Way back in 2016, we got word that a live-action Captain Planet movie was in development at Paramount Pictures and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way, with Jono Matt and current Hollywood golden boy Glen Powell enlisted to write the script. The Top Gun: Maverick and Hitman star was also said to be in line to play the title role.
Updates have been pretty much non-existent since, but Powell recently confirmed that the project is still in the works, and he's very keen to play the environmentalist hero.
"Captain Planet is definitely something I'm incredibly passionate about," he told Yahoo! "Leonardo DiCaprio and I have been putting that together for several years. With the recent changes over at Warner Bros., we're just trying to figure out how the pieces will fall."
"It's an environmental superhero, so it's not necessarily part of DC — it exists outside of that world. At the same time, I think the world has never needed an environmental superhero more! So I think it tonally fits in with everything that James Gunn and Peter Safran are doing at DC and Leo and I are very optimistic that we can make something happen. I'd love to play Captain Planet — that'd be sick."
We're not sure Gunn and Safran could be convinced to make Captain Planet part of their 10-year plan for the DCU, but that doesn't mean the film couldn't move forward as a completely separate entity at Warner Bros., and Powell is still optimistic that the movie will eventually take off.
"God, I freaking hope so," he told Collider when asked if we will ever see the Captain Planet film. "Trust me, we have been working hard on that one for a long time. I'm optimistic about his future, but you never know the timeline."
Some of you might be a bit young to remember Captain Planet and the Planeteers, but the cartoon was very popular when it ran from 1990 to 1992, and still maintains a bit of a following. The show focused on five teens from around the globe who could control the elements, and once their powers were combined they were able to summon Captain Planet - a superhero who battled against pollution in an effort to cleanse the environment.
Apparently, Powell and Matt's take would be set "years after the adventures of the show, with the Captain now a washed up hasbeen who needs the kids more than they need him."