Sometimes when the axe of cancellation swings, it swings hard and it swings heavily. We’ve been seeing this at HBO Max when it comes to their original content. The biggest casualty of all this has been “Batgirl.” If a big project like this got shelved, then there had to be some smaller productions that were going to suffer too. Thanks to some info from Kevin Smith, we know about at least one more of them that was on the chopping block.
One of the DC projects that was set to come to HBO Max was an anthology series called “Strange Adventures.” News of the project dates back to at least 2019 when it was being reported as in-development for the streaming platform. The show was described as a “one-hour drama series [that] will explore close-ended morality tales about the intersecting lives of mortals and superhumans.” Since then, one of the only other big tidbits of information about the show was that at least one of the episodes was set to be directed by Kevin Smith.
On his Hollywood Babble-On podcast, Smith confirmed the project is dead. His episode was supposed to center around Superman villain Bizarro and Daily Planet reporter Jimmy Olsen. Doesn’t sound that engaging at first until you remember Smith was pursuing Nicolas Cage to play the evil, alternate, bizarre version of Superman. Seeing Cage himself as the man of steel may have been a bit much, but Bizarro? That would totally work. Or it would’ve had the project not been dropped.
Sources indicate the project was cut even before the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery. But clearly the axing of “The Wonder Twins” and “Batgirl” brings that into question. It could easily be the case where this project was DOA and the scope was bigger than the budget was bigger than anticipated. An anthology series can be expensive, considering how much work can go into each episode, especially when you’re dealing with fantastical settings and characters like the DC Universe allows for. Imagine how much more expensive “Marvel’s What If…?“ would be if it were an hour long live-action program instead of an animated half-hour.
The program certainly could have had some potential but alas, we won’t be seeing it happen. We’d like to see that maybe we could see something like this be reimagined somewhere down the line, but given what happened to “Batgirl,” we’re not holding our collective breaths. Not that we’re bitter or anything.
“The Flash,” starring Ezra Miller, is still on Warner Bros. Pictures’ release slate.
