Mark Verheiden, the showrunner of the short-lived Swamp Thing series from 2019, recently gave his thoughts on James Mangold being hired by DC Studios to write and direct the DC Universe‘s Swamp Thing movie.
“James Mangold, who’s a great guy, is apparently working on a Swamp Thing movie, which is great. He’ll give a great take on it,” said Verheiden during an appearance on Multiverse of Color‘s The Showrunner Whisperer podcast (via ComicBookMovie). “So, hopefully, that maybe kicks off a little more of the darker characters [getting their own projects].”
The former Swamp Thing showrunner continued, “I’m really hopeful for what James Gunn brings to the world. It feels like the old, sort of the last regime’s DC movies maybe aren’t doing quite as well as they had hoped, so maybe this new take will… They’re talking about encompassing darker characters [in the DCU], so that’d be great.”
Check out the full conversation between Verheiden and The Showrunner Whisperer below:
Besides the 2019 series adaptation, Swamp Thing has headlined two 1980s films — Swamp Thing and The Return of Swamp Thing — and a 1990 live-action series, which was also titled Swamp Thing. DC Studios announced the new feature adaptation in January 2023 as part of the opening slate for the DCU, which has been titled Chapter 1: Gods & Monsters.
The upcoming movie, which Gunn states will be the DCU’s first true horror project, will be based on the title character, who was created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson back in 1971. After an accident in his lab, Alec Holland was transformed into the Swamp Thing, a creature made of vegetation that absorbed the scientist’s memories, personality, and grief.
Mangold became officially attached to Swamp Thing in April 2023 after hinting that he was involved shortly after Gunn’s DCU announcement video. While plot details for Swamp Thing are unknown at this time, Mangold previously teased in June 2023 that the movie will be “a standalone” feature.
He added, “While I’m sure DC views Swamp Thing as a franchise, I would be viewing it as a very simple, clean, Gothic horror movie about this man/monster.” He also described the project as “a kind of Frankenstein movie.”
Mangold’s Swamp Thing movie does not yet have a release date.
