Swamp Thing Returning To Team Up With DC’s Other Superheroes
Swamp Thing might have had his series canceled last year, but he's making a return to DC and will b teaming up with other heroes.
Swamp Thing, the character and the show, had such a short run in the live-action vein that even the most hardcore fans couldn’t be blamed if they missed it entirely. That’s the case with a comic-book landscape these days that have shows and movies on nearly every platform out there. Sometimes a character, even a damp and cool one can come and go so quickly that if you blink, you missed it. But now Swamp Thing might get a better chance at survival with the recent rumors around the character joining a much bigger DC production when J.J. Abrams brings us Justice League Dark.
This latest rumor has Swamp Thing/ Alec Holland joining the HBO Max of Justice League Dark, produced by Abrams and his company Bad Robot. This would be another addition to the superhero group which could stand in stark contrast to other superhero team-ups so far. Pushing for an edgier and, well, darker side of superhero storytelling, Justice League Dark is set to unite a group of characters who’ve operated a little more around the fringes of the superhero landscape. There’s likely to be a somewhat scarier vibe to this production than we’ve seen in other comic book fare. In this way, Swamp Thing would fit right into the proceedings.
Swamp Thing was given his own series on the streaming platform DC Universe which has worked to develop shows from characters and then find other distribution methods if there was any traction. Swamp Thing originally aired in 2019 on the streaming service and followed the story of a Louisiana Bayou scientist tracking the odd details around a monster living in the marshes. The latter ends up being the titular character who had first been Doctor Alec Holland. An accident turned him into the bog-monster we know from the comic book pages.
The CW eventually picked up Swamp Thing and aired it on the station in 2020 hoping to make it part of its Arrowverse selection of shows. But there wasn’t much of an appetite for the program and it was canceled. This was a shame considering the program had received exceptional critical marks for its storytelling and tone. It’s sitting at 92% on the Tomatometer with reviews praising both the horror element and the use of effects to tell the story of a very odd creature in the most unlikely of places.
If Swamp Thing were to join the ranks of Justice League Dark he’s likely teaming up with another group of horror-themed misfits from the comic book world. While there are no definitive plans for which characters are going to be jumping into this movie, in the past the group has had folks like John Constantine, Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, and Deadman. Some of those we’ve seen before on the screen and are having plans readied to reboot in some fashion. We already know Zatanna is getting her own movie on HBO Max and Constantine will be getting a series as well. It’s unclear on the timing of these relative to Justice League Dark, but they are all wrapped up into the same timeline. And now, it looks like Swamp Thing will jump in on the action as well, maybe paving the way for another chance at a feature show or movie.
