Keanu Reeves’ Constantine Movie Gets A Shoutout In DC Comics

Keanu Reeves 2015 movie, Constantine, had fans and critics divided because of the changes made to the comic book source material. Throughout the years, the movie has managed to gain a cult following and now it got a shout out in Justice League #68.

John Constantine is DC’s most enduring character and has made appearances since his introduction back in 1985’s Saga of the Swamp Thing #37. The character is the founder member of Justice League Dark and also one of the founding titles of the Vertigo imprint as he starred in the long-running Hellblazer title.

Director Francis Lawrence made an attempt to adapt the character for live-action for the first time in 2005. The movie took liberties with the source material and one of the changes was that the character was a blond-haired British man and became a dark-haired American. Fans weren’t happy because they wanted a more comic-accurate Constantine.

But the movie was a hit at the box office and has a cult status as a fun, supernatural action-thriller. Fans eventually got their comic-accurate Constantine which was played by Matt Ryan in The CW’s Arrowverse. However, now the 2005 Keanu Reeves movie gets a reference in Justice League #68. The comic was written by Brian Michael Mendis.

The Synmar Utopica had attacked the Hall of Justice which nearly destroyed it. A new League member, Naomi McDuffie’s parents were visiting her at the Hall when Synmar launched the attack. However, they were all brought to a safe room in the basement by John Constantine. Naomi, later on, finds her parents in the room and were talking to John.

When she walks into the room, someone mentions a movie starring Tilda Swinton and says “she was brilliant in it”. The shoutout was to the 2005 film where Tilda played the archangel, Gabriel. Readers will not learn exactly what the movie was discussing with Naomi’s parents. However, the shout out to Tilda being “brilliant” is from the 2005 movie.

The nod in Justice League #68 seems to be a knowing reference to the movie. It is, however, possible that the Keanu Reeves interpretation of John Constantine could appear again because of the introduction of the Omniverse.