Logan director James Mangold is kicking around ideas for his planned Swamp Thing film, which will be arriving soon as part of James Gunn’s new DC Studios initiative. While the director tossed some cold water on the idea back in January, Mangold now has extra incentive to ramp up his efforts after Daredevil: Born Again‘s Vincent D’Onofiro expressed interest in playing Swamp Thing on screen. In response to some fan questions on X, formerly Twitter, D’Onofrio didn’t hesitate to name DC’s green elemental guardian.
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Mangold stressed he’s also writing his upcoming Star Wars film at the same time as Swamp Thing, though Gunn credited Mangold’s pitch as “one of the first” for the DCU, with Mangold reaching out about writing and directing his passion project. And now D’Onofrio has tossed his hat in the ring to leap to another iconic comic character after his memorable portrayal of Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin in Daredevil: Born Again.
What Is the DCU Swamp Thing Movie?
Swamp Thing film is already slotted into Gunn’s DC Universe Chapter One: Gods and Monsters arc and was confirmed during James Gunn’s DCU presentation in January 2023.
“The final film we want to talk about is Swamp Thing,” Gunn said at the time. “And we bring it up because it’s important to point out that in these stories, although interconnected, they’re not all tonally the same. Each set of filmmakers brings their own aesthetic to these films, and the fun is seeing how these tonally different works mash up in the future. This is a film that will investigate the dark origins of Swamp Thing.”
Mangold later clarified his position on the project, sharing new details earlier this year during an interview for his Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan film, A Complete Unknown.
“Swamp Thing at DC, it’s just a matter of — do we find a way on the page to say something original?” Mangold said. “I’m not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it’s almost immovable, and you can’t please anybody. With Bob [Dylan] you have known quantities, yes, but there are ways to interpret them. With other kinds of IP, it gets to a religious level.”
Mangold has stated that his version of Swamp Thing will be reminiscent of a Gothic horror tale, owing to the director’s desire to film his own Frankenstein movie. He also compared the future film to RoboCop.
“I’ve always been interested in doing a version of Frankenstein, basically, and, yet, I feel, ‘It’s alive!’ has been done enough, but Swamp Thing always occurred to me as this wonderful version of a Frankenstein story, much in the way one of my favorite pop films of growing up, RoboCop, the original one. This guy who just wakes up and he’s been turned into, he finds he’s become this machine, was also something I was fascinated with with Logan, obviously.”
Swamp Thing would be Mangold’s third superhero feature of his career, following his work on The Wolverine and its sequel Logan. He has also worked with Disney as the director of the last Indiana Jones movie, The Dial of Destiny.
It also isn’t the first rodeo for Swamp Thing and Co. at the box office. Dick Durock played the titular hero in Swamp Thing in 1982, followed by Return of Swamp Thing in 1989. Durock would later portray the character for three seasons and 72 episodes on USA Network.
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Having similar content out might be a boon for fans of Swamp Thing who have to wait to witness the return of the character on the big screen. There is plenty of content to occupy your time, though, including all of the 2019 CW series from James Wan. While it didn’t get a second season, plenty of fans and critics praised DC’s Swamp Thing as being true to the character’s origins.
Vincent D’Onofrio is currently cast in Daredevil: Born Again, which is now streaming on Disney+. He can also be found peppered throughout other streaming series, like Hawkeye and Echo in their respective stories. James Mangold’s Bob Dylan film, A Complete Unknown, has been released to home audiences after its Oscar run, freeing him up to work on this project and his planned Star Wars film. Meanwhile, the DCU is just gearing up for these adaptations and preparing for Superman’s arrival this summer.
Are you excited for Swamp Thing‘s planned return under the watchful eye of the DCU? Let us know your feelings in the comments.
