Steven Spielberg’s DC superhero movie Blackhawk is still alive

Throughout his illustrious career, Steven Spielberg has made all manner of movies, but he’s never delved into the superhero genre. That said, he’s had a standalone DC movie about the Blackhawk in development for some time. It’s been years since we last heard about it, but screenwriter David Koepp has recently confirmed that the project has not been shelved.

The superhero genre has something of a mixed reputation among Hollywood legends. Of course, Martin Scorsese famously spoke out against them, declaring them “not cinema.” More recently, Roland Emmerich outlined his issues with them. But Spielberg is not in that camp. In fact, by all accounts, he’s a pretty big fan of superhero movies. Look no further than the time James Gunn tweeted that Spielberg’s favorite superhero movie is Guardians of the Galaxy.

Around the time of the release of his sci-fi epic Ready Player One, Spielberg was sinking his teeth into Blackhawk, which would mark his first foray into the superhero genre. Set during World War II, the story follows a group of elite pilots led by the enigmatic hero known as — you guessed it — Blackhawk. Although it’s not particularly mainstream today, the comic was a huge deal way back when; at one point it was second only to Superman in terms of comic sales.

Given the silence surrounding the project, some fans have assumed that it has been dropped, but that is not the case. “We have a script that’s very good and we all think it’s very good,” screenwriter David Koepp told Collider. “There were a lot of management changes at Warner Bros, so I think we’ve just been kind of waiting for that to settle down, and for them to decide what they want to do with their DC Universe.”

Whether Spielberg is still down to helm the movie is a different question altogether. “Obviously I hope he does it or if he doesn’t direct it, I hope he produces it, someone great directs,” Koepp said. “Because it would be a great deal of fun. I’m very fond of the script and I hope it comes together. But again, that’s one of those movies that’s gonna need $200 million so, trying to get those whales off the beach is a big process.

Will Blackhawk connect to the wider DCEU?

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe is all about connecting everyone and everything in one continuity, DC is taking a slightly different approach. Sure, they’ve got the DC Extended Universe, but there are also plenty of super-successful standalone movies, including Joker and The Batman. With that in mind, Koepp was asked how Blackhawk will deal with shared universes:

"It would be hard because it’s 1941 or 1940, actually. So it would be a little tricky. As we were developing the script, we said ‘Hey, let’s make one great movie. It’s 1940, that’s the way it is.’ And if it works out and in the future they decide they want to unite anybody, I’m sure time travel will not be a problem. Because comic books have a great way of figuring that stuff out."

I’m sure if Blackhawk was a huge success, it would connect with something down the line… because money. First things first: Let’s hope we actually see it on the big screen!

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