In another out of left field move, it looks like Warner Bros. is developing a Plastic Man film. Except maybe it isn’t so left field, considering that what they’d love to have is an answer to Deadpool without necessarily being R rated. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Amanda Idoko, a staff writer for the short-lived but well-regarded sitcom The Mayor, will write the screenplay, but that no director has been attached.
What would the plot be? The broad outlines of Plastic Man’s origins have been fairly consistent over several incarnations — both from original creator Jack Cole’s work for Quality Comics and the various revivals by DC Comics over the decades. Small-time criminal Patrick “Eel” O’Brian gets shot and falls into a vat of acid/chemicals/magical plot device. Abandoned by his gang, he survives and stumbles out to discover that he has developed the ability to stretch and change his shape.
Beyond that, though, it’s wide open. The character may be iconic, but no plots are. He doesn’t even have an archenemy looming large in his mythos. DC just published a six-issue reboot written by Gail Simone, and he currently appears in the team book The Terrifics, Despite some top-notch creators working on the character, including the great Kyle Baker, nothing tops his original 1940s run in Police Comics and his own book.
This also isn’t the first time that Warner has tried to develop a Plastic Man film. In the 90s, the Wachowskis had hoped to parlay their success with The Matrix into a big-screen adventure for O’Brian. It’s not a bad script, though a little grimmer and grittier than it sounds like Warner Bros. wants to go with the character.
Fingers crossed, and tied into a nice plastic bow, that this one comes to fruition. Is Tom Kinney too old to play the part?
