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Justice League Dark Goes from Big Screen to Small

The DC superhero team finds a new home on HBO Max

Justice League Dark hasn’t had an easy time transitioning to screens.

Debuting in 2011 as part of the DC New 52, Justice League Dark was well-received by most fans. Although the New 52 was largely divisive among fans, the mystical team struck a chord with most.

The team featured a line-up of some of DC’s more mystically-inclined superheroes. They were essentially the main Justice League’s back whenever things went from extraordinary to supernatural. Consisting of John Constantine, Deadman, Madame Xanadu, Zatanna, the Phantom Stranger and more, the team quickly became a fan favourite.

Part of the Arrowverse?

Under WB’s new development agreement with J. J. Abrams, Justice League Dark seems to have found a new life. This would sit with rumours of Abrams also overseeing the upcoming Green Lantern TV series produced by Arrow’s Greg Berlanti.

The presence of the Green Lantern Corps has been strongly hinted at over the years in the Arrowverse with the Flash of Earth-90 confirming that John Diggle (or John Stewart) being the Green Lantern on his earth. It remains to be seen if this Green Lantern show, like Justice League Dark will be a part of the Arrowverse.

Whether actors who have portrayed the characters in previous iterations will return is also unknown.

Big Screen Troubles

The comic caught the eye of Guillermo Del Toro. He pitched Heaven Sent, a film featuring the Justice League Dark. This was continued under the working name of Dark Universe (unassociated to Universal’s Dark Universe). The series languished for about 5 years before having its concept revised. Both Constantine and Swamp Thing were given their own, now cancelled, TV shows. The team finally saw an animated release, independent of the live action happenings.

While Constantine and Swamp Thing were both planned to have crossed over at some point, neither came to fruition. Constantine has since joined DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on the CW, and Swamp Thing ended prematurely. Both were reportedly supposed to have featured Justice League Dark members.