Dan Dare to celebrate their 20th anniversary, "2000 AD" published two issues with additional free comics, the first a reprint of the first issue of "2000 AD", which starred Dan Dare. The second free comic was a speculative issue called "3000 AD" which contained strips partially based on the first issue of "2000 AD". One strip was entitled "The Return of Dan Dare", which also featured the return of the Mekon. In 1982 "Eagle" was re-launched, with "Dan Dare" again its flagship strip. The new character was the great-great-great-grandson of the original hero—the only surviving character from the original strip being the
Dan Dare to play Dare respectively. In 1991 a short pilot starring Bathurst as Dare, and Geoffrey Hughes as Digby was made. Parts of it were broadcast in an ITV documentary, "Future Perfect". In 2010, Variety announced that Warner Bros. will produce a Dan Dare movie starring Sam Worthington in the title role. During the 1980s Dan Dare starred in three computer games for the Commodore 64/128, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari computers. The first was a different game on each system; the second and third were shoot'em-ups. All three were based on the 1950s strip rather than the contemporary comics.