Robert Downey Jr. Developing Pilot of DC Comics Series 'Sweet Tooth'

You can’t tie Robert Downey Jr. down to one comic book company. With Avengers 4 likely being his last film for Marvel, the East Hampton resident is dipping his toe into DC Comics, with the upcoming comic book drama, Sweet Tooth.

On November 16, Deadline reported that Hulu has ordered a pilot of Sweet Tooth, a fantasy series based off a comic book of the same name. Jim Mickle will write and direct the project and will executive produce alongside Downey, Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell of the Team Downey production company and Linda Moran.

Created by Jeff Lemire for DC Vertigo in 2009, this classic post-apocalyptic coming-of-age story follows Gus, a nine-year-old human/deer hybrid who lives in the woods with a loving and religious father who warns him of the great fire beyond the trees. Gus’s curiosity leads him to discover that instead of impassable fire, there is actually more land to explore outside the forest, though it has been scorched and destroyed by a mysterious incident. After his father’s passing Gus must band together with a team of humans and hybrids to find answers to explain what brought about the cataclysmic event.

Deadline also reports that Team Downey has a pilot in the works for Constance, a new TNT drama starring Elisabeth Shue. The series follows a former beauty queen, Constance Young (Shue), whose life is thrown into turmoil after her husband’s mysterious death and her family’s near–financial ruin.

The company is also producing The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle starring Downey as the pet-whispering veterinarian, scheduled for release in 2020, Sherlock Holmes 3, also scheduled for 2020, and a Perry Mason TV reboot series for HBO. While Marvel’s Iron Man made Downey a blockbuster icon, he is clearly trying to branch out creatively and produce more of his own brand of television and movies, even if that means working with Marvel’s rival comic book company.