Want to see Leo in Lycra? Leonardo DiCaprio is making an environmental superhero movie!

Over the past few years Leonardo DiCaprio has become as well known for his environmental activism as his film work. Now it looks like he might be about to combine his passions. The Oscar-winner’s production company is in talks to make a film of ‘Captain Planet’, the early ‘90s TV series cartoon about an eco-warrior superhero.

Crushingly, odds are that Leo won’t play Captain Planet, but his company, Appian Way, is set to make the film. According to the trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story, ‘Captain Planet’ will pick up with the blue-skinned superhero years after the cartoon finished, now ‘a washed-up has-been who needs the kids more than they need him’.

If you’re too young to remember (or not enough of a '90s nostalgia junky), the original TV series followed five teenage activists from around the globe, the ‘planeteers’, who each had a ring controlling an element (earth, fire, wind, water, heart). When the five joined forces, they could summon Captain Planet to fight enemies like Dr Blight and Sly Sludge. His only weakness was a vulnerability to pollution.

In an interview with Time Out earlier this year, Leo called climate change ‘the most important issue in human history’ and he used his Oscar speech in February to focus on the issue. We asked Leo, an Obama supporter, if he would consider running for political office to promote his climate change message. While he didn’t rule it out, the 41-year-old told us that he didn’t trust politicians to solve global warming: ‘I think that a lot of the change needs to come from communal efforts, from groups and people who are trying to rattle the system. I think change is going to have to come from outside. You can’t depend on politicians to make the right decision.’

The big question now is what will the eco-crunchy superhero wear? Since Lycra is non-recyclable – will Captain Planet be dressed in organic cotton or bamboo?