Wise words of wisdom are learned from legendary comic book scribe Mark Millar who nails it when it comes to why recent comic book movies have failed as he says the “people involved haven’t loved the material” and reveals Marvel and DC are undergoing a “massive” course correction.
Mark Millar is known for a plethora of great comic books including Civil War and Old Man Logan at Marvel Comics, Superman: Red Son at DC Comics, Millar has his own creator-owned brand of comics with Millarworld, and of course is known for hit films such as Kick-Ass and Kingsman, and recent TV shows at Netflix including Super Crooks and Jupiter’s Legacy, and The Chosen One which adapts American Jesus.
Hollywood has its own ideas
While promoting the release of The Chosen One (cool show), Mark Millar discusses his own experience working with Hollywood and getting his projects adapted where he says Hollywood often wanted to change things.
“I’m actually quite careful with my adaptations because I really like the books. I want to make sure they’re OK,” Miller told the NY Post. “So, I turned down every offer for 15 years because everybody had a terrible take on it. Somebody wanted to do [Wanted] as a romantic thing like Twilight! It was getting ridiculous. I’m glad I waited.”
“Marvel cracked the code”
Millar continues by mentioning that prior to 1999, comic book movies weren’t any good except for Donner’s Superman and Burton’s Batman but what made the difference is people cared about the properties.
“So it was amazing in 1999 when Marvel cracked the code and made these things great. It wasn’t just that the technology caught up to the material — it was that the people who made these movies treated them with real dignity,” he said.
Comic book movies ended with Avengers: Endgame
However, Millar says good comic book movies ended with the release of Avengers: Endgame.
“[The genre] had a great run, and kind of ended in 2019 with Avengers: Endgame. That felt like the last truly great superhero movie,” he said. “Everything since then … I feel that the people involved haven’t loved the material the way that Sam Raimi loves Spiderman, or Christopher Nolan [who] read 50 years worth of Batman comics before he started doing Batman.”
“Massive course-correct being planned”
True to Millar’s word, both DC and Marvel haven’t been the same, as recent comic book movies from both companies have bombed including DC’s The Flash and Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Disney CEO Bob Iger has said Disney is pulling back on Marvel, and James Gunn is rebooting the DCU) but Millar reveals insiders at Marvel and DC have told him big changes are underway.
“I think it will come back. These movies made too much money for them to fail,” he said. “What I know from talking to friends at DC and Marvel is there’s a massive course-correct being planned, they need to get it back on track. Getting some people with an interesting voice again is critical.
“Every [director] who did a superhero movie for the first 10-15 years had success on the entertainment scene before that,” Millar added, “and unexpected choices were made, as opposed to just jobbing directors who treated it like any other gig.”
