Heaven Sent (Guillermo Del Toro's DC Comic Book Movie)

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/01/guillermo-del-toro-reportedly-plans-dc-comics-team-up-movie

The film would allegedly have Zatanna, John Constantine, the Spectre, and others teaming up to face some supernatural threat. I really hope this is true, it sounds really cool.

edited 1st Nov '12 8:47:41 PM by comicwriter

As much as I like Del Toro, that has "disaster" written all over it. This is like the JLA movie, except without the benefit of having Superman and Batman in it.

If it's on par with Hellboy then it will be considered a "disaster". But I will like it.

DC is doing two comic book team up movies? That...sounds really cool actually, especially with Del Toro at the helm of one of them.

Okay, why are people so insistent on characters needing to have their own movies before having a teamup movie? Oceans Eleven didn't need to give its eleven main characters their own movies before teaming them all up.

So... he's basically making an adaptation of Justice League Dark?

Ocean's Eleven was composed entirely of normal humans with skills well established in cinema. However, that's not why I am predicting disaster: its because its a team movie, composed of an epically random cast, who nobody knows about, and who have no real synergy.

If I recall, nearly all of DC's supernatural types teamed up in a Swamp Thing story around the time of Crisis on Infinite Earths (I think it was even written by Alan Moore). It was pretty well established (pre New-52 anyhow) that John Constantine and Zatanna not only knew each other, but used to be lovers. This could indeed be cool.

Whups! Just read the article linked by the original poster, and that's exactly the story I was thinking of. Hell, I'd love it if they could work Dr.Fate in somehow.

edited 2nd Nov '12 8:19:58 PM by Robbery

I'll admit I'm not well-versed in these characters' stories, but I thought their magical abilities were defined mostly as Whatever's-Convenient-For-The-Story-At-The-Moment?

Let me see...Zatanna can do...well, nearly anything, it would seem, if she can pronounce the spell backwards...The Spectre is varying degrees of omnipotent, depending on the writer...The Phantom Stranger has historically mostly been used to advise other characters about supernatural happenings...Deadman pretty much just possesses the living...and John Constantine is...connected?

That's not really what I'm talking about, though yes, the fact that several people on this alleged-team are basically omnipotent doesn't help. Its more. . . none of them have any well-established interpersonal dynamics that could be used to make a team story interesting. Quite a few of them have never had a non-fight scene in the comics together at all.

Its like. . . with the JLA, even without setup movies, you can easily conceive of interpersonal dynamics. Superman and Batman have their whole "god and man" rivalry/friendship. Wonder Woman has her comfort with her status as a warrior, which contrasts with both Superman and Batman. Flash and Green Lantern have an "odd couple" friendship, and both have been the "amateur" to Batman depending on the incarnation. And so on.

Whereas these random magical heroes. . . some of them don't even have well established personalities of their own. Dr Fate, for instance, suffers from constant redesigns ever since they first killed Kent Nelson. If you can't even guess what his own personality would be, its damn hard to imagine how he would interact with anyone else. The fact that some of these people have an established personality of "asocial cypher" doesn't help. . .

( Ironically, if this were Marvel, and called "Midnight Sons", I think he *could* make this work. . . but that is because Dr Strange has a well enough established position and personality that he could be used as the central alpha around which the rest of the gathering revolves. If Dr Fate hadn't been intermittently abused and shuffled off into the C list for decades, he could have been used for something similar, but I can't really see it working now. )

If you want a central, well-defined character who brings everyone together, that would be John Constantine. He even fills that role in the Swamp Thing arc mentioned upthread. Then the problem becomes: how do you stop Constantine from dominating the film? IMO, the best answer is 'screw this, get del Toro to make a Hellblazer film instead'.

I'm not really sure why the cast being made up of unknowns would hurt the film. Even if you want to get argumentative and claim Iron Man was known before his movie thanks to his short-lived 90's cartoon, Blade had a trilogy of successful movies despite never selling well enough to hold down his own comic book series.

You get a lucrative enough cast and just good marketing and people will come see it despite not knowing who Swamp Thing or Zatanna re.

edited 3rd Nov '12 8:53:45 AM by comicwriter

Then the filmmakers will just have to create characterizations and interpersonal dynamics for them, like they'd have to for any other non-adaptation movie.

This, exactly. Some of the characters, Zatanna, Constantine, and Deadman, for instance, have pretty well established personalities and it would be the easiest thing in the world for a screenwriter to imagine how they might interact (that's what writers do, after all). Given the character parameters for folks like the Spectre, the Phantom Stranger, and Dr.Fate, it wouldn't be hard to extrapolate personalities for them. The screenwriters aren't limited by previous depictions, especially if previous depictions have only given the characters very broad depictions.

Del Toro should see if he can get Neil Gaiman to write the screenplay.

edited 3rd Nov '12 10:06:59 AM by Robbery

This is all true, but when you are *also* having to work against the challenges of "these characters are all unknown to the public" and "there's a metric ton of characters in this movie". . .

Its a *lot* of rock to roll up that hill.

Again, most movies star characters the public has never heard of before. And a cast of four or five main characters isn't really that large.

edited 3rd Nov '12 11:23:17 AM by RavenWilder

Especially since all three of those are members of Justice League Dark, so current continuity actually does have them interacting on a regular basis.

Really, I can see DC having this film be retitled and made into a JLD movie. It's got the same "Magical DC Heroes come together to face magical threats" premise as the series.

edited 3rd Nov '12 12:58:26 PM by LizardBite

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2012/11/12/guillermo-del-toro-talks-pacific-rim-rise-of-the-guardians-and-more/ Del Toro VERY briefly touches on the movie while talking about Pacific Rim. He refers to it as "The Dark Universe" rather than Heaven Sent so it doesn't seem like they have a concrete title yet.

I can't see them referring to it as Justice League Dark, especially if their planned Justice League movie ends up being a hit. I know the franchise model works in comic books but I can see people being annoyed or confused if they see "Justice League" in the title and then see the film has literally none of the characters from the first movie.

I wouldn't hold your breath for the planned Justice League movie. It's been in development hell from its moment of conception. It was supposed to be released earlier this year to compete with Avengers, then abandoned in 2010 when DC decided they wanted to go a different route and work their licensed properties independently. Now, with the success of Avengers, DC has re-announced the Justice League movie, and is swearing a 2015 release to compete with Avengers 2.

Given its history thus far, until I see a trailer, it isn't happening.

edited 13th Nov '12 5:54:37 PM by TobiasDrake

edited 7th Jan '13 8:39:46 PM by comicwriter

Huh, I thought this was just a random rumour but man it'll be so awesome to see Del Toro do a Dark movie.

It should be good as long as this isn't the mainstream Spectre. Lets face it the only way the movie could end if it was would be "Then the Spectre gets off his lazy ass and makes the problem violently explode after turning it into a water balloon."

Well that's the same problem with Zatanna too. She might as well be the Trope Namer for Story-Breaker Power.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/wonderconnews.php?id=102173

News from del Toro's Wondercon panel for Pacific Rm.

• Constantine will be British and blond
• the team is confirmed as Swamp Thing, the Demon, Deadman, the Spectre and Zatanna.
• Del Toro has written a story bible for the film and they have a writer to adapt the screenplay that they hope to announce very shortly. The project won't happen, however, until after del Toro's next, the horror story Crimson Peak.
• "He is basically trying to recruit," says Del Toro of the "Hellblazer" hero.
• Though the film's through-line will feature Jason Blood's history with Merlin and the Knights of King Arthur, bringing a threat to present day.
• Del Toro stressed that he didn't want any of the heroes' origins to be delivered up front and, instead, will be explored throughout the film.
• "Swamp Thing is at peace with who he is," says Del Toro, "but Deadman is still trying to find out who shot him."