On a recent episode of their podcast, Fatman Beyond, Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin were asked which DC Villain would they give the Loki treatment to.
Each week(ish), director Kevin Smith his friend and writer (and soon to be directory himself), Marc Bernardin, sit down on their Fatman Beyond podcast to chat about the things happening in the world of comic books and nerd culture. As fun it is to hear these two giants of the nerd world talk about what’s happening, or what they’re doing, within that world is, it’s the final portion of the show that often generates the best discussion and content: the Q&A.
Nearly since the inception of this version of the podcast, Smith made it a rule that anyone asking questions had to make it for both he and Bernardin. This kept questions like “What’s happening with Clerks 3?” off the table. And while we’d all love to know more about Smith’s current and future projects, hearing from his partner in crime on this show is a big reason why fans tune in. And the recent question about a DC villain getting an HBO Max treatment akin to Disney+’s new Loki MCU TV show sparked some pretty great ideas.
Smith worked out his thought process for us all to hear, stating that the Joker “is a little obvious” and that Two-Face “the two puns would get tired so quick”. Bernardin then chimed in saying that Two-Face could make a great Law & Order type of show. The director went through villains like Condiment King, Deathstroke, Bane, Mr. Zsasz (who Smith compared to Dexter), and Harley Quinn before landing on a pretty solid answer: Clayface.
I was going to say Clayface ‘cause he can be anybody, right? So, like, you know, he can shapeshift and you can tell all sorts of different stories. Plus he could be like a good guy in most of them.
Marc Bernardin To The Rescue
While Smith worked through his process, Bernardin pitched 3 solid ideas throughout the night. His first was a fun heist show with Catwoman:
Give me the heist every week. Give me the like kinda on the run from Batman and the GCPD. Give me the girl who’s kinda trying to make her own way in a city that has no time for her or space for her. And give me the woman who’s trying to build her own family of street urchins you know take care of them at the same time. You get all of the joys of Leverage plus cop shows plus Party of Five all at once.
Bernardin also brought up a show from the late ‘90s/early 2000’s called Prophet that “was about a business kid who was also a psychopath; it’s very American Psycho”. He compared that idea to Lex Luthor:
I feel like you could do a Lex Luthor show. I feel like you could do the business magnate—it could be Dynasty if you want it to be Dynasty, or it could also be the story of a young villain who’s clawing up out of the shadow of his own dad and trying to make his own business.
As Smith was thinking of something else, his cohost kept on churning out ideas.
Do you want me to do another one? Amanda Waller. I know we get like Suicide Squad shows, but I think that woman and her story and how she gets to be that person she is. It’s probably some kind of dual timeline show where you get to see the rise of Amanda Waller and then Amanda Waller and Task Force X.
Some Serious Consideration
Smith came to the table with another answer that he gave some serious consideration: The Riddler.
It’s boring but I think I might go Riddler. I really gave this some serious consideration. You can go pretty far with that character, not just with the riddle of the week but also like why? Why is he such an ###hole? Why is that your schtick and whatnot? You can take him dark like he tries to go dark in the beginning. But they’ll like, c’mon, your too cute.
This then led to Bernardin’s counter-proposal of The Riddler game show:
I mean you could also do The Riddler game show. And then that would be your drama. The Riddler is the host of a game show and if you lose you die.
The boys of Fatman Beyond gave a bunch of compelling answers, many of which I’d love to see come to life. How about you? Would you like to see any of these shows from DC on HBO Max? Is there another DC villain who deserves the spotlight? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Fatman Beyond 335