At the time of this writing, Josh Brolin has three superhero movie credits logged on his filmography. First he played Jonah Hex for DC in the character’s same-named 2010 movie, then he went on to portray Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Cable in Deadpool 2. Now there are rumors that Brolin has a fourth gig in this genre lined up, whether it’s in an upcoming superhero movie or TV show, and in the midst of this, the actor shared some DCU fan art of himself as an iconic character.
You may recall that in the latter half of 2024, Brolin was said to be in talks to play Hal Jordan in Lanterns, the Green Lantern-focused TV show set in the DC Universe franchise. While that didn’t work out and Kyle Chandler will play the character instead, allegedly Brolin is in talks for another major role in this new shared continuity. As such, artist BossLogic decided to share his take on Instagram of what Brolin would look like as Darkseid, one of DC Comics’ greatest villains. The image found its way in front of the Dune star’s eyes, and he shared it on his own Instagram Stories:
This seems… familiar. Yes, as BossLogic noted in his original post, having Josh Brolin play Darkseid would be “the biggest opportunity to do the funniest thing” given how similar he is to Thanos. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Thanos debuted three years Thanos, and that Marvel’s Mad Titan was specifically modeled after the tyrant from Apokolips. However, Thanos is definitely the more well-known among the general public following his appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
While there’s been no word about Darkseid appearing in the DC Universe, I would certainly welcome his inclusion. He’s previously been depicted in live-action in Smallville and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, with the latter teasing more to come from him had Snyder been able to complete his DC saga. Darkseid was also supposed to appear in Ava DuVernay’s New Gods movie before it was cancelled in 2021. The point being, while I think it’d be way too on the nose for Josh Brolin to play the cosmic baddie, I do want Darkseid to be given a platform to shine on in the DCU someday, specifically in an upcoming DC movie.
Meanwhile, Brolin said last October that Lanterns just “didn’t work out,” but he’s looking forward to seeing Kyle Chandler play Hal Jordan instead. He also seemed open to working over at DC again, which is good to hear. Given how much of a critical and commercial disappointment Jonah Hex was, the man deserves to get some redemption in this corner of the comic book media space.
Creature Commandos, the first DCU project, wraps up its first season for Max subscription holders this Thursday, and Superman, the first DCU movie, opens in theaters on July 11. Josh Brolin will also be seen on the 2025 movies schedule thanks to The Running Man and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, with the former coming out on November 7.
