By Todd Allen

Mark Millar continues his migration to the world of film.  Millar is now a “creative consultant” to 20th Century Fox.  As you may recall, Fox still has the rights the X-Men, Fantastic Four and (probably) the Silver Surfer.  Fox is currently making a new Wolverine movie, has Matthew Vaughn on tap for X-Men: Days of Future Past and is eyeing a Fantastic Four reboot with director Josh Trank.  Millar’s a pretty good fit for that, especially in terms of a corporate resume.The Marvel movie universe owes a lot to Millar’s work with the Ultimate universe.  Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury is pure Millar.  Black Widow in the Avengers?  More of a Millar point of emphasis from Ultimates than the Bendis run.  Avengers as a function of SHIELD?  Millar.  Plus he’s had some film success with Kick-Ass and Wanted.

Specifically with X-Men and Fanastic Four, Millar launched the Ultimate versions of both, although the initial arc was co-written with Brian Bendis and Millar came back for another run later in the title.  In “normal” Marvel Univese, he’s had a couple notable runs on Wolverine with “Enemy of the State” and “Old Man Logan.”  He also had a little over a year’s run on Fantastic Four, though that was probably his least well-received work at Marvel.

Success with the source material?  Check.  Work adapted to film?  Check.  Already used to working with Matthew Vaughn?  Check.

The Hollywood Reporter has a couple quotes on the topic:

 “In addition to his groundbreaking Marvel work, he is simply one of the most original voices in comics today and will be an invaluable resource to us and to our filmmakers as we look for fresh opportunities to innovate within our shared Marvel universe,” Fox production president Emma Watts said.

And

“As someone who has spent his entire life obsessed with both comic books and movies, this is essentially my dream gig as it’s a unique combination of both,” Millar added. “I spent 10 years working at Marvel and am really happy with the work I did on the comic side of things so the idea of working with these characters now in a brand new medium is enormously exciting for me.”

Millar has his feet very firmly planted in two worlds.  He’s clearly developing his creator-owned comics as transmedia properties.  He’s getting the films made.  He’s got a multi-property consulting gig with a major studio, which will only make it easier to get films made.

Fox hasn’t had quite the same level of success as the Spider-Man / Iron Man / Avengers franchises, so we’ll see whether or not a more formal relationship with Millar can put them over the top.

17 COMMENTS

  1. He tells the simplest stories and goes for cheap shock value, except it comes across as ridiculous instead. He would fit in perfectly with 90’s EXTREME!!. Absolutely no substance.

    If you like his writing then you are either 13 years old or are probably not that smart.

    also, he is a liar and one arrogant sumbitch.

    so in conclusion; Bad move Fox.

  2. have to agree with mesektet, millar’s use of cheap shock value makes a mockery of, as a whole, of any of the characters he’s ever worked on for marvel. if marvel did a straight on adaption of the the ultimates it would have bombed as badly as the watchmen. thankfully marvel was a wee bit smarter than that. hopefully his influence with any of the marvel characters that fox plans to use will be minimal.

  3. I enjoy Millar’s writing and I am not 13 years old and, so I’m told, pretty smart. So, really, fuck you Mesktet. You don’t like Millar’s work? Fine. Don’t pretend you have the last word in taste and insult anyone who might disagree with you.

    Admittedly, his MillarWorld stuff is very clearly the fluff of movie-pitches but I do enjoy his theme of “comic fan living out their comic-book dream”. His Marvel work is stronger, though, probably because of editorial control. I have trouble seeing the “mockery” in his FF or Old Man Logan comics and I hold that Civil War has been the kind of “event” Marvel has been trying to duplicate for years, with little success.

  4. if marvel did a straight on adaption of the the ultimates it would have bombed as badly as the watchmen.

    You’re kidding yourself if you don’t realize that a great deal of the Avengers movie was Millar and Hitch’s Ultimates.

  5. “You’re kidding yourself if you don’t realize that a great deal of the Avengers movie was Millar and Hitch’s Ultimates”
    and you are kidding yourself if ypu think Marvel would have the same succes with a straight on adaptation. Everyone in the Ultimate U is a dick and unlikeable.

  6. That’s awesome that means the first half of the movie will be the best superhero movie I have ever seen and the second half will suck and piss me off so badly I will swear off everything he has anything to do with for approximately 9 months till I get tricked into another Millar story, rinse, repeat. Great starts, fuck-all conclusions every single time.

  7. Haven’t most of the Millar stories adapted to screen already been pretty de-Millarized, though? Millar’s a pretty good writer when he’s got a decent editor to keep the worst excesses in check and there’s no way that Fox is going to let any of his stuff get onto the screen undiluted. They might get some decent ideas out of it, who knows?

  8. You know, maybe if all superhero comics were written with 13 year olds in mind they would be a little more succesful.

  9. “You’re kidding yourself if you don’t realize that a great deal of the Avengers movie was Millar and Hitch’s Ultimates.”

    Visually, no doubt I agree with the Hitch part. But outside of the Chitauri and the SHIELD connection, there is nothing original that Millar did that can be claimed over the more traditional Avengers stories. Remember a ’65 Mustang with a new coat of paint and some racing stripes is still a ’65 Mustang.

  10. There’s good Millar (Ultimates, Superman Adventures) and then there’s bad Millar (Fantastic Four, Civil War, Nemesis, Ult . X-men). Overall, I’m not sure he’s the best choice for a consultant.

    If I were FOX, I’d probably choose Warren Ellis. Knows the material, has written movies, has had his stuff adapted, and is not so in love with the material that he would want things to be continuity pornography.

  11. My first thought was to worry, as the X-films have already, finally gotten back on track with First Class and (please please please let it be good) The Wolverine, so bringing in a strong new voice to change things doesn’t sound appealing.

    But really, Millar and Vaughn have already delivered one excellent film together, so I’ll keep an open mind to see if they can keep that up.

  12. “Black Widow in the Avengers?” I am a fan of Mark’s stuff, but BW has been in the Avengers (off and on) way before Bendis or the Ultimates.
    -End of Geek-Screed-

  13. Millar is a hack, the Avengers film had the good taste of not having thousans of people dying for a cheap shot like “damn! We’re superheroes!” moment. His legal action against the tweeter troll? Just getting rid of the only hack who writes about gang rape better than he does. Mark Millar should pair with Rob Liefeld and produce some ultimate shit.

  14. They way Millar hypes his Hollywood importance is fun to watch in the same way as Andy Kaufman performance art.

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