Hoping you will see an Avengers team up with the X-Men or Fantastic Four on the big screen – think again. Looks like Twentieth Century Fox is looking to hold on to the film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchise and they’ve hired a comic book powerhouse to guide those franchises forward.
Writer Mark Millar has been hired as a creative consultant on the studio’s upcoming projects: Director James Mangold is now shooting The Wolverine with Hugh Jackman in a story based on the classic Chris Claremont/Frank Miller story of Logan in Japan. Matthew Vaughn is directing the X:Men First Class sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past. Josh Trank (Chronicle) is attached to direct a reboot of Fantastic Four.
Mark Millar co-created Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Millar’s The Ultimates were a modern take on the Avengers and he created that line’s version of Nick Fury based on Samuel L. Jackson. You could say Marvel’s The Avengers were more like Millar’s Ultimates than old school Avengers. Millar also created Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four.
In main Marvel Universe Millar wrote the epic Civil War and Old Man Logan, Enemy of the State arcs of Wolverine.
Millar went on to create Millarworld titles Kick-Ass and Wanted – both went to become box office hits.
“As someone who has spent his entire life obsessed with both comic books and movies, this is essentially my dream gig as it’s a unique combination of both,” said Millar. “I spent ten years working at Marvel and am really happy with the work I did on the comic side of things so the idea of working with these characters now in a brand new medium is enormously exciting for me. I really like the Fox team, love this bold new direction they have for their franchises and am proud to be working alongside some of modern cinema’s biggest talents. James Mangold is incredible, Matthew Vaughn’s one of my closest pals and Josh Trank gave us, in my opinion, one of the greatest superhero movies of the last decade with ‘Chronicle.’ The invitation to join this crew was maybe the coolest phone call I’ve ever had.”
Op/Ed: Before directing X-Men: First Class, Matthew Vaughn directed the big screen version of Kick-Ass so if Millar has that kind of creative relationship with Vaughn then I’m excited to see how they will develop the X-franchise. I think Millar will guide the Fantastic Four reboot into darker territory instead of the most comedic tone of the previous films.
If you want to experience some of the work of the man who will help guide the future of Marvel’s biggest heroes at Fox? Here are some recommendations: Ultimates: Super Human, Ultimate Comics Avengers Omnibus, Ultimate X-Men: The Tomorrow People, Civil War, Old Man Logan and Wolverine Enemy of the State. I highly recommend Millar and Frank Quitely’s arc on Wildstorm’s The Authority.
Thanks to Marvel.com for the story.
By Editor