Before the formation of DC Studios, Warner Bros. brought many of its characters to television. Some like The Flash and Superman were well known to fans; others - the Doom Patrol and Human Target, for example - were not.
The plan moving forward is for the vast majority of live-action projects to take place in the DCU, meaning we're likely to see fewer comic book heroes and villains on-screen (in place of the ever-expanding Arrowverse, chances are just a handful of characters will receive the spotlight on HBO as prestige series akin to The Penguin).
In a recent interview with The Direct, Dean Lorey, the creator of animated TV shows Harley Quinn and Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, revealed that he briefly worked on a Hitman TV series for Syfy based on the little-known but still popular character.
Kite Man: Hell Yeah! has featured appearances from several characters tied to Hitman's world, something which now makes a lot more sense.
"Because we established the bar Noonan's, that sort of naturally led to some Hitman characters," he told the site. "And I had been a fan of Hitman for a long time and, in fact, developed with Garth Ennis' version of it for Syfy that never went forward."
"And so that's where a lot of the Hitman characters sort of came from. Moe and Joe double and Shawn Noonan and Six-Pack, and all of that."
Hitman was a DC Comics series created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, debuting in 1993's The Demon Annual #2. The character is Tommy Monaghan, a wisecracking contract killer based in Gotham City who gains superhuman abilities, including telepathy and x-ray vision, after being bitten by an alien parasite.
Despite his new powers, Tommy remains a hitman, albeit with a moral code: he only targets criminals and supervillains.
While he has crossed paths with iconic characters like Batman, Superman, and the Demon Etrigan, his series focuses more on street-level crime and camaraderie between Tommy and his fellow mercenaries at Noonan’s Bar. The series ran for 60 issues between 1996 and 2001.
A character like Hitman would be a great fit for Peacemaker season 2 but there's nothing to suggest James Gunn has any plans for him. The DC Studios co-CEO is a big fan of lesser-known B and C list characters, though, so you never know where Tommy might show up.
Are you disappointed this Hitman TV series never became a reality?