Ava DuVernay To Direct A New Gods Feature Film

 

Warner Bros. Pictures has made a bold statement.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay will helm a film based on Jack Kirby’s New Gods for Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. Created by Kirby in 1971, the New Gods title was part of four interconnected series collectively known as “The Fourth World.” The series, along with The Forever People, Mister Miracle and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olson, told the story of a group of, well, new gods and their attempt to stop the evil tyrant god Darkseid from discovering the Anti-Life Equation, which would allow Darkseid, the alpha-predator at the core of all things, to emphasize his will; making all life bend under his rule.
Since Kirby wrote, drew and edited most of the material — his likeness of Superman was redrawn by Curt Swan because Superman group editor Mort Weisinger found Kirby’s rendering appalling — the Fourth World books are unfiltered Kirby. They feature titanic battles, weird photo collages and some gloriously insane dialogue. DuVernay, who debuted with 2014’s Selma before switching to fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time, may be uniquely suited to convert Kirby’s bright, poppy and mad world to the screen.
But the move also indicates a sea change on Warner’s part. While Wonder Woman was a surprise success, the studio was content to maintain the look and feel of their DC Film universe established by Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. The lukewarm reception of Justice League led to a major re-think of the plan, which, according to some reports, would’ve seen Darkseid coming to Earth following the failure of Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) in the film. Now, it seems the twin worlds of New Genesis and Apokalips will get a movie all their own.
Which is a genuinely exciting thing.
Of course, it is unclear when the film will debut, with Warner developing DC Comics projects left and right. Hopefully it will be fast-tracked and appear shortly on the schedule after the Wonder Woman sequel.