Swamp Thing has endured as one of America’s most beloved comic book characters since his first comic book appearance in 1971. A swamp monster who seeks to protect both nature and humanity from a myriad of threats, the character has had a less-than-stellar history on the big and small screen. Despite the 1982 film on the titular character by horror maestro Wes Craven and its 1989 campy sequel, several attempts to resurrect the character for new audiences have repeatedly stalled for the past three decades, but will we ever get a live-action Swamp Thing movie?
This is despite the fact that the character has had two live-action series, one animated series, and countless cameos in other DC media. Thankfully, all this was about to change when James Gunn was hired by Warner Bros to reboot the DC Universe. The DCEU, started in 2013 with Man of Steel, had faltered and crumbled by 2023, after a string of failures and misfires.
Announcing that a Swamp Thing film would indeed be a part of his ‘Gods and Monsters’ Chapter 1 of the DC Universe, Gunn announced that Logan and Indiana Jones 5 director James Mangold would helm the film. Mangold would also write the script and would move to complete the film after he was done with his Bob Dylan biopic.
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While other entries in the Gods and Monsters saga are full steam ahead (Superman releases in two months, Supergirl is in production, and Peacemaker Season 2 is in post-production), Swamp Thing has, for lack of a better word, failed to take off yet. More than two years have passed since the film was announced, and there have been no updates whatsoever about what Mangold is upto in regards to regarding the project. First, Mangold remained fully committed to his Bob Dylan biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’, and then he was said to be developing a new Star Wars film for Disney. When asked, he said he was unsure about what film he would develop first, the Star Wars film or Swamp Thing.
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Then came a disappointing update in February 2025. James Gunn and Peter Safran held a DC Universe Catch-Up at the Warner Bros. lot. Safran and James were asked about how the project was progressing, and they made it known that there was no update regarding the film, and they were waiting for Mangold to come back to DC when he chooses to do so. This means that there has been zero progress in the film for the last two years, and since the writing process, casting, shoot, and post-production take two to three years, we cannot hope for a Swamp Thing film before 2027 at the earliest. This date takes into consideration the fact that Mangold finishes writing the film this quarter.
Swamp Thing’s progress is more disappointing due to the fact that another horror creature feature based on the DC comics character Clayface not only has a script and a director, but is currently in production. James Watkin’s Clayface film, based on the iconic Batman villain, is due to be released in September 2026.
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So, will we get a live-action Swamp Thing film? We certainly hope so, although all signs currently point to the fact that the film has been on the back burner since it was announced and will continue to be so until something drastic happens. Swamp Thing is not the only upcoming DC film to get mired in troubles; The Authority and Andy Muschietti’s Batman: Brave and the Bold have also gone nowhere (both the films were announced alongside Swamp Thing in January 2023).
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With four DC films slated to hit theatres in the next two years, DC fans are eating well, but fans of the Swamp Thing might have to wait a little bit longer to see their favourite character on the big screen.
