With comic books providing fodder for some of the biggest hits and flops in film this year (I enjoyed you, Hellboy, even if you were a mess), let’s look at some of the some of the great properties that either haven’t been picked up yet, or haven’t quite made it to the big screen.
HAWKEYE: My Life as a Weapon (Marvel)
The elevator pitch: recovering from injury, Hawkeye inadvertently finds himself in a war with the Russian mob, as he attempts to help the tenants in his New York apartment building. Sounds like it should be simple for an Avenger, but thing spiral out of control pretty quickly for Clint Barton.
OK, we’re getting a Hawkeye TV series (from Disney +) so hopefully, a lot of what I say here will be used there, but it is criminal that the Matt Fraction run of Hawkeye has not already been used in the MCU. This was a re-invigoration of the character that really explored his heart and soul. Best of all, it humanised Hawkeye. In a world of gods and metal-suited super-science, Clint is an “orphan raised by carnies fighting with a stick and a string from the Paleolithic era”. He is the everyman schlub we could relate to, one that struggled to get by, and succeeds (and fails) as much by luck as by talent and training.
True, it might take a bit to get Renner’s version of the character to this point, but you really wouldn’t have to work that hard. Just have his family struggling to adapt after The Blip, and Clinton readjusting from being the rage-filled killing machine that is Ronin, and I think you could get close enough to launch the character into saving the neighbourhood with the aid of boomerang arrows and pizza dog.
MONSTRESS (Image)
The elevator pitch: In a land where humans and magical creatures are poised for war, one girl seeks revenge for her mother, and to unlock the secrets behind a ritual that’s bound a powerful otherworldly creature.
The art of Sana Takeda brings the world created by Marjorie Liu to beautiful and horrific life. It would be a joy to see this translated to the big screen, and something that would both wow and shock audiences. Here, as two vastly different matriarchal societies struggle for dominance, one woman’s quest for vengeance might just be the flame to ignite a terrible war. Yet this is only the smallest threat Maika Halfwolf possesses, as in a world literally haunted by the ghosts of dead elder gods, she may be the conduit for a sleeping one that seems to be stirring.
GOTHAM CENTRAL: In the Line of Duty (DC)
The elevator pitch: A police procedural focusing on the officers of the Gotham City police department, working under the shadow of the Bat.
Wait, haven’t we already got this? Well yes and no. Although Gotham Central was pitched for TV before the eventual release of Gotham, the two are very different beasts. Comparing Gotham Central to the sturm und drang of the Batman sans Batman prequel that is Gotham is like comparing The Wire is to CSI.
Gotham Central is grittier by far, as the Major Crimes Unit of the GCPD struggles to do their jobs in a city that is a dark playground for one vigilante struggling against homicidal madmen. It adds a human perspective to the superheroic world, one where people question their own worth and place in society and the GCPD struggle to retain their pride. If handled properly this is a comic that could really be something different in the current superhero cinematic landscape and something that could provide a little bit of dramatic depth.
THE FADE OUT (Image)
The elevator pitch: A detective story revealing the steamy underside of 1940s Hollywood.
This Eisner Award winner by Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips is bound to hit the big screen one day, both due to its solid noir detective story and its sordid exploration of Hollywood history. In part inspired by Brubaker’s own uncle, screenwriter John Paxton (Murder My Sweet, The Wild One, On the Beach), this is a deep delve into the crime, politics and society of the era. As fascinating as the setting is, though, this is Brubaker at his finest, bringing that nuance and grittiness that he does so well (Criminal, Sleeper, Incognito), and giving it the sheen of the traditional film foir.
RAT QUEENS: Sass and Sorcery (Image)
The elevator pitch: Sex, drugs, and roc n’ gnoll, as an adventuring party of riot girls confront fantasy monsters by punching them in the dick.
A perfect salve to toxic masculinity, the Rat Queens reclaim a slice of the fantasy landscape for femininity by not being damsels in distress, untouchable elven queens, or desperate shield maidens. This hard-drinking and hard-fucking bunch of adventurers bring an anarchic sense of fun to the genre, while still being able to bring a few touching moments to the big screen in a tightly scripted fantasy adventure.
The key to this film, however, would be in the casting. It’s a film that would live and die on that decision, as the chemistry between the Queens is paramount. Choose the right people for your candy- and drug-obsessed halfling thief, the confrontational and obnoxious half-elf mage, the atheistic cleric of an elder god, and clean-shaven dwarven head-kicker, and that alchemy could produce gold at the box office.
