Much hullabaloo was made last week when comic book writer Tom King announced he'd be leaving DC's weekly Batman book after issue #85 after previously stating he'd be on until #100. Whelp, it looks like he had a Darkseid-sized reason for doing so: According to The Wrap, King will co-write the script for Warner Bros.' The New Gods movie alongside Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay.

King, a legit counterterrorism CIA officer turned comic book writer, is one of the most talented storytellers in the medium working today. Getting his start with DC's Grayson series, King went on to reboot the cosmic series The Omega Men in 2015 and completely revive Marvel's Vision character—the one played by Paul Bettany up on the big screen—in his The Vision series with artist Gabriel Walta, which won the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. More recently, King was juggling both DC's crown jewel Batman—in which he famously had the Dark Knight and Catwoman engaged to be married, only for Bane to ruin the proceedings—and the stellar Mister Miracle, a run that won him the Eisner for Best Writer.

The New Gods was created by comics' king of the cosmos, Jack Kirby, in 1971. The stories follow the highly-evolved residents of two twin planets, the peaceful, idyllic New Genesis and the war-like lava planet Apokolips. (Not to be confused with Oscar Isaac wearing Ivan Ooze cosplay.) DC Comics characters who count themselves among the New Gods are Orion, Metron, Highfather, and—probably most notable—Darkseid, the ruler of Apokolips who once upon a time was teased as the Big Bad of WB's DCEU in Zack Snyder's Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League.

DuVernay is coming off Netflix's Central Park Five mini-series, When They See Us. The New Gods will mark the filmmaker's first return to big-budget storytelling since 2018's A Wrinkle in Time adaptation.

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Image via DC Comics