Zach Cregger Still Wants to Make HENCHMAN, His DC Movie About an Ordinary Guy Caught Between Batman and Joker

Zach Cregger still has his sights set on Gotham City, and he wants to tell a Batman story from a perspective we rarely get to see. The director of Barbarian, Weapons, and the Resident Evil reboot is still interested in making his DC movie Henchman, which follows an ordinary guy who gets caught up in the madness of Batman and the Joker.

Cregger recently suggested that he's ready to take a break from major franchises and established IP, but Henchman remains a project he'd love to bring to life. It's an interesting concept that puts the focus on someone who would normally be little more than a background character in a Batman movie.

The project first made headlines last year when it was revealed that Cregger had written a script centered on "a low-level henchman in the Gotham crime world who gains notoriety after managing to incapacitate Batman through a stroke of luck."

The report also claimed, "The Dark Knight could appear briefly in the movie, while Harley Quinn and Joker are in the project as well. Cregger has not yet pitched it to DC Studios, though the company is said to be aware of his interest."

Cregger later cleared up some of those details explaining that the story isn't quite what people were imagining. He said: "It's a script called Henchman. It's about a normal guy. It's about a pharmacist who lives in Gotham City, and he gets accidentally sucked into this incredible power play between Batman and The Joker.

“And he finds himself a very integral part of something. And, so, it's a weird movie. It's someone living on the periphery of all the stories in Gotham that we know of and it's about some random. I'm not the world's biggest Batman guy at all, but I just liked this story. I liked this character. I liked what happened to him, so it was just fun."

He also said certain details were "getting blown out of proportion online," making it clear that "it's not a Joker and Harley Quinn script" and that he's "not talked to James Gunn about it."

Whether Cregger has since had any conversations with James Gunn or DC Studios remains unknown. However, the filmmaker recently confirmed that Henchman is still something he wants to direct.

"I like small, intimate stories that are relatively simple. Just like an ant pushing a grain of sand. Something that is just, you can wrap your head around the problem that this character has, and I'm not dealing with these giant tectonic plates of politics and lore and all those things."

He added, "We've seen so many Batman stories, but to see it from just a bystander who's on the edge of everything, I don't know, I'm so fascinated by that."

That's what makes Henchman such a cool idea. Gotham is filled with criminals, corrupt officials, and regular people trying to survive in a city where Batman and his enemies are constantly causing chaos.

Following some random pharmacist who accidentally becomes an important player in that world could make for a fun, strange, and entertaining crime story.

Of course, there's also the question of whether audiences want another Batman-adjacent movie instead of an actual Batman movie. With Clayface exploring another corner of Gotham and The Brave and the Bold still on DC Studios' development slate, there's an argument that fans would rather see the Dark Knight himself take center stage.

Still, Cregger's approach could offer something different, especially if he keeps the budget modest and focuses on the absurdity of an everyday guy getting pulled into a conflict between two of Gotham's biggest personalities. It's also the kind of offbeat DC project that could appeal to Gunn.

For now, Henchman remains an unproduced script with no official green light from DC Studios. Cregger already has plenty of projects demanding his attention, but it's good to know he hasn't given up on this one.

Of course, Cregger could always take the basic idea behind Henchman and rework it into an original story outside the DC Universe. Swap Batman and the Joker for original characters, create his own crime-ridden city, and keep the story focused on an ordinary guy caught in the middle of a dangerous power struggle.

It's a concept that could easily work without the DC connections, and Cregger wouldn't have to wait for DC Studios to give him the green light.

I'd love to see what Cregger could do with this story!