7) Tim Burton – Deadman
Ah Tim Burton. How the mighty have fallen. If like me, you grew up on the gothic fantasy of iconic Burton movies such as Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice and Batman Returns, then recent years haven’t been as kind to you. Dark Shadows was average at best and Alice In Wonderland can be described aptly as a mess of shoddy special effects and bad writing,
What Burton needs to do is take things back to basics, to rediscover what made him a household name to begin with. Plus, a foray into super heroics certainly wouldn’t hurt his resume. Deadman isn’t as iconic as the likes of Superman or Spider-Man, but his macabre back story would slot in perfectly with Burton’s gothic aesthetic.
After working for years as a successful trapeze artist, Boston Brand was horrifically murdered, but his spirit remained, gaining the ability to possess people in order to seek out his assailant and find justice. Imagine Frankenweenie, but with less dogs and more twisted murder mysteries.
Burton’s upcoming films include a live action Dumbo and an adaptation of the YA novel Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children. That’s all well and good, but a great superhero movie uniquely moulded into his style could put the director back on the map. Let’s hope the idea occurs to him quickly before Justice League Dark arrives and uses Deadman first.