Over the past decade, superhero films and franchises have cemented their position in Hollywood as one of the most valuable and influential assets any production company or movie studio can undertake. While the allure of superheroes and the stories that accompany them is nothing new, the success of the Avengers franchise and its counterparts in the past decade has revitalized a genre that many could have argued was struggling for a few years. Marvel was dead in the water before they were acquired by a toy company and their film franchises were revitalized, translating to billions of dollars in box office receipts and revenue; now, DC Comics is hoping to do the same. They have already begun this process with the production of new films such as the reboot of the Wonder Woman franchise starring Gal Gadot that has been wildly successful, however they are still far from finished. The next step in this process is Sweet Tooth, a new series DC is producing alongside streaming giant Netflix about a peculiar young boy thrust into the world at a strange time which Netflix has just released the first official trailer for.
As the trailer above may indicate, the story at the heart of Sweet Tooth doesn’t necessarily fit the typical mold of a project coming from a company like DC Comics. Instead of capturing the story of an established, crime-fighting superhero, Sweet Tooth will be much more of a coming of age story: a young boy born part deer, played by Christian Convery, must learn to navigate a dystopian society being ravaged by a virus called “The Great Crumble” alongside his companion played by Nonso Anozie. The virus is rather ambiguous in the context of the series and is believed to be a part of why this young man was born with features easily attributable to a deer, however the answers to the obvious questions of how and why remain unclear; those answers, instead, will be what Convery’s character aims to unearth in the new series. The story is inspired by the DC Comic series of the same name and is being executive produced by Susan and Robert Downey Jr., the latter of which being no stranger to comic book folklore.
Despite being based upon a story revolving around a dystopian society, the trailer for Sweet Tooth has a much more whimsical and adventurous feel to it. The young man at the center of the story named Gus must discover the secrets and answers behind his existence to fully grasp what it is he is being faced with, a tall task for a child who doesn’t even appear to be over the age of 10 yet. Despite this, the creative forces at DC and Netflix have crafted a universe where said character will have the chance to figure it all out in eight, sixty minute episodes this summer. Eager fans can prepare for the new series’ release which is currently set to debut on Netflix June 4th.
