Mark Millar’s work on the Ultimates has gained him the critical acclaim that most comic book writers DREAM of. So when we heard the news that he wanted to pitch a treatment for a Superman Returns sequel, I thought this might be one of the best guys to do it. However, WB won’t touch him. The reason might surprise you.
SuperHeroHype.com quotes Mark Millar:
I’m a Marvel guy and we were surprised to find out that WB couldn’t hire me for a DC property. They were incredibly nice and superbly apologetic about it, but when they discussed the matter seriously DC explained just how associated I am with Marvel Comics at the moment and it’s against company policy to hire the competition. It’s absolutely nothing personal. I spoke to some friends at DC and they explained this has happened with a couple of big Marvel writers in the last couple of years and I absolutely respect that.
So despite his popularity and track record for writing quality superhero stories (something the franchise NEEDS) he gets shot down because he is sleeping with the enemy.
Its like getting fired from a job because you are overqualified. You still feel bad that you no longer have the job, but you can at least walk out the door with your head held high because you were released because you are too good for them.
Millar isn’t too good for Superman. He is just good for Marvel, and that counts against him.
10 Comments, Comment or Ping
The Jim Walker
The whole Marvel vs. DC “feud” over the decades is just silly.
Marvel has a definite edge as far as their films go, due largely to the fact the they are not hamstringed into working with ONE single movie studio.
DC is owned by Warner Bros. and therefore every project they do is a “WB” project. Marvel has worked with New Line, Fox, Sony, Lions Gate, Universal, etc.
YOU THINK that having every film product under one “roof” would have worked out to the benefit of DC/WB and given them an edge. It seems as though the opposite is happening! With the Exception of Superman and Batman, DC/WB seems to be spinning their wheels, failing to get ANYTHING moving. Marvel on the other hand already has almost 20 movies using over 10 characters with about 10 more movies coming in the next few years. DC/WB has like 2.
The fact that Millar would WANT to work with a DC property should have been a HUGE compliment to WB. Did they take this golden opportunity and use it??? No they said “No thank you. We would like to continue floundering around and doing nothing.” to a great talent.
C’mon WB.
Oct 26th, 2007
Marvin
It’s a shame. It will probably bite them in the you know where later down the road. I’m a huge comics fans, I actually want our comic based movies to be the best they can be even if the writer comes from Marvel. There are a lot of cool things to I’d like to blog about with regards to these characters. I hope the movie is good either way.
Oct 26th, 2007
Seth Grimes
It seems to me that DC just can’t figure out how to market anything but their to biggest icons.I mean think of how many Superman films they’ve released(not including all the TV shows Sups has had),and all the Batman films.Dont get me wrong,I like Superman and am a huge fan of Batman but DC has so much more to offer,yet they havnt done much in the movies.The only dc films I’ve really ever got exited about are Cris Nolan’s.Marvel,on the other hand,has marketed lots of caracters,even the not-so-popular ones,and has exited movie-goers much more than DC.That being said, I think Millar should be content with the more creative side of comic book movies.
Oct 26th, 2007
Kneon Transitt
Fine then.
Let him pen Spider-Man 4.
Oct 26th, 2007
Mykrantz
I find this too funny.
The biggest problem with Superman Returns was that it strayed too far from the comic book into the whiny boring Donner-controlled Superman movie universe.
Now, one of the top 5 people writing comic books today wants to give them his take on the character, and they pass because he works for a company that kicks their ass in terms of story?
Perhaps WB needs to open their eyes and realize the reason that Batman Begins is so universally lauded is that it took you to the core of Batman and rebuilt him from ground up using the comic book as the basis for the story.
Oct 26th, 2007
vargas
I wonder if Millar will spill the beans on how he REALLY feels about this on FB Radio. Be interesting to hear the juicy details if there are any.
Oct 27th, 2007
Zac Shipley
Two Words: DAVID GOYER.
dude wrote 3 Blade movies and Ghost Rider, is directing Magneto, and still managed to write JSA for DC and scripts for Batman Begins and Dark Knight. He’s a go-to guy for DC and Marvel for both comics and movies.
talent doesn’t cross the aisle often (Jeph Loeb’s jumpt from DC to Marvel had me reeling), but its not unheard of.
Oct 27th, 2007
chris (the real one)
he should write a script for an avengers story…..his run on the ultimates is essentially the template for a perfect modern avengers flick….it takes the classic characters and upgrades them to fit modern times….his other work is excellent and better than most movie script
Oct 27th, 2007
Kaneda979
Wow. Well that sucks. Poor DC, most everyone doughts they’re up coming films, besides The Dark Knight, and who can blame us. Although I thought Superman Returns was a great film, that whole thing with him having a kid was just, REALLY DUMB. And it’s just about the only thing I dread thats going to carry on into the next film. Which very well could make or break the whole deal.
And then what George Miller doing to the JLA movie is just sad. It’s Joel Schumacher all over again. Why not screw up all of DC’s most popular characters all at once in one film? Ya, thats the way to go.
You’d think the last thing they’d wanna do is reject this amazing comic book writer to wanna write the next film about they’re most well known COMIC BOOK character. I can kind of understand that he’s the “enemy”, but come on. If they really have a passion for writing great comics and great comic book movies, then they’d learn to put and differences aside and do they’re best to make this next movie unforgettable.
“Can’t we all just get along?”
You’d think they’d wanna take all the worth while help they can get if they ever wanna be able to stand side by side with Marvel’s film library. Granted a good deal of them have been horrible, but they still have a great more jems then DC has.
They could atleast hear some of his ideas. I really wanna know myself what he could of came up with. Now if I go see the next Superman movie and I think it sucks ass, I wont be able to help thinking, “I bet if Mark Millar was able to write it instead, it would of been the best comic book movie ever.”
Agreed, Marvel should definitely let him write one of they’re next projects. Spider-man 4 would be my first choice too.
Oct 28th, 2007
Mike Rupert
Something else to consider, DC hired director Bryan Singer, who had directed two X-Men movies to direct “Superman Returns.” Is this Marvel/DC feud just a writing thing or what?
David Goyer has written for both Marvel and DC projects.
Nov 4th, 2007
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