Warner Bros. to continue this whole "lightening up" thing with a Plastic Man movie

Capitalizing on the welcome buzz around its upcoming slate of less-oppressively-dour superhero movies—projects like Aquaman and Shazam!, which both dare to acknowledge the existence of this thing you hoo-mans call humor—Warner Bros. has announced that it’s putting a movie about one of DC’s jokier heroes into production: Plastic Man. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film—centered on safecracker-turned-rubber-bodied-goofus Eel O’Brien—is being written by up-and-comer Amanda Idoko.

For those keeping track, PM is one of several stretchy heroes unsettlingly noodling their way across the DC Universe. (Not to be confused with Ralph “Elongated Man” Dibny, who’s currently serving as a supporting character on the TV version of The Flash.) He’s also a favorite among cartoonists and fans of the lighter side of modern funny books, mostly because he can look like and do pretty much anything the artist wants, with a personality that lends itself to a whole lot of goofiness. (Voice actor MVP Tom Kenny has had a lot of fun voicing him in various animated projects over the years.) DC has shown a willingness in the last few years to lighten the fuck up with its superhero movies, so hopefully Plas will get the lighthearted treatment he deserves, with the absolute bare minimum shouted “MARTHA!”s, and, hopefully, an improvement in Hollywood’s “stretchy dude CGI” technology since the last few Fantastic Four movies premiered.