It’s been a busy, busy day for fans of the DC Extended Universe, with the internet being sent into a frenzy thanks to the latest slew of 4chan leaks. As is always the case, it’s best to take them all with a handful of salt, but if nothing else, these rumors have fuelled plenty of speculation and discussion, which is always fun to see and partake in.
Whether it’s the introduction of Supergirl in Man of Steel 2 or the teasing of Red Hood in The Batman, there’s been a lot to dig into today, and though some of it reads like nothing more than fan fiction – and probably is just that – we’ll leave it up to you to decide which of these leaks are accurate and which are not.
The latest one concerns New Gods, a film that has popped up in the past but has yet to be officially announced by the studio. At one point, Mad Max: Fury Road helmer George Miller was said to be in the director’s chair, but aside from that, we haven’t really heard anything at all about the project.
In fact, fans had basically written it off at this point, believing that it just wasn’t happening anymore. And while we still have nothing in the way of official news, a leak on 4chan claims that Warner Bros. does indeed plan to make New Gods. Apparently, it’ll take place before Justice League 2 and feature Orion, Highfather, Darkseid and Mister Miracle as the main characters.
For those unfamiliar with the New Gods, DC’s put together a great introduction article that we suggest you dig into, but here’s the gist of it:
The New Gods, or the “Fourth World,” as it’s frequently known, were created by legendary comic book creator Jack Kirby, and initially debuted in a trilogy of related comics written and drawn by Kirby that were published in the very early 1970s: New Gods, Forever People and Mister Miracle. None of these comics ran for very long, but together they formed the groundwork to a universe with near limitless potential.
The New Gods are exactly that—they’re new gods. They came into existence after the world of the old gods, the gods of classical mythology, was destroyed during Ragnarok. The world of these known deities was split and became two separate planets, forever linked, but utterly different. One is called New Genesis and the other is Apokolips.
These worlds are referred to as twins, but the reality is that they couldn’t be or look more different. New Genesis is a lush green paradise, while Apokolips is a scorched, nightmarish land marked by massive fire pits. Both these worlds exist outside of the DC Multiverse, meaning the Apokolips on Earth Prime is the same one as on Earth-2. So when the forces of Apokolips attacked Earth-2 in the pages of our Earth-2 comic, they were the same forces that are now invading Earth Prime in “Darkseid War.” However, since they exist outside the Multiverse, they require a special form of transportation to get here—boom tubes.
Again, it’s important to take all of this with a grain of salt, but a New Gods film is something we’d definitely be able to get behind. And with Darkseid already in the DCEU, it’s not too far-fetched to think that Warner Bros. may be looking into a project based on the 1970s comics by Jack Kirby.
Whether New Gods ever comes to fruition or not remains to be seen, but for now, we can look forward to learning a little bit more about the aforementioned Darkseid in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which will be with us on November 17th.