Make mine Marvel?

The folks that publish Marvel Comics very recently got a loan approved that will allow them to produce their own movies. Here is an excerpt from the article.

Marvel Entertainment -- previously Marvel Enterprises -- is set to announce Tuesday its name change and completion of its loan package, and also will
divulge that superheroes Captain America, the Avengers, Nick Fury, Black
Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack and
Shang-Chi will get the feature-film treatment.
Paramount Pictures, under a deal announced in April shortly after Brad Gray took the helm of the studio, will distribute and market the films, the first of which will be released in 2008 or possibly sooner.
Marvel chairman and CEO Avi Arad said he officially will begin attaching scriptwriters to all 10 projects beginning Wednesday and that, though he has a wish list, he's unsure which movie will be released first."No character before its time. The scripts will dictate which is first," Arad said, adding, "I cannot wait to tell Captain America's story. It's a doozy of a story."In April, Marvel said it would budget each film in the range of $45 million-$180 million, though Arad since has narrowed that to $50 million-$165 million.

Okay, makes sense. They've been releasing a lot of movies of their characters in the last few years. But a couple of things struck me about the news. Before I get into that, though, let me go into a tad bit of backstory.

Marvel isn't like DC Comics (home to Batman, Superman, and others). Rights to DC Comics characters essentially belong to Warner Brothers, meaning that if a movie is to be made about a character, WB will release the movie. Not so for Marvel. When movie rights started becoming a hot commodity, Marvel characters went every which direction. 20th Century Fox got Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and X-Men. The Hulk went to Universal. After a long legal battle, Spider-Man went to Sony. Other characters went to various other studios. So, Marvel doesn't necessarily benefit from this new loan when it comes to the big franchises, because, well, those studios still own the rights.

The big thing that got me about the announcement is the list of titles Marvel is proudly announcing feature films of. Now, people with good knowledge of Marvel characters, like myself, will recognize the names. But other people will likely look at that list and say, "Huh? Power Who?" I highly doubt there's folks out there saying "Wow, when am I going to get the chance to see Shang-Chi brought to the screen?"

For those who don't know who these characters are, let me give you a brief rundown. You can also look the characters up on Wikipedia.

1. Captain America: Probably the most widely known. If you don't know the character, there is a good chance you may have heard the name. Personally I'd like to see a well-made version of this, preferably set in World War II.
2. The Avengers: "Earth's Mightiest Heroes." Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor are just some of the members of this team. Quite frankly I see this as being hard to pull off.
3. Nick Fury: Head of a secret agency who has been given an eternal-youth type formula. You might have seen David Hasselhoff play him in a TV movie version in the late 90s.
4. Black Panther: Leader of the African nation of Wakanda, and crimefighter. Think Batman, if he were President of the United States. Wesley "Blade" Snipes has reportedly been interested in the role, which I think would be good for him, before he sinks into direct-to-video status.
5. Ant-Man: A guy that can shrink himself to the size of an ant. That's pretty much it. Been awhile since we've seen a good "shrinking" movie though.
6. Cloak & Dagger: Teen runaways who got their powers from an experimental drug. they have "dark" and "light" related powers.
7. Dr. Strange: Former surgeon turned Earth's "Sorcerer Supreme." Movies/TV shows about sorcery can be hard to pull off without being cheesy. Fun fact: my childhood dentist was named Dr. Strange.
8. Hawkeye: An archer with a bunch of trick arrows. I'm sure if they dress him up to look like Legolas, then they might just draw in the female crowd.
9. Power Pack: A bunch of 8-year-olds given their powers by a dying alien, and fly around in a talking spaceship. The whole kids-as-superheroes thing has been done twice this year with that Lavagirl and Shark Boy movie along with Sky High, with mixed results. Do we really need another one?
10. Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu: Well see, there's this guy named Shang-Chi, and his kung fu is the best! Um, ok.. that's about all I know. They could literally take a random kung fu movie, slap the name Shang-Chi on it and no one would know the difference.

There you have it. Marvel is gambling on mostly a bunch of second-string characters, most of whom haven't even had their own comic book titles in quite some time. And to slap a budget of up to $165 million on these movies? On The Avengers maybe. I know Marvel has already exhausted most of their "flagship" characters, but there are other Marvel characters that deserve a movie more than Shang-Chi or Power Pack. Like Iron Man maybe? Silver Surfer?

If Marvel does move forward with these films, and it very much looks like they are, they sure as heck should make sure they get the movies right. Talk with writers who have done some of the character's comic books. Talk with fans of the series. Get a story that everyone can agree with. Get a director who knows the character(s). Because quite frankly, in the recent past Marvel has gotten "trendy" directors or just people who were available at the time. Or they try to go in somewhat of a different direction with the character.

Remember The Hulk? Everyone was expecting "Hulk Smash!" with a big green monster tearing through the city. What they got was a psychological drama which happened to have some action in it. Fantastic Four got Tim Story, who directed Taxi and Barbershop? Thankfully for him, he got lucky. The truly great Marvel films have had passionate directors behind them. Sam Raimi, director of the Spider-Man movies, has been a fan of the character since childhood. Daredevil director Mark Steven Johnson was also a fan. (Oh, and before you go and say "Daredevil was a good movie? What are you, joking," see the director's cut of the movie.)

Also by the time these movies begin to be released, the market may be oversaturated with comic book films. "Comic book adaptation" has practically become its own genre along with "comedy," "action," and "drama." By 2008, Warner Brothers will have released the new Superman movie, and sequels to X-Men, Sin City, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four will likely have been released, along with the possible sequel to The Hulk and a standalone Wolverine movie with Hugh Jackman.

I'm happy that Marvel is enjoying success now. I've been a fan of their characters for awhile. Sadly though I think the power is going to their head (as already evidenced by their outrageous lawsuit against City of Heroes). Marvel should seriously listen to the catchphrase that their flagship character Spider-Man lives by: "With great power comes great responsibility."