Warner Bros. developing a female-led movie adaptation of DC Comics hero Plastic Man

With comic book movies and series proving to be so popular with audiences, it seems Warner Bros. is looking to get every little DC Comics property they own adapted into a visual format in one form or another. One of those is Plastic Man, created by Jack Cole for Quality Comics back in 1941, which DC then acquired back in 1956.

The studio has actually looked to adapt this comic book several times in the past, including hiring Matrix creators The Wachowskis at one point to turn the idea into a film. More recently, WB hired Amanda Idoko to pen a script for the project back in 2018, which was set to follow the wacky tone of the original comics quite closely and so take the form of a comedic action-adventure.

However, a new report from Variety is revealing that WB and DC Films are revisiting those initial ideas for a Plastic Man movie and has now hired screenwriter Cat Vasko to write a new female-led take on the movie. It’s not clear yet why the studio has decided to take this approach, though adding more female-fronted comic book movies is not necessarily a bad thing. This will inevitably turn away some passionate fans of the original character though.

The Plastic Man comics tells the story of Patrick “Eel” O’Brian, a safecracking thief who has one of his burglaries at a chemical factory goes wrong, leaving him shot and covered in a mysterious liquid. Following the accident, after realizing that he could now stretch and mold his body into any shape he wished, O’Brian decides to turn his life around and use his new powers for good instead as the goofy superhero Plastic Man.

It’s the common zero to hero story that is popular with audiences and if the movie follows the comedic nature of the comics, it will definitely fit the mode of some of the recent comic book films – mostly from Marvel – with strong comedy undertones. It’s a project that certainly could work, though I’m not sure some petty fans will take too well to the character getting a new gender if this movie project eventually makes its way to production.

Last Updated: December 7, 2020