DC’s Plastic Man in early development to become a feature film

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

This might come off as a bit of a stretch, but it's been confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. and DC are actively developing a feature film project based on Plastic Man, the super elastic and plastic hero created by Jack Cole in 1941. Hired to pen the script for the comedic action-adventure is scribe-to-watch Amanda Idoko, who most recently wrote the screenplay for BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY, an upcoming crime thriller from director Tate Taylor. Set to executive produce PLASTIC MAN for Warner Bros. and DC is Bob Shaye, the former co-founder of New Line-turned-producer.

For those of you who are like, "WTF, Plastic Man?" The pliable protagonist's true identity is Patrick “Eel” O’Brian, a criminal-turned hero who during a botched robbery, was doused with a curious chemical compound that granted him superhuman elasticity/plasticity, crazy durability and agility, as well as the powers of invulnerability, shapeshifting, and immortality. As if that's not enough, Plastic Man also has a regenerative healing factor and is immune to telepathy. Holy crap! I never really considered how powerful Plastic Man truly is. He's like a Super Saiyan version of Stretch Armstrong. After being left for dead by his own crew, O'Brian decides to leave his life of crime behind, and in time, becomes a police officer who moonlights as the stretchy superhero when throwing the book at criminals simply isn't enough.

For the moment, the PLASTIC MAN project is in the early stages of development, which explains why a filmmaker has yet to be assigned to the endeavor. However, if you're looking to get your stetch on, and brush up on Plastic Man's signature brand of shenanigans, I highly recommend that you check out DC's most recent Plastic Man mini-series written by comics legend Gail Simone with art by Adriana Melo.

Here's the synopsis for the first issue of the six-part limited-series:

Meet Eel O’Brian: a petty thug, thief and con artist who runs a strip club. Hey, he’s also dead, at least according to the gang that tossed him out like last week’s garbage. Literally. Don’t worry, though—he bounced back from all that, and now he’s trying to make a new life for himself, but the effort is stretching him pretty thin. How can he get revenge on his old boss, keep a street kid out of trouble, make a dancer fall in love with him and stop a mysterious society from taking over the world? Eel has no idea!

Let us know what you think about DC and Warners adapting Plastic Man to the big screen in the comments section below.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.