Hollywood sure loves its comic books. It seems all you need to do nowadays is come up with a new character or a graphic novel and someone in Hollywood will snap up the rights. That’s happened with Ed Brubaker’s Incognito, and there are also rumours Warner is developing a movie version of Starman (the DC Comics character, not a remake of the Jeff Bridges film).
Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox is the company that snapped up Incognito, attracted by it’s unusual take on the superhero genre. The graphic novel is about Zack Overkill, a ruthless bad guy with super-strength, who’s works for a supervillain called The Black Death. However he rats on his boss and goes into the witness protection programme. Given a drug to subdue his powers, he develops a conscience and becomes something of a vigilante, which inevitably leads to Black Death discovering his whereabouts. Brubaker, who wrote the headline-grabbing The Death Of Captain America, also has his graphic novel Sleeper in the works at Warner Bros, which is being set up as a potential vehicle for Tom Cruise.
The Starman movie is more speculative, with some saying it could happen while others are just as adamant that Warner/DC have no current movie plans for the character. Pajiba says that yes it is in development and that Sherlock Holme’s producer Dan Lin is overseeing it. They also suggest it’s at such an early stage that there’s no director or writer attached as yet.
While Starman has had many different incarnations in his 70-year history, ranging from a blue-skinned alien to a being on pure energy, any movie is likely to focus on Jack Knight, the son of the original Starman, who had a popular run in the 1990s, and was far cooler than most superheroes, wearing a t-shirt, leather jacket, sheriff’s star and tank goggles. He was briefly a member of the Justice Society before passing on his powers.
However, as mentioned, despite Pajiba’s insistence, the likes of /Film say they have sources saying that a Starman movie isn’t happening. If it isn’t, maybe these rumours will give DC a prod, as Starman could be very cool.