Guillermo Del Toro Just Put The Final Nail In The Coffin Of Justice League Dark
Famous director Guillermo del Toro certainly has a tremendous amount of skill when it comes to directing monsters, mythical creatures, and other such magical beings. Just think of many of the movies that del Toro is known for — a love story between a human and a sea creature in "The Shape of Water," a red demon with a heart of gold in "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," ravenous vampire-like creatures known as reapers in "Blade II," and of course the plethora of otherworldly entities in "Pan's Labyrinth." In other words, del Toro certainly has a cinematic wheelhouse that he is very comfortable with.
DC is probably best known for its characters like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, and their assembled supergroup, the Justice League. Justice League Dark is actually a different group, and more often than not, contains a bunch of magic-wielding characters or misunderstood heroes like Etrigan the Demon, John Constantine, Deadman, Swamp Thing, and Zatanna. In 2021, del Toro appeared on the Sad Happy Confused podcast to explain his vision of a potential "Justice League Dark" and said, "I think the screenplay, one version of it is online, and it was, for me, trying to find the perfect balance of the chemistries of these characters... I took a little bit of the opening of the Alan Moore Constantine, and I took the dynamics between Abby [Arcane] and Swamp Thing, and I took the sort of revelatory moments of when Deadman gets into a body, how he would experience the consciousness of that being" (via Cinema Blend.) Unfortunately, the future for a del Toro-helmed version of "Justice League Dark" doesn't look bright.
del Toro sounds like he doesn't want to deal with studio interference
As mentioned earlier, a potential "Justice League Dark" movie has long been whispered in the realm of superheroes and teased by different sources. Besides del Toro himself expressing interest in "Justice League Dark," even J.J. Abrams has thrown his proverbial hat into the ring. In 2020, The Verge reported that Abrams was aiming to produce a "Justice League Dark" to exclusively stream on HBO Max, though what format this project may have taken is anybody's guess — it could have been a miniseries or a full-blown television show. Ultimately though, this particular iteration of "Justice League Dark" was either canceled or currently stuck in limbo.
However, it looks like Guillermo del Toro is no longer keen on creating a "Justice League Dark," despite his previous statements. While out promoting his latest stop-motion animated film "Pinocchio," Comic Book asked del Toro if he was still aiming to create "Justice League Dark," and del Toro replied, "Oh, I don't know. My love for Swamp Thing, the Demon (Etrigan), knows no bounds, but I don't know. You don't get a manager from a big machine, that's what I learn, you lose a few fingers. So I don't know if I want a manager from a big machine. As Danny Glover would say, 'I'm too old for this ****.'" In other words, it seems like del Toro isn't exactly enthusiastic about approaching his long-discussed project, which generally pours some cold water on the collective hopes of a live-action "Justice League Dark." Then again, one never truly knows what the future has in store, especially when it comes to comic book outings.