No one would need to twist my arm for me to admit that I’d love a reality where genre mastermind Mike Flanagan directed every movie in this year’s release calendar and all others, just to see his storytelling spin on literally anything. (Mike Flanagan’s American Pie: Retirement Party? I’d rent it, at least.) As such, the filmmaker and TV creator so squarely struck my glee chords recently in saying he’d “love” to take part in the new DCU, to be launched with James Gunn’s Superman.
To set off a new round of mental fireworks in my head, here’s exactly how the Doctor Sleep and Oculus director put it when asked at Fan Expo Canada (via Home of DCU) if we could possibly expect any collaborations with James Gunn for an upcoming DC project:.
I will say that I’ve always been a huge fan of James Gunn as a person and filmmaker, and that is a universe I would absolutely love to be a part of.
Obviously it would take a lot of effort and project finagling to get Flanagan onto a DCU film or series, meaning it likely wouldn’t come during the “Gods and Monsters” first chapter. He’s currently building out plans for his adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower on top of crafting Blumhouse’s new Exorcist movie, not to mention his new podcast Director’s Commentary and his upcoming King film The Life of Chuck.
To put it lightly, Mike Flanagan’s a busy dude, which is downright heavenly for horror fans like myself. So if all the pieces fall into place that set him up for a DCU movie, then it absolutely needs to be the ideal story and characters that only the Hill House creator could bring to live-action. Here are the DC Comics titles I personally think he’d be perfect for.
Hellblazer's John Constantine
When one thinks about DC Comics' darkest storylines over the years — outside of the existential horror of Batman’s parents dying over and over again in the lore — the name John Constantine is going to come up more often than any of the characters he deals with would like. A master of the occult who is prone to being just as proficient with other forms of magic, depending on the era, Constantine is an ideal fit for Mike Flanagan for all the ghastly potential he provides.
With all due respect to Keanu Reeves’ Constantine and Matt Ryan’s portrayal within the Arrowverse, neither ever truly scratched the horror itch in a deeply personal and ruminative way that the Midnight Mass co-creator would. And I’ve no doubts that Flanagan’s version would not only feel original for the character, but would also stand apart from whatever possession tale is told in his Exorcist flick.
Nerdy hot take: I think Flanagan would film some fantastic one-take close-up magic scenes that would blow viewers’ minds, not to mention everything he could do with Constantine’s other death-tinged powers. Plus, this character opens the door to Swamp Thing, Zatanna, and other Justice League Dark characters that would also be perfect fits for Flanagan’s grounded vision.
Black Orchid
As it goes with quite a few major characters within DC Comics’ annals, several fairly distinct versions of Black Orchid have existed over the years, starting with Sheldon Mayer and Tony DeZuniga’s co-creation for Adventure Comics in the 1970s. But I’d be far more interested in seeing Mike Flanagan focusing on the character’s later incarnations if James Gunn and Peter Safran ever gave the (Green) thumbs up for her to appear in the DCU.
Specifically, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s take on the character, as introduced in their three-issue miniseries from 1988-89, is the one I’d like to see blooming on the big screen. For one, their take on Black Orchid eliminates the O.G. heroine, and explores the character’s roots through Flora and Suzy, her biological sisters, so to speak. Unlike many DC heroes’ origin stories, this is one we haven’t seen adapted a zillion times already.
Plus, Gaiman and McKean intentionally created Black Orchid to fit alongside the flora and funga of beloved characters like Pam Isley (Poison Ivy), Alec Holland (Swamp Thing), and Jason Woodrue (Floronic Man), while also incorporating Batman into the mix. While perhaps not as overtly horror-driven as other stories, it’s got a swamp-gothic style that Mike Flanagan would presumably ace, and I bet he’d pull off some downright hypnotic plant VFX.
The Question
A character created for Charlton Comics in the late 1960s, The Question and many others changed homes when DC Comics acquired the former company’s characters in 1985. This led both directly and indirectly to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal series Watchmen, whose iconic vigilante Rorschach was the equivalent of The Question. Which, in essence, means that the mystical moral objectivist only rarely gets time to shine on his own.
In my mind, Mike Flanagan’s The Question would be like the Se7en of Batman movies, with a “hero” who’s smart enough to solve most mysteries, strong and agile enough to eliminate most problems, and brave enough to face most fears — but while not being the smartest, strongest or bravest — and does whatever it takes to reach his goal. While I say “his” there, I’d also love to see both Vic Sage and Renee Montoya sharing Question duties in live-action.
Ideally, Flanagan’s take on The Question would lean harder into the supernatural and occultish corners of his comic history, such as speaking with the spirit world and the use of astral projections, not to mention the magical appearance changes. That could certainly be an easy way to inject more horrific moments into the story, while Question’s conspiratorial paranoia would be perfect fodder for Flanagan’s layered, twisting narratives.
Honorable Mentions
While the above are the three characters I'd most love to see filtered through Mike Flanagan's brilliance, they certainly aren't the only DC characters that I wish he had control of. Here's a smattering of the other comic book heroes and villains that deserve his storytelling prowess.
- Animal Man
- Adam Strange
- Deadman
- The Enigma
- Red Hood
- Spectre
- Talia Al Ghul
- Zatanna
Fun fact: the filmmaker crafted both the movie Hush and the TV series Midnight Mass, which respetively share names with an S-tier Batman villain and a 2002 Vertigo comic from John Rozum, though with completely different subject matter. That said, I would 100% be down to watch Flanagan bring Tommy Elliot's vengeance to the DCU.
Even if Mike Flanagan doesn’t actually ever take the trip over to the DCU for anything supernatural, superheroic or otherwise, he’s thankfully not lacking for projects both on and off the upcoming horror movie schedule, so it’s not like I’ll be complaining.
