Swamp Thing: Here's the Comic They Should Adapt for Film

01/31/2023 07:58 pm EST

After a few years in the ether, Swamp Thing is heading back to live-action. Tuesday, James Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled the upcoming slate for DC Studios' new DC Universe. Titled Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, the franchise's first chunk of storytelling will feature both well-known properties like Superman: Legacy and The Brave and the Bold, and characters that are far from the A-list. One of those that fall into the second half of that equation is one Alec Holland, who will be receiving a Swamp Thing movie at some over the next three or four years.

Given there was a live-action Swamp Thing series as recently as 2019, the filmmakers at DC Studios are likely looking to do something vastly different than what's be done before. Because of that, the studio should look towards a mid-2010s mini-event titled "Rotworld" for inspiration.

As a part of DC's New 52 initiative, Rotworld featured a crossover between Swamp Thing, then from Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette, and Animal Man by Jeff Lemire and Steve Pugh. In the event, Swamp Thing serves as the avatar of The Green, or the body of all plant life on the planet while Animal Man is the protector of The Red, or all animal and human life on Earth. Together, the duo most stop The Rot, or everything else other than plant or animal life, from taking over the planet.

In the comic crossover, body horror is most certainly involved as Swamp Thing and Animal Man battle The Rot and its forces head-on, which falls in line with Gunn's comments of the new Swamp Thing film being vastly different tonally from everything else on the DCU slate.

Speaking of which, Frankenstein—who is joining the DC Universe through the animated series Creature Commandos—also had a sizable role in Rotworld through his own comic series Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE.

Swamp Thing has yet to set a release date while the 2019 series is only available for purchase through digital VOD providers.

What other characters would you like to see pop up in the DCU horror? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things DCU!

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