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Though it was developed with the idea of lasting multiple seasons and kicking off comic book giant Mark Millar's small-screen universe, Jupiter's Legacy wasn't really given much of a chance to kick anything off after its first season debuted on Netflix. The streaming giant cancelled the budget-breaking superhero drama less than a month after it debuted as a regular Top 10 entry in Netflix's daily rankings. Fans who were extremely disappointed by the cancellation news can take comfort in knowing star Josh Duhamel is right there along with you, and he's got ideas for how he'd like The Utopian to return one day.

While speaking with CinemaBlend to promote his other 2021 superhero-adjacent role as Harvey Dent in the DC Universe Animated Movie Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One - out on digital and Blu-ray/DVD on June 22 - Josh Duhamel shared his thoughts on Jupiter's Legacy coming to such an early and cliffhanger-filled conclusion, saying:

Critics weren't overly glowing about the methodical nature behind Jupiter's Legacy's storytelling, which possibly played a part in Netflix's cancellation decision, along with the many behind-the-scenes issues and financial problems. But from a fan perspective, as well as an actor perspective, there have been few cancellations more baffling than that of Jupiter's Legacy, considering how much of Season 1's storytelling was built to pay off in a second season. And even if he's not a fan of filming superhero brawls, it sounds like Josh Duhamel was as excited about seeing Utopian's future rivalry with his brother Walt as much as viewers were, not to mention his crumbling relationship with son Brandon. But while The Union adhered to a strict code not to proceed with lethal intentions, Netflix killed all those storylines prematurely.

There is a glimmer of hope to hang onto, however. Netflix is still going full steam ahead with its Mark Millar partnership, and buttressed its cancellation announcement with the notion that all of his comic adaptations - including the upcoming Supercrooks and The Magic Order - will all be part of the same universe. So it's entirely feasible that Jupiter's Legacy plot points and characters could be referenced in other shows. And considering Mark Millar and artist Tommy Lee Edwards only just released the first issue of Jupiter's Requiem, the source material's final arc, there's a measurable chance that Netflix execs could decide to return to the multi-generation superhero saga again in the future in some format.

Having lived with the cancellation of Jupiter's Legacy for a short while, Josh Duhamel has accepted its fate, but he hasn't fully turned away from the idea of playing The Utopian again in the future. In his mind, however, he'd prefer to wrap up the TV show's narratives through a feature-length project, as opposed to something more episodic. In his words:

Taking into account that the initial eight episodes were rumored to have cost upwards of $200 million dollars after all was said and done, Jupiter's Legacy probably has a far better chance of returning to audiences via a 100-minute close-out feature rather than anything more extensive. At this point, it will all come down to how long fans can keep Jupiter's Legacy in Netflix's Top 10, as well as how vocal the fandom can get on social media. Here's a tip, though: don't follow Hutch into oxygen-free vaults before trying to get more vocal. It's not gonna work.

With his upcoming feature opposite Jennifer Lopez Shotgun Wedding on the way, Josh Duhamel can currently be heard as the iconic comic character Harvey Dent in Batman: The Long Halloween Part 1, which will be available via all home entertainment outlets on Tuesday, June 22, with Part II hitting digital on Tuesday, July 27, and Blu-ray/DVD on August 10, right in the thick of the 2021 Summer TV season.

Netflix's recently dropped a big super-powered axe down on another high-profile show, with the comic book adaptation Jupiter's Legacy getting cancelled after only a single season. Albeit a season that wasn't warmly adored by all. Despite the disappointing and unexpected news, star Josh Duhamel was clearly looking on the bright side of life - [whistles] - in his latest Instagram post, where he celebrated his "sexy Santa" look and jokingly (or not) let Hulu know his talents are up for grabs again.

After having already shared a more traditionally mournful post about Jupiter's Legacy's cancellation, which we'll get to a little lower, Josh Duhamel shared a selfie of himself on Instagram still rocking The Utopian's latter-day look with his long white hair, just without Utopian's costume around to cover his shirtless torso.

Is Sexy Santa Summer one where Santa Claus is too naughty even for his own naughty list? Or is it one where Mrs. Claus is the one with the red nose instead of Rudolph, because...well, I can't quickly think of a reason why that would indicate sexy. Mood lighting, maybe?

It's great to see that Josh Duhamel had some holiday-esque mirth to share after hearing about Jupiter's Legacy facing cancellation at Netflix. It's a huge blow to all involved on both sides of the screen, seeing as how Season 1 was tailor-made to set up a second season, and thus presented far more questions than answers over the course of its eight episodes. Even comic co-creator Mark Millar seemed low-key confident that the streaming service would make good on a season renewal as part of his overall deal with the company. Now it looks like he'll be diving into the in-development adaptation of Supercrooks, with the loose notion that another season could happen down the road in an anthological sense, much like how the comic arcs have been released.

But will Josh Duhamel be there to take on more superhero action scenes by reprising the role of Sheldon Sampson if that follow-up season ever enters into existence? It's certainly possible, considering how much he seemed to enjoy working with the ensemble cast and the big-budget drama's extensive crew, as indicated in his other post-cancellation Instagram post:

Of course, Josh Duhamel's return as The Utopian would almost necessarily require the actor to not be caught up in a giant contract with Hulu over some show where he plays a hunky Christmas icon. Or any other role, for that matter. Part of Duhamel's optimism may be tied to his upcoming "dream" role opposite Jennifer Lopez in the film Shotgun Wedding, for which he replaced exiting star Armie Hammer. It seems like working with J.Lo in any capacity would be a mood-lifter, so here's hoping that film turns out to be a more obvious success than Jupiter's Legacy was.

It can be difficult to predict whether or not audiences will respond to the story of a streaming series that releases full seasons in one go, but as Netflix has proved with hits ranging from Stranger Things to Bridgerton, shows can take off at a sprint if they get a good launch. Season 1 of Jupiter’s Legacy only recently dropped on Netflix, but fans are already clamoring for a follow-up season.

Jupiter’s Legacy creator Mark Millar dished about the possibility of a second season in an interview with ComicBook.com. Here’s what he had to say:

Sounds pretty positive. And Mark Millar might have good reason to feel that way. When the first eight-episode season of Jupiter’s Legacy premiered on Netflix on May 7th, it quickly shot to the number one spot on the popular streaming platform. Despite some middling reactions from television critics, audiences were enamored with the time-hopping superhero series. Jupiter’s Legacy only has a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience score jumps up to 72%. This is a good sign: after all, the number of viewers can be far more crucial than critical approval across the board. As long as the audience continues to support the show, that could generate enough interest for Netflix to invest in Season 2.

Another good sign? As Mark Millar said, Jupiter’s Legacy (which was based on his comic series of the same name) already has a road map in the form of the original comics. This means that the comics' fanbase might clamor to see the next volume play out onscreen. It would be incredibly frustrating to only see the first book get the onscreen treatment (fingers crossed for a second season of Shadow and Bone). In addition, the first season set up multiple plotlines that would presumably play out in a future season, so audiences would have a reason to tune in.

The story of Jupiter’s Legacy is certainly interesting enough to warrant more exploration. Mark Millar’s story recounts the adventures of a group of people who are gifted with extraordinary abilities after their trip to a mysterious island. The past storyline is intertwined with the present, where the heroes must contend with their equally super children. The show stars Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb, and Ben Daniels, among others.

Should Jupiter’s Legacy get a second season? You can check the show out on Netflix and decide for yourself.

Major spoilers below for the entirety of Netflix's superhero drama Jupiter's Legacy, so be warned!

As one of Netflix's most popular original series going into the 2021 Summer TV season, the superpowered saga Jupiter's Legacy is the first of an assumed variety of streaming adaptations bringing comic book creator Mark Millar's works to life. Though viewers' mileage may vary when it comes to critiquing the overall quality of these first eight episodes, it's pretty undeniable that Season 1 ends in ways that can only be described as "plotty set-up for Season 2," to the point where a second season renewal was essentially built into the storytelling formula.

Regardless of whether that was a genius or a baffling move on the part of original TV developer Steven DeKnight (who left early on in the production) and/or the newer showrunner Sang Kim, let's take a closer look at how Jupiter's Legacy semi-wrapped up its various storylines through the finale. (A finale that is titled "How It All Ends," which is quite bizarre since nothing actually ends, so to speak, but I digress.) Let's kick things off with the biggest twist of Season 1, which all the evil telepaths reading this story just knew was going to happen.

Brainwave Was The True Villain All Along

Somewhat similar to how things play out for the Sampson brothers within the Jupiter's Legacy source material, the TV series twists a big knot in the elder siblings' relationship by revealing Ben Daniels' Walter (a.k.a. Brainwave) was the actual antagonist behind much of the current-day crises of faith and family plaguing The Union. Walt was the one who cloned Blackstar, which was the catalyst for the Code-based fissures that formed between Andrew Horton's Brandon (a.k.a. Paragon) and Josh Duhamel's Sheldon (a.k.a The Utopian), because Walt is pretty sick of the superhero status quo and thinks the U.S. has spiraled out of control because of his brother's insistence on not breaking the Code.

Season 1 ends with Walt cementing his supervillainy by slitting the throat of his own daughter Raikou (Anna Akana) after she messed up by revealing what she knew about his double-crossing nature, as well as his overall goal to coerce nephew Brandon down a different life path from his father. (Not to mention she then tried to coax more hush money from Walt.) Meanwhile, in a feat of terrible timing, Sheldon specifically asked Walt to help mend his relationship with Brandon, with the elder brother only too happy to accept the task. (More about Brandon lower.)

Those Season 2 building blocks are pretty obviously laid out for viewers, but Brainwave's fight with Matt Lanter's Skyfox (who will also be discussed lower) introduced the pretty huge implication that Walt has been a behind-the-scenes antagonist for far longer than just the events that played out in the first eight episodes. Skyfox (a.k.a. George Hutchence) accused Brainwave of convincing the other Union members to go against him, leading to him being their greatest enemy. So viewers can probably expect to see everything that led to Walt and George's fallout in future episodes, and more from Walt probably attempting to kill others, eventually approaching the same fate as others who were tested by the mysterious Island.

Sheldon Basically Ruined His Relationship With Brandon

Jupiter's Legacy brought a distinctly comic-book sense of symmetry to up-but-mostly-down relationship between Sheldon and Brandon, first incited by the younger Sampson theoretically breaking the Code by totally destroying the Blackstar clone's face. In the end, the real Blackstar tried to force Sheldon into murder by threatening Brandon's life, with the almighty Utopian taking wayyy too long to go into bright-eyed power mode. Naturally, Sheldon later tried to convince Brandon that he would never have let the villain really kill him, but even viewers know that if Tenika Davis' Petra (a.k.a The Flare II) hadn't shown up to disrupt the confrontation, things might have gone in such a way where Brandon's head would no longer be attached to his body.

And though Brandon obviously tells Sheldon that he believes him, there are roughly a billion seeds of doubt already planted there, with Elena Kampouris' Chloe Sampson (a.k.a. not an official superhero) always around to shit-talk their dad and his goody-two-shoes ways. To Andrew Horton's credit, Brandon's poker face is such that it's not entirely clear where he'll land in Season 2. He obviously doesn't fully buy into the thrust of his father's legacy, but still seems to understand the general value behind the Code, so I can't see him going completely rogue as the character more or less does in the comics. Then again, Walt can sway Brandon's actions from both the outside and the inside, so we may see a major father-son-also-uncle showdown in the next eight episodes or so.

Skyfox Finally Showed Up In The Weirdest Way

Throughout Jupiter's Legacy Season 1, Matt Lanter's George is very prevalent in the 1930s' scenes, but is almost entirely absent from the current timeline, save for a few mentions here and there about Skyfox being The Union's biggest nemesis. That changed in the finale, where it was revealed that George-as-Skyfox was/is trapped inside some kind of abstract mindspace, though that wasn't entirely explained. In any case, this is where he trapped and battled Brainwave for a while, accusing the latter of turning everyone against him, to the point where they beat him in front of his son (presumably Ian Quinlan's Hutch).

Leslie Bibb's Grace (a.k.a. Lady Liberty) popped into the cloned brain-space to assist Brainwave against Skyfox, which then led to Walt showing Grace the "how it all ends" vision that George put in his head. Only it wasn't fully clear if the imagery that Walt showed Grace - Skyfox smoking a cigarette over Utopian and Paragon's bloody-faced corpses - is the same one that he was shown. It very likely wasn't, and was instead just more of Walt's manipulation campaign to portray George as the real big bad.

I can only hope that Jupiter's Legacy viewers will see more from Matt Lanter as Skyfox in Season 2, preferably in the expanse of time between the group's inception in the 1930s and the current storyline setting. Considering how much Season 1 played up his friendship and kinship with Sheldon - which Skyfox brings up as a key reason why they all got their powers - it would be baffling for the TV series to just ignore the entire span when George was a true superhero within The Union, as well as to not reveal the big reason why he later became a villainous pariah. In the comics, it did involve a woman, which possibly plays into the story of George and Walt's respective children. Unless it doesn't. But speaking of...

Hutch Is Building A Weapon To Find His Father

As revealed in the finale following a pretty stellar fight in complete, oxygen-free silence, Hutch's grand criminal scheme throughout Season 1 was to gather all the necessary requirements needed to build some kind of a super-weapon that he tells Chloe he aims to use to find his father George. (Note that he didn't exactly offer up any denials when Chloe asked if he was going to use it against the Utopian.) It was a cool moment as far as these kinds of reveals go, but viewers were left completely in the dark how any of that was meant to happen for Hutch.

Thus, Season 2 will obviously feature Hutch using that mysterious device in such a way that he can track down his father, presumably in connection with his teleportation rod. Regardless, it seemed curious that Episode 8 was also the same episode that drew more attention to Hutch not having any innate abilities beyond controlling the power rod, as well as playing up how it originally belonged to David Julian Hirsh's Richard Conrad (a.k.a. Blue Bolt). Seems like a second season should also deliver some answers on that front, explaining why not everyone's powers were passed on genetically.

Other Characters Whose Stories Didn't Really Wrap Anything Up

While Leslie Bibb and Elena Kampouris both gave solid performances as Grace and Chloe Sampson, respectively, Jupiter's Legacy Season 1 didn't really grant either of them a full character arc that ended in any big or dramatic ways. As mentioned previously, Grace fought Skyfox and saw Walt's take on George's "how it all ends" vision, while also being aware of the growing familial rifts. Meanwhile, Chloe saved Hutch from his botched heist (while not exactly disguising herself) and appeared to be more than halfway to joining up with Hutch on his mission to find his father. But that's about it.

The same mostly goes for Mike Wade's Fitz Small (a.k.a. The Flare) and his daughter Petra. It was interesting to see how Fitz's origin story in the 1930s played out throughout the season, but viewers saw very little of him in Flare mode, with the Union's first get-together in the finale as his shining superhero scene. The lack of The Flare was strange because of how prominent the character is in the comics (though as a completely different kind of person), though understandable given the lack of storylines set from the 1940s through the 2010s.

As well, beyond the later-season flashback scenes, Jupiter's Legacy didn't take much time to explore Richard Conrad and his legacy as Blue Bolt, leaving viewers with very little to speculate over regarding the character's current whereabouts. It's presumed that more of Blue Bolt's story will come out in Season 2, given the first season's focus on Sheldon's various relationships, but still a strange move to offer such a fleeting look at such an important comic character.

Considering how Season 1 left things off, there are no exact guarantees that Jupiter's Legacy Season 2 will arrive with fully logical explanations for everything that was left out before. But if the first season is as popular as Netflix and Mark Millar are no doubt hoping, then maybe it'll inspire all involved to speed up the storytelling in the future. The only way to convince the powers that be to make it happen is to keep streaming Season 1 on Netflix, and tell all your friends, even the ones that keep talking to their parents' corpses while scrawling out maps.

While it seems like actor Josh Duhamel would have already taken on one or two live-action superhero projects in his career before Netflix's newest comic book actioner Jupiter's Legacy, the closest he came was essentially with the Transformer franchise. Now, though, he's getting his time to shine in the comic book spotlight as Sheldon "The Utopian" Sampson (even if reviews for the Mark Millar and Frank Quitely adaptation haven't been so kind). And though he seems pleased enough with the show in general, Duhamel was apparently not so enthused by having to film fight scenes for Jupiter's Legacy.

During a recent interview with press (via Digital Spy), Josh Duhamel was asked about filming the big brawl against Tyler Mane's Blackstar, and he pointed out how long it took to film that particular sequence before digging a little deeper into his particular distaste for filming superhero battles, saying:

It's easy to imagine why that process might not be the most fun element of making a movie, especially if the superhero suit that an actor is wearing happens to be extremely hot or hard to move around in. Or even if not, though, filming something in such a piecemeal state has to be a drain for actors who are supposed to be "in the moment" throughout their entire performance, without viewers understanding right away that the moment when we see Duhamel's Utopian getting punched in one moment might have been filmed days prior to him getting to punch back, such is the process when filming effects-heavy sequences like those sprinkled throughout the first season of Jupiter's Legacy.

Perhaps it might be different if all of the Jupiter's Legacy fight scenes were completely practical and featured non-powered characters, since that presumably wouldn't require nearly as much prep work and delays in the moment. But because of the heightened comic book fare on display, it's pretty impossible for Josh Duhamel's Utopian to be caught up in a fight without his mega-strength, flying abilities, and other powers being put to use. Which just meant the actor was destined for quite a few slow and steady filming days throughout Season 1.

Not that Jupiter's Legacy was packed to the gills with fight scenes. And then, only one of those battles featured the major supervillain teased throughout all eight episodes, Matt Lanter's Skyfox. So Josh Duhamel definitely had more to do than just make weird grunting sounds while swinging his fists, especially since half of the storyline took place in the 1930s prior to The Union's creation.

Tying into that point of view is the fact that Josh Duhamel isn't a huge fan of the superhero genre in general. A big reason why he joined Jupiter's Legacy, which he wasn't familiar with ahead of the offer, is that his son is a big fan of superhero lore. So if you look at it from that angle, it's like it was a gift to his son for Duhamel to have sacrificed his time, energy and patience while filming Utopian's fight scenes. Okay, so that's probably overselling things a bit.

Appearing in another comic book project debuting in 2021, Josh Duhamel voiced Harvey Dent in the DC animated movie Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, and I'm guessing doing the voice work in his casual clothing was more comfortable overall than filming a live-action fight scene. He'll soon be seen appearing opposite Jennifer Lopez in the upcoming film Shotgun Wedding, in a role previously vacated by Armie Hammer, and that also sounds like it might have been more fun to film than mid-air super-brawls.

Jupiter's Legacy Season 1 is currently streaming in full on Netflix, with many more awesome shows coming our way in the 2021 Summer TV schedule. Fans are waiting to hear whether or not Josh Duhamel will be knocking any other villains about if Season 2 gets ordered up.

General spoilers below for Jupiter's Legacy, so be warned if you haven't yet watched!

Netflix's Jupiter's Legacy marks comic book creator Mark Millar's first adaptation through his mega-deal with the streaming service - the Big Bang of the Millarverse, if you will. The big-budget drama flips between two different timelines, one focusing on the familial superhero team The Union in the present day, and one set in the past that tells the story of how those heroes (and eventual villains) came into being. Star Wars voice actor Matt Lanter, who winningly brought The Clone Wars' Anakin Skywalker to life, features heavily in the 1930s timeline as George Hutchence, the charismatic BFF to Josh Duhamel's Sheldon Sampson. He's mysteriously absent from most of the modern storyline, however.

It's likely the Jupiter's Legacy creative team felt there were already enough moving parts to introduce in these first eight episodes that George's post-1930s future as Skyfox would be easier to explore in a second season without having to sacrifice anything. Which meant the pressure was on Matt Lanter to make George as memorable and impactful a protagonist as possible without entering into 95% of the superpowered action sequences. So as one might imagine, the actor was first able to find parallels between his name-changing hero-turned-villain in Jupiter's Legacy and the one he portrayed in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Speaking with press ahead of Season 1's premiere on Netflix, Lanter said this when asked to compare playing George and Anakin:

On the George/Skyfox side of things, Matt Lanter is speaking to elements that viewers aren't entirely privy to at this point, but are recognizable to those who read Mark Millar and Frank Quitely's Jupiter's Legacy and Jupiter's Circle comic series. There's no reason to go into that here, since it's hard to know what might change from the comics for the TV story, but suffice to say George and Walt's chiding and unfriendly spark grows into an inferno. But the comparative points he made are completely apt, with Skyfox arguably being quite a bit more of a relatable villain than than that evil bastard Darth Vader.

The bulk of George's development throughout Jupiter's Legacy Season 1 is tied to his closeness with the Sampson family, hinging largely on his friendship and support of the increasingly maddened Sheldon. So Matt Lanter had to dig into those moments to show audiences what George's true essence was, and in that way, the actor was also able to reflect on his time portraying Anakin Skywalker, particularly in developing his relationship with Ahsoka Tano (as voiced by the excellent Ashley Eckstein). Lanter , who may one day voice Anakin again, said this when asked how he approached his onscreen kinship with Josh Duhamel:

Josh Duhamel, Ben Daniels, Leslie Bibb, and Mike Wade were each able to show the before-and-after versions of their characters throughout the first season of Jupiter's Legacy, and how Sheldon's Code affected their relationships with family members and the outside world. Conversely, George only allowed Matt Lanter the time to play up the kind of hero that George Hutchence, father of Ian Quinlan's future-villain Hutch (somehow), might be as a member of the Union without twirling his metaphorical mustache with any villainous verve. And while it's almost hard to believe that anybody could ever buy into Sheldon's scrawled map and his ship scheme, Lanter plays George in such a way that feels truly genuine (also somehow).

I asked Matt Lanter about his thought process in going a full season where George is spoken of as the world's greatest supervillain without ever really showing audiences that he's anything more than loyal and dependable. In his words:

While he was speaking more loosely about the character's future, Matt Lanter spoke to the idea that the Netflix TV series from showrunner Sang Kyu Kim (who took over after creator Steven S. DeKnight's exit) might lean into Skyfox's notoriety as a mega-double-decker-supervillain might be overhype promoted by the likes of the hyper-telekinetic Walt as Brainwave, whose string-pulling actions behind Sheldon's back were revealed in the Season 1 finale. Could it be possible that the live-action Jupiter's Legacy will reveal all of George's villainy was just Walt's mindgames? Lanter continued:

It would be a massive gut punch for Jupiter's Legacy comic fans, and anyone who digs the TV show, if Netflix didn't order up a second season to wrap up everything that wasn't shown in Season 1. Plus, Skyfox is pretty badass, as seen both in the source material and in his brawl with Brainwave, so who wouldn't want to see more of that? And if they wanted to give him a weapon that looked like a certain weapon wielded by a certain Sith lord, that'd be cool, too.

Jupiter's Legacy Season 1 is available to stream in full on Netflix, with hopefully more news coming soon about whether or not we can expect to see Season 2. Everything in our 2021 Summer TV schedule should offer something to dive into while waiting, though.

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The DC Extended Universe is constantly growing, and keeping the public on their toes in the process. While conversation has been dominated by the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, fans are looking to the future of the franchise. So could a Black Superman arrive on the big screen? DC writer Mark Millar has offered his honest thoughts.

Mark Millar is an experienced comic book writer, lending his talents to both Marvel and DC. He notably worked on the iconic plot line Superman: Red Son, so he knows the Man of Steel well. Millar was recently asked if he thought Black Superman Calvin Ellis will make it to the big screen, responding with:

Wel, that was frank. It looks like Mark Millar is ready for Calvin Ellis to make his way to the silver screen for a DC movie. We’ll just have to see if/when this happens, and what lucky actor lands the role.

Mark Millar’s comments come from his recent interview with THR about his career, and the future of the comic book industry. Eventually the conversation turned to the rumors about the DCEU including the possible inclusion of Superman Calvin Ellis. And while Warner Bros. is keeping its cards close to the chest, Millar thinks the world is ready for a different type of Superman.

Calvin Ellis debuted in the comics years ago, and was influenced by Barack Obama. Fans have been eager to see his Superman debut in the DCEU, especially as Henry Cavill’s future in the franchise remains unknown. And there are a number of actors who fans want to see in the role.

Past installments in the DCEU can be found on HBO Max. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

While calls for Calvin Ellis’ Superman to get a film adaptation have been around for years, fuel was added to the fire thanks to J.J. Abrams’ recently announced Superman project. There’s been no reports of the developing movie being a Man of Steel sequel for Henry Cavill. As such, the rumors have been swirling.

The most common choice by fans to play Calvin Ellis is none other than Michael B. Jordan. He’s got his share of comic book experience thanks to his roles in Fantastic Four and Black Panther, and he’s definitely in superhero shape thanks to training for Creed III. Jordan hasn’t been campaigning for the role, but he seems flattered that fans want to see him as the next Superman.

The next installment in the DCEU is The Suicide Squad on August 6th. In the meantime, check out our 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

While Netflix's programming slate is vast and varied enough to keep the company from pigeonholing its original content, I think we can all agree the streaming giant has some experience in the superhero genre, with projects such as Daredevil and the other Defenders series, Gerard Way's The Umbrella Academy, and Raising Dion. Mark Millar and Frank Quitely's widely acclaimed comic book series Jupiter's Legacy is one the platform's next powered-up dramas, and it looks like an emotional and action-packed journey into a superhero family's heritage (both literally and metaphorically) led by Transformers vet Josh Duhamel. Check it out above!

The first thing that comic book fans will notice is that the Jupiter's Legacy TV show definitely doesn't look like a beat-for-beat interpretation of the often NSFW comic book series, which centers on the multi-generational superhero team dubbed The Union. By opening up on that mysterious island, the Netflix series clearly isn't going to cryptically tease out the way in which the Union's central heroes came upon their powers, which is quite different from how Mark Millar's original tale handled those reveals. Which isn't to say it's a bad thing, as it certainly serves as a thrilling bite-sized introduction to the core group.

The Union is headed up by Josh Duhamel's Sheldon Sampson, a.k.a. The Utopian, who becomes the planet's most powerful, moral and well-respected hero, and yes, there are oodles of Superman parallels to recognize. Sampson's (second) wife Grace Kennedy, played by American Housewife's Leslie Bibb, handles her hero duties as the super-strong lawyer Lady Liberty, while his brother Walter (The Crown's Ben Daniels) is turned into a flying psychic who goes by the name Brainwave. As it is stated within the Jupiter's Legacy trailer, these three have been living with their island-oriented powers for 90+ years, so you can imagine that things were not innocent and hunky dory the entire time.

Keeping things familial are Sheldon and Grace's children Chloe (Elena Kampouris) and Brandon (Andrew Horton). In the comics, the telekinetic Brandon goes by the alter ego Paragon, while Chloe chose to sidestep the superhero spotlight early on, despite having her own special abilities. It's not entirely clear if that'll play out accordingly in the TV show, with Chloe meant to be "the ideal," but you can imagine how complicated teens with superpowers might be.

Also popping up in the trailer are the Union's other core original members. SEAL Team vet Mike Wade stars as Fitz Small, whose abilities as The Flare include flight, super-strength and powerful energy blasts. (Casting a Black actor as Flare is indeed one of the changes made in bringing Mark Millar's comic book to TV.) Fitz's daughter Petra, portrayed by model Tenika Davis, also shows up in costume a time or two. Sheldon's best friend George Hutchene, an egotistical engineer who can also fly and boast mega-strength as his alter ego Skyfox, was definitely the Union's most sexed-up member in the comics, though that appears to have been watered down for the show. And then there's David Julian Hirsh as Richard Conrad, whose alter ego Blue Bolt was also strong and capable of flight, and also wielded a self-crafted power rod to blast energy blasts into enemies.

In any case, the Jupiter's Legacy trailer has nearly a century of storytelling to set up, and it does so in a successful manner, at least in my book. Created by Daredevil and Spartacus' Steven S. DeKnight, who left mid-production over creative differences, Jupiter's Legacy appears to have been granted a giant budget for second showrunner Sang Kyu Kim to continue bringing this story to life. The fights look gritty, the flying heroes look graceful, and it looks like just about every shot in the trailer has some form of special effects work. (And no, I'm not just talking about how good Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb look in those costumes.)

The trailer also gives audiences our first look at A Million Little Things' Anna Akana as the heroic and sword-swinging Raikou, who looks like she'll bring some martial arts flair to the traditional superhero fare. As well, we got our first good look at the TV show's big, ugly villain Baryon, as played by actor Chase Tang, though it's not exactly clear what kinds of schemes he and/or any of the drama's other villains will be keeping themselves busy with.

Considering Mark Millar is the comic book storyteller behind such popular hits as the Kick Ass movies and the Kingsman films, fans can expect to see some subversive and off-kilter moments during Jupiter's Legacy, but also some important takes on the importance of family lineage and loyalty. If nothing else, it's proof that every big victory just leads to more threats.

Now that we finally have our first big look at Jupiter's Legacy to mull over, fans only have to wait a month to binge all the generational superhero action, as the new series' first eight episodes hit Netflix on Friday, May 7. Let us know in the poll below what you thought of the trailer!

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Believe it or not, Jupiter is nearer than you think. Or, rather, to be more specific, Jupiter's Legacy, the upcoming superhero drama streaming series based on the graphic novels by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, is a bit closer than you might think. We have about two months before this decades-spanning superhero saga debuts on Netflix, but we do know some key details about this much-anticipated show. Here's what we know (so far) about Jupiter's Legacy, which comes from creator Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil).

Jupiter’s Legacy Premieres On Netflix On May 7

We won't have long to wait to see what Jupiter's Legacy has in store. The first 8-episode season is scheduled to premiere on May 7, 2021, which would be the start of a traditional summer blockbuster season. That release date doesn't seem incidental for that reason. Jupiter's Legacy is slated to be one of Netflix's most high-profile projects this year, which is saying something. The service is definitely looking to drive-up interest and attention for this expensive new program, as we'll discuss in more detail a little bit later.

The Jupiter’s Legacy Cast Includes Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb, And More

When it comes to the cast of Jupiter's Legacy, Netflix assembled a recognizable pair of stars for our lead generation-spanning superheroes. Specifically, Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb will reunite to play Sheldon Sampson, i.e. The Utopian, and Grace Sampson. The former is the leader of the superhero team, The Union, while the latter is considered one of the world's strongest superheroes. Also rounding out the ensemble are Ben Daniels as Walter Sampson, Sheldon's older brother, Elena Kampouris as Chloe Sampson, Grace and Sheldon's daughter, Andrew Horton as Brandon Sampson, Grace and Sheldon's son, Mike Wade as Fitz Small, a valued member of The Union, and Matt Lanter as George Hutchene, Sheldon's closest ally. Additionally, Tenika Davis, Anna Akana, Tyler Mane, and Chase Tang will play either recurring roles or guest stars.

Jupiter’s Legacy Is Based On A 10-Issue Graphic Novel Series From Mark Millar And Frank Quitely

Mark Millar shouldn't be a stranger to movie lovers and/or comic book aficionados. The graphic novelist is known for creating the source material for popular adaptations like Captain America: Civil War, Wanted, Logan, the Kick-Ass movies, and the Kingsman franchise. Additionally, away from the big screen, he wrote the Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Superior, The Authority, and Superman: Red Son. Recently, Millar joined forces with Netflix, and Jupiter's Legacy, based on his 10-issue graphic novel series with Frank Quitely, is one of their first collaborations.

Certainly, Jupiter's Legacy will be a big undertaking, as it is the longest-running graphic novel series under Mark Millar's pen. But hopefully, the author's creative involvement will assure that this new show will reach the same quality as his past film adaptations.

Jupiter's Legacy Is A Decades-Spanning Superhero Drama Navigating The Complex Dynamics Of Power, Family, And Loyalty Of The World’s First Superheroes

Even by superhero standards, Jupiter's Legacy has lofty ambitions. As it was reported in their official press release, Jupiter's Legacy will chronicle a decades-spanning story that follows the world's first superheroes and how they navigate through "the complex dynamics of power, family, and loyalty." Notably, "after nearly a century of keeping mankind safe," the first superhero family "must look to their children to continue the legacy." But it won't be easy when the superpowered children don't exactly live up to the high standards and demanding expectations of their parents, causing a lot of tension.

Sounds like an interesting mix of The Incredibles, Sky High, Watchmen, and Amazon Prime's The Boys. Narratively, Jupiter's Legacy sounds more expansive than any other superhero show in recent memory — especially in live-action. Color us intrigued!

Chase Tang Claims His Role Will Be ‘Something We Haven’t Seen Before’

While we don't know a lot about Chase Tang's role as Supervillain Baryon, we do know that this supporting performance was very meaningful to the actor, and it's one that he believes could be very influential in the years to come. During his appearance on Climate Change with Scott Amyx, Tang discussed the impact of playing an Asian character — specifically an Asian villain — in this hotly-anticipated new streaming series, and how his role in this show could open the door for more Asian representation in the industry, especially in other superhero movies and shows. Likewise, the actor claims there are a lot of surprises in store, which we'll have to discover for ourselves when Jupiter's Legacy premieres on May 7th. Here's what Tang said on this podcast:

Jupiter’s Legacy Was Created By Daredevil’s Steven S. DeKnight (Though He Left The Series Over Creative Differences)

Jupiter's Legacy certainly isn't Netflix's first superhero show. Prior to this series, the streaming service hosted a number of Marvel-based shows, including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher, and Daredevil. For the latter, Steven S. DeKnight was the showrunner for the first season, and he served as the creator and main creative influence on Jupiter's Legacy... until he called it quits. Leaving over some reported (but unspecified) "creative differences," as Deadline noted, DeKnight did have a hand in this program but don't expect him to stick around for future seasons. He was later replaced by Sang Kyu Kim. Nevertheless, DeKnight wrote both the pilot and the season finale.

Netflix Dropped A Mysterious Teaser For Jupiter’s Legacy In Late February

We haven't gotten a good glimpse at Netflix's hotly anticipated new superhero series just yet, but we've been properly teased for Jupiter's Legacy. In late February, in an effort to drum up its blockbuster-friendly early May release, Netflix dropped the first mysterious teaser trailer, which features a gravely-voiced Josh Duhamel (presumably) providing voice-only narration over symbols, capes, and corridors that will likely only be familiar to those who read the graphic novel series. Of course, some of the imagery is evocative of other well-known superhero properties, but it's clear that Jupiter's Legacy is attempting to establish, well, a legacy of its own. To some unseen superperson, Duhamel claims they'll one day be "stronger than anyone else in the world," and "every evil in the world is gonna rise up against mankind." 

With a lingering threat of "vengeance," this trailer promises that this kin will soon be "the future," thus ushering in a new era of heroes for this superpowered world in this intriguing introduction.

Check out the teaser below:

We Got Our First Look Of The Actors In Character In Early March

In addition to this enticing teaser, Netflix dropped a first look video in early March, which features some colorful stills of our larger-than-life superhero characters. This video provides our first official looks at the characters played by Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb, along with some other notable personalities to boot. Once again, this teaser appears to be directed more at the fans of the comic book property than newcomers. The images of these drawn characters coming to life on-screen might not mean as much if you're unfamiliar with their hand-drawn origins. Nevertheless, it does give us an early glimpse at the show's visual style, costuming, and world-building, showcasing the generations of superheroes that we'll meet throughout this decade-spanning saga. Obviously, we're only getting a few brief peeks at this upcoming show, but Netflix is definitely doing all they can to drive interest towards their latest superhero series.

You can check out this first look video below.

Expectations are certainly sky-high, but we'll have to wait to see if this is Netflix's answer to The Boys. As noted, Jupiter's Legacy Season 1 will premiere on May 7th. You can set a reminder for Jupiter's Legacy on Netflix's site.

The media landscape is currently filled to the brim with superhero content. Massive brands like Marvel and DC are constantly churning out new material that’s starting to make its way to the small screen. Of course, there are fans who may be looking for different kinds of superhero fare, not unlike Amazon’s The Boys. Well, Netflix is poised to give viewers alternative kinds of stories as well with its stable of Milllarworld adaptations, starting with Jupiter’s Legacy. The show should be a fresh addition to the genre, especially since the creator has even described the main family as a mixture of The Incredibles… and the Kardashians?

Jupiter’s Legacy centers on the Sampsons, a family of heroes headed by the world’s very first superheroes. While the three elder Sampsons (Sheldon, his wife Grace and brother Walter) have carved out major legacies for themselves, Sheldon and Grace’s kids aren’t quite living up to their family name. In a recent interview, original Jupiter’s Legacy writer Mark Millar discussed the show’s sci-fi roots and explained how these heroes will differ from others:

One can’t help but be intrigued when hearing a premise like this. The Kardashians are some of the most well known people on the planet and have a huge following as a result. Though anyone who’s seen their reality show knows they have a tendency to get involved in drama. Adding this kind of over-the-top dynamic to a family of superpowered beings could make for some fun (and messy) situations.

Unfortunately, this is going to weigh heavily on Josh Duhamel’s Sheldon Sampson, who must own up to the fact that his kids are “a nightmare.” Mark Millar continued to tell EW that this stress causes the present-day Sampson to differ greatly from his younger self:

The family drama and major generation gap are some of the elements that drew readers to the original Jupiter’s Legacy comic books. It’ll be interesting to see just how showrunner Steven S. DeKnight manages to translate the material for the new show.

Jupiter’s Legacy hits Netflix on May 7th.

The Star Trek family aches with the news that Ben Cross, who played Sarek in 2009’s reboot, died on Tuesday. The British talent was 72 and leaves an impressive legacy in Hollywood, also notably through his portrayal of Olympic champion Harold Abrahams in 1981’s Chariots of Fire, and Barnabas Collins in the ‘90s Dark Shadows television series. As word spread, Hollywood reacted with tributes to the late actor. Here’s what Zachary Quinto said this:

Zachary Quinto wrote these words alongside an Instagram post featuring a picture of Ben Cross as Sarek in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. The Spock actor sounds like he had a distinctly positive experience with the actor on set. Star Trek was a massive role for Quinto that undoubtedly changed his life, and one key relationship in the film is Spock with his father, Sarek.

Ben Cross was embraced by the Star Trek community after years without the fan-favorite character played by Mark Lenard in the original ‘60s series, who also reprised his role in the subsequent films starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the rest of the original Enterprise crew, as well as The Next Generation in 1991. TNG actress Marina Sirtis, who played Deanna Troi, took to Twitter to share her condolences too:

Another co-star of Ben Cross, Antony Starr, who worked with him on the Cinemax series Banshee, wrote this:

There he is in Chariots of Fire, which was nominated for four Oscars in 1982, including Best Picture. Bill & Ted actor Alex Winter also remembered the actor on social media here:

To close out the tributes, DC comic book writer and producer for Wanted, Kingsman and Kick-Ass, Mark Millar, shared this cute memory of Ben Cross:

In another tweet, Mark Millar also said he remembered telling Ben Cross about how Howard Chaykin’s The Shadow comic used him as a model for his run of the ‘80s series. They googled images of the issues together, and he was “genuinely tickled.” Cross certainly touched many more people in Hollywood than those who have honored him here.

Sadly, the Star Trek community has faced a number of heartbreaking deaths in the past few years, with the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, passing away in 2015 at the age of 83, and the new franchise’s Chekov, Anton Yelchin, passing away in 2016 at the too-young age of 27.

Though the Star Trek film franchise has been dormant since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, Paramount has a number of films in development, and the property is living and breathing with a bunch of exciting original Star Trek shows on CBS All Access. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates on Star Trek.

Around a year ago, Netflix, already a giant in the entertainment industry, added a massive new set of tools to its belt when it bought Mark Millar's Millarworld. The streaming company purchased the comic publishing company with an eye towards developing movies, TV series and kids' shows based on Millarworld's characters and properties. Now, we know what titles will be adapted into movies first as Netflix has revealed its Millarworld movies slate, with Empress, Huck and Sharkey The Bounty Hunter all on the way.

This is just the opening slate, with presumably much more to come in the future, but all three of these titles are already in development with names attached. Mark Millar's Empress tells the story of Queen Emporia, who is married to the galaxy's most evil villain, the dictator King Morax. When she escapes with her children, Emporia must hop from planet to planet to try and avoid the King and his army and protect her children at all costs. Lindsey Beer, whose name is attached to some of the most exciting geeky properties in the works right now, including Silver & Black and The Kingkiller Chronicle, is on board to adapt the comic book for the screen.

Hidden Figures screenwriter Ted Melfi is attached to adapt Mark Millar's Huck into a feature film for Netflix. Huck is a sort of small scale, non-traditional superhero story. It tells the tale of a gas station attendant named Huck in a small seaside town who uses his powers to do good deeds on a local level. His neighbors keep his secret, but a newcomer throws his world upside down by alerting the media, bringing Huck fame, but also dredging up his past and sending him on a life changing adventure.

The third film announced by Netflix is unique in that isn't an adaptation of an existing Millarworld property. Sharkey The Bounty Hunter is a new comic that will be published next year under the Millarworld/Netflix banner. Michael Bacall will write the screenplay for the Sharkey The Bounty Hunter movie. His previous work includes 21 Jump Street and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Sharkey The Bounty Hunter sounds absolutely wild, as it will tell the story of Sharkey, a blue-collar bounty hunter who tracks down targets across the galaxy in a rocket-powered ice cream truck with the assistance of his ten-year-old partner. The film will see Sharkey taking on his biggest job yet. Netfix didn't give an exact date, but shows this will arrive in 2020.

Never one to neglect the kind of binge-worthy TV series that made it famous, Netflix also has two Millarworld shows in the works, Jupiter's Legacy and American Jesus, which are set to arrive in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Jupiter's Legacy will tell a multi-generational superhero tale following the first heroes in the 1930s and their super powered children in the present who are trying to live up to their legacy. Steven S. DeKnight, who served as showrunner on Daredevil season 1 and Spartacus, will be the showrunner for Jupiter's Legacy. American Jesus will be a multilingual series (Spanish/English) that follows a twelve-year-old boy who discovers that he is the second coming of Christ and all the obvious challenges that come with that. That sounds super interesting and I'm sure not at all controversial.

The one thing that is clear from Netflix's announcement is just how ambitious these plans are. There are three movies and two TV shows in development at the moment, and this is just the first slate. What's also cool is how varied these properties are with each sounding different in tone, character and story, and not all just folks in tights. Marvel and DC take up most of the oxygen around comic book movies and shows, but as Mark Millar's Kingsman and Kick-Ass have proved, the medium is the birthplace of all kinds of unique and fun stories deserving of film adaptations, so it's exciting that this many are on the way.

Netflix did not reveal exact dates for when these movies and series will arrive, but we'll keep you updated. Check out our Netflix premiere schedule for everything hitting the streaming service in the coming months.

Long before movies like Deadpool 2 or Logan, but during our current superhero movie boom, Matthew Vaughn directed the R-rated Kick-Ass, based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. That film was successful enough to produce a sequel that didn't fare as well, and despite the occasional rumor of a Kick-Ass 3 or Hit-Girl movie, the franchise just sort of faded into the ether. Well now comes word from Matthew Vaughn that Kick-Ass will live again. The director spoke about rebooting the property and also hinted at a big possible change to the eponymous character, saying:

First off, it is awesome that we will finally be getting more Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. There aren't really any other superheroes quite like these on the big screen right now, and part of keeping the superhero genre healthy means having a lot of variety. As to what we can infer from Matthew Vaughn's statement to Empire, he seems to be hinting that the rebooted Kick-Ass will not feature Dave Lizewski, portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the first two films, as the man behind the mask. Instead we could possibly see the new Kick-Ass, Patience Lee taking up the mantle for the rebooted film.

In February of this year, the Kick-Ass comic book was rebooted in the same continuity with the same creative team under publisher Image Comics. This new Kick-Ass found Patience Lee, an adult single mother and Afghanistan war veteran, buying the same wet suit as Kick-Ass after Dave retired. She wears the Kick-Ass costume while fighting crime and robbing criminals to pay off her debts. There is also a new Hit-Girl series that sees Mindy McCready fighting crime all around the world independent from what's going on with Patience Lee. If we look to what Mark Millar is doing in the current comics for clues as Matthew Vaughn suggests, it stands to reason that we may see Patience Lee as Kick-Ass and a globetrotting Hit-Girl solo film when these characters return to the big screen.

Obviously there will be a lot of opinions about this, but we have already had the Dave Lizewski Kick-Ass onscreen, so rebooting the franchise with Patience Lee allows the previous films to still exist while making a newer Kick-Ass seem fresh. Mark Millar has already thrown out his strict casting requirements, desiring that Thor: Ragnarok actress Tessa Thompson play Patience Lee. While we're on the reboot dream-casting front, I'd like to put forth Bella Ramsey, who plays the badass Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones, as a possibility to replace Cholë Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl.

It seems like a good time to reboot Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl given the moment R-rated superhero movies are currently having. Deadpool 2 just killed it at the box office and Logan received an Oscar nomination last year. We also have the upcoming Hellboy reboot to look forward to. So perhaps Kick-Ass will find more success this time around with a more adventurous audience. I'm of course assuming these new movies would be rated R, like their predecessors were and their content demands. It's unclear when this new Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl will make their way to the big screen, but depending on the licensing of it all, I wouldn't even mind them showing up on Netflix. Mark Millar's company Millarworld was purchased by Netflix, and Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass are the kind of grounded characters that would be well-suited to the platform, even if they starred in a streaming series.

For all the latest on the Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl reboots stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

Some comic creators have become inextricable from particular worlds, and Mark Millar's name has turned into a fixture on both the Marvel and DC side of things. He has played a vital role in some major projects for both companies, but now it looks like we should not expect to see Mark Millar dive back into either realm due to his current commitments over at Netflix. In response to a fan asking if he would ever return to the DC world, Millar took to social media and wrote:

Mark Millar is a busy man. Netflix recently acquired the rights to his company, MIllarworld (the company responsible for properties like Kick-Ass and Kingsman), and that significant business move seems to have kept him incredibly busy in recent days. Now, with a full-time job over at the behemoth streaming service, it looks like Mark Millar's focus is on his own original characters and the stories that they inhabit. Millar himself is not necessarily bound to Netflix at the moment, and he can work on other projects if he finds the time, but his remarks seem to confirm that he's not going to do another Marvel or DC project, which makes sense, particularly when we consider his recent critiques of the DCEU's heroes and how they compare to the Marvel heroes.

Of course, one thing not explicitly laid out in Mark Millar's tweet is whether or not we will continue to see adaptations of his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the X-Men universe, or the DCEU. He has written numerous superhero books for a variety of different publishers, and his work has been adapted into films like Captain America: Civil War, as well as Logan -- although some reasonably notable liberties were taken with those books. Still, he's unquestionably left a huge mark on both comic book universes.

With that in mind, even if he does not personally return to those worlds, it's still possible that Warner Bros. or Disney could look to books that he has already published for inspiration. After all, he has crafted some pretty famous work with characters like Superman and The Flash. There are Millar-written stories out there, but he likely won't be involved in them moving forward.

CinemaBlend will bring you more information about anything and everything in the comic book and superhero worlds as new details are made available to us. For now, head on over to our movie premiere guide to see what films (superhero or not) will debut on the big screen this year!

Even if you haven't seen Justice League yet, it's no secret that after perishing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman was resurrected in last month's DC Extended Universe team-up flick. With the world saved yet again and Kal-El/Clark Kent resuming both his heroic and civilian lives, the stage is set for the benevolent Kryptonian to be revisited in the near future. One of the ways that might happen is in Man of Steel 2. Back in March, it was reported that Kingsman: The Golden Circle director Matthew Vaughn was being eyed to helm the sequel, and it was later confirmed that he's talked with Warner Bros about the project. As things stand now, according to comic book writer and Vaughn's collaborator, Mark Millar, Vaughn currently isn't lined up to direct Man of Steel 2 yet, but that doesn't mean that the opportunity is entirely off the table either. Millar recently explained:

Mark Millar's years of comic book writing experience (including numerous Superman stories, like Superman: Red Son) combined with Matthew Vaughn's own time working on superhero movies (like X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass) would have made for an interesting combination when putting together Man of Steel 2. However, as Millar noted while appearing on the El Fanboy Podcast, Netflix's acquisition of Millarworld means that Millar is tied exclusively to the streaming service in the coming years, leaving him unable to make any DC movie contributions. Since then, Vaughn has been keeping busy keeping himself busy with other projects, but he hasn't discounted working on Superman's next live action standalone adventure or any kind of DC movie... assuming the amount written on the paycheck is satisfying.

During the week of Justice League's release, producer Charles Roven noted that there is currently isn't a Man of Steel 2 script, although various story ideas have been floated. Now following Justice League's mixed critical reception and underwhelming box office performance, DC Films is going through a restructuring, and while movies like Aquaman, Shazam and Wonder Woman 2 will come out as planned, it remains to be seen if Man of Steel 2 and other select movies will continue to be developed or if they'll be set aside.

You can see Superman back in action in Justice League, which is still playing in theaters. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on Man of Steel 2, and don't forget to look through our DC movies guide to learn what other projects this franchise has in development.

It has been four years since Kick-Ass 2, and fans of the Mark Millar-created character haven't much hope of seeing the character return to the big screen. The sequel film was not as well received as Matthew Vaughn's original movie and failed to match its box office. Still, the Kick-Ass movies helped paved the way for the success enjoyed by other R-rated superhero movies like Deadpool and this year's Logan. So, while news has been quiet on the Kick-Ass front, it seems that something may be in the works. Mark Millar, the man behind Kingsman, Wanted and Kick-Ass recently stoked the embers of this property's return. Take a look.

Keep in mind that this is by no means confirmation of anything movie-related. He wouldn't be the first creative to tease something on Twitter just to mess with people or to get hopes up prematurely. The news about Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl could be something on the comic front and not necessarily of a cinematic Kick-Ass 3 proper. But if nothing else, Mark Millar teasing a press release for impending news gets fans hopes up, and stating the news is coming next week means we won't have to wait long to find out just what it is he's talking about.

There is reason to hope beyond this teasing tweet, though. Earlier this year Netflix purchased Millarworld, Mark Millar's comic publishing company responsible for not only Kingsman, Wanted and Kick-Ass, but also Starlight, Superior and Chrononauts. This deal was made to bring Millarworld properties to life in films and TV shows on the platform. The comics will now bear a Netflix logo, with the first to hit next spring, according to EW. This gives Netflix their own comic book arm that will continue to produce stories they can adapt and use to drive subscribers to their service.

The Netflix/Millarworld deal looks even wiser in hindsight given the imminent launch of Disney's own streaming service and their exclusivity on Star Wars and Marvel properties. While rights issues are always a murky area, Netflix might see an opportunity to put out either a Kick-Ass 3 film or a new series on their service, assuming there are no legal entanglements. Other than perhaps Kingsman, Kick-Ass is probably the best-known Millarworld title, so piggybacking off the name value of the property for its first adaptation would make sense.

Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl seem far better suited to a Netflix TV series than feature films. They don't require the level of CGI budget as something like The Avengers, and their adult content fits in far better on a streaming platform where audiences can seek it out. Netflix's street-level Marvel series Jessica Jones and Daredevil have shown that the streaming service can do adult, violent series that don't feel timid. Kick-Ass has become something of a cult film, and a reboot of the character on Netflix could be a great start to the Millarworld acquisition.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend, and we'll let you know if Mark Millar delivers and any kick ass Kick-Ass news next week.

Netflix has slowly morphed from a simple DVD rental service to one of the largest media companies in the world. Now, they've become even bigger, as they just purchased the comic publishing company started by the creator of Kick-Ass. The idea of Netflix possibly entering a licensing deal with Mark Millar to make TV shows or movies based on his characters is something we wouldn't have been surprised to hear, however, the streaming giant has gone one better and simply purchased the company, Millarworld, directly from him.

Mark Millar is one of the biggest names in comics who is responsible for some of the storylines which Marvel Studios has used for some of the recent MCU films. However, he's also created several original comic book characters, a few of which have been turned into films in their own right. Millar's work inspired the films Kick-Ass, Kingsman, and Wanted. Millar isn't going anywhere as the announcement specifically states that he and his team will continue to create and publish stories, though his specific role in the company is not explained.

Netflix states the obvious in their press release that this acquisition will result in films, TV series, and apparently also kids' shows, based on Mark Millar's work that will appear on the streaming service. In addition, comics will continue to be published, only now they'll bear a Netflix label. Netflix is now a comic book publisher. Welcome to 2017.

This news leads to all sorts of interesting questions regarding the future of media. How will the purchase impact the current licensing deals for Mark Millar's work? Several Millarworld titles have been optioned for movies by studios that are technically competitors of Netflix. Could the fact that they're now working with Netflix make these properties less attractive, or alternatively, could those studio relationships help aid Netflix's theatrical distribution of their own films?

Could this deal have repercussions that impact the future of the Netflix relationship with Marvel? Technically, Netflix is now a competitor of Marvel Comics while TV shows based on those comics are some of the most popular original programming on the service.

Finally, one has to wonder if Netflix is buying comic book publishers, what other media companies are they really interested in? If Netflix is looking at properties they can use to help bolster their own programming, there are countless places they could look. There's almost certainly a wish list someplace at Netflix with some names on it.

There have been a number of Mark Millar properties in development limbo over the last couple of years. It would seem that with this acquisition there will clearly be some movement forward with some of them.

Taste is subjective, and just because a movie, TV show, video game or other kind of story is popularly received overall doesn't mean everyone will like it. Case in point, Captain America: Civil War. It was one of the most successful superhero movies of 2016, hauling in over $1 billion worldwide and now rests comfortably at 90% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, one of the film's detractors was comic book writer Mark Millar (who penned Marvel's original Civil War tale), as he didn't care for most of the third Captain America entry primarily because it lacked humor.

While listing off the 2016 movies he liked, thought were okay and disliked (and outright hated, which was reserved solely for Independence Day: Resurgence) on Millarworld, Mark Millar placed Captain America: Civil War under the 'dislike' category, mainly because he was expecting directors Joe and Anthony Russo to make better use of their comedy background helming the feature. In his words:

If Mark Millar thinks Captain America: Civil War didn't have a a lot of humor, someone should probably keep him away from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. (Actually, he later mentions that he didn't care for Batman v Superman's creative direction, but that's beside the point.) Anyway, while it is true that Captain America: Civil War didn't have as much comedy as previous Marvel movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, to say the movie was missing a lot of humor is an interesting take. In the midst of all the turmoil, there actually was some decent comedy. A few funny moments that immediately come to my mind include Falcon and Winter Soldier's griping at each other (like in that cramped car), Iron Man's interactions with Spider-Man and Ant-Man...well, being himself. Plus, a story about superheroes in conflict over registering with the government has to tackled relatively seriously, no matter which angle you're coming from.

The ironic thing about Mark Millar's Captain America: Civil War comments is that his original Civil War tale from a decade ago is actually much bleaker than the cinematic adaptation. Unlike the movie, some participating superheroes died, and the anti-registration heroes felt more like fugitives than the Team Captain America members did on the big screen. It's okay for one to not like Captain America: Civil War, but for Millar to specifically point towards lack of humor as the main reason he didn't care for it is unusual, especially when he wrote the darker story it was inspired by.

You can re-judge Captain America: Civil War for yourself if you want by checking it out on Digital HD or Blu-ray/DVD, and the movie will be available on Netflix starting Christmas Day.

While most eyes are focused on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, creator Mark Millar has been quietly scoring several big screen hits. With another one on the way, Millar just announced who he wants to play the part. After viewing Amy Schumer's comedy Trainwreck Millar has apparently decided that John Cena needs to be cast as the superhero in the movie based on his book Superior.

This may actually be some of the most brilliant casting in recent memory. John Cena, of course, already looks like a real life superhero, which is what makes it so great. Superior tells the story of a young boy with multiple sclerosis who idolizes comic book superhero, the character of Superior, essentially a stand-in for Superman, most of all. When the boy is given the opportunity to have one wish granted, he wishes to become the costumed hero.

John Cena looks exactly like what you want to look like if you were transformed into a superhero. He's as far away from a 12-year-old boy who can no longer walk as you can possibly get. In addition to looking like he was drawn for a comic book, Cena's charisma is such that he could easily pull off the role.

John Cena is either the guy you love, or the guy you love to hate in the WWE. Much of the reason for this is that his character is just perpetually upbeat. Not every fan loves that side of him, but playing the part of a 12-year-old who just got transformed into a superhero, that infectious happiness would be exactly what the role required.

It's been a while since we heard much about the state of the film adaptation of Superior, however, it would seem that the project is moving forward at some pace. Although, if Mark Millar just requested John Cena it would appear that they have yet to cast one of their two major roles.

A part like the main hero of Superior would by far be John Cena's biggest movie role to date. While he started his film career in action roles in WWe produced films like 12 Rounds and The Marine, in recent years Cena has been focusing more on cameos, as in the aforementioned Trainwreck or the Tina Fey comedy Sisters. Cena was tagged in Mark Millar's tweet, as well as several of the fan responses, so it's likely that he's seen it. There's been no direct response, at least not publicly.

Do you think John Cena is the perfect choice to play Superior? John Hamm had previously expressed some interest in the part as well. Would you rather see him take it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Mining popular books, comics and graphic novels for movie ideas has been something filmdom has excelled at basically since the beginning of moving pictures. Usually, a book or comic has to be released upon the populace and gain an audience before producers and film studios become interested in adapting them. But now, with so many in Hollywood looking for fresh ideas, it looks like comic scribe Mark Millar has gotten his new comic, "Empress," into Hollywood’s hands before it’s even released. Another kicker? There’s already a star attached to play the lead role.

Well, Mark Millar doesn’t waste any time at all, does he? Millar posted this tease as to who the leading lady in the new film will be on his Twitter page earlier today, and the fans who follow him are having a field day trying to guess who it is. Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Margot Robbie and Krysten Ritter seem to be the most popular guesses, but some people are doing their best to come up with the silliest answers possible. Some of those ridiculous guesses? Terry Crews, Betty White, Forest Whitaker, Lady Gaga, Rob Schneider, Eddie Redmayne, and my favorite, "Tracy Jordan playing Jack Black playing Anne Hathaway."

The story for the comic, and, we can assume at this point, the movie adaptation of Empress, centers on an intergalactic adventure where a mother of three decides to escape her husband’s tyrannical rule over their planet by fleeing with a trusted body guard back to her home planet. The catch? The planet she’s queen of is Earth – 65 million years ago.

The comic is due to be released this April. And, if you notice in that photo from the tweet, it looks like the mystery lead for Empress will be revealed on April 6, so it’s incredibly likely that the comic is released on or slightly before that date. From the basic premise, it sounds like this film will be one special effects heavy potential blockbuster that anyone who’s interested in fantasy should be on the lookout for.

Mark Millar has written some of the most intriguing and popular comics of the last several years, and many of those have been adapted into big budget and/or action heavy films. Millar is the writer behind the comics "Captain America: Civil War," "Kick-Ass," and "Kingsman: The Secret Service" and "Wanted." He’s also the mind behind "Huck," "Jupiter’s Legacy" and "Chrononauts."

As far as up coming fantasy epics go, Empress is, without even knowing who the cast will be, already sounding like a fantastic film. We’ll keep you up to date on Empress news as it develops.

Mark Millar knows a thing or two about comic book characters. The man behind the books that inspired Kick-Ass and Kingsman: The Secret Service is known for telling stories that take violence to near artistic levels. However, the man also feels that the darkness needs balance. This is why he has issues with Man of Steel. It seems that the penchant for darkness in our comic book movies may have gone a little too far.

While prefacing his statements, in a piece he’s written for Gamesradar, by saying that he is a fan of everybody involved in the Superman movie, and also saying that he believed the scene where Superman takes down Zod made sense within the context of the movie, he believes the film’s ending goes against the moral that superhero comics always strived for. Superman is a character literally capable of anything, yet he chooses to be nice. Millar feels that this central aspect of the character was lost in the movie and seeing Superman choose the violent path was wrong. He says:

Millar is the first to admit that darkness in our comic book movies is nothing new. He points out that the opening of the first X-Men movie, the film that began to legitimize comics as source material for films, takes place at a WWII concentration camp. The darker version of Spider-Man and even Ang Lee’s Hulk were direct attempts to avoid the campiness that had dominated the superhero formula previously. While he believes these movies were important in having comic books taken seriously, he feels that with the darker version of Superman we may have gone too far in one direction.

The ending of Man of Steel has become one of the more controversial scenes in recent film history. Two years later, people are still talking about it. While many fans see it simply as an introduction of a new type of character, not tied to his previous decades of baggage, others saw it as the film turning its back on the aspects that made the character who he was. What is clear is that the cinematic universe being created by DC is certainly a much darker place, at least at the beginning, then its counterpart at Marvel. Mark Millar points to the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of characters unknown to the average moviegoer, as proof that sometimes people just want to have a good time and smile.

What’s more important in your superhero movies? Are you looking for a good time, or do you prefer the darker characters to avoid the camp factor?

Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service was one of the biggest surprise hits of the last year. Combining humor with over-the-top violence, the film did for the spy genre what Kick-Ass did for the superhero genre – provide perfect parody, whilst completely honoring its inspiration. Part of what made Kingsman work so well was the pitch perfect performance by Colin Firth as Agent Galahad; while most assumed the character would not come back for a sequel, Mark Millar – who penned the comic upon which Kingsman is based – admits it could still happen. WARNING: KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE SPOILERS.

In a recent interview with IGN, Millar explained that working Galahad back into the story – despite his untimely demise in the original Kingsman – has become a primary concern for the creative team behind the sequel:

So while the team has not figured out a specific way to bring Firth back into the fray, Millar assures that the decision will make sense within the universe. It could range from bringing Firth back as a twin character, to flashback sequences. Kingsman: The Secret Service took no issue with including some fairly absurd elements into its plot, so we can expect Galahad to be brought back through some fairly outlandish means.

It speaks to the effect that star power can have on the release of a movie. As Millar observes in the interview, Colin Firth played an integral role in the success of the first Kingsman, so a sequel would benefit from his return – provided that bringing him back does not compromise the integrity of the story. Given the fact that Galahad had essentially accomplished his goal of serving as a mentor foe Eggsy (Taron Egerton) by the time he died in the first film, smart money is on Firth’s return to the franchise to take a more villainous turn, making it more personal and difficult for the protagonist.

Only time will tell if Firth even decides to return for a Kingsman sequel. One thing that is for sure: fans of the original would most certainly clamor to see him back in his suit and spectacles kicking ass. Kingsman 2 is expcted to his theaters sometime in 2017.

With Hugh Jackman’s final outing as clawed X-Man Wolverine on the way, fans have been clamoring for an adaptation of modern classic Old Man Logan by Mark Millar. It became one of the most prominent suggestions from fans when Jackman asked them what they wanted from his next film, and the actor himself made a crack about Old Man Logan over the summer that got everyone talking. That said, the graphic novel features numerous elements that Fox would not have the rights to, but according to the author, that’s irrelevant.

Millar recently sat down with IGN and explained that Old Man Logan could still work on the silver screen, despite the elements of the greater Marvel universe that it features:

In summation, despite the fact that Old Man Logan involves Wolverine encountering characters like Red Skull and Hawkeye, the film adaptation does not necessarily require them to work. Fox could easily take characters that they have the rights to, and use them to fill similar roles. As a hypothetical, Millar suggested replacing Hulk with Blob, or including Cyclops in the main story of the film – both of which would be major alterations from the comic, while still allowing Logan to go through the character arc he requires for the story to work. Fox has experienced a recent hot streak with their Marvel characters, so the odds of them striking any sort of deal with Marvel to share properties – see: Sony and Spider-Man – seems slim to none at this point.

Making changes from source material has worked well for the X-Men franchise before. While X-Men: Days of Future Past maintained most of the core elements and themes of the comic upon which it is based, the film took characters more relevant to the X-Men films and put them at the forefront of the story. In that instance, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) took a backseat to Jackman’s Wolverine; the story fundamentally changed from its origin, but the spirit of Days of Future Past remained true.

At this point nothing has even been confirmed regarding the story of Jackman’s final outing as the clawed Canadian mutant. Perhaps Fox will choose to adapt Old Man Logan, but then again maybe they won’t. If they decide to go that route, fans should keep in mind that the film will likely not directly resemble the graphic novel they have come to love – and that’s ok.

In 2008, Wanted ushered in an age of comic book movies that would exist alongside the current Marvel and DC powerhouses. This was partially in thanks to comic writer/ comic film producer Mark Millar, who would go on to adapt his other work in comics into films such as Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and the upcoming Fantastic Four film. However, the movie business moves fast, and a producer needs to have a lot of irons in the fire – which means that in addition to the proposed Hit-Girl movie that Mark Millar has in his head, he should be lining up some more immediate prospects on the launching pad. Hope you're a fan of Starlight and/or Chrononauts, because those are the next two projects Mark Millar says are moving briskly to moviedom.

JoBlo recently chatted with the man himself to get an update on all things Millar, and sure enough he mentioned that the not too distant future should herald two new franchises that will be up and running. Hoping to have both Starlight and Chrononauts up and running around the same time a potential Kingsman sequel would be filming, Mark Millar gave some very specific updates on both projects. First, he had this to say about the status of Starlight:

You may know Witta as the writer on such films as The Book Of Eli and After Earth, as well as video games Prey and Telltale Games' The Walking Dead series. However, he's also been making news as the writer of the first Star Wars Anthology spinoff, Rogue One. As for the source material involved, Starlight tells the story of Duke McQueen, an aging "space hero" who's returning to the world saving game after decades out of circulation. As for the status on Chrononauts, Millar's update was less further along, but just as promising, as he remarked the following:

Chrononauts involves the adventures of a duo of time travel pioneers, and their adventures throughout the fourth dimension. The project is currently set up at Universal, with Millar serving as an executive producer on the project. Starlight, on the other hand, is set up at Millar's current production home, 20th Century Fox. With both projects sounding like they should be in active production as of, at the latest, the end of this year – as well as three more projects ready for 2016 – it looks like Mark Millar is trying to take on the likes of Zach Snyder and Kevin Feige, without the benefit of widely known characters. The advantage though is that Millar created these properties, so the integrity of the source material should hold up pretty soundly.

Even if you're tired of comic adaptations, this should be welcoming news due to the fact that Mark Millar's characters are off the beaten path, and provide an effective palette cleanser for a market saturated with characters some of us have seen since we were young kids. The field's about to get a little more crowded, but if these films hit the way they should, the industry could be on the perch of another shift akin to 2008's comic movie glory. In the meantime, you can see Millar's next film production on August 7, when Fantastic Four takes its bows in theaters.

Mark Millar is very popular these days. The man behind Kingsman: The Secret Service has turned several of his comic properties into box office gold. Apparently one of the ideas the man behind Kick-Ass is toying with is a solo flick for Kick-Ass heroine Hit-Girl. Speaking to JoBlo comic creator Mark Millar talked about the various irons he has in the fire regarding upcoming films. One of the items under consideration is a standalone Hit-Girl movie. The only problem is that it’s apparently a bit...unorthodox:

Is anybody else terrified? When the man behind Kick-Ass and Kingsman says an idea is "insane" what are we supposed to think. Kick-Ass was insane. Kingsman was out of control. What exactly could a Hit-Girl movie be about that would be so over the edge that the world might not accept it? An idea that will make previous efforts look like a Disney movie is somewhat disconcerting. We are now dying to see this movie. We’re also a little afraid to see this movie.

Hit-Girl was one of the standout characters of the two Kick-Ass films, played stunningly by Chloë Grace Moretz. She was sweet and cute and vulgar and violent. There’s little doubt that fans would be willing to see Hit-Girl again and see what she’s become. Moretz had previously expressed frustration that she would not be able to play Hit-Girl again due to the lackluster box office of the Kick-Ass 2. She blamed piracy for keeping fans out of theaters.

Millar talks about the strong heroines in films like the The Hunger Games and Hanna when discussing a potential Hit-Girl film. We are certainly in a time when when it’s become clear that a woman can carry an action film, or even an action franchise. It’s safe to say that Hit-Girl can beat them all up.

Based on the way Millar talks about a Hit-Girl movie this one is definitely in the idea stage. There are not, currently, any plans to make it a reality which would certainly put this movie years away, even if they started working on it tomorrow. Also, while it is true that Kick-Ass 2 didn’t perform very well at the box office, the fact is the first wasn't a smash hit either. Kingsman was huge and usually after a huge hit many studios will let creators take a few more chances. Maybe they'll spend some credibility on the future of Hit-Girl. Are you ready to see Hit-Girl go out on her own?

Robert Downey Jr., arguably, is the current face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s the glue holding The Avengers together, and he might be the force that also drives them apart. But it was Samuel L. Jackson, approaching Downey’s Tony Stark in the Iron Man end credits, who got this MCU underway, and the story of how his on-screen characterization came to pass is very fun, if you haven’t heard it yet.

Comic book writer Mark Millar is the one responsible for turning S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury black – after him being Caucasian for decades – and making him look like Samuel L. Jackson in the pages of the Ultimates books. Millar recently told Business Insider that he modeled his Fury after Colin Powell, and envisioned him as a Blaxploitation hero. As Millar recalls:

Obviously, however, Marvel did get in to the movie business, and it was time to bring in Nick Fury as the recruiter or Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Jackson, as it turned out, was an avid comic reader, and was very familiar with the work that Millar had done. It indirectly led to his hiring for Iron Man, and his involvement in all phases of the MCU. So as Millar remembers it, he recently got to hang out with Jackson on the set of Kingsman: The Secret Service -- yet another adaptation of a Millar story. The writer jokingly apologized for "completely exploiting" the actor’s image and likeness for a character, and asked if he was annoyed. To which Jackson perfectly responded:

Very few in the MCU have enjoyed the same type of job security as Samuel L. Jackson, though Robert Downey Jr. is getting close. After kicking off the MCU in this scene:

Sam Jackson has been the connective tissue in movies like Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the first Avengers movie and this month’s Age of Ultron. Because of Millar’s creative stroke, Samuel L. Jackson has job security, and vaults filled with cash for the work he has done with Marvel.

Action spy thriller, Kingsman: The Secret Service may very well have proven itself as having one of the more interesting box-office stories in a month overshadowed by Fifty Shades of Grey. The Bond-inspired bonanza of butchery has held rather steadily in its second week, generated some positive word of mouth and looks on track for at least $100 million in its domestic take. However, it seems that moviegoers missed out on a rather noteworthy flashback scene which utilized extensive digital effects technology to make the iconic Michael Caine look younger. Thankfully, the animation studio that worked on the film has just released some images of the scene that could have been.

The images (which no longer are online) come from London-based animation studio, Jellyfish Pictures, who provided the digital effects for much of the high-paced, stylized ultraviolence on display in Kingsman. We’ve seen this kind of digital de-aging done plenty of times in film. However, the advances in technology since, for example, when we saw "Young T-800 Arnold Schwarzenegger" digitally reproduced in 2009’s Terminator Salvation are absolutely remarkable. The precision is freaky with little to no hint of artificial rendering, despite efforts from critical eyes to find those signs. It’s as if someone had jumped in a time machine and grabbed the early 1970’s Michael Caine from Get Carter and transported him to be in a 2015 movie.

Of course, what is the freakiest part of all of this? This spectacular sequence was CUT from the film! Yes, it seems that director, Matthew Vaughn made what had to be a difficult creative choice to leave this mind-blowing and likely expensively produced scene on the cutting room floor. According to Mark Millar, creator of the original Kingsman comic book and co-writer of the film script, this was a necessary sacrifice.

In the film, Caine plays the seemingly grandfatherly leader of the Kingsmen organization, Chester King, who holds the organization’s top dog title of "Arthur." However, as fate would have it, the typically sagely presence that Caine tends to bring to the big screen these days would come with a twist. The deleted flashback scene, reportedly set 40 years in the past, is clearly character-building and perhaps provides some important contextual background for the Kingsmen organization.

However, for a film as fast-paced and in-your-face like Kingsman, the idea of taking time to slow down to depict events that don’t have a direct impact on the immediate crisis at hand was probably disruptive to the flow of the film. Thus, Vaughn left it behind, cool as it would have been to see. Fortunately, the scene seems destined for the film’s eventual Blu-ray/DVD release.

Kingsman: The Secret Service can be seen, sans digital young Michael Caine, but packed with dirty jokes at theaters right now.

It seems that rumors depicting the demise of the planned Kick-Ass spinoff, Hit-Girl have been exaggerated. In fact, the director of the series’ first film, Matthew Vaughn isn’t throwing in the blood-soaked towel just yet on this little franchise that could. According to Vaughn, Hit-Girl is still very much in play and he plans to use it as way to get enough momentum for a possible Kick-Ass 3! Certainly, you can never accuse Vaughn of being a deadbeat director when it comes to his franchises. (At least, ones not run by Bryan Singer.)

In an interview with JobBlo, promoting his latest comic-adapted action thriller, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Vaughn reveals a surprising amount of resolve towards reviving the Kick-Ass franchise; especially considering how 2013’s Kick-Ass 2 yielded lackluster numbers that would be a death sentence to any other franchise. Vaughn would lay out his grand plan to revive the fantastical world of wannabe superheroes suffering brutally realistic consequences and even has a plan to get the original stars to come back.

Vaughn further revealed that he is working with comic creator, Mark Millar on the Hit-Girl script. Confirming previous remarks made by Millar, Vaughn revealed that The Raid director, Gareth Evans had, indeed, been circling a film in the Kick-Ass series "a couple years ago." Vaughn still seems keen on the idea of bringing Evans’ brand of intense, explosive, stylistic chop-socky to the Kick-Ass films. Vaughn would also confirm that, much like with part 2, he would not return to direct Kick-Ass 3.

The idea that the discussed Hit-Girl film was confirmed by Vaughn to be a prequel seems to be a bit of breaking news in its own right. However, when coupled with an interview last year with Hit-Girl actress, Chloe Moretz, saying that she was essentially "done with the character," a prequel film featuring a younger actress makes sense. Certainly, a story about a young Mindy Macready being raised by her father, Damon, a widower former cop-turned-vicious-vigilante who calls himself "Big Daddy" (played by Nicolas Cage in the first film), would provide plenty of narrative meat on the bones. It could focus on his tragic origins and how it molds young Mindy into the vicious young spiller of scum blood, Hit-Girl. This is especially amplified if Cage returns to the role. – Oh, who are we kidding with "if?!" This is Nicolas Cage, we’re talking about, here!

Kick-Ass seemed to defy the odds as an R-rated comic book film property which, despite an "okay" box-office take, managed to spawn an R-rated sequel...which happened to fall on its green spandex-covered face. However, it clearly enjoys the benefit of having some very talented folks who remain committed to its continuing existence. I guess we’ll see if Vaughn can earn some extra clout to help make that happen when Kingsman: The Secret Service makes its pitch to moviegoers at theaters this Friday.

There has been talks of Mark Millar’s fan-favorite comic book, Nemesis being adapted into film for years. Big names have been attached from Johnny Depp to Liam Neeson, and almost five years after the idea of a live-action film based on the book first came up, there is now a stronger chance that it could actually come to be. Well, that is if Mark Millar’s latest comic book adaptation, Kingsman: The Secret Service does well at the box office.

Kingsman: The Secret Service already has high praise from critics, and while it will have major competition at the box office this weekend (Fifty Shades of Grey is also releasing) it’d be more surprising if it doesn’t do well. The star-studded cast is enough to turn you onto the movie, featuring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Mark Strong and newcomer Taron Egerton who shows great promise. Plus the film is directed by Matthew Vaughn who has already shown off how well he can bring comic books to film with his work on Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class.

With the Kick-Ass film franchise on hold, Millar hopes to get some of his other work out on the big screen. In a recent interview with Red Carpet TV, he admitted that while Nemesis may not be the immediate pick of the lot, a successful debut of Kingsman could certainly help it be put into fruition:

Nemesis a four issue comic published in 2010 followed the titular supervillain who has similar qualities to The Joker, but the resources of Batman. Publicity of the comic teased, "What if Batman was the Joker?" or as Millar expressed in an interview back in 2009. "What if Batman was a total cunt?" The hype surrounding the comic book before it was released was incredible, but upon publication it had mixed reviews. Despite the mixed reviews though, most enjoyed the premise of the Millar and Steve McNiven collaboration, and the rights to the film were immediately swooped up by 20th Century Fox. But the previous setbacks have been many, and while Millar has praised the Joe Carnahan script many times, the film has yet to see any forward progression.

In his same interview with Red Carpet TV, Millar admitted that movie wise, his comics Starlight and Chrononauts are probably next to be filmed, with screenplays currently being written and a hopeful filming start at the end of this year. While all of Millar’s comic/film adaptations tend to be bad ass, fans have long-awaited the release of Nemesis and we hope that Kingsman is a big success so it can push the film forward.

But for now, we’ll just have to enjoy Millerworld’s Kingsman: The Secret Service hitting theaters February 13, 2015.

Is it possible Kick Ass 3 is a thing? Fans of the movies may not realize that the comics have been going for a while now, deepening and complicating the life of Dave Lizewski and Mindy MacReady, aka Kick Ass and Hit Girl. That second movie didn't exactly light the world on fire, however, so could there really be enough left in the tank to close out the trilogy?

In an interview with the architects of the Kick Ass universe, Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., at Comic Book Resources, the writer and the artist leave the door open for a possible Kick-Ass 3 - but only a bit. Millar says,

First of all, kudos to Millar for eliminating the doubt that Hollywood movies don't make any profit. That second Kick Ass was considered a disappointment after actually making $63 million worldwide on a $24 million budget because it probably cost around $40-$60 million to promote. But that home market can be lucrative, and both movies in the series have done huge business in the Blu-ray marketplace. Box office "flops" are only theatrical flops: once you get those alternate revenue streams involved, you find out that making movies is NOT as much of a money-losing proposition as you had been told.

Secondly, where does Kick Ass go after part two? The comics have a very conclusive, movie-ready ending in regards to volume three. Could that be the fates of Kick Ass and Hit Girl? The second one had some pretty harsh reviews, and for good reason. While the first film interrogates the idea of superheroes in mainstream society, the second film seems to revel in it, to the point where the satire is lost.

There's also the discussion about the portrayal of violence, which was controversial enough to make Jim Carrey speak out and refuse to promote Kick Ass 2. The opinionated Romita had something to say about that as well.

Well then! People involved in these movies like Chloe Moretz have aired out their opinions thus far, but not to this extent. Guess Carrey won't be in Kick Ass 3, will he? (If it ever even actually happens)

Over the weekend you may have noticed your comic book-loving friends or self-proclaimed geek girls were grinding their teeth or publicly denouncing comic book writer Mark Millar. Having penned Spider-Man and Fantastic Four comics as well as his own like Nemesis, The Authority, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, the Scottish writer is a big name in comics, and with more and more of his books like Nemesis and Kick-Ass 2 getting adaptations—not to mention his role as a comic consultant at Fox--he’s also becoming a force in film. Though we're hearing that Kick-Ass 2 is perfectly violent and button-pushing, that's not actually the reason that Millar is under fire this week. That comes down to a single word: rape.

Millar is very fond of using rape as a plot device in his work, including Wanted, The Authority, Nemesis and Kick-Ass 2 (more on that later). He’s faced criticism for its inclusion, and when The New Republic asked him about that he responded:

Millar has been a controversial figure in comics for years, thanks to books that are wildly violent—even for their genre—and are often considered boundary-pushing for the level of menace within them. For instance, in Nemesis, a book that basically imagines what would happen if a billionaire opted to become a villain instead of, say, Batman, his baddie kidnaps a cop’s son and daughter, impregnates the latter with the former’s sperm and then “rigs” her womb to blow if an abortion was attempted. Millar claims his outlandish violence is meant satirically, but whether that message gets across is a matter of debate on its own. Still, his comments on rape open a whole other can of worms.

First off, as the recent firestorm over rape jokes revealed, rape as a subject matter is far from taboo. Its inclusion in popular culture is so expected that the very suggestion an artist (be they stand-up comic or comic book writer) should be mindful about how they address it brought a relentless shit storm down on feminist blogger Lindy West.

Secondly, rape and decapitation are not the same. Both are horrible acts of violence, sure. But the latter is not one that causes people to ask, “Well, what was she wearing when she got decapitated?” There’s no victim blaming inherent in decapitation, but more to the point decapitation is not a thing that people fear in their day-to-day life the way that many women fear rape. Comparing the two so blithely just reveals how out of touch Millar is with female comic book readers, who yes, do exist.

To tackle Millar’s assertion that the difference between rape and decapitation doesn't really matter, I’ll refer to Comics Alliance’s John Hughes, “In a culture in which rape is undeniably endemic, Millar’s steadfast refusal to consider the potential ramifications of his work remains astounding, infuriating, irresponsible, and sad. In the United States, where the majority of Millar’s comics are published and sold, one in six women has experienced an attempted or completed rape, only 16% of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police, and only about 5% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.” While I couldn't find hard statistics about beheadings in the US, I think it's safe to say fewer than one in six people have been decapitated. Of course there’s plenty of ways to show a villain is a bad guy-- robbing banks, killing sidekicks, kidnapping love interests and dangling them over bridges. But sexual assault is employed against female characters far more often then male characters. And its use in comics, where women are wildly underrepresented, is another attack on the vagina-havers that actually like reading comics. It’s not a new problem, which makes Millar’s suggestion that rape is somehow a fresh device all the more frustrating. This problem has a name, and it’s “Women in Refrigerators.”

The phrase was coined by celebrated (and female!) comic book writer Gail Simone to describe the tired, but recurring comic trope of injuring, raping, or killing a female character solely to impact the male hero. It takes its name from a 1994 Green Lantern comic wherein the titular hero literally finds his murdered girlfriend stuffed in his refrigerator when he comes home. This device reduces women to props within the narrative, which beyond being lazy writing is especially infuriating for readers who would rather see engaging female characters than pretty victims made to be murdered.

In the comic for Kick-Ass 2, a teen girl named Katie is the title character’s crush. So, to get at Kick-Ass, his nemesis The Mother Fucker (formerly The Red Mist) decides he and his crew will gang rape the girl. You can see the panels below.

(Click for full size)

Comics Alliance editor-in-chief Laura Hudson explained her outrage over the above: “There’s one and only one reason that happens, and it’s to piss off the male character. It’s using a trauma you don’t understand in a way whose implications you can’t understand, and then talking about it as though you’re doing the same thing as having someone’s head explode. You’re not. Those two things are not equivalent, and if you don’t understand, you shouldn’t be writing rape scenes.”

Basically, Millar may like to think he’s playing the boundary-pushing bad boy by having his baddies rape at random, but in fact he’s just reflecting the ambivalence our culture already has toward this horrendous act. And he’s clearly not aware of that. Thankfully, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays The Mother Fucker in Kick-Ass 2, says this scene will not be in the movie, “The rape scene is not in it. There’s a version of it but there’s no rape. Thank God.”

I’ll second his “Thank God.” I haven’t seen Kick-Ass 2 yet. But at this point I’m basically dreading it even though I adored the first movie. Millar’s ambivalent attitude toward depictions of sexual violence and his ease at relegating women to objects of jeopardy is disturbing to say the least. Seeing Kick-Ass 2 is part of my job, so I will see it. But much like those who love the book Ender’s Game but loathe author Orson Scott Card’s bigoted remarks, I’m torn on whether I personally want to support Millar’s career by buying tickets to movies based on his works. I’m conflicted. How about you?

This poll is no longer available.

Because Mark Millar had been hired as a creative consultant for, comic-book properties at 20th Century Fox, one would assume that the things he has said about X-Men: Days of Future Past were coming from a point of insider information, and that he and Future Past director Bryan Singer have met, discussed the franchise, and shared ideas.

Not the case.

Singer spoke with the Web site Bleeding Cool about his collaboration with Millar, and learned this revealing bit of information:

Very interesting. So Millar’s talk of Sentinels, and how they’ll be a major part of the upcoming sequel, is that a total lie? A miscommunication? Why would Millar speak out like that if he and Singer haven’t even talked? It seems like these two need to communicate, if Millar really is contributing at Fox in the ways he has sold it to fans.

The other interesting note in Singer’s quote is that he has ideas of where the X-Men franchise could go after Future Past. In the post-Avengers age, all studios are thinking long term when it comes to their superhero properties, and you know Singer has been ordered to extend the brand with his next film … whether Mark Millar wants him to or not.

The closest X-Men fans came to seeing Sentinels on screen wasn’t very close at all. The towering robotic assassins were part of a Danger Room sequence in Brett Ratner’s forgettable X-Men: The Last Stand, though the only thing we really were able to see was Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) standing next to the severed head of a Sentinel after Colossus sling-shot him off screen … you know, where we couldn’t see the action. (Great choice, Mr. Ratner.)

In an earlier piece, Eric picked up notes from a recent Mark Millar interview in SFX Magazine where the comic guru and current creative consultant at 20th Century Fox promised a beefed-up role for Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Further down in the same piece, though, Millar also confessed that the Sentinels would be “a big feature of this story.”

The X-Men have a lengthy roster of enemies that can (and should) be brought over to the silver screen in subsequent films. As good as Sir Ian McKellen is, every damn X-Men doesn’t have to revolve around Magneto. And I’m more pissed at Ratner for screwing up on Juggernaut than I am at him short-changing fans on the Sentinels. But yes, future X-Men movies need to make room for the Alliance of Evil, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the Marauders.

Until then, it sounds like we’re going to get Sentinels, which are giant freaking robots (to paraphrase Guillermo Del Toro) programmed to hunt and kill mutants. They are a major part of Future Past, and you really couldn’t adapt that storyline without them.

First came X-Men, X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, each chronicling the battle for the future of mutants, between Professor X and Magneto. Then came the forgettable X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which served as a sloppy prequel. Next came the more carefully constructed prequel X-Men: First Class, which gave background to the trilogy's key adversaries, and origins to some of its other memorable mutants. Now, The Wolverine, which seems to be set between X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men, is shooting in Australia, and X-Men: Days of Future Past is being developed for a 2014 release.

Where will this last X-Men movie play in the series' chronology? Well, that gets tricky. The original comic arc for which Days of Future Past is named focuses on Kitty Pryde, who appeared as a teen (Ellen Page) in The Last Stand. But this film reportedly has Fassbender and McAvoy, who played young 1960s-era Magneto and Prof. X, attached, suggesting it will fall between First Class and X-Men. Recently appointed Marvel creative consultant Mark Millar (who wrote the Kick-Ass comics) makes things even more perplexing by dropping some details about X-Men: Days of Future Past, confirming to SFX (via digital spy) that the film will go into an apocalyptic future, adding:

Those familiar with the Days of Future Past arc won't be surprised by this reveal, but for the rest of you let me break it down. What this means in short is that the film will probably involve cast members of the first trilogy and First Class--something Patrick Stewart recently alluded to—and yes, there will be Sentinels, massive monstrous robots tasked with mutant capture. So basically, this is going to be one epic superhero flick. Or as Millar puts it, "Cost-wise it's going to go up, and ambitious-wise it's gone up. But Vaughn can handle it. Vaughn made Kick-Ass for $28 million."

Big news in the world of comic book movies came recently when it was announced that comic book author Mark Millar (“Wanted,” “Kick-Ass,” “The Ultimates”) had been hired by 20th Century Fox to be a consultant on their future Marvel movies. What exactly his position would entail, however, has been largely a mystery up until this point, but apparently he has finally blabbed and explained just about every last detail about his new gig.

Millar was recently a guest on the Word Balloon podcast (via CBM) can not only opened up about what he will be doing as a consultant, but even went as far as to point out the mistakes that the studio has made in the past.

For starters, Millar says that his position his comparable to the position that Joss Whedon currently has over at Marvel Studios, where the Avengers director is helping to craft the direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for what they are calling Phase 2. Millar didn’t indicate if there are plans to have the X-Men and the Fantastic Four exist in the same world, but did talk about both the successes and failures that Fox has had with their properties in the past. Said Millar,

While he doesn’t mention them specifically, past less-than-stellar comic book outings for the studio include titles such as Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Speaking more specifically about the projects currently on the studio’s slate, Millar was complementary about what has been done so far with the Fantastic Four reboot and applauded the hiring of Chronicle director Josh Trank. Said the writer, “Hiring Josh Trank for Fantastic Four…it could just not be more different than the first Fantastic Four movie from what I’ve seen so far. Even just as a fan, I’m very, very excited by the level of talent they have on the directors side of things.”

He also couldn’t talk much about either of the upcoming X-Men projects, which include James Mangold’s The Wolverine and Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. He did say, though, that they are definitely already helping with his end of the work. “In a weird way, it’s just the easiest job in the world as I’m surrounded by people who are so good!”

Early last month, following the incredible success of The Avengers, both critically and at the box office, Marvel Studios made the brilliant decision to sign Joss Whedon to a three year contract. The deal has writer/director serving as a consultant on the company's films through 2015 and the theatrical release of The Avengers 2, which he is also set to script and helm. It would seem that 20th Century Fox liked this idea quite a bit, as they have now found a consultant of their very own.

Deadline has received a press release announcing that Fox has signed a deal with comic book writer Mark Millar that will have him serve as a creative consultant for the projects they own based on Marvel properties. This includes both the characters in the X-Men as well as the Fantastic Four. In addition to his work in the world of Marvel comic books - including titles like Civil War as well as The Ultimates (which The Avengers actually borrowed elements from) - Millar has also had some experience in the film world, as his work was the basis for both Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted and Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, and currently has Kick-Ass 2 in development. While those projects were set up over at other studios, Millar does have experience working with Fox as they are currently developing a movie based on his series Nemesis.

Current Marvel projects currently in development over at Fox include The Wolverine, directed by James Mangold and starring Hugh Jackman; X-Men: Days of Future Past, directed by Vaughn and starring Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy; and the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, directed by Josh Trank and written by Jeremy Slater.

Said Millar in a statement,

Millar has his fair share of detractors in the comic book world, but what do you think of him being used as a Marvel consultant for Fox? Leave your thoughts, opinions and feelings in the comments section below.

Comic book author Mark Millar is currently helping put together Kick-Ass 2, a second film based on his comic book and an unlikely sequel to the 2010 film, which made almost no money but did make a star out of Chloe Moretz. So how much are we to assume Mark Millar actually knows about DC's recently revived Justice League movie? Well, that's up for you to decide. Millar has spoken up on his website forums about what he knows about the new Justice League script-- "a pal of mine is good friends with the new Justice League screenwriter." If you're not put off by that friend-of-a-friend sourcing, read on for what Millar has to say about it:

He's right at least about the not an Avengers knockoff-- as we reported last night, WB assigned a writer to the job last year, probably in anticipation of The Avengers and their success and not a reaction to it. But with a draft of the script not yet into the studio, and many years left to set up the same kind of world-building Marvel did before The Avengers, we're a long, long way from seeing a Justice League movie. Even if Millar's second-hand info on the script is accurate, there could be none of that script left by the time the movie actually shoots.

And yet, hearing that the tone is "dark and mature" sounds about right, both as a way to separate Justice League from the bright and optimistic tone of The Avengers, and to step in line with by far the most successful DC superhero series, the Batman movies from Christopher Nolan. Earlier this morning Sean got a little crazy speculating about a Justice League movie directed by Christopher Nolan, which I don't think will ever happen. But it does seem very possible the eventual film would follow in those footsteps, a grim and more realistic superhero universe to contrast with Marvel's. Is that what you guys are hoping for in your Justice League movie?

A sequel to the baroque superhero adventure Kick-Ass had long seemed a fevered dream of the comic's creator Mark Millar, who has developed a notoriety for leaking "news" that is either conjecture or wishful thinking. So when Millar declared that Kick-Ass 2 would go into production this summer, we were a bit leery. However, with The Avengers showing there's still a serious love of superhero features among moviegoers, all the studios are looking to capitalize, and so Universal is moving forward on Kick-Ass 2 with Cry_Wolf helmer Jeff Wadlow usurping Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn, who is too busy developing X-Men: First Class 2 to return. Nonetheless, Vaughn will help produce the sequel, which is slated to shoot in London this September.

Comic Book Movie uncovered these and more details on Kick-Ass 2 while attending a panel discussion that included Wadlow, who gamely answered questions about the upcoming adventure. The writer-director revealed he penned the screenplay over the holidays, and sought to find a place where the first movie and the second graphic novel intersect. Like its precursor, Kick-Ass 2 will take some departures from its source material, Millar's comic of the same name, as Wadlow explains:

As to specifics, he hopes to play up Hit Girl's part, despite the fact that her story is "sidelined" in Millar's second book. As she gives up her superhero alter-ego in the comic, its story instead focuses on Kick-Ass and Red Mist's evolution to the Motherfucker, a more vicious villainous incarnation. However, this approach may be problematic, as Moretz hasn't yet signed on to the sequel, though Wadlow says the two have met, she's read the script and is by his estimation, "very excited about what we're doing with Hit-Girl."

Kick-Ass stars Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are also said to be in talks, but it seems far more likely they'd be game to reprise their roles as their careers haven't exactly blown up as Moretz's has. Since her brazen breakthrough with pint-sized and foul-mouthed Hit Girl, the starlet delighted horror fans with Let Me In, and dazzled critics with Hugo. However, her most recent efforts aren’t faring so well. Dark Shadows tanked its opening weekend, accruing only $29 million, which smarts with a bloated budget of $150 mil. Plus this batty comedy—as well as the gritty coming-of-age tale Hick—were generally panned by critics. Could this urge her to return to the role that first won her such good will? Let's hope so, both because her upcoming Carrie remake is a risky venture, and because Kick-Ass 2 wouldn't be nearly as hard-hitting without her.

For a long while now Kick-Ass 2 has seemed to exist in the realm of Ghostbusters 3 or Tron 2, a sequel that nobody would actually come out and admit was never going to happen, but that seemed set for release around the time of the Second Coming. But just as Dan Aykroyd has stumped for Ghostbusters 3 beyond all reason, Kick-Ass 2 has had its own dogged champion in Mark Millar, who wrote the original comic book and worked as an executive producer on the first film, which was adapted and directed by Matthew Vaughn. Even with Vaughn moving on to giant movies like X-Men: First Class, Millar was the first one to speak up and say Kick-Ass 2 had been greenlit in 2010-- which, of course, wasn't true. And last fall, even while admitting Vaughn wasn't likely to return as director, Millar was still keeping the flame of hope alive.

Today, in an interview with The Daily Record, Millar isn't just keeping the flame alive, but he's making concrete promises that he seems unlikely to keep. Millar told them that he plans to shoot Kick-Ass 2 this summer, in addition to an adaptation of another of his comics, American Jesus. From there he says he and Vaughn will move on to Secret Service, a kind of James Bond riff about a nebbishy guy getting the chance to become a super spy.

The way that Millar tosses around "we" and talks up his collaboration with Vaughn indicates that the two are at least in touch, but the production schedule he's mentioning makes absolutely no sense. Vaughn was just brought back in to direct a sequel to X-Men: First Class, and while there's no release date in place just yet, it seems safe to assume the usual rushed sequel production sequel, which means Vaughn will be busy this summer. And even if he weren't, how would they shoot not one but two comic adaptations this summer, including one that's a sequel to a film with a lot of stars who might have busier schedules?

It's hard to figure what Millar meant, if he misspoke, if he's using some wishful thinking to make these projects happen by speaking about them in print, or if there's some massive miscommunication somewhere. And hey, who knows-- maybe Vaughn has negotiated with Fox to spend the summer on Kick-Ass 2 before starting up again with X-Men, and we'll see casting announcements soon. But given Millar's history of crying wolf, I'm staying skeptical on this until some more information emerges.

It's been a long time since we last heard anything about the film adaptation of the Mark Millar-Steve McNiven comic Nemesis. The project took a major step forward back in February of last year when it was announced that Matthew Michael Carnahan, brother of Joe Carnahan, had been hired to pen the script for the film over at 20th Century Fox. The movie also had the attention of director Tony Scott, though with his full schedule one wondered if he would actually get around to making it. But where is the project now?

Earlier today, Bleeding Cool caught some Tweets from both Joe Carnahan and Mark Millar that seem to suggest that Nemesis has been put on ice. The filmmaker sent a message to the comic book writer/producer reading, "Mark, my brother and I were going to adapt NEMESIS at Fox and it got fucked off! We were waiting for you to finish the series." Stragely, Millar then replied back, "Seriously? That's hilarious. Follow me so I can DM you." With speculation abound, many outlets began running the story assuming that it meant that Nemesis was dead, but in another Tweet, Carnahan linked to an article and said, "THIS IS A BULLSHIT ARTICLE...DON'T BELIEVE IT."

Nemesis, which launched in May 2010, was about a supervillain that was basically The Joker if he had the resources of Batman. The first run, which was only four issues long, followed a police chief on the hunt for the title character.

When I first read Carnahan's Tweet I also assumed that he meant that the project was dead when he said "fucked off" so it's hard to say what exactly is going. We shall continue to follow Carnahan's Twitter feed and will update this story with any further information he might provide.

UPDATE: Joe Carnahan has sent out two tweets saying the following:

Recently, we reported that X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn snatched up the rights to Mark Millar’s Superior as he contemplates follow-up projects to the Marvel origin story. Not content with having one Millar project waiting in the wings, we’re now hearing that Vaughn’s grabbing another.

Don’t worry, Vaughn fans. It’s still a superhero property. Vaughn, Millar and artist Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) have collaborated on a comic book series titled The Secret Service, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, Vaughn holds the film rights to the material.

Both comic properties are in the early stages of development, and THR says Vaughn would like to tackle the script for Secret Service if he decides to go in that direction as his next project (though the trade has no details on that story’s plot).

Many of us (myself included) wanted to see Vaughn continue with Kick-Ass and deliver a kick-ass (sorry) sequel. But Millar admitted recently that the success of First Class and the first Kick-Ass likely made Vaughn too expensive for the low-budget franchise. At least we can take some comfort in the fact that the director, who started on Layer Cake and briefly branched into fantasy with the underrated Stardust, wants to stay in the comic-book realm. Because Kick-Ass and his X-Men prequel proved that he has a lot to say on such material, and has yet to run out of clever ways in which to say it.

It was less than two weeks ago that Mark Millar finally admitted that Matthew Vaughn likely wouldn't be back to direct Kick-Ass 2 simply because he had become too big and the project wouldn't be able to afford him. It was a sad, albeit expected, announcement that pretty much cements the idea that we will never see a sequel to the 2010 comic book film. But that doesn't mean that Millar and Vaughn are done working together. The proof of that can be seen the press release sent to Comic Book Movie.

It has been announced that Matthew Vaughn has purchased the rights to Mark Millar's comic series Superior with the intention of bringing the project to the big screen. A mix of Last Action Hero, Big and Superman, the series is about a young boy with multiple sclerosis who dreams of becoming his favorite movie superhero. When his wish is granted, he doesn't simply stop local crime, but aims to solve world problems like hunger, war in the Middle East and help those suffering as a result of natural disasters. But a heroes powers and actions always have a consequence. In addition to Kick-Ass, Millar also wrote the comic on which Wanted was based.

Strangely enough it was almost one year ago to the day that Jon Hamm was rumored for the lead role in Superior and it will be interesting to see if they continue to pursue him. Due to his age, we will likely never get the chance to see Hamm as Superman, but for something like Superior he could be perfect. Obviously this project is still at the very early stages and doesn't have a writer or a director just yet, but we'll be sure to update as more is announced.

While Chloe Moretz, Aaron Johnson and writer Jane Goldman have all expressed their doubts about the possibility of a Kick-Ass 2, comic book creator Mark Millar has spent most of the last year and a half promising people that it will indeed happen. One of the key things that Millar has always pointed to is director Matthew Vaughn's interest in doing another sequel, but considering the filmmaker has been considering other projects, that idea has often been questioned. Finally it seems that Millar has joined the rest of us on planet Earth.

Talking with the Los Angeles Times about the second series run of the Kick-Ass comic book, the author said that because everyone from the first film is now so successful, it may be hard to get everyone back on board for another movie. Despite the fact that most people saw the first installment as a box office disappointment - it made under $20 million in its opening weekend - Millar points out that the movie was made for only $28 million and grossed nearly $100 million worldwide with strong reviews from critics. As a result, some of the more important names, specifically Vaughn, may be out of reach.

"Hopefully, we can use the same actors if and when we do a sequel, but getting Matthew [Vaughn] to direct or Jane to write a movie at this budget would be very difficult because they’re superstars now and they have projects of their own," Millar said. "I’d imagine, if this happens any time soon, that Matthew will produce and possibly co-write, like George Lucas did with The Empire Strikes Back, and hire a new director."

As much as I really liked Kick-Ass (it was one of my favorites in 2010), it's hard not to see the writing on the wall. Lionsgate, who picked up the project for distribution in the United States, wasn't very happy about the movie's domestic performance, where it made less than $50 million, so they probably wouldn't be in too much of a rush to pick up a sequel. Let's decide to be happy with the movie we got and be done with it.

By now you should all be somewhat familiar with Mark Millar. He’s the author behind the graphic novel Kick Ass which I’m sure you remember from earlier this year, as well as the recently optioned Nemesis about an extra evil super villain. Now, there’s interest in another one of Millar’s properties, Superior, coming from two mysterious parties that Millar himself is keeping veiled in shadow until deals go through. However, in a recent blog post he does give a few hints about who each is:

Superior is Millar’s most recent series, only just getting started this month, and it’s a bit of a take on the Superman archetype. The real story here is that while there are two competing parties chasing after the rights to Superior, both of them have the same actor in mind to play the lead role: Jon Hamm. Hamm is going to be huge whether he gets this role or not. He's become an instant icon as the suave but broken Don Draper on Mad Men and has just delivered a stellar performance on the big screen for Ben Affleck’s The Town. His superhero qualities are innate, as the actor already is a bit too large and good looking for his own good. So of course he’d be perfect to play a Superman-type character.

This obviously is not confirmed casting, but Hamm is always a good sport and judging by his hilarious appearances on SNL and 30 Rock the 39-year-old actor is up for just about anything that scheduling will allow. Expect to hear more details about this adaptation very soon.

Here is a description of the series from Mark Millar himself in an interview he gave to Comic Book Resource:

Here’s how you know a movie really didn’t do well: When the people involved in it start bragging about its projected DVD sales. That’s exactly what Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar did when Bleeding Cool caught him talking about the movie based on his comic book. Millar is convinced the movie will sell twice as much in DVDs as it did in movie tickets, which really makes no sense.

But here’s the good news for Kick-Ass fans: Millar says Kick-Ass 2 is happening. After it makes all that crazy DVD money he says, “So It should be okay. So the sequel’s greenlit, we can go ahead and do the follow up now, you know. The first made so much compared to what it cost it would be crazy not to.”

Even though relatively speaking Kick-Ass was a box office disappointment, it did turn a profit. It made less than $50 million domestically but it did end up making nearly $100 million worldwide and it only cost them $30 million to make. Even if you tack on another $30 million in marketing costs the movie still made money. Maybe that’s enough to get a sequel greenlit. Maybe Millar’s telling the truth. Or maybe not.

The thing is Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn doesn’t seem to have waited around to make a sequel. He’s already jumped on another project. Vaugh is off directing X-Men: First Class. Best case scenario it’ll be years before he’d have time to do Kick-Ass 2. Maybe they’ll get someone else. Maybe they’ll get Mark Millar, who has long lobbied to get a major directing gig in Hollywood. Or maybe this sequel will end up direct to DVD since, apparently, DVD’s the place it’s going to make most of its money anyway.

Though for a time it seemed the Wanted 2 producers would finagle some way for Angelina Jolie to return for the sequel, Jolie has been saying firmly but politely throughout her Salt press tour that, no, she can't return for Wanted 2, because her character is dead. It seemed like a case of everyone involved being willing to cut their losses and move on without her, but as Mark Millar tells Digital Spy, it was more her decision than anyone else's:

He also claims to have no knowledge of whether or not Kristen Stewart will be stepping in to replace Jolie, which I buy-- there's no reason for them to keep the writer of the original comic in the loop on something like this. It seems to make more sense to ditch Jolie's character entirely and let James McAvoy handle things on his own, since that requires a lot less suspension of logic. But hey, Wanted has kind of always been about ignoring logic in favor of awesome shots in bullet time, so anything is really still possible at this point.

I thought all hope for a Kick-Ass 2 had been squashed by the film's less-than-spectacular box office performance, and that the only way to catch the further adventures of Red Mist, Hit Girl and company would be if Mark Millar decided to put out another comic book. As it turns out Millar really is planning another comic, but apparently another movie is part of the program as well.

Millar is launching a new monthly magazine for UK comic book fans called CLiNT, and in a press release sent to Forces of Geek, he announced that he'll be launching the first pages of Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall in the magazine. Not only that, but the movie "has been scheduled for production in 2011 with a 2012 cinema release."

Now the press release, being one for the comic book press and not the movies, is very scarce on details, such as who exactly scheduled this production, where the money was coming from, and if director Matthew Vaughn will even be available while finishing X-Men: First Class for its own 2011 release date. It doesn't surprise me at all that Millar is writing the next edition of the comics with an eye on a movie version, but it would surprise me if Kick-Ass 2 had already settled on a production schedule without any of us hearing anything about it.

Matthew Vaughn went through a titanic effort to make Kick-Ass independent of the studio system, and though Lionsgate likely won't lose money outright on his film, they don't seem all that eager to fund a sequel. Even if this is just wishful thinking, though, take this as a sign that we are nowhere near done hearing about all the potential for Kick-Ass 2.

Now that Captain America has been cast it's time for Marvel to take the next big step forward on their multiple-movie, superhero universe project. Everything they've done and will do in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and The First Avenger: Captain America culminates in a still far off summer tent pole team-up movie called Avengers. For Marvel it's a monumentally important film, but perhaps even more critically a desperately difficult one. Whoever ends up directing it will be tasked with handling a massive ensemble cast of established stars, a huge budget, a massively effects heavy movie, decades worth of established comics mythology, and the unreachable expectations of a billion fanboys. Directing The Avengers will require a special sort of talent.

Thanks to Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier we know that Marvel already has a mysterious short list of directors they want in charge of this monumentally important project, and we know that Leterrier is on it. No offense Louis, but we're hoping you're pretty far down on it. Avengers is too important a project and Marvel, you can do better. The obvious choice for the job is Jon Favreau, but he's already made it clear that he's taken himself out of the running. That means it's up to us to steer Marvel in the right direction. Hey Kevin Feige, before you make that horrifying call to Brett Ratner, consider hiring one of these directors instead:

Timur Bekmambetov

Timur Bekmambetov is a Russian director best known in America as the guy at the helm of Wanted, on which he worked closely with comic creator Mark Millar. In Russia, he's also known as the director of their Night Watch series, the most popular movies in Russian history. They're kind of like The Matrix with vampires. He's no stranger to event movies and he's a pro when it comes to adapting comics. Who knows how he'd handle such a massive, ensemble cast but Bekmambetov's take no prisoners, blockbuster style could be a fascinating way to approach Marvel's Avengers team-up movie.

Alfonso Cuaron

Curaon directed what is without a doubt the best of the Harry Potter movies in Azkaban, which means not only does he have a knack for gorgeous visual effects he's had a lot of experience dealing with a large, ensemble cast. More importantly, he's ridiculously talented at pretty much anything and everything. He's made his name handling all manners of different subject matters and styles with unmatched ability. His last movie, Children of Men was easily one of the best science fiction movies of the past decade, and used gritty realism in contrast to the fantasy reality of Azkaban. He's done everything from sex movies, to kids movies, to futuristic war. He's never done superheroes and though he has a few projects in early stages of development, he hasn't done a movie since 2006. Cuaron is due for a big return and it doesn't get any bigger than Avengers.

J.J. Abrams

Looking for a great ensemble film with great action sequences? Try and remember all the way back to the beginning of summer in 2009 and you'll find director J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. Yes, it was the movie that got Chris Hemsworth the lead in Thor, but that isn't the point. Overuse of lens flare aside, in just two hours the film was able to give complete back stories to its two main characters while paying dedicated attention to its source material. What more can you really ask from the director of The Avengers? Throw on the fact that he has no problem taking on an existing series and you have a formula for a perfect Avengers director.

Kenneth Branagh

When Kenneth Branagh was announced as the director of Thor, geeks worldwide did a spit-take and exclaimed, "The Shakespeare guy?" This reaction was somewhat warranted: Branagh has never been seen as a big budget director, and, yes, five of the directors 13 credits are based on Shakespeare plays. But giving Branagh the reigns of both Thor and the Avengers would give the series continuity, and if you imagine the presentation that Branagh must have delivered to producers and look at the film's incredible cast, it seems certain that everyone involved knows exactly what they're doing. Unlike Iron Man or Captain America, Thor takes place in a much larger universe, incorporating not only his character on Earth, as disabled medical student Donald Blake, but in the Norse world of Asgard where he is the God of Thunder. Branagh is the man Marvel brought on to direct the most epic aspect of the Avengers team and that level of filmmaking will be needed for their team-up.

Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass's gritty, realistic, shaky-cam style might seem like a strange fit for a superhero movie but, before Snyder's version took off, he was actually pretty far along on his own Watchmen take. Greengrass is obviously interested in superhero movies of a sort, and he's already attempted to make the most unfilmable superhero movie . His close-in style could be a way to handle the project's otherwise overly bloated budget Allow Greengrass to give some of the film's super-powered fights a more intimate tone and you'll keep Avengers awesome while saving money on expansive CGI. It's unlikely that Marvel could get him interested, it's hard to imagine Greengrass taking the reigns on something so many other directors have already had a hand in defining, but The Bourne Ultimatum is easily one of the best action movies of the decade and if you can get the guy who made that on board with the Avengers then you take him.

Zack Snyder

With two comic adaptations already under his belt, there is little chance that Zack Snyder would balk at the chance to direct such an epic comic book movie event flick. He has proven three times now that he's capable of creating fantastic action sequences, and, as seen in Watchmen, he has no trouble balancing a group of superheroes, and giving each one plenty of screen time to appease fans (though credit for that should be shared with writer Alan Moore). Since Marvel announced a plan to amalgamate all of its characters in to one film, critics and fanboys alike have wondered if the task is even doable. So why not give it to the man who tackled the "unfilmable" graphic novel?

Brad Bird

You can have your Dark Knight or your Spider-Man 2, even though it's computer animated, Brad Bird's The Incredibles is the best superhero story ever put to film. He's never done live-action before, but recently he's flirted with making the jump from animation, and his talent is too impressive to be limited by format. In a way, The Incredibles is exactly the kind of team-up movie you'd want Avengers to be, minus the familial element. For Bird, super-team-ups are old hat. Better still, he's already shown the ability to jump in and build on material started by others. Ratatouille was originally someone else's film before Bird was brought in at the eleventh hour to take the reigns and bring it back on track. He may not have experience with big-budget, live-action effects but with movies like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles already under his belt he's proven a mastery over brilliant storytelling on an epic scale.

Mark Millar

Millar may not yet be a well known name amongst movie fans, but he holds the rank of royalty in the comic book world. While he has yet to direct a feature, he has served as a producer on both of hi movie adaptations, Wanted and Kick-Ass. More recently Millar announced that he'll be begin making his directing debut with a superhero flick of his own creation this summer in his native Scotland. In the comic book world, most know of him through his work on Civil War, which is as big an ensemble work as there is in comics. Sure there's little chance that Marvel would take a project so monumental and place it in the hands of someone so inexperienced, but few out there that have dipped their toes into both the film and comic worlds like Millar has.

Bryan Singer

People look at the task of making a multi-superhero film as though it has never been done before. Not only has Bryan Singer done it, but he did it twice. In both X-Men and X2, Singer utilized his large cast perfectly, spending enough time with each of the main characters to create depth without sacrificing structure. To truly see how deft the director was in doing this, all you have to do is watch Brett Ratner's jumbled mess in the third installment. Hell, going from Wolverine, Jean Grey, Professor X, Rogue, Cyclops Storm and Magneto to just Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Hulk might be a walk in the park for Singer.

Jonathan Mostow

Jonathan Mostow is the most "gettable" director on this list and maybe for Marvel, the one that might end up making the most sense. He first got attention back in 2000 for directing the capable submarine movie U-571 and he followed that up with the extremely divisive Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. While fans may debate the merits of making a third Terminator movie there'd no denying that in it Mostow showed a serious talent for pulling off massively eye-popping, big-budget battle sequences. More recently he directed the capable sci-fi thriller Surrogates, based on a graphic novel. There again, Mostow showed a real talent for visually stunning effects sequences, even when saddled with what was rather mediocre script. He's experienced with the comic book genre, he knows big-budget action, he's done a movie in which he joined an existing franchise midstream, and while in the past he's been rumored for mostly dead in the water projects like Sub-Mariner right now he doesn't seem all that busy. Marvel, give him a call.

Kick-Ass was the opening night movie here in Austin at SXSW 2010, and the cast was there in support of what’s turning into one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated movies. We were there on the red carpet with them. Check out the photos below, as director Matthew Vaughn, comic creators Mark Millar and John Romita, castmembers Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Aaron Johnson, and Clark Duke make their big entrance via Kick-Ass covered conveyance.

Mark Millar has been at SXSW promoting Kick-Ass and, as you’d expect, he’s already kicking around ideas for Kick-Ass 2. Whether or not the movie’s a hit the comic series continues and if Kick-Ass does well enough to warrant more, they’ll take material for the sequel from the comics which Mark is working on right now.

His idea for the follow-up involves bringing in a new villain. Red Mist, whom you’ve seen in the trailers played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, will remain Kick-Ass’s central opponent and the current movie does a pretty good job of setting up Red Mist for a sequel. But Millar says he’s like Joker to Kick-Ass’s Batman, and their plan is to bring in another villain into the mix. As described by Miller, this new character sounds like kind of a badass. Actually, he’s more of The Motherfucker. That’s his name, or it’s one of the names Mark is kicking around for the new character. His other choice is Cunt. Should he go with The Motherfucker, might I suggest casting Samuel L. Jackson?

Throwing the word “kick-ass” on posters and trailers is one thing, but it’s pretty hard to imagine the MPAA letting them release a character poster with “The Motherfucker” written on it. But Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn seems pretty committed to running with whatever Millar comes up with. Should Kick-Ass make a ton of money, then look forward to The Motherfucker coming soon to a theater near you.