Disney acquires Marvel Entertainment

[BerringerX]

And you just know that the powers that be(or will be) at Disney are feverishly working on plans to appease Depp. There's no way that the new guy wants to be known as the guy that let the man at the spearhead of Disney's biggest cash cow in years just walk away.

[Chux]

Exactly. Pirates just prints money, they need to keep that shit.

[Advocate]

Unless Prince of Persia becomes the new PoC.

[Advocate]

Two things:

Quesada talks about Comic Creators having a hand in developing movie/tv properties.

Joe Quesada: There's too much stuff to list, and so much of it is still in the developmental stages, so I wouldn't be able to talk about it anyway. What I can say is that the things on my "To do" list extend way beyond 2011, just as they did on my list when it was only publishing. It's an amazing new world here at Marvel, we have so many incredible doors that have opened up to us, but even I'm floored at how quickly and smoothly things are happening. Not a week goes by where I'm not floored by some new opportunity that has come our way. The toughest part for me is keeping it all bottled up inside.
But, the one thing I can talk about is what the future looks like for our creators. If you look down the line -- and Dan Buckley's been instrumental in this, as has been Alan Fine -- you will see that more and more of our comic creators have been getting involved in the Marvel stuff outside of the comics world. And that's as it should be. Back in the day, so many of us in the creative community would sit back and watch someone produce a TV show or a movie based on a comic book and see it flop miserably because those people didn't understand what made those characters work. We'd sit there going, "Why didn't they hire comic book people?" Well, that's what Marvel is doing. Slowly but surly, you'll be seeing names you recognize getting involved in other aspects of Marvel Entertainment. Just look at the "Ultimate Spider-Man" animated show we're working on. The creative team consists of Brian Bendis, Paul Dini and Men of Action. We'll be announcing some more stuff down the road, too, with more comic book folks. So stay tuned, it's going to be fun.

And this bit of news.

The Incredible Hulk, AKA Jessica Jones and Cloak and Dagger projects are likely to to make it to television – that is, if you believe ABC Entertainment President, Paul Lee.

Lee recently spoke on using Marvel’s assets, via ABC’s parent company Disney, to capitalize on audiences’ infatuation with superheroes:

“I’m thrilled we have Marvel within our family, it’s a superb opportunity for us… We would love to make a Marvel franchise work on the network.”

All three potential series are in the early stages of development. Hulk will be the most recognizable to TV and movie fans, owing to the 1970s TV show and big-budget movies in 2003 and 2008. Jessica Jones is a lesser-known Marvel superhero (though she runs in circles with the likes of The Avengers) who has given up capes and cowls for a job as a private detective. Cloak and Dagger follows a young Manhattan man and woman with dark/light-themed powers.


Very little information is available about the television adaptations the three comic series. While Lee didn’t give up any more details than are already available, he did take a moment to hype the off-camera talent already working on Hulk and Jessica Jones.

“If you’re going to bring back a franchise, it’s easier to launch a well-known franchise, but what really distinguishes these are the showrunners — we have A-list showrunners.”

Guillermo Del Toro, a celebrated director and producer, and the driving force behind two Hellboy movies, is involved with Hulk in some capacity. He’s sharing writing duties on the pilot with David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and Del Toro said that he’d like to direct the pilot if his schedule permits. The prospect of Del Toro’s unique vision (on display in such off-kilter sci-fi films as Pan’s Labyrinth) combined with Eick’s world-building has fans eagerly anticipating the big green guy’s return.
Jessica Jones is being written by Melissa Rosenberg, who wrote the movie adaptation of Twilight and has served as an executive producer on Showtime’s Dexter. Marvel fans may balk at her experience with teen vampires, but Dexter‘s themes of ultra-violent vigilantism and secret identities have always felt very much like a more realistic take on Batman to me. There’s almost no information available on Cloak and Dagger‘s status, which means that, like the other two projects, it’s a long way from making it to pilot-form.


Lee was also quick to open the door for other comic book adaptations, saying: “They probably won’t be the only two Marvel things we do.” While he neglected to talk about Cloak and Dagger, other Marvel properties rumored for a TV adaptation include The Punisher and Daughters of the Dragon. It’s unknown how a potential Hulk show would mesh with the upcoming Avengers movie, wherein Mark Ruffalo will don the purple pants.


The three projects join a slew of superhero shows in production or already running. Smallville is wrapping up its final season, and The CW is investigating DC’s teenage demon-spawn Raven as a possible replacement. Original television heroes include ABC’s own No Ordinary Family, The Cape which premiered last night on NBC, and SyFy’s forthcoming Alphas. One casualty in the race for superhero development is Wonder Woman, which has failed to find a home on all major networks. Both Marvel and DC have multiple animated shows on various kids’ networks.


While none of the three projects have been confirmed for production, one thing is for sure: the superhero boom has far from peaked. As Marvel lines up with ABC/Disney and DC works for parent company Warner Bros., expect many new comic projects on the small screen in the next 2-3 years.

[BerringerX]

One A-list hero, two Z-listers.

Unless Prince of Persia becomes the new PoC.

Dodged a bullet there, eh?

[Drewbacca]

Both Twilight and Dexter are shit. Dexter had 1.5 - 2 good seasons before tanking hard creatively. And Guillermo is amazing, but I don't see him fitting in properly with The Hulk. Wait and see, I 'spose.

[Melf]

Marvel is becoming the Guitar Hero of cinema. They're going to pump out shit until things tank hard and then claim that no one wants to see super hero movies.

[rezo]

If they do it just means they'll have to wait an extra five years before their next cinematic retelling of the origin of Spider-Man.

[Melf]

Lol, true.They'll probably be on their sixth Bruce Banner as well.