One of Warner Bros. upcoming movies based on DC Comics that has the greatest potential to be a game-changer for the DCEU is their adaptation of Jack Kirby’sThe New Godssaga, to be helmed by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who has previously made the Oscar-nominatedSelmaandA Wrinkle in Time. Recently, when a fan on Twitter implored DuVernay to give some update onNew Gods, she obliged with the reveal of an obscure but interesting character from the movie’s script.
“Because you asked so nicely… working on the fourth draft of a scene featuring All Widow this week. xo.”
The New Gods are a race of deities that exist in theDC Comics universeon the planets Apokolips and New Genesis. They were created by Jack Kirby to be a part of Thor’s backstory for Marvel Comics. However, when Kirby had to leave Marvel in the middle of the process, he took the ideas and used them to establish the concept of New Gods in the DC Universe.
Themythology of the New Godsgave DC some of their most memorable characters, from New Genesis’s Scott Free, Orion, and the High-Father to the greatest villain in all of DC, the dreaded ruler of the damned planet Apokolips, Lord Darkseid.
The All-Widow mentioned byAva DuVernayin her tweet is an obscure character from the comics, a resident of New Genesis who is known as the Queen of Bugs, a race of humanoid insects. The inclusion of the character hints at how deeply the filmmaker has researched the comics mythology that she intends to bring to the big screen, which will be welcome news for fans.
In the past DeVernay had also stated thatDarkseid will definitely be making an appearancein the film, along with the female furies that serve as his deadly enforcers. Although Thanos has catapulted into mainstream popularity thanks to his inclusion in the MCU, he was originally conceived as a rip-off of Darkseid for Marvel Comics. So fans are pumped to see the OG Tyrant from Outer Space, Darkseid, finally make his live-action appearance in a movie after he was cheated out of his cameo in theJustice Leaguemovie during the reshoots.
DeVernay has also mentioned that Big Barda is her favorite superhero, so fans can reasonably expect Barda and her beau Scott Free to be a part of the storyline of the movie.
In the comics, after centuries of destructive war, Darkseid and High-Father reached an uneasy truce which they symbolized by swapping sons, so Darkseid’s son Orion grew up to be a champion of New Genesis, while High-Father’s son Scott Free was beaten and tortured daily as he grew up on Apokolips.
But with his spirit unbroken, Free managed to escape Apokolips with the aid of the head of the furies, Barda, who had fallen in love with him, with the full might of Apokolips and New Genesis in hot pursuit of the two lovers. That’s some cosmic levelRomeo and Julietstorylining, which can add that much needed personal element to the story of godly beings residing on distant planets.
