Det. John Constantine
The Star-Lord of the group (let’s be honest, Guardians of the Galaxy opened this door and paved the road for films like Suicide Squad and this). John Constantine is conspicuously named Det. John Constantine in Variety‘s report, leading BirthMoviesDeath‘s Devin Faraci to ask the Variety reporter who broke the story, Justin Kroll, for clarification. According to him, that was how his source described it and Faraci notes it sounds like they’re setting him up as the normie human face of the team a la Joel Kinnaman’s Col. Rick Flag in Squad. For my money, it sounds like a clueless studio misreading of the term “occult detective.” Constantine was previously played by Keanu Reeves in a 2005 film and Matt Ryan on a short-lived NBC series and briefly on The CW’s Arrow.
Colin Farrell was originally up for the role last November, when Rudin took over the project. That was our last update until today. Erik Davis of Movies.com suggested Liman’s good work relationship with Tom Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow and the upcoming American Made (they’re also developing Luna Park, a long-gestating project for Liman about a race to the moon) might put him in play for the role. While I know this one is unlikely and Cruise has his haters, if Will Smith can sell me on Deadshot, I would love to Cruise try on Constantine.
However, my choice for the role is Tom Hardy, who almost joined the DCEU as Rick Flag in Suicide Squad before The Revenant filming schedule forced him to drop out and be replaced by Kinnaman. The actor made the leap to blockbuster leading man with Mad Max: Fury Road and he’s indicated he’s disappointed he missed out on Squad, possibly making him open for Dark Universe.
