'Justice League Dark' Getting A Straight-To-DVD Animated Movie

There have been rumblings of a Justice League Dark movie in the works since as far back as 2012. Director Guillermo del Toro was once supposed to be behind the camera for an assembly of DC Comics characters such as Constantine, Swamp Thing, Jason Blood/The Demon, Madame Xanadu and Anton Arcane, but he ended up falling away from the project nearly a year ago. More recently, some possible casting and director contenders have emerged, but we haven't heard anything since last fall.

Now fans waiting for a Justice League Dark movie can pass their time with a forthcoming straight-to-DVD animated movie that's in the works according to the supplemental features on the forthcoming home video release of the animated adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke. Find out more about the Justice League Dark animated movie below.

The British Board of Film Classification (via THR) revealed that Batman: The Killing Joke has a special feature called "A Sneak Peek at Justice League Dark," which is pretty self-explanatory. It's customary for these DC Comics animated releases to tease what's coming next, so it's no surprise that Batman: The Killing Joke is slated to have a special feature introducing the next project on the docket.

Beyond that, unfortunately we don't have any specific details. Could the roster be the same as what the live-action movie would have entailed? We're not sure. However, it would make sense for the Justice League Dark movie to include Enchantress if only because she'll be appearing in Suicide Squad in August. While there are no narrative ties between the animated and live-action movies, sharing characters can only benefit DC Comics to create more character recognition and appeal for the more casual fans out there.

For those who don't know, Justice League Dark has been around since 2011 as a comic series following John Constantine, Madame Xanadu and Zatanna, a group of lesser known but still powerful supernatural heroes battle threats that the more traditional superheroes aren't even aware of. The comic series was canceled last year with the intention of being relaunched under the new title Dark Universe, but that's yet to happen.

Hopefully this doesn't mean a live-action Justice League Dark movie won't happen. But even if Warner Bros. still wants to make that movie, they've got their hands full keeping their DC Comics cinematic universe in order right now, so I wouldn't expect to see it anytime soon.

Batman: The Killing Joke hits Digital HD on July 23 and then Blu-Ray/DVD on August 2. Whenever any new details become available, we'll be sure to let you know.