Justice League: Darkseid Actor Ray Porter Says Ava DuVernay Should “Cast Whoever She Wants” for New Gods

Earlier this year, DC fans got a piece of nerd news that they definitely weren’t expecting, with the confirmation that Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League will be heading to HBO Max. The alternate version of the film is expected to canonize a lot of previously-unseen elements that Snyder had planned, including Ray Porter’s voice acting as Darkseid. While we’re still a ways away from experiencing Porter’s take on the iconic DC villain, a growing fan campaign has started calling for him to reprise his role in New Gods, Ava DuVernay’s standalone take on Darkseid’s main story. If a new tweet from Porter is any indication, he’d be more than happy with someone else portraying the character in DuVernay’s film. Porter took to Twitter to reveal that while he appreciates “a lot of what’s been said”, he thinks DuVernay “is a brilliant filmmaker and should cast whoever she wants” as Darkseid.

DuVernay responded to Porter’s tweet soon after, thanking the actor and calling him “a gentleman and true artist”.

The topic of Porter’s future as Darkseid has swelled up in recent months, despite DC fans barely experiencing any of his performance yet. As Porter has expressed in previous interviews, he’d definitely be content with more than one take on the iconic supervillain.

“No, I have not,” Porter revealed in May when asked if he’d heard from DuVernay. “I know a lot of people on Twitter have been making noise about it and I’m really grateful, and I love that, and obviously I’d love to hear from Ava about New Gods, but I also respect that Ava’s got a vision for this project. And if I’m not a part of that vision, that’s just the way it is, and that’s okay. My hope is that it’s something the fans are going to love as well. But I haven’t heard from Ava yet.”

New Gods will tell the story of the residents of New Genesis and Apokolips, two twin planets that are engaged in an epic cosmic war. DuVernay has been attached to a New Gods movie for almost exactly two years now, and is currently working on the script with Mister Miracle and Batman comic writer Tom King.

“I feel like I have this genius, Jack Kirby, who created this [series] and this genius Ava DuVernay,” King explained in an interview previously. “I see them as parallel figures, both taking their uniquely American backgrounds and using them to push American art forward into places it’s never been before. I feel like it’s job to bring those two geniuses to together and to make it work.”

Do you want Ray Porter to reprise his role in Ava DuVernay’s New Gods, or would you rather see someone else take on the role? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!