Early last month, following the incredible success of The Avengers, both critically and at the box office, Marvel Studios made the brilliant decision to sign Joss Whedon to a three year contract. The deal has writer/director serving as a consultant on the company's films through 2015 and the theatrical release of The Avengers 2, which he is also set to script and helm. It would seem that 20th Century Fox liked this idea quite a bit, as they have now found a consultant of their very own.
Deadline has received a press release announcing that Fox has signed a deal with comic book writer Mark Millar that will have him serve as a creative consultant for the projects they own based on Marvel properties. This includes both the characters in the X-Men as well as the Fantastic Four. In addition to his work in the world of Marvel comic books - including titles like Civil War as well as The Ultimates (which The Avengers actually borrowed elements from) - Millar has also had some experience in the film world, as his work was the basis for both Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted and Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, and currently has Kick-Ass 2 in development. While those projects were set up over at other studios, Millar does have experience working with Fox as they are currently developing a movie based on his series Nemesis.
Current Marvel projects currently in development over at Fox include The Wolverine, directed by James Mangold and starring Hugh Jackman; X-Men: Days of Future Past, directed by Vaughn and starring Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy; and the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, directed by Josh Trank and written by Jeremy Slater.
Said Millar in a statement,
"As someone who has spent his entire life obsessed with both comic-books and movies, this is essentially my dream gig as it’s a unique combination of both. I spent ten years working at Marvel and am really happy with the work I did on the comic side of things so the idea of working with these characters now in a brand new medium is enormously exciting for me. I really like the Fox team, love this bold new direction they have for their franchises and am proud to be working alongside some of modern cinema’s biggest talents. James Mangold is incredible, Matthew Vaughn’s one of my closest pals and Josh Trank gave us, in my opinion, one of the greatest superhero movies of the last decade with Chronicle. The invitation to join this crew was maybe the coolest phone-call I’ve ever had."
Millar has his fair share of detractors in the comic book world, but what do you think of him being used as a Marvel consultant for Fox? Leave your thoughts, opinions and feelings in the comments section below.
