HBO Max’s ‘Mister Miracle’ Adds Josh Hutcherson as Scott Free, Mackenzie Davis as Barda

Peter Safran just broke the DCU’s latest casting news.The animated “Mister Miracle” series, based on Tom King’s award-winning comic of the same name, will star Josh Hutcherson and Mackenzie Davis. Hutcherson will play the titular escape artist Mister Miracle, a.k.a. Scott Free, while Mackenzie Davis will star as his fellow New God, Big Barda.Safran, co-CEO of DC Studios alongside James Gunn, broke the news in an interview with IGN. DC Studios did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. It is unclear if Hutcherson and Davis will reprise these roles in live-action projects, though Gunn has stated in the past that it’s the intent of the DCU for performers to cross over between the two mediums for “primary castings.” Scott and Barda would certainly fit the bill. It should also be noted that Davis is taller than Hutcherson, a key component when it comes to portraying these characters in live-action (in the comics, Barda is generally around a foot taller than Scott). Fresh off of writing on and co-creating “Lanterns,” King serves as the showrunner of “Mister Miracle.” Safran tells IGN that King adapted his own work “fully on his own,” writing all eight episodes of the animated series. Mister Miracle and Barda were both created by Jack Kirby in 1971’s “Mister Miracle #1” and “Mister Miracle #4” respectively. Scott Free is the son of Highfather, the ruler of the Utopian planet New Genesis. To put an end to a war between the New God worlds of New Genesis and the dreaded Apokolips, Highfather made an exchange with the evil ruler Darkseid, giving up Scott and taking Darkseid’s son Orion in return. After growing up on Apokolips, Scott eventually rebels against Darkseid. He is later joined by (and falls in love with) Big Barda, a member of Darkseid’s warrior legion known as the Female Furies. Scott and Barda both become Earth heroes and Justice League members — Mister Miracle a master escape artist, Big Barda a super-strong fighter. Tom King’s acclaimed 2017 take on the characters, a 12-issue limited series with art by Mitch Gerads, sees Scott and Barda grappling with mortality and parenthood as war on New Genesis coincides with big changes at home. The book sees Scott battle PTSD and his inner demons as he also comes into contact with Darkseid and the Anti-Life Equation.