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DC’s Swamp Thing received several screen treatments over the years. But none of them succeeded. Let’s examine why they failed.
Swamp Thing is one of the most powerful characters in the DC comics universe, and yet somehow, Warner Brothers can never quite stick the landing with adapting the character to film. In 1982, Wes Craven directed the B-movie horror adaptation Swamp Thing. Though its plot is fairly faithful to the classic origin story, the costumes leave something to be desired. A second television iteration titled Swamp Thing arrived in 2019, drawing inspiration from famed writer Alan Moore’s take on the character. It wasn’t enough to save the show, which was cancelled only a week after the debut of its premiere. What is it about Swamp Thing that’s so notoriously hard to adapt?
The 1982 movie retells the origin story of Swamp Thing: a scientist, Alec Holland, gets caught in an explosion of his plant-mutate formula and reemerges from the swamp as a moss-covered beast. He spends the rest of the movie working against Anton Arcane, the man who sent a paramilitary group to sabotage his research. To be fair, the classic Swamp Thing comics were clearly inspired by old B-movies like Jack Arnold’s Creature from the Black Lagoon, so it makes sense that its adaptation would have a similar level of campiness. Unfortunately, the rubber suit worn by Dick Durock barely holds up to eighties costuming standards and looks quite dated. A sequel, cartoon, and a live-action TV spin-off were all churned out within the following decade.
The comic book series Saga of the Swamp Thing emerged from this Hollywood interest in the character. The series which was revamped and given to Alan Moore from issue #20 (with pencils by Dan Day and colored by Tatjana Wood) onwards. Moore’s take was a bold and experimental story which re-examined the character’s roots, making Swamp Thing into one of comics’ most esoteric protagonists. Rather than saying Alec Holland was transformed into Swamp Thing, as is written in the original Len Wein-written backstory, Moore suggested that plant microbes simply absorbed Holland’s memories. The true Alec Holland was dead, lying in the bottom of the Louisiana bayou. This revelation sends the monster into an existential nightmare, as he questions what it means to live with the memories of a man that is not really him.
When Warner Bros. decided to re-adapt Swamp Thing, it was obvious that they would borrow aspects from Moore’s run, given the enduring legacy of his reinvented backstory. The series premiered on the failed DC Universe streaming service in 2019. Swamp Thing features Derek Mears as the titular character, sporting a noticeably better costume. At first it seemed like the show would be incorporated into the continuity of Titans and Doom Patrol, but the early cancellation led the show to be scrapped from that universe entirely. Unlike other DC Universe streaming projects, the show has not resurfaced on HBO Max.
Although it drew much of its material from one of comics most groundbreaking stories, the additions made for the sake of cameos and universe expansion were to the show’s detriment. Saga of the Swamp Thing used plenty of characters from the wider DC universe, but it would only do so for an issue or two, focusing primarily on the inner turmoil of its protagonist. The show, on the other hand, is filled to the brim with extra characters like Blue Devil and Madame Xanadu, who take vital screen time away from characters that flourished in the comic. And while the series certainly leaned into the graphic horror elements needed for a Swamp Thing show, it left out the more harrowing adult themes of addiction and domestic abuse that made the comic so poignant.
Whether there is not enough comic influence or way too much, Swamp Thing has not made a successful transition from comic books to screen. The source material is too complicated and Hollywood executives clearly do not understand how to adapt the character. But like several of Alan Moore’s books, it remains possible that if studios were willing to faithfully translate what made the comics great, an adaptation of Swamp Thing could succeed under the right circumstances.
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