Dark Nights: Death Metal Removes Warren Ellis Story From Upcoming Issue

Days after allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women, Warren Ellis has since been removed from an upcoming release for DC Comics' anthology title tying into Dark Nights: Dark Metal, titled Legends of the Dark Knights. Multiple women came forward with statements about Ellis alleged pattern of grooming and coercing them into sexual relationships, causing Ellis to release a statement where he acknowledged misconduct in his his past behavior. It has since been learned that Ellis' planned 2-page contribution to the DC Comics crossover with Jim Cheung has since been removed from the comic.

A new report from Bleeding Cool states that Ellis himself requested the removal of his contribution to Legend of the Dark Knights. DC Comics issued a statement on the change, announcing a new creative team to take the place:

"The previously announced two-page story in Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1 by Warren Ellis and Jim Cheung will be replaced with a two-page story written by Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by Jamal Igle."

The team of Igle and Bennett come with their own accolades, as both have created multiple fan-favorite storylines for Marvel, Image, DC, and other publishers.

Ellis has yet to respond to directly respond to the accusations, though he issued a statement apologizing for not being forthcoming in his interactions with women throughout his career.

"While I've made many bad choices in my past, and I've said a lot of wrong things, let me be clear, I have never consciously coerced, manipulated, or abused anyone, nor have I ever assaulted anybody," reads Ellis' statement. "But I was ignorant of where I was operating from at a time I should have been clear, and for that, I accept 100% responsibility."

Ellis was originally supposed to write a story about an evil T-Rex Batman that appears in the preview pages for Dark Nights: Death Metal.

The writer previously spoke about his plans for the short story in his newsletter, saying that he came up with the idea after Death Metal scribe Scott Snyder reached out to him with the idea. The comic is currently scheduled to be released in August.

To learn more about what you can do to prevent sexual violence, please consider donating to RAINN or visit RAINN's website for a number of resources. If you or a loved one has suffered because of sexual violence, contact RAINN's National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline.