An A-list star has signed on for a film adaptation of Warbird, the new Bad Idea Comics series co-created by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, according to scooper Daniel Richtman.
Richtman doesn’t name the actor, a studio, or any other details, but the timing lines up with Warbird #1 arriving in comic shops, so expect an official announcement to fill in the blanks soon enough.
John Wick creator built Warbird for the big screen
Warbird is a four-issue series written by Kolstad and Robert Venditti (Superman ’78, Green Lantern) with art from Eisner Award winner Alex Maleev (Daredevil, Moon Knight).
Issue #1 lands September 2, following a #0 issue Bad Idea handed out for free — signed by Kolstad and Venditti — at its San Diego Comic-Con panel back in July.
Billed as a “white-knuckle, globe-spanning action/spy thrill ride,” the book stars Cole, a repo man so good he can lift mega yachts from billionaires and private jets from CEOs — if it has an engine, he can drive it, ride it, or fly it out from under an army of guards.
His new job is the impossible one: Russia has stolen military aviation secrets from the U.S., UK, France, Germany, and China and frankensteined them into the Warbird, a $1.4 billion next-gen fighter jet. Only three exist.
Cole has been hired to steal one and destroy the other two for a 10 percent cut — a cool $140 million — and since this is outright theft and not a repossession, failure doesn’t mean jail time. It means a bullet to the back of the head.
That’s a movie pitch with staples in it, which is the whole Bad Idea playbook: pair Hollywood heavyweights with top-tier comic talent and build stories that jump straight to the screen.
Kolstad is already writing a film version of Ordained, another Venditti book at the publisher.
So who is the A-list star?
Richtman doesn’t say, but names have been swirling around a Warbird movie all summer.
Around Comic-Con, rumors said Johnny Depp would turn up at the Bad Idea SDCC party as part of a signing deal for a Warbird movie adaptation — along with similar Keanu Reeves talk — but that never happened.
Reeves is the easy-money guess given Kolstad wrote John Wick for him, and Depp would be the swing-for-the-fences play. However, Reeves actually has his own comic that might be adapted with BRZRKR, so that might rule him out. Depp is also supposed to come back for another Pirates movie.
For what it’s worth, cover artist Frank Quitely has said Cole is modeled on the likes of Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando, Sean Connery, and James Garner, so whoever inked the deal, expect old-school leading-man energy.
Warbird #1 (of 4), 32 pages, $5.99, hits comic shops September 2.
