A while back, that crazy Smokin’ Aces filmmaker, Joe Carnahan, got sites like ours all excited about the possibility of a Carnahan directed X-Men spin-off after posting an image of Vinnie Jones as The Juggernaut on his blog. It was far too easy to assume Carnahan was hinting about a Juggernaut film – after all, his Smokin’ Aces sequel is being designed as a direct-to-DVD flick, and this was around the same time Fox and Marvel announced some direct-to-DVD X-Men Origin movies.
I guess the fact that the connection was so easy to make should have been an indicator that we might be clicking together pieces that weren’t meant to be together, because Carnahan has finally explained his mysterous post, and it’s a project that’s no longer meant to be. It’s also not a movie – and it never was.
Carnahan writes: “About a month back, I posted a cryptic image of the 'Juggernaut' character without any further fanfare. It was my understanding at the time that I would be doing a limited run for Marvel comics after striking up a relationship with current 'X-Men' editor Axel Alonso… HOWEVER, my take on 'Juggernaut' would have directly interfered with a major Marvel event, so I was asked to revive a character called 'TASKMASTER' and just today, about an hour ago, I got word that we were moving forward.”
The trend of successful film and television storytellers moving into comic books continues, just as it did with J. Michael Stracyznski and Joss Whedon, although I can’t say I care much about Taskmaster. I may pick it up just because I’m curious about what Carnahan will do beyond Smokin’ Aces, but I would much rather have seen a Juggernaut movie. Do you think there’s any possibility Marvel will get wind of fan disappointment and consider letting Carnahan do one?
