was also attached to a version of the story at one point.
It's a shame. Del Toro's passion for the material and his history with comic book films make him a natural fit for the darker, weirder corners of the DC universe, and considering his recent run of critically acclaimed films like Nightmare Alley , Pinocchio , and the upcoming Frankenstein , it's not like he lacks the clout to do it.
But, he hasn't reached out to Gunn about it, so Del Toro has clearly moved on from DC. Still, all hope may not be lost. Gunn has been clear that DC Studios will continue to explore standalone Elseworlds projects, films that operate outside the shared continuity, like Joker or The Batman.
Del Toro once offered up some information on his unmade Justice League Dark project, saying:
"I took a little bit of the opening of the Alan Moore Constantine. And I took the dynamics between [Abby Arcane] and Swamp Thing, and I took the sort of revelatory moments when Deadman gets into a body, how he would experience the consciousness of that being.
'And one of my all time favorites is the demon Etrigan. I love that character. You know, so you try to put them together ... Zatanna is really, for me, another character that is really effortlessly powerful and interesting. Trying to mix that with Klarion the Witch Boy ... I was a DC guy."
If del Toro ever does express renewed interest, maybe there's a path forward under that banner. But for now, Justice League Dark remains a ghost story in the halls of unrealized superhero cinema.
