Doug Liman Elaborates On Why He Left Justice League Dark

Justice League Dark was one of the most promising comics to come out of DC's New 52 line, at least in terms of concepts. The team was so popular that there was going to be a movie of it that would have been directed by Guillermo Del Toro. That never came off the ground and Del Toro was soon replaced by other directors that couldn't commit, including Doug Liman of Edge of Tomorrow fame.

Liman recently spoke with Collider about his new show Impulse (not the DC character) and discussed why he didn't stay in Justice League Dark. While he admits that it wasn't an easy decision, the director's heart just wasn't into it. This is a shame since Edge of Tomorrow proved that Liman is a capable director, so we probably would have gotten a decent film had he stayed on. He previously stated that he was open to a return in the future but that doesn't seem to be the case right now.

Here's what Liman had to say:

"Well, if I'm gonna do something in the superhero arena, I'm gonna do something that's uniquely me. My criteria, when I choose to do a project, is that, first of all, I have to love it, but the other critical thing for me is that it has to be a project that, if I go and direct it, it will be fundamentally different than if anybody else does it. There has to be something in me that connects to that piece of material and that it makes sense that I'm doing it, and not somebody else. Impulse follows an anti-hero who keeps getting sent back into a situation they don't want to be in. There's a lot of me in Impulse. There's a lot of me in The Bourne Identity. There's a lot of me in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Not to get too much psychiatry in here, but probably all my characters are anti-heroes ‘cause it comes from how I think about myself. So Justice League Dark, on paper, seemed like it would fit me perfectly ‘cause it's inherently anti-heroic, but I just never could find myself in it."

Despite being in development hell longer than Etrigan, DC still has faith in the franchise potential of Justice League Dark. The company has announced that the comic series is returning in July with a brand-new #1 post-No Justice and will feature a team with old favorites, like Zatanna and Swamp Thing, mixed with new, interesting choices with the likes of Man-Bat and Wonder Woman.

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