For the time being, Justice League Dark has been relegated to being a DC animated feature. For those unfamiliar with the comics, Justice League Dark focuses on the weirder side of the DC Universe and gets caught up with mystical and mythological forces as opposed to the standards superhero battles that preoccupies the main Justice League. The main members are John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Zatanna, Raven, and Frankenstein, but the team has also been assisted by other DC characters including Swamp Thing.
Guillermo del Toro was attached to direct a Justice League Dark feature film, but he left the project back in June 2015. This left an opening for other directors to make their case for why they should get the reins to the property and Detention director Joseph Kahn went so far as to make a brief bit of animated test footage for Swamp Thing.
I imagine there were other elements to his pitch, and I’d be fascinated to know what they were. Kahn is an intriguing director (Detention is endlessly entertaining and Torque is one of the best bad movies of the 21st century), and I would like to see what he would do with something as unique as Justice League Dark. Perhaps he’ll get his shot some day, especially if Warner Bros. sees the animated movie as a success and/or they want more misfit teams a la Suicide Squad.
In the meantime, check out Kahn’s animation for Swamp Thing below.
Swamp Thing Animation from Joseph Kahn on Vimeo.
