Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner Is Joining the DCU’s Adult Animated MISTER MIRACLE Series

Nathan Fillion’s loudmouthed Green Lantern isn’t going anywhere. After bringing Guy Gardner and his magnificently questionable haircut into the DCU with Superman, Fillion is officially carrying the character into animation for DC Studios’ upcoming adult series Mister Miracle.

Fillion has already made Guy one of the more entertaining personalities bouncing around the new DCU. Along with Superman, he appeared in Peacemaker Season 2 and is also set to show up in HBO’s Lanterns.

Now we know his version of Guy Gardner will make the jump from live-action to animation, further connecting the different corners of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC universe.

Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios were revealed last year to be developing Mister Miracle, based on the acclaimed comic series from Tom King and Mitch Gerads. While some previously announced DC projects have fallen by the wayside, this one continues to move forward.

King confirmed Fillion’s involvement and sounds pretty damn happy about bringing his particular brand of Guy Gardner into Scott Free’s increasingly complicated life.

“We brought Nathan into Mister Miracle’s show, and doing that, it’s just so wonderful," King tells EW. "He brings that energy to every aspect of it.

“And you would think it would be different tonally from [Lanterns], but it blends because that’s who Guy is. He’s that guy who is over the top. We all know that guy who’s a little bit like that.”

That personality should fit right into the strange cosmic insanity surrounding Mister Miracle. Guy can be obnoxious, abrasive, funny and weirdly endearing, sometimes all within the same conversation. Fillion has already found a great rhythm with the character, so hearing him cut loose in an adult animated DC series could be a lot of fun.

The main voice cast hasn’t been announced yet, but the story will center on Scott Free, the legendary escape artist known as Mister Miracle, and his wife, Big Barda. Their seemingly perfect life on Earth starts falling apart when a devastating war erupts between Apokolips and New Genesis.

The official synopsis reads: “The series follows Scott Free, known worldwide as Mister Miracle, the greatest escape artist who ever lived. With his wife, Big Barda, Scott seemed to have built the perfect life on Earth, until everything began to unravel.

“As war erupts between the planets Apocalypse and New Genesis, Scott’s adoptive father, Darkseid, has apparently obtained the Anti-Life Equation, a devastating force capable of dominating the universe.

“With carnage escalating on both sides, Mister Miracle becomes the last hope to end the conflict and restore peace. But the power of the Anti-Life Equation might already be affecting Scott’s mind, distorting his reality and threatening the happiness he shares with Barda.”

Anyone familiar with King and Gerads’ comic knows there’s a lot more going on here than a straightforward New Gods war story. The source material mixes huge cosmic ideas with an intensely personal story about Scott, Barda, relationships, reality and a mind that can’t necessarily trust what it’s experiencing.

An adult animated format gives DC plenty of room to embrace the stranger and more psychologically complicated parts of that material.

Recent character breakdowns have also offered a better idea of which New Gods and supporting players are expected to enter the picture.

Darkseid is described as “the physical manifestation of all evil in the universe. He speaks in a silly, over-the-top manner which is balanced with his calm, but confident demeanour.”

That sounds like an interesting approach to one of DC’s biggest villains, especially for a series that can shift between existential horror, domestic comedy and absurdity.

Funky Flashman is also expected to appear and serves “as a narrator in certain scenes, and his Stan Lee inspiration is very prevalent in this adaptation of the character. Described as a snake oil salesman, he’s very articulate with his words and knows how to sell a product”.

Then there’s Lightray, who is described as “very loyal to Highfather and Orion. He considers himself superior to Scott and Barda and sees himself as too good for the missions assigned to him by Highfather.”

Highfather, meanwhile, “is the all-knowing leader of New Genesis who has trouble connecting with the other New Gods due to his status and power, especially Scott who has resented him since childhood for his decision to give him up to Darkseid.”

That relationship is particularly important to Scott’s history. Highfather exchanged his own son with Darkseid as part of a peace agreement, sending Scott to be raised in the hellish world of Apokolips. There’s some serious family baggage packed into the New Gods mythology, and Mister Miracle has plenty to work with.

Darkseid’s biological son Orion will be part of the story as well. His breakdown says he will “carry his father’s anger, sins, and ambition, but has repressed it since childhood since being raised by Highfather. Orion will serve as a mentor to Scott in the series.”

One notable name missing from the current character information is Granny Goodness. Considering how deeply she factors into Scott Free’s horrific upbringing on Apokolips, it would be surprising if she didn’t eventually enter the series.

DC also has several other animated projects in development, including Starfire!, My Adventures with Green Lantern, DC Super Powers and the Dynamic Duo movie. Those projects are expected to exist as Elseworlds stories rather than within the primary DCU continuity.

Mister Miracle is different. James Gunn has confirmed the animated series takes place inside the DCU, and Fillion playing Guy Gardner across Superman, Peacemaker, Lanterns and now Mister Miracle makes that shared continuity much more tangible.

It’s also a cool example of how the DCU can move characters between mediums without completely reinventing them every time. Guy Gardner can walk around in live-action one day and show up as an animated character the next while still being the same obnoxious Green Lantern audiences already know.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Mister Miracle, particularly who will voice Scott Free, Big Barda, Darkseid and the rest of the New Gods. But bringing Fillion back as Guy Gardner gives the series one familiar DCU personality right out of the gate.

And really, if Scott Free thought escaping Apokolips was difficult, wait until he has to spend an afternoon dealing with Guy Gardner!