Helmet In 'Constantine' Trailer Teases Dr. Fate Appearance

Well, I've got good news and bad news.

I'll start with the bad: The new trailer for NBC's new Constantine TV series confirms that the pronunciation of the lead character's name will be the movie version (Kon-stan-teen) instead of the comics version (Kon-stan-tyne). Now the good news: It looks like Dr. Fate is going to be in it somehow, which means this is going to be a full-on DC Comics TV show.

See if you can catch a quick glimpse of the sorcerer's helmet in the video above.

A full appearance from the character wouldn't be Dr. Fate's first foray into live-action TV -- he made a few appearances on Smallville in the later seasons -- but it certainly would mean a lot for Constantine being part of a larger DC TV universe.

If you're unfamiliar with Dr. Fate, here's the rundown: He's one of DC's oldest characters, dating back to the Golden Age, with his first appearance in 1940's More Fun Comics #55. There have been a whole bunch of different characters to hold the title--men and women--but generally Dr. Fate is a cornerstone member of the Justice Society of America and powerful sorcerer. Only one version of the character had a boss 1990s face tattoo (and no helmet).

And who knows? Perhaps all this will play into director Guillermo del Toro's plans to build a "Dark" DC movie universe that would revolve around the Justice League Dark title. There are already plans to include John Constantine in the movie -- could that tie in to the TV show? Are we facing down some kind of shared DC TV and movie universe? What would that mean with shows spread out across multiple networks (The CW has Arrow and The Flash, NBC has Constantine, and Fox has Gotham).

Are things about to get really complicated? It wouldn't be DC Comics if it wasn't, would it?

[Via ScreenCrush]