The end of one year and beginning of a new one is a time of
serious duality, a time to look back and reminisce while also dream of the
future yet to come. In that
respect I’ve got my own blend of year appraisal and prognostication/wishful
thinking for the year to come in the form of “Blockbusters According to
Comics.” This is where I look over
some of the biggest hit films, TV, and trends of the past year and try and find
the comic book property that could be adapted to fit well into that particular
cresting wave. Currently I’m
limiting my suggestions to DC and Marvel properties but we’ll see, in the years
to come maybe Image and Darkhorse and friends will have enough properties and
clout to consider an adaptation.
Till then, here are the blockbusters according to comics.
KAZAR
Blockbuster: Jurassic
World, The Good Dinosaur, Dinotrux
2015 was the year dinosaurs came back in a big way and
luckily for me there’s no shortage of dino-related antics and characters to be
culled from the realms of comics.
Kazar is probably the tamest of the bunch, which is why he’s starting
out the list rather than him being the best. His story is that he and his wealthy aristocratic English
parents were travelling around Antarctica for unaccountable reasons when they
became lost in the Savage Land.
The Savage Land is a hidden continent bellow the Antarctic continent
full of dinosaurs, cave people, and mutates lead by a Pterodactyl man who was
such a nerd he named himself Sauron after the Lord of the Rings villain.
The Savage Land is one of the coolest Marvel locals so getting a hero
down there to bring it into the MCU would be a major win, though the Savage
Land is often associated with the X-Men so this might be more of a Fox idea
than a Marvel one. Still, Marvel
has finagled other characters and locals like the Inhumans, Ronan, and Black
Panther, all of whom are Fantastic Four supporting characters, so if they could
manage getting a Kazar film into production now is definitely the time.
GHOST RIDER
Blockbuster: Furious
7, Mad Max: Fury Road
I know, I know: the Ghost Rider “seal of quality” is still
probably tarnished in your mind from the two abysmal movies Nic Cage forced
into existence as part of his years of elaborate self-sabotage. However, given that this was the year
we were willing to give Daredevil and Supergirl a shot regardless of their
crappy old movies and took a chance on unknowns like Ant-Man and Jessica Jones,
maybe now is the time for Ghost Rider to finally be redeemed, especially
because he’s about the first and last word in superhero hot rods.
I’m not fool enough to think the cars
were the only things making Furious 7 and
Mad Max: Fury Road hits but they
certainly helped and given that their respective stars were massive, grumbling
slabs of man meat with a tenuous grasp on humanity I feel like that’s a
template Ghost Rider would fit into rather naturally. What’s more this was a major year for ‘90s nostalgia
revivals and that was the decade Ghost Rider was king as essentially “Spawn
with better grasp of character and story,” so I think if they brought him back
now the audience would definitely be there.
UNCLE SAM &
THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Blockbuster: Man In
The High Castle
At time of writing Man
In The High Castle is the first bona fide Amazon streaming smash hit, even
landing a second season despite going up against the much more widely discussed
and groundbreaking Jessica Jones. Given that DC comics already has its
own alternate timeline where the Nazis won World War 2, now complete with Nazi
versions of the Justice League to be opposed by the living embodiment of the
American spirit and a ragtag band of rebels populated specifically by the
marginalized and discriminated against, making some kind of Uncle Sam series or
movie makes total sense.
I get that
“alternate continuity” is still an emerging concept for most casual viewers so
this would probably have to stand on its own, probably as some kind of prestige
mini-series rather than a full movie, but it’d still be pretty interesting. At the same time, previous writers have
explored the idea of Uncle Sam’s existence in pretty fascinating ways such as
his connection to the many sins of America’s past and the dark elements of her
present. Exploring those ideas in
a modern context could be a deeply riveting and adult program, especially in
light of the spreading changes in societal views on historical issues like
race, gender, and guns.
LEGION OF
SUPERHEROES
Blockbuster: Star
Wars: Force Awakens
One thing that’s shaping up to be a major trend of the 2010s
is that space operas are back. Star Wars has reasserted dominance in
the popular consciousness and fellow hits like Guardians of the Galaxy and upcoming space epic Star Trek Beyond look to be following
suit. There’s even rumors that Transformers, the former king of sci-fi
for the 2000s, will be doing a space based entry in the franchise. Given all that, it’d just make sense
for DC to throw together a Legion of Superheroes film, especially given how big
the Legion was for a long time in comics.
Though somewhat obscure today, for a time the Legion of Superheroes were
the X-Men before the X-Men, a team of teen heroes in bright costumes with
singular powers adventuring across the entire cosmos. What’s more, the various enemies the Legion has fit into trends
in their own way, like long time bad guy Mordru, a space sorcerer who can fit
into the Sith lord mold pretty easily.
Additionally, they’ve gone toe-to-toe with Darkseid, the hidden bad guy
of Batman v. Superman and the
inspiration for Thanos. In a box
office dominated by big super villains, young adult adventure, and space operas
Legion of Superheroes would be a slam-dunk.
ISAIAH BRADLEY
Blockbuster: Straight
Outta Compton, Creed
Something that’s been really inspiring about 2015 is that
there have been a ton of big name films that have been massive success
financially and culturally that focus on women and people of color in the
lead. Given that along with the
continued mass popularity of Captain America and Agent Carter’s developing
fanbase now seems like the perfect time to dive into the story of Isaiah
Bradley, the protagonist of Truth: Red,
White, and Black.
As America’s
secret black Captain America, Bradley’s story was tied directly to the history
of black America in a plethora of ways and it’d be great to finally see him get
on screen, especially now that it’s been so thoroughly proven that there are
mass audiences hungry for those stories.
What’s more, Jessica Jones
showed Marvel is willing to take on touchier subjects like rape and if they
really want to continue chasing the cultural capital that’s made them such a
dynamo, Bradley’s story would be a good way to do it.
ADAM STRANGE
Blockbuster: The
Martian
The tale of a single man, trapped alone against the elements
of a sci-fi setting with nothing but his wits and the distant hope of rescue is
almost tailor made for a superhero tie-in of some kind and Adam Strange is the
best iteration of that idea.
Created in the ‘50s when space heroes were still dominating the comic
medium Adam Strange is an Earther who was teleported across the universe to the
distant world of Rann. Armed with
nothing but his wits and a stolen jetpack and space suit Adam must learn to
survive in the harsh world of Rann and become a master of two worlds in the
process. Admittedly, this pitch is
a little John Carter but I think
stripping the concept down to a more science oriented sci-fi tale rather than
the more pulp adventure bent of the original comics could easily fix that
element. What’s more, Adam
Strange’s adventures often landed him in the middle of vast intergalactic
conflicts that would fit perfectly into the space opera trend that I touched on
earlier.
WARLORD
Blockbuster: Jurassic
World
Much like how Marvel had its hidden realm of dinosaurs under
the polar ice caps, DC had their own dino-realm beneath the ice called
Skartaris. Skartaris wasn’t just a
savage land of dinosaurs and cave people though, it was more of a swords and
sorcery type setting full of magic and knights and barbarians that rode the dinosaurs. The titular Warlord is a human air
force pilot who became trapped in Skartaris and eventually took over after
deposing the evil wizard Demos.
I’m a major Warlock fan, given he’s one of DC’s more experimental run of
‘70s fantasy comics but I think that just makes him a better fit for a modern
adaptation. Fantasy is in such a
directionless state that there are 5 fantasy movies coming out next year all
trying to be the new #1. Combine
that with the growing number of successful fantasy shows in the wake of Game of Thrones and the dinosaur fad
kicked off and Warlord could easily
end up leading the way for fantasy, especially given all the experience WB have
dominating this genre.
CRIMSON AVENGER
Blockbuster: Jessica
Jones, Daredevil
Specifically I’m referring to Jill Carlyle, a short-lived
iteration of the Crimson Avenger from the mid-2000s who never got her fair
due. This has been a good year for
serialized superhero shows and the unique blend of gritty crime, globetrotting
adventure, unleashed geekiness, and genuine human drama informed by real world
issues would work perfectly for Crimson Avenger’s character.
Though not too developed in her time
she had a pair of mystic Colt pistols that she wielded as a minor spirit of
vengeance, punishing the guilty with a swift bullet and the implication that
the guns had a mind of their own.
The Crimson Avenger set-up is rife with possibility for engaging and
relevant stories, from the gun controlling the wielder, the position the
Avenger holds as a woman of color, and the way the thirst for vengeance can
consume us. If DC really wants to
compete with Jessica Jones and Daredevil this is the way to go.
THE NEW GODS
Blockbuster: Star
Wars: Force Awakens
As a comic fan I was introduced to the wider world of comics
by Jack Kirby’s New Gods, they’re one of those things that always ends up on my
lists no matter what I’m doing so this shouldn’t be that much of a surprise but
at the same time they are perfect to ride the Star Wars hype. All the space based melodrama that was
endemic to the original Star Wars and showed up again in Force Awakens can be found in New Gods, right down to the war
between father and son that informed the whole franchise.
The quasi-mystical cosmic affects are
there as well along with a lot of the cross-genre combos, specifically drawing
from fantasy and mythology. Add in
the fact that Marvel has been building up Thanos for like 3 years now and
Darkseid is already on his way to the DC movie universe and making the New Gods
seems like less of a reaction than a necessary and logical escalation of the
superhero landscape as it is today.
DEVIL DINOSAUR
Blockbuster: Jurassic
World
Given that Marvel has already launched a new Devil Dinosaur
comic in the wake of Jurassic World’s
stomping victory all over Avengers: Age
of Ultron this one feels almost too blatant to count. In all honesty I doubt we’d see a full
on Devil Dinosaur movie, more like he’d appear as a character in Kazar but if
Marvel really wanted to I think this could be a great excursion outside their
comfort zone. After Jessica Jones and Daredevil proved Marvel could sell adult stories along with family
friendly ones and Ant-Man proved they
could land super weird super obscure heroes the question now sort of feels like
“can they succeed without the shared universe?”
I’m not sure that’s a question they feel like answering but
if it is Devil Dinosaur is exactly the way they could do that, telling the
one-off story of a world where humans and dinosaurs co-exist and aliens tamper
with cavemen and a giant red T-Rex and his adopted cave child roamed the
planes. In all seriousness, Devil
Dinosaur is the kind of perfect blend of 19th century weird fantasy
and more recent dinosaur fiction that would work for a modern dinosaur
blockbuster, especially if Marvel allowed the movie to be as crazy as the
classic Jack Kirby comics were.
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