Clerks writer-director Kevin Smith says he was once commissioned to write a script for a cartoon about DC's Plastic Man, which would have starred The Big Bang Theory alum Jim Parsons in the lead role. Evidently, however, this project will never see the light of day.
"I was deep-diving into one of my old laptops looking for an old photo and I found a script to Plastic Man that I wrote -- for a Plastic Man cartoon -- like two years ago, or something like that," Smith said on a recent episode of his and Marc Bernardin's Fatman Beyond podcast. "I completely fuckin' forgot about it -- and they paid me to write it and then they didn't do it. And it was with, what's his name, from The Big Bang Theory, lovely guy... Jim Parsons."
Smith explained that Parsons was "going to be the voice of Plastic Man." The filmmaker continued, "So, I looked at the script, and I was like, 'Wow, man, they fuckin' paid me to write this and it's never gonna happen.' Like, it happens all the time... Brian Lynch [writer of films like Hop, Puss in Boots and Minions], one of the most talented people that I know -- he's a great writer like you [Bernardin], like, a zillion fuckin' great ideas a minute... for fuckin' 10 years prior to him making a single one of those movies, that motherfucker made such a healthy living writing amazing scripts that nobody's ever seen."
Created by Jack Cole, Patrick "Eel" O'Brian/Plastic Man first appeared in Police Comics #1, which was published by Quality Comics in 1941. Patrick was a criminal who was shot, covered in chemical liquid and left for dead during a botched heist. The liquid granted him the ability to stretch his body, with the reformed crook becoming the superhero known as Plastic Man. Quality Comics closed its doors in 1956, with DC acquiring the rights to Plastic Man after the fact. The character has since gone on to appear as a member of the Justice League and, more recently, The Terrifics.
Plastic Man has made a number of animated appearances over the last several decades as well, showing up in television shows like Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Justice League: Action, as well as in films like Teen Titans Go! To the Movies and Injustice. A live-action Plastic Man movie is in development, with Cat Vasko penning the script, though few other details are known about the project at the moment. If Smith's animated Plastic Man project had gone ahead, the aforementioned Parsons would not have been the only Big Bang Theory alum to voice a DC hero, with Kaley Cuoco currently starring as the titular character of HBO Max's Harley Quinn animated series.
Smith is himself no stranger to the DC Universe, having done voice work in animated films like Superman: Doomsday and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, even portraying himself in the latter. Additionally, Smith directed multiple episodes of the live-action TV shows The Flash and Supergirl for The CW. More recently, he provided the voice for Mervyn "Merv" Pumpkinhead in Audible's audio drama adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Smith is also no stranger to The Big Bang Theory, having made guest appearances as himself in two episodes of the CBS sitcom.
Source: YouTube