New Jersey is home to some of the most creative people. Abbott and Costello, Frank Sinatra, Jack Nicholson, James Rolfe. New Jersey was the place where Thomas Edison introduced the world to the light bulb. The northeastern state is the mother of invention. For the comedian, filmmaker, and podcast host Kevin Smith, it’s just Jersey. Growing up in the small clamming town of Highlands leaves much to be desired. Smith saw how a job was different from your work through his postal worker father’s late night shifts. The drudgery inspired him to seek creativity.

He recorded his own comedy sketches, attended and withdrew from art school, and eventually found his lifelong friend Jason Mewes over a shared love of comic books. Together, they would go on to amass a filmography with cult followings as the signature stoner duo, Jay and Silent Bob. Like Smith, his characters don’t quite fit the mold. It’s left-field thinking and flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants filmmaking that made him an endearing, zealous figure in the entertainment industry. After his fatherhood-themed and Stan Lee love letter film Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), it’s only fitting that Kevin Smith creates a superhero film.

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Comic Book Nerdom

     Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Most fans probably recognize Smith from his first and infamous low-budget 1994 film Clerks. Modern audiences most likely know him as that comic book guy on the AMC show Comic Book Men. Smith has a passion for the pulp fiction heroics. He has said that he buys three of the same comic book issue: one for reading, one for collecting, and one for collage-making. Since his film debut, Smith understands the ordinary humdrum life and knows how to share its extraordinary nuance.

His awareness of pop culture gives him a deep connection to both Marvel and DC Comics characters. Smith owns his own comic book store in New Jersey, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Smith has written comic books for some of his favorite superheroes, including Batman, Daredevil, Green Arrow, and Spider-Man. Smith even named his daughter after the Batman villain Harley Quinn. Speaking of which, Smith was vocal about the cancellation of Batgirl. Superheroes come naturally to the Comic Book Man and he hosts the Fatman on Batman (now Fatman Beyond) podcast. Plus, he wrote a Hit-Girl comic. Kevin Smith could easily make a Batgirl movie.

Humor and Horror

     A24

Horror has been a genre Kevin Smith is fond of as well. Red State (2011) depicted the hypocrisy of the religious folks proclaiming “Jesus loves you” while spouting their prejudice against homosexuals with cruel and faith-filled hysteria, judgment, and torture. Tusk (2014) tells the body horror story of a Dr. Moreau figure who turns his victims into humanoid walruses. Both films utilized actor Michael Parks to complement Smith’s ability to delve into the dark comedy of dire situations.

Polarizing and taboo subjects have been the structure of many comic book story arcs, such as Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight and Alan Moore’s Watchmen. Smith has dealt with irredeemable and odd-man-out characters before. A good project for Smith to explore with Marvel would be the line of horror-themed revivals of the classic monsters, like Werewolf by Night. To complete his horror comedy series, known as the True North trilogy, the planned Moose Jaws will showcase a killer shark with moose antlers. James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), manned a DC project, The Suicide Squad (2021) and introduced audiences to weird, unheard-of characters, seen by many for the first time. Smith has the dreadful creativity to match the unknown and unspeakable creatures and villains comic book stories have to offer.

The View Askewniverse

     Lionsgate

Named after Smith’s production company, View Askew Productions, the View Askewniverse is Smith’s fictional universe of recurring characters, settings, and themes across multiple mediums. For example, New Jersey is the center of the View Askewniverse, a choice inspired by Smith’s viewing of the 1990 comedy Slacker, which was filmed in the hometown of its director. A step further shows a metaverse within a metaverse; Smith’s comic book series Bluntman and Chronic first appeared in his films before being actually published after the prequel film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).

Smith has the potential to converge his View Askewniverse with the DC Extended Universe or Marvel Cinematic Universe. Imagine his animated film Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! (2013) with the animation power of The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Smith is such a Batman fan, he got not one, but two Batman actors in his movies: Val Kilmer played Bluntman in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and Kevin Conroy played Canadian Bat, Man! in Yoga Hosers (2016). Kevin Smith has the origin story; he just needs his next adventure with DC or Marvel.