DC fans have known for well over a year now that the Tom King and Mitch Gerads Mister Miracle comic book series was officially on its way to the DCU with an animated series. Though development on the show has continued behind the scenes, there haven’t been too many official updates until last week, when DC Studios co-chairman Peter Safran spilled all of the beans. In passing, Safran confirmed last week that not only will The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson be voicing Mister Miracle, but he is be joined by Terminator: Dark Fate star Mackenzie Davis as Big Barda.
As DCU obsessives may recall, James Gunn’s initial pitch for the franchise was that actors who voice their characters in animated projects will be the same ones to play them in live-action if needed. That came under scrutiny over the weekend when a fake post, purported to be from Gunn, claimed the series wasn’t DCU Canon, but now the man himself has taken to social media to not only squash that rumor but offer a fresh look at Hutcherson’s Mister Miracle and Davis’ Big Barda, writing: “Welcoming Josh Hutcherson as Mister Miracle and Mackenzie Davis as Big Barda in @TomKingTK’s forthcoming animated DCU series from DC Studios and @WB_Animation, #MisterMiracle.”
Welcoming Josh Hutcherson as Mister Miracle and Mackenzie Davis as Big Barda in @TomKingTK’s forthcoming animated DCU series from DC Studios and @WB_Animation, #MisterMiracle. pic.twitter.com/itNqbraOup
The confirmation from Gunn may be easy to miss in his “welcoming” tweet for the next two DC Stars, but the co-chairman referring to the new Mister Miracle show as a “forthcoming animated DCU series” is all you need. If this upcoming animated show was in any way not part of the larger franchise canon or was somehow intended to be a standalone thing with no ties, Gunn would have specifically called it “Elseworlds,” the label that DC Studios is giving to non-canon stories to the main DCU continuity (like the upcoming Dynamic Duo movie and anything related to The Batman).
Now that the canon debate is officially settled, and the fake news squashed, it’s worth noting how the art for the Mister Miracle series has clearly evolved since the show was first announced. In the early days, the show appeared to look quite similar to the character designs by Mitch Gerads seen in the comic itself; now, Scott Free and Big Barda both appear to have similarities that make them look much closer to their voice actors. Even if Gunn hadn’t been careful with his words, the art that reveals these two DC characters now bear a striking resemblance to the actors voicing them would have been a big clue.
On top of the characters now matching their actors, the art itself gets to the heart of one of the things that made the Mister Miracle comic so special: the relationship between these two characters. Not only do Scott and Barda lean on each other to come out the other side of the entire story, but they also define who they are despite their pasts. Even better, Hutcherson and Davis’ actual heights are clearly accounted for in the art, with the latter standing five inches higher than the former. All that to say is Hutcherson is confirmed to be the DCU’s first short king.
It remains to be seen when Mister Miracle will finally be released, but with casting confirmed and new art released, it’s only a matter of time. Perhaps the biggest question for many fans isn’t “When will Mister Miracle premiere?” but rather “When will the Mister Miracle cast show up in live-action?” The good news is that’s clearly on Gunn’s mind too, and it’s something clearly being planned for the future.
