Back in 2012, Mark Millar, known for his violent comics like ‘The Authority’, ‘The Secret Service’ and ‘Kick-Ass’, announced he was completely switching gears and creating a kids comic book called ‘Kindergarten Heroes’ which would feature the Bill Watterson-like art of Curtis Tiegs and be adapted into a film by 20th Century Fox. Carter Blanchard (‘Independence Day: Resurgence’) reportedly penned a screenplay, but the film didn’t materialize.
Now rumor has it, Fox has hired Seth Grahame-Smith (‘The LEGO Batman Movie’) to adapt Blanchard’s script into a ‘Fantastic Four Kids’ flick, featuring Franklin and Valeria Richards, the children of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. The adult heroes, including The Thing and Human Torch, would serve as supporting characters. Grahame-Smith wrote the script for ‘The Flash’ movie and was supposed to direct that DC film for Warner Brothers before parting ways due to creative differences.
At one point, Millar was hired by Fox to oversee their ‘X-Men’ and ‘Fantastic Four’ movies after last year’s much-hated ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot, directed by Josh Trank borrowed heavily from his ‘Ultimate Fantastic Four’ comic book.
Millar recently signed a deal with Netflix to develop a Millarworld series of films based on his creator-owned comics, not including ‘Kick-Ass’ and ‘Kingsman’ (based on ‘The Secret Service’).
At SDCC, Noah Hawley, the creator of the FX series ‘Legion’ and ‘Fargo’, announced that he was working on a script for a ‘Doctor Doom’ movie. Should either this or ‘Fantastic Four Kids’ materialize, that would allow Fox to hang on to the rights to the ‘Fantastic Four’ proper, much to the chagrin of fans who continue to hold out hope that the First Family of Marvel Comics will one day co-inhabit the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside The Avengers and now Spider-Man (a joint effort with Sony).
Franklin Richards has precognitive abilities and used to go on adventures with juvenile sibling super team Power Pack. But he has been analyzed as an Alpha and Omega level mutant who may one day become supremely powerful with the ability to pretty much alter reality. On the other hand, Valeria does not appear to have super powers beyond her supreme intelligence, which appears to exceed that of her father Reed/Mister Fantastic.
What do you think of the Richards kids getting their own movie? (Or Doctor Doom for that matter?) Are you upset that Fox keeps stonewalling Marvel in order to retain the rights to the ‘Fantastic Four’?
Sources: Bleeding Cool
