D C C O M I C S '
H E A V E N S E N T
P L O T S Y N O P S I S
After the events of Hellblazer, The First approaches a newly resurrected Faust, offering him a deal. The First will grant Faust several of his souls from Hell allowing his supernatural abilities to return to him at a greater rate, as well as the ability to summon and unleash the Prince of Hell himself, the demon known as Etrigan. John Constantine, Zatanna and Madame Xanadu manage to locate Faust and attempt to stop him before he becomes too powerful. When he is confronted by the trio, Faust unleashes Etrigan while he makes his escape.
After a lengthy battle with Etrigan, they manage to defeat him and bound him back to his human form, the demonologist Jason Blood, when Xanadu speaks the words "Gone now, O Etrigan! And rise again the form of man!". It's revealed that Xanadu has known Jason Blood for millennia and that the two are in fact immortal. Retaining memories from his demonic form, Blood is able to tell them of The First’s plan to take over Earth, turning it into his very own purgatory.
Realising the scope of The First’s plan, Xanadu calls upon Deadman, the soul of Boston Brand. Brand was a circus aerialist who’s spirit was trapped between life and death by the karmic god Rama Kushna. Because of his past transgressions, his spirit haunts the mortal realm. Whilst Xanadu, Blood and Zatanna try and convince Deadman to help them stop Felix Faust and The First of The Fallen, John Constantine travels to Louisiana to visit Swamp Thing and do the same.
Swamp Thing agrees to help John and his friends stop The First’s invasion as he can see the threat it has to The Green. However, The Parliament of Trees do not believe it falls within his duties as Avatar of the Green to help humankind as they’re the species that seem to threaten The Green the most. Swamp Thing disregards their opinion and leaves with John.
With a team now fully formed, Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Swamp Thing, Xanadu and Etrigan take on The First of the Fallen and Faust’s dark forces. The First’s army of demons from Hell is too much for the team to handle and they’re forced to retreat. However, they soon discover that The First’s power and ability to walk on Earth is only enabled through Faust’s sorcery.
Whilst Deadman distracts The First, and Swamp Thing holds off his demons pouring out from Hell, the rest of the team uses their combined efforts to stop Faust. So while Faust may be more powerful than every one of them, he’s not more powerful than all of them. Working together, they manage to destroy Faust and all of the abilities his magic had granted The Fallen. Losing his new-found abilities at a tremendous rate, The First retreats back to the safety of his Hell-ish underworld.
The team destroy the remaining demons and clean up the city. With the threat destroyed, the group goes their separate ways, John returns back to Liverpool after receiving an urgent message from his sister, Zatanna takes her father’s place at The Conclave alongside Madame Xanadu and Jason Blood. Deadman also agrees to join the magic-based team. Swamp Thing returns to The Green to face the consequences The Parliament have set for him.
S T A R R I N G
Ewan McGregor … John Constantine
Sofia Boutella … Zatanna
John Turturro … Deadman
Matt Damon … Swamp Thing
Monica Bellucci … Madame Xanadu
Toby Stephens … Jason Blood / Etrigan
Ken Watanabe … Felix Faust
Guy Pearce … The First of the Fallen
Shea Whigham … Chas Chandler
W R I T T E N & D I R E C T E D B Y
Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
- Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man will always have a special place in my heart. Raimi demonstrated, especially with his first two Spider-Man films, his ability to create something new, but also be (mostly) faithful to the source material. It’s combination of his work on Spider-Man as well his roots in horror ala Drag Me To Hell that makes me believe he’s a great choice to blend both the superhero and horror genres and create something fresh.
C A S T I N G N O T E S
Ewan McGregor // John Constantine
- McGregor is such a versatile actor, just look at his dual role in the latest season of Fargo. However, it’s his role as Renton in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting and it’s sequel T2 Trainspotting that makes me so convinced that he’d be perfect as a somewhat seasoned and wary John Constantine.
Sofia Boutella // Zatara
- It sounds like if there’s one positive thing to take from Universal’s The Mummy, it’s Sofia Boutella take on the titular monster. While she’s still a relatively young and upcoming actress, the few roles she’s had have been very, very impressive showing she can play a range of different types of characters. Her breakout performance being in Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service.
John Turturro // Deadman
- Turturro is an aging thespian, very rarely front and centre but put him in a supporting role and he’ll shine. He absolute killed it in the recent HBO series The Night Of, but for his more comedic side I’d recommend the Transformers franchise, he is one of the few highlights and while his character in it may seem unnecessary at this point, the movies wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable without his presence. I believe he could bring a very charismatic take on Boston Brand aka Deadman.
Matt Damon // Alec Holland
- Most well known for his portrayal of Jason Bourne throughout the Bourne series, his role as the super spy really showed how talented he is with minimal dialogue, acting mostly through his expressions and movement. While playing the character of Swamp Thing would require a lot motion capture which I haven’t seen Damon really dabble in, based on his past work I’m confident he could pull it off.
Monia Bellucci // Madame Xanadu
- Admittedly I’ve only seen Bellucci Spectre, and while the film itself was quite average compared to it’s predecessors, I found Bellucci to be a standout in her all too brief role as Lucia.
Toby Stephens // Jason Blood
- Stephens’ work on Black Sails as Captain Flint was absolutely phenomenal. I’d only known of him previously through Die Another Day which wasn’t the best Bond film… However, just the intensity he brings to the Starz series is enough to believe he’d be great as Blood and his demonic counterpart.
Ken Watanabe // Felix Faust
- Watanabe always brings a certain gravitas to the movie's he stars in. It’s his role in several of Christopher Nolan’s films that really stand out to me. He was particularly great in his brief role in Batman Begins, and that’s what make me think he’d be great as Faust. Plus his makeup in Inception makes it really easy to visualise Watanabe as the ancient sorcerer.
Guy Pearce // The First of the Fallen
- If you were to combine the elements he brought to Lawless with his more recent turn as The Reverend in Brimstone I think it’s easy to imagine Guy Pearce knocking this role out of the park.
Shea Whigham // Chas Chandler
- Whigham constantly pops up in bit parts in really great movies like American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street. Recently he’s been getting more prominent parts, in TV shows specifically. I would recommend checking him out in Boardwalk Empire, Vice Principals and Fargo. Comic book fans may recognize him from Agent Carter.