A Justice League Dark movie is happening and JJ Abrams is in charge

Just a few years ago, it was announced that Pan's Labyrinth mastermind Guillermo del Toro would be working on a Justice League Dark film.

It seemed like a good fit – the Justice League Dark (John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Shade, the Changing Man, and Zatanna) are all supernatural supeheroes; they're a bit darker than the Captain Americas, for example. At the time, del Toro even said he was attracted to the project because the "superheroes were monsters": "I'm not into those things... I'm in favour of monster narratives," he said.

Well, even after a script was delivered in 2015, the film remained unmade. But now it's back, and J.J. Abrams is involved.

• The 20 greatest superhero movies of all time

It's not clear exactly what role Abrams will be taking up with the project, but his production company, Bad Robot, will be manning the helm of the project.

According to Deadline, “Bad Robot’s Head of Motion Pictures Hannah Minghella and Head of Television Ben Stephenson will soon be taking meetings with talent reps and their writing clients on which characters will get their own projects", so it looks like it could be a big, world-building exercise.

Deadline also suggests that both "film and television projects" are being considered, so it could take any number of forms.

But with the offbeat characters, there's plenty of potential for something genuinely unusual – and we're looking forward to seeing what that something is.