Three years ago, DC Studios revealed its writers' room: Cristal Henry (Watchmen), Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol), Christina Hodson (The Flash), Tom King (Mister Miracle), Drew Goddard (The Martian), and Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight).
We haven't heard much since, and many DCU projects announced at the start of 2023 have since fallen apart. Even the "Gods and Monsters" branding seems to have been forgotten, a hint that James Gunn and Peter Safran have faced some teething issues while trying to create an MCU rival.
The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with Slater to discuss his work on Mortal Kombat II. Asked if he's seen much of what they brainstormed when DC Studios was launched, the writer replied, "Oh, absolutely."
He continued, "James Gunn has always had a very clear vision for what he wants his universe to be and what kind of stories he wants to tell. Our job is to just toss ideas his way. He’ll grab the ones that seem relevant or helpful, and then he will ignore the ones that don’t because he has a story that he’s telling. As a fan, I have loved the first couple chapters of that story."
"I know some of the stuff that’s happening next, and while it’s insanely exciting, I’ve also been sworn to secrecy on everything related to DC. All I can say is that I’m a huge fan of James and Peter, both as human beings and as creative individuals."
"And if they ever need my help with anything — whether it’s looking at a project or writing scenes or writing scripts or just bouncing ideas — the answer is always yes for those guys," Slater noted. "I will always drop everything and come running if they need help. I just think the world of them."
This isn't the first time the writer has explored the DC Universe, and he wrote a spec script for his own version of Man of Tomorrow nearly a decade and a half ago. It didn't have anything in common with Gunn's vision, but it sounds like a lot of fun.
As Slater explains, "Even though it never got made, it absolutely changed the course of my career and life. The log line for my Man of Tomorrow script was basically: Batman versus Superman, but it’s The Untouchables in 1940s Chicago. It weaved a gangster story in with some superhero trappings."
"Man of Tomorrow came about because I got my start in low-budget horror, and this was during the torture porn era of Hollywood where everything was a terrible Saw ripoff. I spent six months working on Man of Tomorrow. It was a big, R-rated period drama action movie with multiple overlapping timelines."
"It was just the most ambitious thing I could imagine at the time, and that’s really what broke me out of that low-budget horror box. It put me in the running for jobs like Fantastic Four," the writer added. "So even though it never got made, it is absolutely the script that changed my life and my career in a thousand different ways."
That sounds like it has all the makings of a great Elseworlds movie, but it doesn't appear to be something Slater has since brought to DC Studios.
As for the writers' room, it doesn't sound like something the studio is utilising regularly, and it might just be where that slate started to take shape. The fact that projects like Swamp Thing and The Authority have been largely forgotten is a little troubling, as is The Brave and the Bold still being in limbo (Gunn previously had to defend Hodson when she was revealed as the movie's screenwriter).