See Matt Ryan’s John Constantine Surprised By A Half-Naked Zatanna
Well, who would mind that?
Matt Ryan made his final live-action appearance as John Constantine in the season 6 finale of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean he’s done with the character. Ever since 2017’s Justice League Dark, Ryan has voiced the character for his appearances in the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU). Now he’s returning to give Constantine a voice in DC Showcase: Constantine – The House of Mystery. In a clip that was just released, the hero runs into his on-and-off love interest Zatanna, in a way that he wasn’t exactly expecting (but doesn’t seem to mind).
CBR posted the clip from The House of Mystery earlier today. In it, we see John Constantine find himself in a candlelit hallway and sensing the presence of someone or something dangerous. He summons a ball of flame and throws open a door, only to find Zatanna in bed, in only her underwear, waiting for him.
While John Constantine is clearly happy to see Zatanna, there’s a good chance that isn’t the real Zatanna tempting him to bed. In 2020’s Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, the heroes of Earth are fooled into launching an assault on Darkseid’s home. The heroes eventually succeed in defeating Darkseid, but by the end of the film many them are dead and the Earth is still doomed. Constantine convinces The Flash to use his speed to change the past. In The House of Mystery, we will learn that Constantine has been sentenced to spend eternity in the titular house for messing with the natural order of things.
John Constantine has an interesting adaptation history that only seems to be getting more interesting as time goes on. Keanu Reeves was the first actor to play a live-action version of the character in 2005’s Constantine. Panned by critics and despised initially by fans for changing aspects of the source material, any hopes of a Constantine sequel died quickly. Matt Ryan was cast as a much more comic book accurate version of the character in NBC’s Constantine series, but it was canceled with only its inaugural season to show. Ryan was tapped to reprise the role in The CW’s Arrowverse shows like The Flash and Arrow, and before long he had a regular spot on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
Two more live-action versions of John Constantine are due to show up soon, both of which stray from the source material in intriguing ways. In Netflix’s upcoming The Sandman series, we will meet — instead of John Constantine — Joanna Constantine. Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) will play both the present day version of the character, as well as her ancestor Lady Johanna Constantine. In the meantime a live-action Justice League Dark series is in development for HBO Max, and the Constantine of that series will reportedly be an actor of color.
DC Showcase: Constantine – The House of Mystery is a short animated film due for release on Blu-ray and digital HD next Tuesday, May 3, but the John Constantine story won’t be the only one in the release. The House of Mystery will include three more short films. Cameron Monaghan (Gotham) will voice the eponymous “last boy on Earth” in Kamandi, Matt Lanter (The Clone Wars) will play Ted Kord in Blue Beetle, and Ming-Na Wen (The Book of Boba Fett) voices a new character for The Losers.
