<![CDATA[io9: power man]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: power man]]> http://io9.com/tag/powerman http://io9.com/tag/powerman <![CDATA[20 Marvel Heroes Who Deserve A Shot At The Movie Big Time]]> If Marvel really wants to make four movies a year, then they're going to have to dig deep into their toybox to find enough characters to fill them. Luckily, we're here to help out with some suggestions.

First off, let's remember that Marvel doesn't have access to all of their own characters when it comes to movies; Fox have the rights to the X-Men characters, the Fantastic Four and certain related characters, and the Daredevil franchise, while Sony will doubtless do everything it can to keep hold of the hugely-successful Spider-Man license. So where does that leave Marvel? Well, with plenty of other characters, it seems... Here are our suggestions, complete with high concept pitches to sell them to the execs, and split out into genres:

Action
Comedy
Fantasy
Thriller
Trippy SF

You're welcome, Marvel.

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5289634&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Marvel's Potential Trippy SF Franchises]]> Warlock
The Pitch: "Man's struggle against himself made flesh."
The Explanation: Artificially created to be the perfect human, Adam Warlock struggles against his own evil side... literally; his nemesis, the Magus, is a future version of himself gone bad, and attempting to speed along the transformation. Is the only way to defeat him to kill himself? Let someone like Duncan Jones take on Jim Starlin's 1970s cosmic storyline and you've greenlit a future classic.
Must Read: Marvel Masterworks: Warlock volume 1.

The Eternals
The Pitch: "Learn the true history of humanity!"
The Explanation: Forget Neil Gaiman's recent attempt to restart this franchise and go back to Jack Kirby's original, which said that humanity was just one of three races created by giant, godlike robots called the Celestials, who have come back to Earth to judge us. Oh, and those two other races? They're the idealized Eternals and the evil Deviants, and they're at war over humanity's survival. Imagine a story this epic (and, admittedly, dumb) being given to JJ Abrams and prepare for box office success.
Must Read: The Eternals by Jack Kirby volumes 1 and 2.

Star Brand
The Pitch: "Man has discovered the ultimate weapon. Watch out, Pittsburgh."
The Explanation: Marvel's 1980s attempt at "realism", the New Universe, contained one particular classic, the story of a man who gains the universe's ultimate weapon - a brand that gives its owner unlimited power - and, well, loses his mind in the process, accidentally destroying his home town of Pittsburgh and launching the world into a nuclear winter as a result. We want to see what Charlie Kaufman could do with this, to be honest.
Must Read: Star Brand Classic volume 1 starts the story, but things get more interesting - and more weird - in the not-yet-reprinted later issues.

Machine Man
The Pitch: "What does it mean to be human, when you're not?"
The Explanation: Jack Kirby - yes, him again - created this character, an android just trying to make it in a world of fleshy humans, as part of his continuation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, so you could almost say that he's fated to be a movie star. Downplay the character's various attempts to be a superhero and cut to the core of the character: Kirby's lonely, melancholic outsider wondering what the human condition actually is. Add Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, and let rise, slowly.
Must Read: Currently out of print, you'd be best served by looking for Kirby's short-lived run on the original, 1970s, version of the Machine Man series.

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5289706&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Marvel's Potential Thriller Franchises]]> Hawkeye
The Pitch: "Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but with spies instead of assassins."
The Explanation: While Hawkeye's been kicking around with the Avengers, Defenders and even Thunderbolts for years, the ideal Hawkeye movie should avoid all that and skip straight to Jim McCann's recent New Avengers: The Reunion mini-series - Make Hawk the former criminal gone straight who has to deal with discovering that his former spy wife isn't such a former spy after all. Action, intrigue and marital deceit - it's almost as if you wouldn't even need to mention that Hawkeye is good with a bow and arrow at all.
Must Read: New Avengers: The Reunion #1-4 (Collected edition out September).

The Winter Soldier
The Pitch: "It's The Manchurian Candidate with cyborgs!"
The Explanation: Ignore the comic version's association with Captain America - He was originally Cap's WWII sidekick Bucky, and took over as Cap after Steve Rogers' assassination a couple of years ago - and focus on the character's origin story: An American soldier, saved from near death by Russians only to be brainwashed and given cyborg implants before being used as an assassin during the Cold War, struggling to break free of his programming. How could that fail? Just get rid of the long hair he had in the comic.
Must Read: Captain America: The Winter Soldier volumes 1 and 2.

SHIELD
The Pitch: "Everything you've ever wanted James Bond movies to be... but better."
The Explanation: It's Marvel's premiere spy agency, made up of grizzled veterans of wars both Cold and World, keeping the world safe with gadgets that would make James Bond jealous: Flying cars? Artificial intelligence decoys? A floating helicopter city headquarters? Even their terrorist nemesis organizations have cool-sounding names: AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics)! Hydra! You'd have to try to mess this one up. Or, you know, cast David Hasselhoff.
Must Read: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD by Jim Steranko.

Agents of Atlas
The Pitch: "The A-Team does Mission Impossible on a much larger scale."
The Explanation: A resurrected FBI agent inherits a terrorist organization and decides to use it to save the world from itself. Oh, and his best friends include a talking gorilla, a siren, a robot and a nice Jewish boy for Uranus. Jeff Parker's wonderful series repurposing old characters from Marvel's pre-Fantastic Four days is funny, smart and, while it may not seem like it at first glance, exactly the kind of thing to make a movie out of. Give it to the Coen brothers and see what happens.
Must Read: The collection of the original 2007 Agents of Atlas series. Although you wouldn't go wrong with the current monthly series, either.

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5289705&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Marvel's Potential Fantasy Franchises]]> Doctor Strange
The Pitch: "Harry Potter meets Nip/Tuck."
The Explanation: What happens when one of the world's greatest surgeons loses the full use of his hands in a car accident? If your answer is "He goes to Tibet and becomes the world's greatest magician," then you clearly know your Strange. We're saying, keep him as the arrogant bastard he was as a surgeon, and then let him get the shit scared out've him by some Guillermo del Toro-esque monsters, and audiences will come running. Marvel seems to agree; Kevin Feige has spoken often about Doc being a character he'd love to see being made into a movie.
Must Read: Brian K. Vaughan's Doctor Strange: The Oath is a great choice to get into the character.

Black Knight
The Pitch: "What if Martin Lawrence's Black Knight movie wasn't played for laughs and didn't suck?"
The Explanation: Simplify this Avenger's backstory considerably, and you've got the plot for a movie: The ancestor of a famous soldier during the time of King Arthur ends up, through magical process, back in that era and creating the legend that his ancestor was supposed to have personified. Yes, it's Hiro's plot from the second season of Heroes, but Black Knight did it first. And, let's face it, better.
Must Read: Essential Defenders volume 1 gives you some of the character's time traveling history.

Killraven
The Pitch: "War Of The Worlds by way of Planet of the Apes."
The Explanation: Set in an alternate world so far out that it may as well be Middle-Earth, Killraven is the story of War of The Worlds Round 2: The Martians from HG Wells' original story have come back and enslaved humanity, forcing breeding so that they can eat babies (Subtle, this isn't) and otherwise just using and abusing humanity as they see fit. Only one man - Jonathan Raven, apparently called "Kill" to his friends - can save the human race in what can only be described as Battleground Earth done right.
Must Read: Essential Killraven volume 1.

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5289704&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Marvel's Potential Comedy Franchises]]> Power Man and Iron Fist
The Pitch: "Shanghai Noon meets 48 Hours. Meets I'm Gonna Git You Sucka."
The Explanation: Yes, yes, I know that Luke Cage has a respectable career with the New Avengers these days, and Iron Fist has his own series back, but these two characters (Both born of Marvel's 1970s bandwagon-jumping attempts to lure kids to their books, with Power Man being the blaxpoitation lead and Iron Fist the kung-fu hero) always worked best as the comedic bromance they spent the 1980s as. Cast Tracy Morgan and Luke Wilson and you have... well, potential box-office gold, or the worst trainwreck ever made. Take a chance, Marvel!
Must-Read: Essential Power Man and Iron Fist volumes 1 and 2 really are essential.

Hellcat
The Pitch: "Buffy for the The Devil Wears Prada audience."
The Explanation: Patsy Walker had it all - Life as a teen superstar, the perfect boyfriend, and her future ahead of her - but somehow, she ended up as a superhero with unexplained magic powers, a former demon as an ex-husband and at least one post-death experience. If someone in Hollywood can't work out how to turn that into a series of allegories for the modern woman, they should just ask writer Kathryn Immonen, whose recent takes on the character's comic incarnation have been quirky, fun and the kind of thing we want to see more of.
Must-Read: The collection of Immonen's Patsy Walker: Hellcat stories comes out a week on Wednesday. You'll want to buy it.

Prime
The Pitch: "Big with superpowers."
The Explanation: 13 year old Kevin Green can turn into an adult superhero anytime he wants... except that he's still the same boy inside, and his adult body reacts to how he's feeling at the time. Which is great when he's feeling invincible and superhuman, but when he's feeling embarrassed or afraid...? Look out. This Captain Marvel (The one with "Shazam," this time) homage adds a layer of self-consciousness and comedy that's perfect for a family comedy... and one that's apparently been in the works for more than five years. So where is it?
Must-Read: All of Prime's appearances are out of print, but hunt the back issue bins for his early 1990s series.

Ka-Zar
The Pitch: "Tarzan meets The Incredibles."
The Explanation: There's little to recommend Marvel's shameless rip-off of Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous Tarzan, with the one exception of the little-remembered late 1990s series by Kingdom Come and Flash writer Mark Waid that brought the character and his family to New York to escape the dangers of his usual prehistoric jungle world, only for those dangers to follow him (and turn out to be something very out of his league). The mix of action, sitcom (especially Ka-Zar discovering his love of gadgets) and drama marks it out as something that could easily work for a mainstream audience, especially if some CGI dinosaurs made an appearance.
Must-Read: Again, nothing in print, but go looking for the 20 issue Ka-Zar series that launched in 1997.

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5289703&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[Marvel's Potential Action Franchises]]> Nova, the Human Rocket
The Pitch: "Spider-Man meets The Last Starfighter."
The Explanation: Rich Rider, an everyday American teenager, is chosen by the last surviving member of intergalactic police force the Nova Corps, to take his place and defend the universe from the space pirate who's out to kill them all. Part Spider-Man homage, part Green Lantern rip-off, Nova could have it all, if only moviemakers could disguise the bucket on his head.
Must Read: Essential Nova volume 1.

Death's Head
The Pitch: "The Terminator meets Doctor Who."
The Explanation: Everyone's familiar with the concept of the unstoppable killing machine. In fact, everyone's familiar with the concept of the unstoppable killing machine that can travel through time. But what happens when said unstoppable, time-traveling killing machine happens to be a bounty hunter from the future with a strange personal code of ethics and peculiarly English sensibilities, and he's become stranded in our time? Hint: Michael Bay's explosion-filled wet dreams.
Must Read: Death's Head volumes 1 and 2.

Starjammers
The Pitch: "Pirates Of The Carribean in space!"
The Explanation: If Marvel could manage to get these X-Men characters away from Fox (The leader of the Starjammers is Cyclops' dad in the comics), then just imagine the movie that could be made from following a group of intergalactic smugglers-turned-freedom fighters around for awhile. All the fun of Star Wars with none of the Jedi stuff? Surely this is a no-brainer.
Must Read: Essential X-Men volume 3 has a good chunk of Starjammer action.

Vance Astro/The Guardians Of The Galaxy
The Pitch: "Buck Rogers with super-powers and mild insanity!"
The Explanation: The first man sent on a long-term intergalactic mission, Astro wakes up after ten centuries of suspended animation with telekinetic powers and the discovery that the universe is being enslaved by an alien race. Stealing a space ship and gathering together an intergalactic A-Team, Astro dedicates his life to freeing the human race... Or, at least, changing his name to something less dated. I mean, "Astro"? Really?
Must Read: Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome.

Captain Marvel
The Pitch: "What if Earth's mightiest hero was actually here as an alien spy?"
The Explanation: Firstly, no, he's not the "Shazam" guy. This Captain Marvel is an alien sent to Earth to spy on humanity who ends up empathizing with us a little too much... and pays the price, when his race declare him a traitor for daring to defend Earth. Interstellar politics and a superstrong flying guy who likes to punch things, this is Superman updated for the cynical age. I'm saying, give it to Paul Greengrass and see what happens.
Must Read: Essential Captain Marvel volume 1.

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5289702&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[The Buddy Superhero Movie Of The Century]]> Awesome Marvel superheroes Power Man and Iron Fist have both had movies in development hell for nearly a decade — so why not put them together in one movie? After all, it worked in the comics. Up-and-comer Malcolm Lee (Soul Men, The Best Man) threw his director's hat into the comic-book ring, calling a Power Man/Iron Fist movie his dream project. It could be the best buddy-hero team since Starsky and Hutch. And speaking of dream movies, Samuel L. Jackson has an important message about Iron Man 2.

When asked by Latino Review how he would pursue a Power Man-Iron Fist movie, Lee said he'd keep it in the realm of all that's just and good, by staying true to the buddy-cop system of comedy and action:

You got a white karate dude and a big blaxplotation dude. I want it to be an action-comedy.

Alas, he doesn't have an idea who he would cast in it. But Lee needs to have a pow wow with Transformers star Tyrese Gibson, who has been campaigning to fill in the yellow boots for a long tie now.

Also at the Soul Men junket was the one and only Samuel L. Jackson who confirmed that he would be playing superspy Nick Fury in Iron Man 2 more than in the first movie (though he didn't reveal how much more). But director Jon Favreau told Jackson that his appearance in the film is on track.. Apparently he isn't as expendable as Howard.

[Latino Review]

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5065752&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[See Inside Dragonball's Mexican Hell-Pit!]]> This morning we have spoilers so intense, they earned someone a cease-and-desist letter with the Hulk on it. There are rumors about the Iron Man movie, and a new set picture from the live action Dragonball. There are also new hints about Lost, Smallville and Battlestar Galactica. And comic-book spoilers for Marvel Comics and the Batman titles. Click through to start the spoiler campaign.

Iron Man

We won't see Iron Man's fellow armored superhero War Machine in the Iron Man movie, but we may get to see Jim Rhodes (who becomes War Machine) put on Iron Man's old armor to rescue Tony Stark, based on hints actor Terence Howard dropped. [IESB]

Dragonball

Here's a picture of the Mexican set for the new Dragonball movie, opening in 2009. It looks like some kind of crater, presumably with CGI stuff happening in the middle where the greenscreen is. [Slashfilm]dragonballset.jpg

Lost

There are rumors that the next Lost episode (the one with the funeral in Iraq) will also feature "GI Jack (aka "Through the Looking Glass" Jack)" in action, and could be a multi-character flash-forward. The episode definitely will feature scenes on the beach, in Otherton, and in the forested valley where Karl was shot. There's also a rumor there will be no Sawyer-centric episode this season. [DocArzt]

Smallville

The April 24 episode of Smallville, "Sleeper," feaures a blonde femme fatale named Vanessa, sent to investigate one of the characters. [BabetteW54]

Battlestar Galactica

Here are the official first 15 episode titles of season four: "He That Believeth In Me," "Six of One," "The Ties That Bind," "Escape Velocity," "The Road Less Travelled," "Faith," "Guess What's Coming to Dinner," "Sine Qua Non," "The Hub," "Revelations," "Sometimes a Great Notion," "The Disquiet That Follows my Soul," "The Oath," "Blood on the Scales," and "No Exit." [Pop Media Cult]

Batman

Robin's dead ex-girlfriend, Spoiler, recently started turning up mysteriously in some of the Batman comics, but we won't find out who the new Spoiler is until this summer. But she's someone we know, says writer Chuck Dixon. Also, Robin will soon face a "true badass" named 666Gun, who will force Robin to rethink his view on the world. And an upcoming storyline will challenge Tim Drake's present as Robin, and his hard-won future as Batman. This synopsis, plus an upcoming cover image (below), gives weight to the idea that Batman will be dying and Robin will take his place. [Comic Book Resources]RB-Cv175_solicit.jpg

Marvel Comics

A low-level Marvel employee dished some minor spoilers (and bitched about the company) in a Livejournal that was deleted over the weekend. Apparently, spoilers included that several of the company's classic 1970s heroes will turn out to have been replaced by shape-shifting alien Skrulls years ago (as part of the big "Secret Invasion") — and that means blaxploitation hero Luke Cage will be back to his original tiara-wearing, yellow shirt look. Also, Iron Man may get a new villain: MODOG. And Spider-Man's dead girlfriend Gwen Stacy may be back. [Lying In The Gutters]

]]>
http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=371720&view=rss&microfeed=true