Cult director in talks for one of the most unusual DC superhero movies
One of DC's stranger superheroes is due to get the movie treatment...
Darren Aranofsky is reportedly working on a DC film adaptation of a more unusual superhero property, Plastic Man.
Most of us probably know Aranofsky best for his celebrated arthouse movies, like Pi, Mother!, Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream, but this tie-in could see his career take a totally different direction.
He’s been listed as Plastic Man’s director by industry publication Production Weekly.
Who is Plastic Man? A superhero who can stretch and bend his body, which is also just about invulnerable.
He’s been around for an awful long time, and appeared in the first issue of Police Comics from 1941.
Talk of a Plastic Many film headed up by Aranofsky popped up earlier this year from DCULeaks, which said he was “in talks” to direct the film.
However, there’s yet to be any official announcement of the film from DC, or its heads James Gunn and Peter Safran.
This could be an indication of what we can expect from the DC cinematic universe going forwards.
While Gunn and Safran took on the roles of DC Studios co-heads in late 2022, the long tails of movie-making means this new era of DC only really comes to cinemas in 2025 with Superman, previously known as Superman Legacy.
Other characters and collectives set to get the full movie treatment in the coming years include Swamp Thing, Supergirl and The Authority. Batman, of course, will continue to play a key role. Even a major reboot can’t leave him out.
We don’t expect to see a Plastic Man movie out any time soon, though. Aranofsky is already attached to Austin Butler vehicle Caught Stealing, which is early enough not to have a release date yet. And Adrift, a horror project we last heard about in 2021, which may or may not be still happening.
James Gunn has real history with the Plastic Man character, though. According to the director himself, he pitched the idea to Warner Bros. Head Lorenzo di Bonaventura in the year 2000, with Matthew Lillard planned for the lead role.
Deadline also reported in 2018 that a Plastic Man adaptation was in the works at Warner Bros. with writer Amanda Idoko, whose previous works include Central Park and Breaking News in Yuba County. Hopefully this proposed DC adaption with have greater staying power.
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