Warner Bros has a lot of DC Comics movies in various stages of development, and one of the more unique offerings coming down the pipeline is Justice League Dark (a.k.a. Dark Universe). Although the project was originally being overseen by Guillermo del Toro, the Pan's Labyrinth helmer left those duties behind in 2015, and a year later, The Bourne Identity's Doug Liman picked up the reins. Now Justice League Dark once again finds itself without a director, as Liman is no longer attached to the magically-charged DC Extended Universe entry.
According to Variety, Doug Liman left Justice League Dark for scheduling reasons, and he's now devoting his full attention to directing Chaos Walking. Warner Bros has reportedly already started meeting with other directors to take his place, and his replacement will be announced soon. Justice League Dark is the second superhero movie Liman has departed, the previous one being Gambit, one of the many X-Men spinoffs in development. Liman is also returning to direct the Edge of Tomorrow sequel, Live Die Repeat and Repeat.
Despite being without a director at the moment, Justice League Dark still has Michael Gilio is tackling the script and Scott Rudin as a producer. While no specific plot details have been revealed yet, Doug Liman told our own Eric Eisenberg a few weeks ago that Justice League Dark will be an "intimate" blockbuster that is primarily character driven. He also mentioned that horror movies like The Exorcist, Carrie and The Omen were inspiring the DC movie. Even though Justice League Dark will remain a horror centric tale like the source material it's based off of, it's unclear how much Liman's departure will change the overall fabric of the movie.
Just like in the comics, Justice League Dark will revolve around supernatural heroes like John Constantine, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, Deadman and Etrigan the Demon battling forces threatening our world that normal superheroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman can't handle. While most of the team's members have been part of the DC universe for a long time, the Justice League Dark team didn't assemble until the start of the New 52 continuity reboot in 2011. Outside of the comics, the team has also starred in their own animated movie, which came out this past February and was the second DC animated movie to be rated R (the first being Batman: The Killing Joke).
Justice League Dark doesn't have a release date yet, but it is reportedly one of the more important entries in the DCEU. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on Justice League Dark as they come in. Lima's latest feature, The Wall, is now playing in theaters, and his next movie, American Made, will be released on September 22.
