For one second, it looked likeSteven Spielbergwas joining the DC Extended Universe. Of course, it wasn’t like Spielberg was planning to directDwayne Johnson’sBlack Adammovie or anything like that. Instead, this filmmaker was signed on to helm a movie adaptation ofBlackhawks,a DC Comics superhero team comprised of World War II fighter pilots. They’re not superpowered beings, they’re just soldiers who go on big missions against a famous historical backdrop. The characters comprising theBlackhawksare firmly in the DC continuity in the comics and all signs pointed to Spielberg’s proposed movie being in the DC Extended Universe…but still, this was a movie theSaving Private Ryandirector would’ve been interested in with or without the DC branding.
Like so many would-be Spielberg projects,Blackhawksnever made it off the runway. Anyone who follows this filmmaker’s exploits closely knows that his directorial assignments are often a bit unpredictable. Major projects likeBlackhawksor that proposedHarveyremake that seem right up his alley can end up going nowhere despite years of development, while suddenly something likeWar Horsecan come out of nowhere, get Spielberg to sign on as director, and start shooting before you even blink.Blackhawksisn’t the first or last major blockbuster Spielberg was attached to that never got made, but what were the exact circumstances that led to this comic book adaptation going M.I.A.?
Steven Spielberg Was Attached to the First Version of ‘Blackhawks’ in the ’80s
Much likehow Spielberg was once tempted to make aTintinmoviedecades before the release ofThe Adventures of Tintin, this filmmakerwas attached to do aBlackhawkadaptationall the way back in the 1980s. The movie would’ve been a major endeavor anchored byDan Aykroyd,a piece of casting suggesting that Spielberg was eager to do a light-hearted take on the property.However, Spielberg moved on to other passions in the 1980s. In the wake ofRaiders of the Lost ArkandE.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Spielberg began exploring the world of grounded adult dramas withThe Color PurpleandEmpire of the Sun. For the near future, his more “childish” exploits would be restricted toIndiana Jonessequels as he expanded his filmmaking language.
The Hollywood Reporter mentions that Spielberg’s rumored 1980Blackhawksadaptation saw a revival of the sputtering comic property from a team of superheroes to its original purpose of a World War II team of soldiers.
Flash-forward to April 2018 and Spielberg got a chance to tackleBlackhawksonce again. Warner Bros. Pictures announced thatthe director would be producing and likely helming aBlackhawksadaptation for the studio. The timing of this news is critical for understanding why this property was getting off the ground again after all these years. For starters, Spielberg’s Warner Bros. tentpoleReady Player Onehad dropped into theaters a few weeks before this announcement. Making a splashy dog-and-pony-show about Spielberg making another new blockbuster for the studiowas a way of adding an extra veneer of success toReady Player One’sreputation. This movie hadn’t just made solid box office numbers worldwide, it was also apparently a successful enough creative endeavor to inspire Spielberg to work with Warner Bros. again.
This news was also important for the DC side of Warner Bros. In the wake ofJustice Leagueseverely underperforming at the end of 2017, it was clear changes needed to occur with how the studio made superhero movies.Walter Hamadawas brought in at the start of 2018to help get these DC blockbusters back in a state of competency.What better way to suggest that DC was on more stable ground than getting Steven Spielberg involved in a forthcoming DC Comics blockbuster?Plus, the project made total sense as something that lined up with Spielberg’s interests as a filmmaker, namely retro-sensibilities and a World War II setting. The stars had aligned andBlackhawkswas headed into production.
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How Did DC’s ‘Blackhawks’ Adaptation Lose Its Wings?
In announcingBlackhawks, Warner Bros. also confirmed thatDavid Koeppwould be writing the script for the feature. This was another development that suggested how muchBlackhawkswas lining up with Spielberg’s creative interests, given that he and Koepp had worked together on several past projects, including the firstJurassic Park. Of course, even with these two collaborating again,there was no guaranteeBlackhawkswould ever become a real movie. DC had lots and lots of projects in the pipeline, while Spielberg himself was immediately committed to realizingWest Side Storyas his next project.Blackhawks, if it ever happened, would need to wait.
Two years after this initial announcement, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entertainment world to a screeching halt. A massive blockbuster likeBlackhawks, already a risk pre-2020, would not be easy to pull off now. Few updates began rolling in surrounding the status of the feature,though Koepp did clarify that Warner Bros. was very pleasedwith the status of the script in March 2022.He further revealed that the biggest hurdle to getting the movie made now was Warner Bros. figuring out what it wanted to do with the DC Extended Universe going forward. A good chunk of all that uncertainty stemmedfrom the then-impending WarnerDiscovery merger, with this newly formed conglomerate having very concrete ideas on what DC blockbusters should look like in the new era. Those notions would eventually involveJames GunnandPeter Safrantaking over all things DC at Warner Bros. and laying out a brand-new vision for a shared universe based on DC characters.
It’s not impossible that Gunn, given his love for obscure comic book characters, might involve the Blackhawks characters in the DC Universe one day. However, so far, his DC Universe ambitions haven’t involved absorbing in-development DCEU movies into this shared continuity, which indicates Spielberg’sBlackhawksmovie (at least in its initial form) is dead for now. That’s just as well, since the filmmaker has been plenty busy withThe Fabelmansin 2022 andpreparing a new vision ofBullittfor Warner Bros.No matter what direction the film industry goes in, Spielberg just keeps on chugging as a filmmaker, tackling projects big and small. While the landscape of live-action DC Comics blockbusters has been riddled with uncertainty over the last decade, Spielberg’s commitment to directing just never stops. Perhaps the dissonance in consistency between these two entities was always so great that a SpielbergBlackhawksmovie was never really a possibility…
