Comic Book Live-Action Adaptations in Development People May Have Forgotten About
While all eyes are on "Avengers: Infinity War" right now, there are a lot of comic book adaptations that are being worked on at the moment that fans would not want to forget.
In fact, in the next few years, much of the stories and characters that readers only experienced in the comics will get the live-action treatment, both in the form of a television series or a movie.
Some of the most highly-anticipated ones include "Captain Marvel" starring Brie Larson, "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" with Jessica Chastain, the "Hellboy" reboot featuring David Harbour, and "Shazam" starring Zachary Levi.
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On the TV side, there's "Cloak and Dagger," "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," "Titans," "Watchmen," and "The Umbrella Academy."
In fact, Amazon just added two to the ever-growing list, recently announcing hour-long genre dramas based on comic book creator Jonathan Hickman's hit comic book novels, "East of West" and "Transhuman." A few days ago, it was announced "The American Way" will also be made into a film with creator John Ridley helming it.
But as mentioned above, there are more where these came from. There are so many of them that are currently in the works that it is hard to keep track. Here's a list of some of those films to refresh your memory.
1. Spider-Man rogues gallery
While Sony Pictures has agreed to bring the wall-crawler to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio owns license over so many more characters in the "Spider-Man" universe and they are adamant in making the most out of it.
"Venom," starring Tom Hardy, is just the beginning of this string of films, which will be focused on the Spider-Man rogue gallery that is separate from the MCU where Tom Holland is Peter Parker.
Silver Sable and Black Cat will be headlining their own live-action film titled "Silver and Black." Popular Spider-Man baddie Morbius the Living Vampire is expected to get a live-action film of his own as well. Rumor has it that Kraven the Hunter and Mysterio will be stars of their respective movies, too.
There was also a "Sinister Six" spinoff in place until "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" ultimately failed to meet box office expectations, but writer-director Drew Goddard believes that there is a good chance the movie will materialize in the future since he envisioned it not to adhere to continuity.
2. Doctor Doom
After it was announced that the Fantastic Four are coming back to the comics scene, fans immediately imagined a live-action adaptation for Marvel's first family. The team's most popular foe, Doctor Doom, however, has been the subject of movie discussions for a while now.
"Legion" creator Noah Hawley is leading the project, but he said that while he is still interested in doing it, the Fox and Disney merger, which is not expected to be finalized until summer next year, may have pushed it back.
3. Gambit
The X-Men spinoff movie starring Channing Tatum as the mutant thief Remy LeBeau has been in development since 2015. The lack of updates may have caused fans to forget about it completely, however.
But it is still very much on the table. Just recently, it was reported that production for "Gambit" will begin on June 19 in New Orleans, which means that the film might finally beat its June 2019 release date.
4. Multiple Man
Speaking of X-Men spinoffs, James Franco is also attached to produce and star in one. He confirmed in an article on The Hollywood Reporter published last November that the movie will be a "hard R" like the X-Men films before it.
The actor did not confirm the project as Multiple Man, but it is all but confirmed that James Madrox, a mutant who can create an identical physical duplicate of himself, is headed to the big screen. Franco did say that time that it is in "early stages" of development.
5. Spawn
While the character recently made a surprise cameo in a new blockbuster movie, the anti-hero is bound to get the spotlight form himself soon with a reboot.
Back in January, casting for the film was conducted. By March, it was reported that filming will begin this May, so Todd McFarlane's iconic character is very well making his epic comeback, live-action style.
6. Astro City
The anthology comic book series by Kurt Busiek might be the only fully established superhero universe that has yet to make it to the small or big screen.
This is about to change, thanks to FremantleMedia, who is working on bringing some of the 2,000 original characters in a television series, and Busiek himself is heavily involved with the project.
The "Astro City" TV series has only been ordered for a pilot. If the first episode is done right, fans will have a new live-action superhero world to explore soon.
7. Hitman
DC Comics president and chief creative officer Geoff Johns teased early this year that they are talking about a potential live-action series based on Hitman, a superpowered contract killer created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea.
The character is the alter-ego of the ex-Marine Gulf War veteran Tommy Monaghan, who becomes a mercenary from the Cauldron, a lower-class Irish district of Gotham City. He later gets superpowers such as telepathy and x-ray when he was bitten by a Bloodlines parasite called Glonth.
Nothing concrete has been confirmed about this yet, but there is definitely interest in bringing the character to television.
