A female-led Plastic Man movie is in development. DC showed interest in a new Plastic Man project in 2018 and hired Amanda Idoko to write the script. Apparently, that iteration would have hewed closer to the comics; it was meant to be a comedic action-adventure based on the classic comic book character.
Patrick "Eel" O'Brian, aka Plastic Man, was created by Jack Cole for Quality Comics in 1941. O'Brian was a safecracking thief until one of his burglaries went wrong and he was shot and covered in a mysterious liquid. As he recovered, he realized he could stretch and mold his body like rubber. The accident caused O'Brian to turn his life around and use his new powers for good. DC Comics acquired Plastic Man in 1956 and he quickly became a fan favorite, interacting with Batman and briefly joining the Justice League.
According to THR, DC has hired screenwriter Cat Vasko to write a new female-led Plastic Man movie. This is an entirely new direction for the film, and it's unclear what this means for the movie and the character overall. There's no word yet on a director or actors attached to star.
Warner Bros. first started looking to adapt Plastic Man into a movie in the 1990s. By 1995, the Wachowski sisters had written a full script, but the project didn't gain any traction until the mid-2000s. At one point, Keanu Reeves was attached to star, until the Wachowskis' Plastic Man was shelved again. This will be the first live-action Plastic Man adaptation, which is a risky move. Fans might have a hard time getting on board with a female version of Plastic Man, if that's the direction DC takes. Of course, the film could end up centering on an unrelated female character with Plastic Man in a supporting role, but it'd be very odd to sideline the major draw for the film.
If DC does end up going with a gender-bent Plastic Man, there will inevitably be detractors who claim the film is not a "true" adaptation of the comics. Marvel is taking the same risk with Eternals, gender-swapping three of the main characters. Still, the Plastic Man comics are known for being fun and humorous, and there's definitely room for DC to play around with the character. Until we know more about the project, speculation and theories about the female-led Plastic Man movie will likely continue to spread.
Source: THR
