Darkseid is ... under the direction of Ava DuVernay.

The A Wrinkle in Time director will reportedly direct the film version of New Gods, one of DC Comics’ most cherished properties, created by comic book legend Jack Kirby in 1971.

The New Gods universe features some of DC Comics’ most popular characters outside of its famed Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman trinity, including Darkseid, his son Orion and Mister Miracle.

In December, DuVernay hinted at her interest in New Gods as she tweeted that Big Barda was her favourite superhero. Recently, she tweeted a photo of Kirby.

Darkseid is considered by many to be DC Comics’ top villain. Many fans were upset that Darkseid wasn’t the villain in the much-maligned Justice League movie, a move that makes a little more sense now if it turns out that a New Gods movie was being developed while Justice League was in production.

If DuVernay and WB/DC can get this adaptation right, fans will likely forgive the decision to use the much weaker and a heck of a lot less interesting Stepphenwolf as Justice League’s antagonist.

DuVernay has a wealth of comic book treasures to utilise with the New Gods, from the initial run of Kirby and the late ’90s works of John Bryne to the current critically-acclaimed Mister Miracle miniseries from Washington-based writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads. Fans will no doubt be anticipating the drama of Darkseid and Orion’s complicated father/son relationship.

Ava DuVernay will direct a New Gods superhero movie. Here’s what that means

Orion was raised in New Genesis and taught to believe the ways of his father’s world of Apokolips are wrong. But at times Darkseid’s DNA can take control of his temper, in contrast to Darkseid’s typically calm demeanour alongside the chaos of his world. Mister Miracle would be expected to be a master escape artist and Big Barda could have a Wonder Woman-like impact on a New Gods film, given her strength and fearlessness.

In 2015, it was widely reported that DuVernay was in contention to be the director of Marvel Studios’ billion-dollar behemoth Black Panther. That role eventually went to Creed director Ryan Coogler after DuVernay took herself out of consideration for the job. Now this New Gods news distracts slightly from the buzz of Marvel Studio’s new Avengers: Infinity War trailer. Whether that was an intentional move by DC against its rival is hard to say, but surely DC has to be happy with the (for now) positive movie news trending online.

Any live-action New Gods movie would be an expensive, CGI-heavy production — two things DuVernay is very familiar with now after directing A Wrinkle in Time for Disney. A New Gods movie represents the type of bold decision-making that shows WB/DC will not let previous failures and polarising films stop them from trying to get back to their glory days of superhero movie making.

The DC Extended Universe has had other hopeful signs recently. Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman was a hit and has produced a soon-to-be in production sequel, and there’s the hope that James Wan’s Aquaman (starring Jason Momoa and coming to theaters this November) will have the same impact. Shazam! is in production (starring Zachary Levi), but so far leaked photos aren’t inspiring much fanboy approval.

WB/DC is likely hoping DuVernay can boom tube them in the right direction, and that the New Gods can give them a new classic.

 By arrangement with The Washington Post

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 25th, 2018