Much like Marvel has started putting out movies about Elektra and Ghost Rider, now DC Comics is looking at second string characters to adapt into movies. I guess there’s only so far you can take Batman or Superman, but they’re really digging deep for their latest adaptation.
According to Variety, DC Comics is pairing with Warner Brothers to adapt a movie based on their Western anti-hero character Jonah Hex. The character is a western bounty hunter donned in a Confederate army uniform with a disfigured face. His comics have spread over the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, with the most recent comic run being in 2005, but I have to admit my only familiarity with the character is from an episode of “Batman: The Animated Series.”
The plan is to make the movie more like Hex’s more recent comic books. While the character started out as a Western figure, eventually the comics became a Western genre setting dealing with supernatural elements in the story. As always, the hope is to develop the character into a franchise.
Of all the characters in the DC Universe, this is a strange pick. Westerns don’t do well at the box office anymore – they haven’t in years with rare exception – and for some reason I liken Jonah Hex to Marvel’s Ghost Rider, who had a mediocre theatrical run himself. Maybe DC can do better by accentuating the rough and tumble anti-hero element. For this to work really well, they’re going to have to put some skilled genre filmmakers on this project though. Having Akiva Goldsman on board as a producer probably isn’t a bad start.
