Mark Millar has been the source of an abundant amount of (fairly inaccurate) information regarding his comics properties and feature film adaptations over the years, and now he’s set to formally consult on 20th Century Fox’s Marvel properties. The studio announced today that the Kick-Ass creator will serve as a creative consultant on Fox’s upcoming projects based on Marvel Comics properties.
Fox owns the rights to a number of Marvel characters, and Millar has some experience with the comics outlet having written books like The Ultimates, Civil War, and Wolverine: Old Man Logan. He also wrote the comics Kick-Ass and Wanted, both of which were adapted for the film medium. Hit the jump for more regarding Millar’s duties at Fox.
Millar will specifically be working on “developing new avenues for its X-Men and Fantastic Four tentpoles.” The Wolverine is already in production under the direction of James Mangold, and Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn is gearing up to start production on X-Men: Days of Future Past early next year. Fox is also developing a reboot of Fantastic Four with Chronicle director Josh Trank, so he’ll be consulting on the development of that film as well.
Joss Whedon showed what can happen when an insanely passionate filmmaker/creative mind takes control of a superhero property earlier this year with The Avengers, and Marvel smartly locked him down to consult on the studio’s other films through at least 2015. Other studios are likely looking to mirror The Avengers’ success, and this move by Fox seems like a reaction to Whedon’s hiring at Marvel. Warner Bros. is still struggling to get its DC act together with a Justice League film, but I assume they’d like someone incredibly familiar with the source material to oversee their comics properties as well.
The extent of Millar’s input is unknown, but he’s no Joss Whedon so I assume the individual filmmakers will still have the bulk of the creative control over their adaptations. That said, another pair of comics-savvy eyes on the projects can’t hurt.
Read the full press release below.
LOS ANGELES, CA. – September 27, 2012…. Marking an expanded commitment to some of its most important franchises, Twentieth Century Fox has brought on comics superstar Mark Millar to serve as a creative consultant on the studio’s upcoming projects based on Marvel Comics properties.
Millar wrote several celebrated Marvel books such as The Ultimates, Civil War and Wolverine: Old Man Logan, before moving on to found Millarworld (millarworld.tv), where he continues to develop existing film franchise titles Wanted and Kick-Ass, as well as newer comic properties The Secret Service, Superior, and Nemesis — the latter also in development at Fox. Millar will work with Fox on developing new avenues for its “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” tentpoles.
Commented TCF production president Emma Watts: “We are excited to be working with Mark. In addition to his groundbreaking Marvel work, he is simply one of the most original voices in comics today and will be an invaluable resource to us and to our filmmakers as we look for fresh opportunities to innovate within our shared Marvel universe.”
Upcoming for the studio is THE WOLVERINE, starring Hugh Jackman, directed by James Mangold; X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, helmed by Matthew Vaughn; and a reboot of “FANTASTIC FOUR, to be directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle).
“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,” stated 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.”
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I might be putting 2 and 2 together here and getting 57 here but coming after Rothman’s departure this strikes me as though it might have been “Him or Me!” and Rothman lost.
Fox are fortunate to have some of Marvel’s finest still under their control. I doubt that Joe Carnahan’s Daredevil pitch would have been poo-poo’ed quite so quickly if Millar had been around to stick his “two ‘peneth” in.
I’m not sure comparisons to Weedon are fair to be honest. Fox need someone who knows the characters intimately and MIllar is certainly that, even if he doesn’t have Weedon’s visual flair ( that’s debatable in may ways too) Fox’s downfall on all but X-men and X2 has been story, Millar’s speciality.
Mind you Millar is a consumate wind up merchant on twitter and with the press. That could be interesting.
I might be putting 2 and 2 together here and getting 57 here but coming after Rothman\’s departure this strikes me as though it might have been \"Him or Me!\" and Rothman lost.
Fox are fortunate to have some of Marvel\’s finest still under their control. I doubt that Joe Carnahan\’s Daredevil pitch would have been poo-poo\’ed quite so quickly if Millar had been around to stick his \"two \’peneth\" in.
I\’m not sure comparisons to Weedon are fair to be honest. Fox need someone who knows the characters intimately and MIllar is certainly that, even if he doesn\’t have Weedon\’s visual flair ( that\’s debatable in may ways too) Fox\’s downfall on all but X-men and X2 has been story, Millar\’s speciality.
Mind you Millar is a consumate wind up merchant on twitter and with the press. That could be interesting.
sorry for the double post!
Stop putting 2 and 2 together and getting 57 and shut the hell up… Mark Millar forgot his roots and now sounds permanently like Gerard Butler trying to do an American accent, he needs to eat some Haggis and drink some Irn-Bru asap.
Wow jay, that’s not offensive at all is it.
Scotsmen like myself also only eat fried mars bars and drink Tennant’s.
Sad thing is I don’t know if Robby is being sarcastic or not… I’m gonna go with not. Impressed he managed to put the bagpipes down long enough to type the response to be fair…