majorjoe23

Despite the broader connection in comics, the magical characters are the ones most likely to show up in this series. It's not like they're going to have Superman or Flash pop up. It will be people like Zatana or Tim Hunter.

Just like Marvel probably won't have Thanos show up in the Daredevil series.

And yes, I know Kazar fought Thanos and and Silver Surfer was recently in Daredevil. But we're not talking the comics here.

taffer

Ahem.



Batgirl was also in an earlier issue. The recent Trinity War crossover event featured all three Justice Leagues.

majorjoe23

But like I mentioned, that's the comic. Booster Gold isn't going to pop up in the Constantine TV series, even if the comic eventually decides to dress him in spandex and give him a sassy rapping granny for a sidekick or whatever.

Even if it wasn't wrong for the tone, DC isn't going to stick in characters who are tied up in media elsewhere.

Again, in the TV show. Not the comic book.

taffer

Well, yeah, obviously TV and movies are different from comics. I never said otherwise. I was merely responding to the other poster who said Constantine is in an isolated corner separate from the main DCU. That simply is not accurate anymore. It was accurate when Constantine was in the Vertigo imprint, but he isn't Vertigo anymore. With the New 52, he has been fully integrated into the main DC comic universe.

PhantomStranger

Constantine was always loosely in the DC universe, I don't consider a couple of single crossovers with the Flash a huge connection. Buzz me when Constantine joins the real Justice League.

The one kind-of superhero they could include on his show would be Blue Devil, but that might be a step too far for a budget-conscious TV show.

randian

I vote for Zatanna. More Serinda Swan please.

taffer

It's significantly much more than a "loose connection with a few simple guest-stars" now in the New 52. Have you read the last DC event Trinity War? All three Justice Leagues were very much involved with it. Notice Constantine is prominently featured on the Trinity War poster below.

Again, I am not saying the TV series is going to toss in Superman or Batman. I am just saying that Constantine being merely loosely connected to the main DCU is not at all an accurate statement anymore. I don't think you're aware of what has been going on in the comics for the last few years.

Boondock Saint

Man, Trinity War was awful. Like most of the New 52.

PhantomStranger

Yes, I read the Trinity War. A higher power forced me to read it. Six months of comics does not change three decades of history overnight, no matter how much DC's current braintrust (a term I use loosely for them) says it is so.

taffer

Is that higher power The Phantom Stranger? I would think you would hate reading anything involving him in the New 52 considering how they have butchered his character so much by giving him a definitive origin.

Josh-da-man

Okay... a crash course in the history of John Constantine:

John Constantine first appeared in the pages of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing in 1985 in that title's 37th issue. At the time, Swamp Thing fully took place in the DC Universe; the Justice League appeared in said title a year earlier and there was a storyline involving Batman and Lex Luthor less than two years later. Toward the end of Moore's run, Swamp Thing became a "Mature Readers" title, though it started out as a code-approved book, but when the code started rejecting the title for its approval, DC stopped submitting it, but kept on publishing it and selling it on newsstands. Later in the Moore run, around the time it became a mature reader book, it also switched from a newsprint publication to a baxter paper publication sold only in direct market comic shops.

Both John Constantine and Swamp Thing were involved in Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover that forever changed the DC Universe.

In 1988, John Constantine's character was spun off into his own title called Hellblazer. This was a mature readers title right out of the gate and, while it ostensibly took place in the DCU, crossovers were kept to a minimum. Swamp Thing made a few appearances, and Morpheus, from Sandman put in a cameo as well. Later, when the book switched to a Vertigo title, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon celebrated John's fortieth birthday with appearances by Swamp Thing, Zatanna, and the Phantom Stranger in #63. This was, from what I recall, the last interaction John had with any other DC characters, save for an appearance by Shade the Changing Man during Milligan's run around issue #260 or so.

The DC-owned Vertigo properties -- Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Sandman, Doom Patrol, Animal Man, and others -- all take place in their own little corner of the DCU, though appearances by superheroes are rare. (The early Sandman issues had appearances by Justice League and Martian Manhunter and references to Gotham City.) There were also occasional appearances of Death in some DCU titles early into Gaiman's Sandman run, but those appearances stopped with the exception of an appearance by Dream/Morpheus/Daniel in a late-90s Grant Morrison Justice League America storyline.

The primary reason for keeping the properties separate was so that children wouldn't be tempted to pick up the mature readers Vertigo titles because of guest appearances of DCU characters.

With the nu52, all of the Vertigo properties with the exception of Sandman were handed back to the regular DC Universe.

Josh-da-man

I doubt they'll have Tim Hunter in the series. Everyone would think they were attempting to slip Harry Potter in there.

Zatanna is a real possibility, unless her rights are tied up elsewhere.

PhantomStranger

One of the problems is that you'll now have multiple shows (Arrow, Gotham and Constantine) fighting to use a character. There are a whole bunch of DC characters that have no specific television rights associated with them. Zatanna is a character that could conceivably work on all three shows.

TheMovieman

Don't forget The Flash (although it's on the same network as Arrow).

Josh-da-man

This brings up another thing... I remember reading somewhere, not long ago, that the plan is for all DC television and film properties to operate in a shared universe, much like the MCU. (Here, actually.).

So does this mean that the television version of John Constantine will be in the Justice League Dark movie that del Toro is attached to? Or that the Flash from Arrow will be the one in the eventual Justice League movie? And that the Gotham series will act as a prequel to Batfleck?

Jackskeleton

They've said that the CW properties were not going to be part of the potential Justice League. Which is hard to believe a justice league without two of the founding members. How will they beat STARRO now?!

In any event, I think this is the misstep that DC just can't figure out with their property. Marvel has that shit together. If they were smart, they would pull Ollie from Arrow into the film franchise since Flash will be closely connected to it. but welp, it's DC after all.

PhantomStranger

I don't see that happening at all. That is fanboy wishcasting more than anything else. I think the most connection you'll see is between Arrow and the Flash, since they share the same network and some of the same creative staff. In fact, once a show uses a marginal supporting character, I don't see another series touching them.

Eric F

As you can tell from this new trailer, it appears that Doctor Fate might make an appearance in the series, so other DC mystical characters aren't out of the question. I'm hoping for Etrigan myself (or at least Jason Blood), or Detective Chimp (probably too hard to pull off).

PhantomStranger

Timothy Hunter would be a nice touch, then everyone can see where Rowling stole her idea from.

majorjoe23

I think there's about a zero percent chance del Toro will Make that JLD movie. He's attached to about a million projects right now.

Deftones

already posted that (in a spoiler) many days ago.

Jackskeleton

He's already said that it seems like it's going nowhere and fast... or slow. whichever. Yeah, it's safe to say the Justice League Dark is dead in the water already.

Josh-da-man

Which doesn't speak particularly well for DC and Warners having some kind of masterplan for their movies.

It sounds like they're still in the same old rut of handing their properties over to directors and producers, then letting them languish in development hell.

And I hate to say this, but del Toro is kind of the king of vaporware. It seems like there are dozens of projects he's attached to, but he only seems to direct a movie every five years or so, and he's almost fifty years old. His Hobbit didn't happen, the video game Insane never came out, not sure what his involvement with The Strain will be, and I'm not optimistic that we'll ever see Mountains of Madness.

hanshotfirst1138

He's directing the pilot of The Strain, but he's not showrunner. I think Mountains of Madness was a pipe dream from the outset-an R-rated nihilistic horror film film from a cult pulp writer? I don't think any major studio would've been willing to take the chance. GDT is attached to all kinds of projects which never come to fruition, about that you're quite correct. JLD was such a niche project I'm surprised anyone was even talking about it.

randian

DT is probably wealthy enough to finance it himself, or him plus a few friends.