The Untold Story of How Clint Eastwood Almost (Maybe) Played DC Comics Antihero Jonah Hex

According to some sources, Clint Eastwood Almost played Jonah Hex In a movie based on the popular Western hero from DC Comics. Eastwood is often fan-cast as DC’s scarred bounty hunter, so it will come as a shock to many who The world-famous star may have come close to playing Jonah Hex not long after the villain made his comics debut.

A Civil War veteran with a bad streak, Jonah Hex immediately stood out from the clean-cut Western heroes seen in comics before his 1972 debut. He didn’t shoot the guns out of the bad hands, and sometimes didn’t even wait for them to draw their guns before he blew them away.

Hex has periodically appeared in the DCU in some form or another since, including a 2010 film. However, plans for a Jonah Hex film date back to the 1970s, and may have involved the Hollywood superstar who inspired his creation.

Western icon Clint Eastwood was the original inspiration for DC’s Jonah Hex

First appearance: All-Star West #10 – Created by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga

Created by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, Jonah Hex first appeared in All-Star West #10. The youth made quite an impression, vi All-star is renamed Funny Western Tales Two issues later, and Jonah Hex has quickly become the main star of the title. Author Susan Hillwig, who runs The Complete Definitive “An Illustrated History of John Hex” series on her blog, describes Hex’s sudden rise to popularity:

“You must understand, Jonah became Very Popular in a Very Short period of time. The character was originally given a stint of 5 issues, and when they saw the sales figures, they had to push to get Albano & DeZuniga to do more.“

Although the popularity of the Hex character was, in a sense, unexpected, it was also an extension of ideas often encountered in popular culture at the time.

Creators John Albano and Tony DeZuniga always noted how they wanted to make a grittier, more realistic Western hero, in the fashion of Clint Eastwood in the Spaghetti Westerns of the 60s. When describing how the character came in 2005s Back issue #12, Tony DeZuniga describes the gritty approach to the character, saying, “The cowboys dressed really dirty – I would say dirty and dirty – and I love to do that.Readers loved it too, and it wasn’t long before Jonah Hex spun off into his own, self-titled series in 1977.

Jonah Hex Fans picked up on the Eastwood connection immediately, with many writing in to note the similarities to the actor’s earlier spaghetti westerns. It eventually became a popular topic in the letter columns of both Funny Western Tales And Jonah HexAs readers have written into DC and expressed their desire to see Clint Eastwood take on the role. Little did the fans know that Eastwood (and his production company Malpaso) was allegedly already working behind the scenes to bring Jonah Hex to the big screen not long after the character made his debut.

How close did Clint Eastwood really come to playing DC’s scarred bounty hunter Jonah Hex?

Hex’s creator’s grandson explained

John Albano, one of John Hex’s original creators, infamously stopped writing the strip with Funny Western Tales #21. While the reason for his sudden departure was not explained at the time, It was later revealed that Albano soon came into conflict with DC over the Jonah Hex character. “I don’t know all the details“, says Jared Vian, John Albano’s grandson, “But I know my grandfather took DC to court over rights or royalty to Jonah Hex.“

The reason for this sudden court action by Albano? According to Vian, It arose when discussions began about a potential Jonah Hex Movie Between Clint Eastwood’s Malpaso Productions and Warner Bros./DC:

“I also know that at one point, a movie was discussed with Clint Eastwood. When I was a teenager, I remember seeing papers at my grandfather’s house talking about the possibility of a movie.“

Whatever the case, Albano was stripped of his signature character as a result. A 2005 Revenge for John Albano Written by Mark Evanier says that a “The lawsuit was settled with Albano receiving money“, but the writer was ostracized by DC, as a result. The planned Jonah Hex The film never came to pass, although whether this is also an unfortunate byproduct of the process is unknown.

It is important to note that comic book characters were rarely pursued by Hollywood in any serious capacity during this era of film history. “Until the 1990s, the interest [in Warner Bros. adapting DC Comics] was very limited” says Paul Levitz, a longtime DC executive who served as the president of DC Comics from 2002-2009. Levitz was unsure whether Warners had ever pursued a Jonah Hex Adaptation in the seventies, so to speak:

“I don’t remember hearing about the movie discussions, but I wouldn’t necessarily have heard them in my role back then.“

Levitz is also unsure about any lawsuit Albano may have filed against DC:

“He could have threatened, or had a lawyer push DC to a more reasonable deal than his original terms…which would have been the standard terrible deal of the time.“

In other words, evidence of Eastwood’s involvement in a Jonah Hex Adaptation remains anecdotal.

The Outlaw Jonah Hex – How Clint Eastwood’s career reflects DC’s cowboy character

Explore the parallels between The bandit Josie Wales & Jonah Hex

Although the proposed Jonah Hex The movie never got off the ground, the character continued to appear month-in and month-out in DC Comics, at a time when Western heroes were struggling to survive in the four-color world. Westerns also began to fall out of fashion in Hollywood, although a few mainstays kept the genre on life support. Clint Eastwood would direct and star in both High Plains Drifter And The bandit Josie Wales During this decade, both portrayed the darker, gritty tone of the genre seen in Funny Western Tales And Jonah Hex.

In fact, if one wild rumor is to be believed, THe banned Josie Wales May have taken inspiration from none other than Jonah Hex himself. Based on the novel Went to Texas (aka The Rebel Outlaw: Josie Wales) by the controversial ASA / Forrest Carter, Eastwood’s 1976 film tells the story of a Missouri farmer whose family is murdered in the American Civil War, and proceeds to become a legendary gunfighter on his path of revenge. Some rumors point to Eastwood and Malpaso shifting focus to The bandit Josie Wales Once these Jonah Hex Contract fell through.

Susan Hillwig explains how Hex may have inspired Eastwood’s adaptation of Josie WalesAlthough she is quick to point out this is all rumour/speculation:

“Now we’re diving into ‘rumor’ territory… if this is true, though, it could explain why the vertical scar Eastwood is wearing in the movie Resembles a simplified version of ​Hex, more than what Josie Wales described as in the book (ie a horizontal slash across his cheek caused by a bullet). There is also the fact that the betrayal and slaughter of Wales’ regiment once they surrender (which does not happen in the book) bears resemblance to Fleisher’s description of the fort Charlotte Massacre, which was first described in Funny Western Tales #29, a year before the movie came out.“

Although not confirmed, Hillwig’s examples certainly paint a compelling picture of how Jonah Hex may have inspired The bandit Josie Wales In some way. This may all boil down to little more than wishful thinking or mere coincidence, but it makes for fascinating speculation nonetheless, as it hints at a possible “divergent timeline” where comic book adaptations became standard in Hollywood decades earlier than they actually did. .

The fan campaign to get Clint Eastwood the John Hex role, explained

While Clint Eastwood’s alleged Jonah Hex The adaptation never got off the ground, the story doesn’t end there. Fans are still adamant about the actor taking on the role in “Via Pony Express,” The letters column of the monthly Jonah Hex Series. The column for 1981s Jonah Hex #57 contains a letter from Mike Sopp, who went so far as to obtain the address to Malfosa’s production office. Sopp writes in his letter:

“I suggest that, as soon as everyone finishes reading this letter, they send any number of Jonah hexes they can get their hands on..”

Subsequent issues contained letters from fans saying they had sent their old back issues to Malpaso, so the fan campaign was in full effect.

Although the image of the Malpaso offices being flooded with John Hex comics is quite amusing, the letter-writing campaign never amounted to anything. It is interesting to note that Eastwood would return to the genre four years after Mike Sopp’s letter campaign, with the release of 1985’s. Pale RiderThe actor/director’s first true-blue western since The bandit Josie Wales. A supernatural western that feels like it would be very much at home in Funny Western Tales, Pale Rider Featured the iconic actor as the preacher, a ghostly gunslinger who helps a group of independent prospectors fight a mining baron.

Interestingly enough, 1985 was also the year Jonah Hex Ongoing series has been canceled by DC. The gunslinger is sent to a post-apocalyptic future in the relaunch Hex series, which would run for eighteen issues before it too was canceled in 1987. But where other comic book Western heroes fell into obscurity, Jonah Hex remained in the public consciousness, continuing to appear in DC Comics as the various Vertigo miniseries produced by Joe Lansdale and Tim Truman, and another long-running series in the 2000s written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray.

Jonah Hex remains DC’s most iconic western hero

Clint Eastwood’s epic comic book movie “What-If?”

After several false starts, the character would eventually make it to the big screen in the 2010s Jonah Hexwhere he was portrayed by actor Josh Brolin. Although the results left much to be desired, the fact that the character was deemed worthy enough to carry his own feature film solidifies the prominence of the Western gang in comic book history. Whether or not Clint Eastwood Once tried to make a DC Comics anti-hero film Jonah Hex, The two will forever share a legacy due to their drastic reinvention of the Western genre.