With Netflix’s purchase of Millarworld and their own stable of comic book stories to draw upon, it would seem they’ve taken another step towards controlling their own destiny against reports of their $20 billion in growing debt. Owning a deep slate of stories outright allows the streaming platform to create shows and films they control, avoiding the pricey fees connected to licensing content from outside studios and while also giving them exclusives people will want to see.
Dreams were how we got started. pic.twitter.com/5w2DOVykji
— Netflix (@netflix) August 7, 2017
While Kingsman and Kick-Ass won’t be involved in anything Netflix produces thanks to their current Hollywood deals, there are still a ton of creative and successful ideas under the Millarworld label. Not only that, but it’s a wide range of tales that will allow Netflix to essentially have their own Batman and Superman, their own Guardians of the Galaxy, their own evil versions of The Avengers and Justice League, and possibly even their first real stab at epic tales you could compare to Game Of Thrones.
That’s not to say any of this will work out or meet those same quality standards. It’s more about the good faith towards the stories that already exist within Millarworld and how they set themselves apart from the rest of the comic book slate we’re currently saturated with. On top of that, Millar is already known for a very cinematic style in his work, giving way to several readymade ideas itching to jump to film or television. So here are some of the franchises we could expect:
Wanted
While we got an adaptation of this from Universal starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, that film was far from the source material. While the general idea of a shadowy organization initiating the son of one of their greatest members was kept intact, the film chose to change the group to assassins instead of supervillains who defeated their heroic counterparts and took over the planet. The book is more of a pastiche of Marvel and DC Comics characters that allowed Millar to tell stories he’d never get to tell with the iconic characters from those companies — unless you count Old Man Logan. Netflix could do the same with a series, going in the backstories of these characters, keeping their connection to Marvel and DC while also building them into their own characters.
No matter what, it’d be better than a league of assassins that make of their decisions based on fabric from a loom.
Chrononauts
A sort of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but with geniuses heading out for adventure instead of two high school rock gods. Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly head back through time in the world’s first experiment but run into a few hiccups that throw them off of their plan and force them to think on their feet. While time travel has been done before and presents the problem of having to create a different locale for each episode, the tone and feel that this could bring to Netflix would likely be worth it. It takes elements from things like Back To The Future and Quantum Leap, but tosses them around for a fresh take on time travel.
Nemesis
What if Batman used his skills and fortune to be a villain? The concept is a bit on the nose, sure, but Nemesis is definitely a bit more than just evil Bruce Wayne. The mini-series features a twist that changes up what we’ve been following and changes the stakes of what could happen in the future. Like most of Millar’s work, it does feature some questionable bits that might not make it to screen, but the idea itself is solid.
Reborn
Knowing what happens when we die is one of the great mysteries of life. Plenty of people probably know about it, but can’t really share it with anybody back on the living side of things. In this story, the reason for that is because they’re too busy fighting and dealing with everybody from your past. A harsh world that exists after death and mixes Hellblazer with The Leftovers with Conan and a dash of Game Of Thrones — or just epic fantasy if you want to be simple. It would suck if you died expecting heaven and got a battlefield, but it would certainly be interesting. It would also make for a great TV/streaming series.
Superior
Like Nemesis, this would provide an alternate take on an established hero using new constructs. Instead of Superman, we have Superior, only he’s not real in this world until a 12-year-old boy with MS is given a wish and becomes the immortal hero in exchange for his soul. There are demons masquerading as wish-giving space monkeys and another kid who is given the powers of Superior’s greatest enemy, but in the end, this is just an interesting way to tell a Superman story without the weight of the Superman mythos. If you’ve never picked up Superman: Secret Identity, it’s worth your time and a nice introduction to this type of story and what it could be on Netflix. If it’s not a series, it could definitely become an original movie for the platform.
Empress
You can’t usually go wrong when you’re dealing with a chase story. Mix that with cosmic intrigue and galactic warfare and you’ve got a tale that is set to grab your attention. Millar sets some simple stakes in Empress, a story about a woman looking to escape a bad relationship for the sake of her children. Then he takes that, places it in deep space with a galactic dictator and sets our heroine on the run with her kids and her bodyguard, dealing with all levels of galactic danger along the way.
While it’s easy to see where it takes inspiration from Star Wars and Jack Kirby’s New Gods, it certainly wouldn’t be the first. There are worse places to take inspiration from.
Jupiter’s Legacy
Here’s the thing, this one would be tough to pull off. If you were living in the shadow of your superhero parents, how would you feel and how would you deal? Most superhero stories automatically assume that the children of heroes will go on to be heroes themselves. But what if they’re just super powered celebrities who are wasting their potential and are tired of living in the shadow of their parents.
Jupiter’s Legacy and its companion series Jupiter’s Circle create an entire history for this world’s fictional superheroes, taking the maturity of something like Watchmen and mixing it with a show like Rectify. While it’d be hard to mix the prestige of that type of Peak TV offering with superheroes, folks seem to treat Game Of Thrones serious enough to give it awards. There’s no reason a superhero show couldn’t elevate itself above beating the bad guys and saving humanity. We have that with choice on The CW, so maybe it would be time for Netflix to take a risk and create a prestige comic book show?
There are a few others that could pop up, but these are the titles that would be worth your time to check out and might provide Netflix with those clear-cut offerings they can launch from the page. It could be a disaster or it could be one of the best gambles we’ve seen in this new streaming war that’s brewing.