Guess Which DC Superhero the CW Is Now Pushing to Television to Replace Smallville?

Can you guess? Aquaman? They pushed for an entire pilot for that. Well, no, that never got picked up. Wonder Woman? No, the CW passed on that show and let NBC wrangle the pilot together. Raven, maybe? As was rumored last year, and kind of made a ton of sense for them. I believe my exact statement at the time was that a half-demon superheroine could be pitched like “if Bella and Edward had a baby and that baby was Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Nope. It’s none of those. It’s Deadman. Deadman, written and produced by the guy who put Supernatural together.

And you know what? I’m 100% in favor of bringing the most obscure comic book characters to other media and showing them to people who would otherwise have no idea who they are.

Since you have no idea who Deadman is, here’s who he is:

He’s a murdered trapeze artist (hence the costume and makeup, apparently) who, as a ghost, is charged by a supreme power of the universe to find his killer. Naturally, in the search for the mysterious one-handed man who shot him to death, he uncovers and foils the plans of a large criminal network through his one ghostly ability: possessing the bodies of other people.

Deadman’s (aka Boston Brand’s) appearances have always been a mix of the macabre and spooky with the dry humor of a guy who, up until now, was not particularly introspective, spiritually inclined, or concerned about his own death. Which, if Eric Kripke’s work on Supernatural is any indication, is up his alley, through the back door, helping itself to the liquor cabinet. Supernatural is currently the CW’s longest running scripted show on the air, so hopefully they’re serious about this one and sooner or later we’ll see Deadman in production.

The only question is whether the show would be improved or not by the addition of Whoopi Goldberg.

(Deadline via The Daily Blam! Top pic by Bruce Timm.)