Following yesterday’s big news, it’s reported that James Mangold is now in talks to direct the Swamp Thing movie which was announced as part of “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters” of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU plans.
According to Deadline, James Mangold is in very early talks and is circling to direct Swamp Thing, and it is also said the project is in such early development that there is no script as of yet.
Mangold, who is directing Indiana Jones 5 for Disney and Lucasfilm, is apparently a big Swamp Thing fan as following Tuesday’s announcement, the director also known for Logan tweeted out a picture of the monstrous creature on Wednesday.
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 1, 2023
What is Swamp Thing about?
In the official announcement, the details are slim as the film is only described as investing the dark origins of Swamp Thing.
James Gunn also added in his video announcement, “A very dark origin story about the origins of the monster who is Swamp Thing. And although it’s tonally outside the rest of the DCU it will still feed into the rest of the stories.”
Making up the new DCU film projects includes:
- Superman: Legacy – written by Gunn, the film will hit theaters on July 11, 2025, and focus on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.
- The Authority – WildStorm characters will join the DCU as members of The Authority take matters into their own hands to do what they believe is right
- The Brave and the Bold – the DCU will introduce its Batman and Robin (Editor’s Note: Damian Wayne) in this unusual father-son story inspired by Grant Morrison’s comic series
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow – this science fiction adventure, which will be based on Tom King’s amazing, award-winning recent comics stories, presents a Supergirl viewers are not used to seeing
- Swamp Thing – the film will investigate the dark origins of Swamp Thing
DC Comics describes Swamp Thing as:
It breathes. It dreams. And, at night, beneath a low-hanging fog, it shambles through the shadows with its red eyes and funereal soul. The swamp has a spirit, and it walks on two legs. A monster that was once a man…
Alec Holland was an idealistic scientist who was synthesizing a top-secret chemical in his hidden lab in the marshlands. But after a bomb in his office explodes, the young scientist is murdered. Or so it seems. Because rising in his place is the Swamp Thing, a creature made of vegetation that’s absorbed Alec Holland’s memories, personality—and grief.
The monstrous Swamp Thing can control every iota of plant life on this planet, from the fungus on stale bread to forests of towering oaks. Superhumanly strong and grotesque, he can grow himself a full array of titanic bodies from even the tiniest sprout of green. A living embodiment of the power and terror in our environment, the Swamp Thing protects both humanity and the environment—usually from each other.
