DC's New Gods Movie: Ava DuVernay Continues Teasing Her Film

Screen Rant

Ava DuVernay Continues Teasing Her Work On DC’s New Gods Movie

By Padraig Cotter

Published Dec 21, 2018

New Gods director Ava DuVernay appears to be teasing the main characters of her forthcoming adaptation of the classic DC comic for Warner Bros.

New Gods director Ava DuVernay appears to be teasing the main characters of her forthcoming adaptation of the Jack Kirby comic. Following the box-office disappointment of Justice League in 2017, DC appears to be making a concentrated effort to turn around the reputation of their films. Their upcoming slate includes some exciting, director-led projects such as Matt Reeves' The Batman, Cathy Yan’s Birds Of Prey and Todd Phillips’ Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix.

One of DC’s most intriguing projects is an adaptation of Jack Kirby’s New Gods, which Ava DuVernay (Selma) will direct. New Gods tells the story of beings dubbed ‘Gods’ who hail from two different planets: a paradise named New Genesis and a hellscape known as Apokolips. Justice League’s villain Steppenwolf also hailed from Apokolips, but DuVernay’s adaptation will reportedly be separate from most of DC’s other projects.

Fans are very excited to see what DuVernay will do with Kirby’s saga, which should allow for some epic world building. Now DuVernay has released a tease for New Gods on Twitter, which is a comic still potentially featuring the movie’s main characters. The panel features New Genesis’ leader Highfather, his sons Lightray, Orion and Mister Miracle, Miracle’s wife Big Barda and Highfather’s advisor Metron.

In the comics, Highfather is locked in eternal battle with Apokolips’ own leader Darkseid, so it would make sense for the movie to focus around New Genesis’ royal family. Darkseid was originally set to appear at the end of Justice League, but following extensive reshoots, he was dropped. Darkseid isn’t confirmed to appear in New Gods, but he’s a likely choice for villain duties.

A lot of DC’s upcoming movies appear to be moving away from the shared universe set up by Justice League, and there are currently no plans for Ben Affleck’s Batman or Henry Cavill’s Superman to appear in future movies. The Batman is rumored to focus on the early days of Affleck’s Dark Knight, with a younger actor taking over the cowl. The Joker movie will also be a darker, R-rated take completely separate from Jared Leto’s version, while James Gunn’s Suicide Squad sequel is said to be a soft reboot.

DuVernay revealed it was actually her idea to make a New Gods movie, which DC Films were very open to. The filmmaker has experience directing a big budget project after A Wrinkle In Time, but while that movie wasn’t much of a success, it proved she has a distinct vision. However New Gods turns out, it definitely won’t be a standard superhero movie.