Hey, That’s My Cape! – Comic Movies I’m Still Waiting To See
After seeing Green Lantern last week I can honestly say I was surprised it got made. Not because of the quality of anything involved but the story itself. Batman and Superman have been staples for years in our society and stories about them, while running the gambit from campy to realistic, have been accepted on the whole by viewers. While I’m a huge fan of the Green Lantern mythos and characters, it seemed like something that was too far-out there for the general public to accept.
I think we take for granted that these movies are easy to get made because of the flood we’ve seen the last few years. Sure, there have been some mega-hits (Batman Begins) but there have also been some horrible duds (The Spirit). While in no way are comic book adaptations a sure-fire thing for studios, they’re still taking chances on us.
In this week’s Hey, That’s My Cape! at Newsarama I discuss just a few comic book adaptations I’m still waiting to see get made.
Hollywood has made movies with George Clooney as Batman, Robin Williams as Popeye, Alec Baldwin as the Shadow, and Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy. Coming next: Woody Allen as the Terminator, Richard Simmons as Wolverine, Paul Reubens as Tarzan, Janeane Garofolo as Lara Croft, Rita Rudner as Xena, Tina Fey as Wonder Woman, Alan Alda as the Punisher, John Inman as James Bond, Phil Donahue as Travis Morgan, and Jerry Springer as Sgt. Rock.
I actually think Birds of Prey could also potentially be a neat hook for a different sort of superhero video game. Something along the lines of Mass Effect meets Arkham Asylum where you've got investigation and framing sequences with Oracle, and then you pick out a team to send on each mission. You could have Huntress, Black Canary and three or four of the less regular members or affiliates (say one of the other Batgirls, Misfit, Hawk or Dove and Lady Blackhawk) to pick from.
I would love to see a Love and Rockets adaptation. I live in LA, and every day here looks to me like both Palomar AND Hoppers.
I want to see a good movie of The Shadow, one of my all-time favorite characters.
Also, I want a Moon Knight movie. (actually, I want to *write* the Moon Knight movie…)
Danger Girl… could be a great, fun movie.
Also Mr. Monster (if anyone knows of him)… an over-the-top, funny, action-packed Mr. Monster movie with a touch of the touching (like his best stories by Michael T. Gilbert)
Trouble is… most of these ideas, if they did become a movie, would fall prey to the Hollywood suits, who would try to do their "formula" (because *obviously* business suits know more then creative types when it comes to stories… sarcasm alert!), and these characters are not formulaic. It was the big problem with The Spirit (a character I also love). The Spirit's stories played with Structure and perception, it was never a standard formula. A film version needed to do that as well. And as much as I like Frank Miller… The Spirit is NOT Sin City.
But those are on my list. I'm at least happy that Captain America is coming out, and early screenings are saying they "nailed it"! Which I'm really looking forward to… because Cap is a childhood favorite.
Nice list. I would love to see a few, from DC, Nightwing, a Bluebettle & Boostergold movie, Firestorm, and a Starfire movie. From Marvel, Ms. Marvel movie, A Jessica Jones & Luke Cage movie, Firestar, Colleen Wing & Misty Knight would be interesting, Polaris, Kitty Pryde (Not like the X-men movie one), Dazzler & Jubilee movie (Four characters with a lot of potential if done right). A gen13 or WildC.A.T.S. wouldn't be bad either.
But my Dream one's that I know would never come true are, Batman Beyond and Spiderman 2099. To see these future worlds wouild be amazing.