Warner Bros. is trying a different tack with the DC franchise in this October’s Joker, which will break away from established continuity to tell a standalone tale about Joaquin Phoenix’s unique portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime. The studio must have high hopes for that movie, too, as we’ve heard that they’re now rolling around ideas for further Elseworlds-type films.
In fact, We Got This Covered can report that WB is planning a Kingdom Come movie, based on the seminal comic book miniseries from 1996. If they’re looking for Elseworlds stories to adapt, it’s no wonder the studio is choosing Kingdom Come as it’s one of the most iconic of the lot. The dark tale from the minds of writer Mark Waid and artist Alex Ross explores a dystopian DC future in which a conflict has broken out between the traditional superheroes and the more violent, murderous next generation of metahumans.
As you’d expect, our source tells us that the film will be completely separated from the rest of the DCEU. We can extrapolate from this, then, that a Kingdom Come movie would find all-new actors to play older versions of the Justice League. So, start your fan-casting now, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe we’ll get a Jon Hamm Batman, after all?
This news follows on from a report we shared last month that WB is also considering a Superman: Red Son movie. At the time, our source assured us that the lead wouldn’t be Henry Cavill and that the studio were sitting on the idea until Joker comes out and they can decide whether a series of Elseworlds movies is commercially viable. Presumably, this also applies to the Kingdom Come project.
Interestingly, though, a Kingdom Come movie, with its gloomier tone and certain narrative similarities might go some way to appeasing Snyder fans lamenting the loss of the director’s planned Justice League trilogy. Whether it’ll ever see the light of day or not, we can’t say for sure, as right now it’s just in the development phase, but if it does eventually materialize, tell us, who would you like to see star in it?
