Justice league Dark "Dark Universe" UPDATE 0

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How Suicide Squad May Connect to Justice League Dark

 

Here's Suicide Squad's Connection to Justice League Dark Explained.

 

Suicide Squad definitely threw a lot of DCEU mythology at us in some pretty big (yet strangely casual) info dumps. In the midst of all the freaks and killers, however, was one anomaly: The Enchantress, who served as Amanda Waller's proof to her government colleagues that there are threats out there beyond metahumans. Threats like Ancient mystical beings bent on vague plans of world destruction - which is exactly what Enchantress becomes when she escapes Waller's leash.

 

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? - If you can believe it, this whole Enchantress/Incubus plotline is actually based on Suicide Squad comic book storyline called "Nightshade Odyssey." Aside from introducing us to Enchantress and Incubus - or supernatural forces like Katana's soul-stealing sword - the Suicide Squad storyline actually sets the stage for the mystical side of the DCEU to blow wide open - which is where Justice League Dark comes into play.

 

 

For those who don't know, DC/Warner Bros. didn't just jump into a Suicide Squad movie; they tested the concept out first as an animated feature, Batman: Assault on Arkham. When that movie received good reviews from fans, Suicide Squad was put into the pipeline. Now that Suicide Squad is in theaters and dropping on-the-nose dialogue about the existence of magic in the DCEU, DC animation just-so-happens to be gearing up to launch a Justice League Dark animated feature this fall. Coincidence? I think not.

 

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Live version of Justice League Dark appears to be back on.

 

 

DC's Dark Universe Movie To Be Directed By Doug Liman

 

DC and Warner Bros. have announced that Doug Liman, who is known for his work on The Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow, will be directing Dark Universe, otherwise known as the live action adaptation of Justice League Dark.

 

Alongside Liman will be Scott Rudin and Guillermo del Toro as Producers (via Variety). Early on del Toro was actually supposed to direct the upcoming film, but his schedule did not allow for it to be a priority. After sitting in limbo for awhile, Rudin was brought in to move the project forward.

 

Dark Universe centers around the underworld and magical parts of the DC Universe and features characters like Deadman, John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, and Etrigan The Demon. Out of the entire group, the most familiar will most likely be Constantine, who up to this point has had a feature film adaptation starring Keanu Reeves and a short-lived but well-received television series on NBC that starred Matt Ryan.

 

[Batman]

Live version of Justice League Dark appears to be back on.

...Out of the entire group, the most familiar will most likely be Constantine, who up to this point has had a feature film adaptation starring Keanu Reeves and a short-lived but well-received television series on NBC that starred Matt Ryan.

It would be good to see Deadman on screen. Constantine is a "most likely" ... I mean, c'mon why not? I wonder if they'll give the Welsh chap another shot at the role?

[Bosco685]

Live version of Justice League Dark appears to be back on.

...Out of the entire group, the most familiar will most likely be Constantine, who up to this point has had a feature film adaptation starring Keanu Reeves and a short-lived but well-received television series on NBC that starred Matt Ryan.

It would be good to see Deadman on screen. Constantine is a "most likely" ... I mean, c'mon why not? I wonder if they'll give the Welsh chap another shot at the role?

 

Since he is already providing the voice acting in the animated version, hopefully that leads to much more.

 

[fastballspecial]

Id prefer just an animated film to help build interest. Those characters for the most part are very uknown except for SW.

 

[Flatliner1313]

You shut your mouth Fastball.

I want an unlimited stream of JLD Media and Material.

THE SPICE MUST FLOW

[fastballspecial]

You shut your mouth Fastball.

I want an unlimited stream of JLD Media and Material.

THE SPICE MUST FLOW

 

 

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Hollywood Reporter published an article to help its readers understand who Justice League Dark is in advance of the movie.

 

Justice League Dark': The History (and Prehistory) of DC's Supernatural Spinoff

 

In comic books, the Justice League Dark was a loosely organized team of supernatural characters who dealt with threats to the world (and, occasionally, all of existence) that were of a more metaphysical nature than the regular League could handle. Featuring a rotating cast of ne'er-do-wells that included John Constantine, Swamp Thing, stage magician-turned-superhero Zatanna and the mysterious Black Orchid, the JLD didn't really consider themselves a team, never mind a Justice League franchise — although the branding surely helped DC market the title during its 42-issue run. (The comic book series ended in early 2015.)

 

However, Justice League Dark was merely a tweak on a concept that has existed in DC's comic book mythology for decades. Indeed, the idea of a group of supernatural characters safeguarding reality from threats that went beyond the supervillain norm can be traced back to Alan Moore's seminal 1980s Swamp Thing run, where a group of disparate DC horror and supernatural characters — amongst them, the Phantom Stranger, Deadman and Doctor Fate — came together to deal with a threat called the "Great Darkness" at the end of the critically acclaimed "American Gothic" storyline.

 

Surprisingly, despite the success of that 1986 story, it would be almost a decade before DC tried to formalize the concept into something that could support its own series. The first attempt was Primal Force, a group of magic users who anchored their own comic book for 15 issues in 1994/95, followed by the barely used "Sentinels of Magic," a team of supernatural-themed superheroes created by Geoff Johns in his 1999 Day of Judgment series.

 

1999 also saw the release of Totems, a one-off comic from DC's Vertigo imprint that is noteworthy for featuring the combination of characters that would go on to form part of the latter Justice League Dark: Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, Black Orchid and Swamp Thing. But it wasn't until 2005's Day of Vengeance mini-series that DC finally found a variation of the idea that hooked audiences: the Shadowpact.

 

Featuring both the Enchantress pre-Suicide Squad movie and a hyper-intelligent ape who called himself "Detective Chimp," the Shadowpact made it through 25 issues of their own comic book between 2006 and 2008, showing that there could be reader interest in the concept of a supernatural superhero team if it could be fine-tuned appropriately … leading to the eventual appearance of the Justice League Dark just a handful of years later.

 

Alan Moore first pulled some of the team together in Swamp Thing Annual #2 as part of the 'Down Among the Dead Men' story, which is a fantastic standalone tale. Contains Deadman, Etrigan, Phantom Stranger and The Spectre.

 

'American Gothic' was the buildup across Swamp Thing #37-46 to the 'Great Darkness' storyline across Swamp Thing #49-50. The later issues have John Constantine, Deadman, Etrigan, Doctor Occult, Phantom Stranger, Sargon the Sorcerer, The Spectre, Dr. Fate, Zatara and Zatanna.

 

Well worth a read or two beforehand!

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Justice League Dark Coming To NYCC

 

DC's animation division continues to churn out some of the best comic to film translations, and next up on its slate is Justice League Dark. The film brings together heroes like Zatanna Deadman, Swamp Thing, Etrigan, and of course John Constantine to fight the threats that teams like the Justice League aren't even aware of. The film stars Camilla Luddington (Zatanna), Jason O'Mara (Batman), Matt Ryan (Constantine), Nicholas Turturro (Deadman), and Ray Chase (Etrigan), and the firsts footage will be shown on the main stage of the Javits Center on Sunday, October 8th.

 

The film stars Camilla Luddington (Zatanna), Jason O'Mara (Batman), Matt Ryan (Constantine), Nicholas Turturro (Deadman), and Ray Chase (Etrigan), and the first footage will be shown on the main stage of the Javits Center on Sunday, October 8th. Afterwards, a panel including Matt Ryan, Jason O'Mara, producer James Tucker, director Jay Oliva, and character designer Phil Bourassa will take place.

 

Justice League Dark is set to hit Blu-ray and digital in early 2017.

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Justice League Dark First Look Revealed at NYCC

 

 

Panel: Jay Oliva / James Tucker / Matt Ryan / Phil

 

Moderator Gary Miereanu introduced the panel, and the crowd went WILD when Constantine actor Matt Ryan came out. They chanted for him to recite a spell, but Ryan said he's "all spelled out."

 

After Ryan came DC's animated Batman for 7 films - and Agents of SHIELD's new director/superhero, Jason O'Mara. The crowd went wild again.

 

CLIP #1: We were treated to a first look at the intro to Justice League Dark. It was a sequence in which the Justice League are meeting around their HQ table discussing a possible mystical phenomenon. Batman is, of course, skeptical, telling the League members that they should spend more time on the streets "instead of flying over them." Only thing is, when Batman gets home, and is shaving, he gets a crazy supernatural message: in the span of a moment, someone (or thing) writes "Constantine" all over his bedroom. Suddenly, Batman is less skeptical.

 

CLIP #2: A second clip showed Matt Ryan's Constantine in a battle scene alongside Jason Blood/aka Entrigan the Demon. At first, Blood won't assist Constantine, but when the demon enforcers surround him, Constantine uses a spell to force the demon out. There's actually a great bit of humor in the scene, with the demons asking Entrigan if they can "just talk." Once the demons are decapitated, they are still talking trash "Your is grass, Constantine!" before their heads roll away in escape. When Jason Blood gets control he berates Constantine, who just cracks wise that breaking Blood's disciplined hold over the Demon was less important than him getting eaten by demons.

 

CLIP #3: A third clip featured a scene with Constantine, Zatanna, Batman and Deadman seeking out a friend, Richie, whose home is surrounded by "shrouds," waiting to collect his sould after his iminent death (think Dementors in Harry Potter). Deadman has to explain to Batman what's happening (Batman can't see the supernatural beings); the shrouds surround Batman, explaining, "this one has evaded us many times. It is vexing." They talk about wanting to collect his should one day - but even the soul-collectors are spooked when Batman says "boo." right back into their faces. The shrouds are banished by Constantine, while they threaten that they will be there one day to get his soul. Richie comes to the door, and is fascinated by the collection of heroes there. Especially Batman, who makes him say "What the hell?!"

 

CLIP #4: Clip 4 was set in a swamp (hint...). Jason Blood asks why they're in that "godforsaken" place; Constantine tells of Alex Holland, who has been transformed into something... else. They hear a voice in the swampland distance, saying "Go... Away..." Constantine used magic to created a floating flame disk to float out over the water and tell Swamp Thing "Come out, or the posies get it!" That statement certainly provokes a reaction, as the woods come alive and... the moderator cut the scene, totally teasing fans with a Swamp Thing reveal that never came.

 

Ryan was asked if he'd ever return to Arrow. He said that this is the first time he's been free in awhile, but in this crazy ride of acting he's learned to "not rule anything out." He said that in terms of Arrow return, he's open to it, because "I love the character."

 

James Tucker was asked if we will ever get a Lucifer animated feature. "But this one, and yeah sure," Tucker responded. After a pause he added, "Yay for the devil." Fans loved that one.

 

Matt Ryan was asked how it is playing two different types of Constantine (animated and live-action). Ryan said that to get back into it he dove into the New 52 comics; he confessed that he stole a trench coat from the set of the show, and thought he might wear it in the vocal booth - but that didn't happen.

 

Justice League Dark was not given a release date, but will be out sometime in "Early 2017."

 

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He comes across as really loving all the fun his role brings.

 

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Director Doug Liman Talks JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK Movie

 

 

IGN: Justice League Dark/Dark Universe -- are you excited about working on that?

 

Doug Liman: Yeah, I mean first of all, I love those characters, and I love Warner Bros., and I love [producer] Scott Rudin, and it’s -- and you know, I get asked to come in and do things that are “unconventional.” If people want conventional, they don’t come to me. It’s why doing Invisible was like right up my alley -- because how can you be conventional when there aren’t even conventions that exist? And so you know when Warner Bros. wants to sort of turn the comic book genre on its head, they call me.

 

IGN: Would you say that’s the goal with Dark Universe?

 

Liman: Yeah. It’s like how do you fundamentally reinvent what people are doing? And that’s the good and the bad news of this sort of box I’ve been put in. I mean, you’d think it was by design, but it wasn’t. It is exactly what I should be doing, but I’m just so grateful that -- you know sometimes I’m working on a project and I pitch an idea that’s too conventional, and the producers will say back to me “That’s not Doug Liman enough.” Which is like a weird thing, because I’m like “Well that -- it was my idea! How can you say it’s not me?” And they’re like “No, because when we think of you, we think of like, you know -- that just seems too ordinary.”

 

So even if I wanted to be a little bit more conventional, like, the system doesn’t want me to be. But since I do treat every project as a form of a film school, “OK I haven’t done that genre and how am I going to do it and how am I going to do it in a way that no one’s done it before,” so that’s, you know, I haven’t done a comic book film, and that’s -- am I going to do it in a new way that’s unlike what anyone else has ever done, and come up with a couple of rules for myself of what we’re not going to do that other people do.

 

[manetteska]

Trailer

 

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How Justice League Dark May Influence DC's Dark Universe Movie

 

DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. sometimes like to use one division of their company as testing ground for another. The clearest example of this was with the release of the Batman: Assault on Arkham in 2014. That animated featured used Batman's name as a back door into delivering fans an adult-themed Suicide Squad story. Anyone who saw Assault on Arkham could easily see how fan response to aspects of that movie fed into the conception of Suicide Squad.

 

JLD is confirmed Rated-R, and it's with good reason: the film has very "horror" elements, and the mouth on John Constantine alone is worthy of a mature rating. It's also like a Sam Raimi film in the sense that there's a lot of comedy on top of the horror and violence, with even the severed head of a demon getting in a joke or two. All in all: Justice League Dark seems to playing with melding the superhero formula (comedy, action) with horror elements (frights, gross-out moments) in a manner that can later be refined into Dark Universe. The filmmakers will all say they're following their own unique visions... but just watch. You'll see the progression.

 

Justice League Dark is expected to hit DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD in early 2017.

[1Cool]

Nice - timed perfectly for my Swamp Thing 50 CGC 9.8 to come in. I usually have sold the book before the promo comes out.

[Bosco685]

[Batman]

Cool

[Bosco685]

Director Explains Why Justice League Dark Is Rated R

 

 

When Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment revealed that Batman: The Killing Joke — an animated adaptation of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's 1988 graphic novel — would be R-rated, which is rare for an animated film, some assumed its mature classification would hamper its box office. However, since its July release, the film has already quadrupled its production budget.

 

Proving that there is an appetite for R-rated animated films, Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment was more than willing to allow Justice League Dark to go down that same path. Director Jay Oliva addressed its R-rating while providing a breakdown of the film's recently-released trailer.

 

"If I knew that I could get away with a rated R, I would have made it a hard R," Oliva told Empire. "When we make these films, our goal is always a PG-13, so there's certain things that we know we can get away with and things that we can't; we can't do beheadings and we can't do arterial blood spray or anything like that. I'm just trying to tell the best story that I can, and from there we edit some things out, or we try to hide things. Instead of showing a beheading, we'll cut to the shadow on the wall as you see the beheading in the shadow, but you don't actually see it. The Killing Joke was kind of a godsend in the sense of, because of its success and because Home Video took a chance of releasing it as an R, it paved the way for this to be an R."

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DC Almost Did A Direct To Video Swamp Thing Movie

 

 

When Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment hired Jay Oliva to direct the full-length animated film Justice League Dark, he immediately asked if John Constantine was a part of the story, and once he was assured that he was, he asked if they could get Matt Ryan, who portrayed the character in NBC's short-lived television series and an episode of Arrow, to voice him — which they did.

 

The next question on Oliva's mind was if Swamp Thing was included, too. The humanoid/plant elemental creature — who first appeared in House of Secrets #92 (July 1971) and was created by writer Len Wein and artist Berni Wrightson — has starred in two live-action films: Wes Craven's Swamp Thing (1982) and its 1989 sequel, The Return of Swamp Thing; however, the character has never starred in his own animated film, though one was considered not that long ago.

 

"We were actually kicking around the idea of doing a Swamp Thing direct to video movie years ago, but that never saw fruition," Oliva told Empire. "When this came about, it was the perfect opportunity to use him. He and Constantine know each other, but they don’t like each other. Then again, not many people like Constantine, because he kind of rubs you the wrong way, you know? He's kind of like Batman in some ways. He's the supernatural version of Batman. Basically Constantine and Batman give zero about anything."

 

 

One day!