Upcoming Comic Movies That Should Make You Skeptical
The Age of the Comic Book Film is truly upon us. Marvel Studios churns out blockbusters like it has a secret recipe for them, and 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. are having a decent amount of success with X-Men, Batman, and other franchises that everyone is eager to see. As the industry picks up steam, we've got more and more titles heading to the big screen. But it may not all be fluttering capes and shiny tights—there could be a dark side. Remember, for every Avengers there's a Fantastic Four lurking at the bottom of the box office barrel. And a handful of planned movies are making us wonder if they're a good idea at all...
Gambit (October 2016)
Spin-offs seem like good ideas, and Gambit here would be a spin-off from 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise. But let's not forget just how poorly spin-offs have performed up until this point. Elektra and Catwoman are two notable comic movie spin-offs, and there was also X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the only place Gambit has shown up on film so far.
While on the one hand, we want to be excited for Channing Tatum as the titular Cajun hero, tossing his exploding playing cards left and right. But he's still an unproven character. More worrying, the film is being written by the screenwriter who gave us 2014's slightly less than awesome Robocop reboot. Basically no one behind this movie has proven themselves, so it's a big risk. Will it pay off? Hopefully, but don't be surprised if things take a turn for the worse.
Bloodshot (2017)
Unless you're a big comic book fan, chances are you have no idea who or what Bloodshot is. That's because Bloodshot isn't based on a Marvel or a DC property. But it's getting a big budget release nonetheless. Bloodshot will be the first film Sony releases after striking a multi-million dollar deal with comic publisher Valiant.
Bloodshot is an awesome character and the books named after him are extremely well written. Bloodshot is a man with no past who's turned into a government killing machine, his blood infused with super-powered nanotechnology that makes him into an unkillable assassin...until he 'wakes up' and fights back. His story is engaging, full of action and could totally resonate with audiences. But it's a huge unknown. Casual viewers have no idea what Valiant is, or where Bloodshot will fit into the universe that Sony has committed to create with other Valiant-published titles like Harbinger. Maybe the risk will pay off. Hopefully it will, because Bloodshot is a great book. But Sony has already proven with its handling of two different Spider-Man film franchises that it can ruin a great, well-known property.
Wonder Woman (June 2017)
Wonder Woman is the female-led superhero film audiences have been clamoring for. Elektra and Catwoman aside (they're both more like anti-heroes), Wonder Woman is probably the most iconic female hero in comic books, and it's about time someone finally gave her a shot to go toe to toe with the big boys.
The reason to be a little skeptical of this film is that it's resting on the success of Batman vs Superman, which is going to introduce us to actress Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. If she doesn't impress in that film, her solo effort is going to suffer.
Spider-Man (July 2017)
Believe it nor not, we're going to get yet another Spider-Man reboot. And the fact that we have to introduce it like that is all the reason you need for skepticism on this one. Spider-Man has already had five films, including two featuring origin stories. We're starting at square one for a third time and, even though rumor has it that the new Spidey won't delve into his origin again, it's still starting anew, so there will be some elements of introduction to the character. The upside is that Sony is working with Marvel on the new franchise, which means that he can join the Avengers and kick Thanos' butt. Or maybe just have an awesome scene with Groot one day.
Aquaman (July 2018)
Batman vs Superman is going to introduce us to Aquaman, just like it will for Wonder Woman. And just like the Amazonian princess, he'll be getting his own solo film. Unlike Wonder Woman, however, no one's really been clamoring for a movie about Aquaman. He's a guy who talks to fish.
To give credit where credit is due, DC has spent years trying to make Aquaman into a cool, even badass character. But movies are a whole different ball game than comic books. At the end of the day, this movie has to sell audiences on the idea of a hero whose main ability is fish linguistics. It's this very reason that's actually kept Aquaman off the screen for so long—it sounds silly. But you know what? A talking raccoon and a Vin Diesel tree are pretty silly too, and they worked. So maybe that's why someone is willing to risk a movie on Aquaman. But not every gamble is going to work out. Time will tell.
Sandman (Unknown Release)
No movie on this list should raise more eyebrows than The Sandman. The award winning comic, created by writer Neil Gaiman, is one of the best books ever published and depicts a rich, engaging universe of amazing characters and situations. Sounds like it should be awesome, right?
The fact is, while Sandman should be awesome, it's also pretty much universally regarded as impossible to translate. The artistic style, the ephemeral quality of the story telling and the literal dream-like quality of the books are not easy to film. The Sandman is the lord of Dreams, an immortal being who can make and shape a universe of Dreams at will, who travels through time, space and dimensions, from places like Hell to New York to distant worlds on a whim. Capturing the feeling of the books would be so difficult, the idea should put any fan on edge.
On the other hand, if someone could do it well, this could be an amazing film. But that's a big if. The adaptation's been in development hell for years, but online rumblings in late-2015 pointed to production starting to ramp up at Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema.
Green Lantern Corps
It almost seems like Warner Bros. and DC Comics are scrambling to catch up with Marvel in some ways, pushing their properties into production in the hopes to create their own universe to rival what Marvel has so carefully created over the last decade.
Thus far, none of DC's past movies have linked together, so we can't really say they'll be on par with Christopher Nolan's Batman movies. But we do not want them to be on par with 2011's Green Lantern. And that's why it's surprising to see a Green Lantern Corps film on the schedule—announced at Comic-Con in the summer of 2015—given what a debacle the Ryan Reynolds version was.
Twentieth Century Fox's attempts to wipe our memories of a bad Fantastic Four didn't work so well with a reboot, so who knows how successful a Green Lantern reboot will be? But it's definitely going to require some effort, especially when you're basing the film on a hero who's main power is to fight bad guys with things like giant, cartoon fists from his magic ring.