Jun 29, 2018 - A Faith movie will follow Bloodshot & Harbinger to the silver screen. In the comics, Faith Herbert is a psiot (think 'mutant' but less.
You’ve heard of Marvel and DC Comics, but have you heard of Valiant? With the recent announcement of DMG Entertainment signing up with the publisher for future television and movie projects, here’s a walkthrough of what Valiant Comics is, and what properties you should keep an eye on. What’s a Ninjack? Magnus, Robot Fighter!
Archer and Armstrong! These are but a handful of characters that have seen a resurgence under Valiant Comics, which has recently begun publishing pretty darn good comics as of late. Originally created in the early 90s, Valiant was the result of former Marvel editor-in-chief, Jim Shooter and a handful of investors attempting to buy out Marvel Comics.
Unfortunately, their bid just wasn’t high enough, so they decided that as long as they were all together anyway, they might as well start their own company. Hand-picking a few artists and writers from Marvel, the motley crew decided to launch their own brand of books under the name, “Valiant Comics.” This was a situation that was somewhat similar to the other big competitor to Marvel comics, Image, which was a collection of Marvel creative folks who decided to move out on their own and create their own company. The 90s was an interesting time for comics, as it bred a lot of creativity when it came to branching out from the “Big Two.”. Image via Valiant Comics To give you a rundown of some of the characters I mentioned, X-O Manowar is closest to Marvel’s Iron Man in abilities and appearance, though his suit is alien in origin rather than manmade.
Another difference from Tony Stark is that X-O is an alien king who apparently came from a distant land and time, eventually finding his way to Earth, using his sentient armor to fight threats both of Earth and the stars (I’m giving you the VERY abridged version here because you could practically write an essay for how much backstory this guy has). The most popular character of the universe arguably is Shadowman, a character with a pretty neat appearance and wide set of abilities including magical powers, super strength, healing factor, night vision, and more.
The guy is basically a Swiss army knife. Shadowman is Jack Boniface, a jazz musician, who has a one-night stand with a mysterious woman. Waking up the next morning, the encounter has given Jack a brand-new set of powers, and a carnival mask that he uses to become the newest hero of the night.
(Editor’s note: that seems like the ultimate best case scenario for a one-night stand. “Oh by the way, I think I might have given you superpowers!”) Magnus, Robot Fighter, was actually originally created in the 60’s and later acquired by Valiant Comics. Magnus himself hails from a far-away future where the world is ruled by AI, where he is raised by a unique robot who teaches him Kung Fu. How does he use these abilities, you may ask? Well he uses them to punch robots in the face of course! Yes, Magnus begins fist-fighting robots for the betterment of mankind, so think of this property as Terminator meets Rocky and you’re good to go. Turok is a Native American who hunts down dinosaurs, and you may know him from his several video games that have been released over the years.
Finally, Archer and Armstrong is hailed as the “best buddy superhero comic of all time,” as it follows the adventures of a martial artist and his immortal best friend as they traverse the countryside fighting crime. Ultimately, it’s a ragtag group of super-powered individuals who fall under the Valiant banner, that’s for sure.
Valiant Rises. Image via Valiant Comics Valiant Comics eventually sold its properties to the video game producer, Acclaim, who had made many of the aforementioned Turok games, along with a game for Shadowman, and even a crossover between X-O Manowar and Marvel’s Iron Man (which was a long time before the Marvel Studios’ movies landed). Like so much else though, all good things must come to an end, and Acclaim Studios closed their doors in 2004, ending Valiant in the process. However, all was not lost! A year later, the company was bought by some new entrepreneurs, and Valiant saw a resurgence in 2012 with a relaunch of many of their properties under the banner, “The Summer of Valiant.” It was welcomed with critical acclaim, and has been producing some quality comic books ever since.
The books in question that saw new light were Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, Harbinger, and X-O Manowar. Essentially, new creative teams were brought on to reignite and reboot these properties, giving characters new origins and remaking them for the present. More series were then created, and we eventually got a team-up book between many of the heroes called, “Unity” along with a big crossover event sprinkled in. Valiant has the potential to go toe to toe with Marvel, DC, and Image, and it seems to be making its way to doing just that. All it needs now are a couple of movies under its belt, which appear to be on the way! With Valiant rebooted and retooled, it was really only a matter of time before their properties were option into major motion pictures. Cue the Chinese Media company, DMG Entertainment, who have co-financed movies such as Looper and Iron Man 3.
With each passing year, China becomes a bigger source of revenue for movie studios, so it’s no surprise that a Chinese-based company would look to start mining additional US properties. Before this deal was made public however, there were in fact several deals already in play for movie versions of Valiant properties.
Valiant was looking to create their own film for Harbinger, Sony Pictures was looking to make a film about Bloodshot, famed writer J. Michael Straczynski put together a script for Shadowman, and an adaptation for Archer and Armstrong was also in the works. The fate of these projects is now in question, in so far as whether they’ll happen as-is, or be approached differently moving forward. While movies are certainly in the pipeline, DMG also made mention that the various heroes and villains of Valiant may also be brought into the world of television, with their brands expanded across the world. It’s funny to think that we live in a time where it seems to be an eventuality, rather than a question, as to when comic book properties will hit the mainstream.
Frankly, I can’t wait to see a movie where a guy fist-fights a robot while in his underpants.
Cropped Cover of Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea. (Artist: Gary Gianni, Colors: Dave Stewart, via Dark Horse) It’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of Marvel Cinematic Universe vs.
Whatever DC’s plans are now, but there are other comic book movies coming out. Some of them are pretty exciting on their own too, proving that not every comics adaptation has to fit into some grand multi-movie story. Like, for example, the new Hellboy movie, starring David Harbour of. Fans of his work on that show already know he has the perfect delivery and demeanor for a character like Hellboy. And in a poster released by, he looks, um, damned good in the role. He certainly looks like Hellboy, alright.
What’s really interesting, though, are the horns. They’re fully formed on this poster, which is not how we’re used to seeing the character. Hellboy is The Beast who’s supposed to end the world. As you might know if you’ve read the comics or seen the Guillermo del Toro movies, he rejects that idea completely. He normally shaves his horns down into two round stubs.
So why are they out in full force here? Creator Mike Mignola says the film follows one particular arc from the comics very closely. Hellboy will fight a sorceress who wants to exact vengeance on humanity. It seems on this poster, Hellboy has let his horns grow out so he can access the demonic power necessary to beat her. I’m guessing that comes with its own complications though.
We definitely still miss Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro’s take on the character, as those two movies remain some of the best comic book adaptations around. But with the backing of the original creator, this movie looks like it will be able to hold its own. Especially because Harbour makes one amazing-looking Hellboy. As cool as that poster is, I can’t wait to see him in action.
It shouldn’t be too long before we get a trailer though. The movie’s panel at New York Comic Con is fast-approaching, and the film itself comes out April 12, 2019. It’s not much, but it’s certainly got us curious. I really want to know what he saw that’s blowing him and his producing partner’s mind so much. You can also see just a little bit of makeup from the movie on Diesel in this video.
It doesn’t tell us much, and it’s almost certainly not the full makeup for the character, but there’s some damage marks on his nose and cheeks, like he just got out of a fight scene. The movie will reportedly stay true to the comics, according to Comic Book. Diesel will play a contract killer-turned informant who’s injected with nano-machines in a secret government experiment. They allow him to heal quickly, interface with any technology and modify his body. His memory is erased and he’s turned into a weapon until he decides to start looking into his past.
It’s a great premise for a movie. You almost wonder why it took this long for someone to adapt it. Valiant may not have the name recognition that Marvel or DC does, but they produce some great comics. There haven’t been any truly fantastic adaptations of them, but hopefully that will change when Bloodshot premieres in 2020.
Via Marvel Finally, over in the still-Marvel-but-decidedly-non-MCU side of comic book movies, Sony Pictures is already working on their follow-up to Venom. Most people probably assumed it was going to be Black Cat and Silver Sable, since that was another Spider-verse movie Sony has brought up in the past. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to wait a little longer. Instead, Sony’s next attempt at giving a Spider-Man villain its own movie will be Morbius. If you don’t remember Morbius, well he’s not one of the wall-crawler’s more well-known villains.
He’s a biochemist who’s working on a treatment for his own blood disorder. As they so often do in Spider-Man comics, the experiment goes wrong.
Morbius turns himself into a living vampire who must feed on blood. Oh, and the movie is going to star Jared Leto. In an interview with, Venom and Morbius producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad praised Leto, saying they expect “awesomeness” from the actor and a similar level of commitment he brought to playing The Joker in Suicide Squad. You remember, that great movie that everyone loved, Tolmach clarified, “Just a similar level of intensity and charisma and devotion to the character.” Cool. Well, at least we can brace ourselves for another news cycle about how weird and crazy he was on set. The guy sounds like a real joy to work with.
Some are really getting into this announcement, though. Fan artist Boss Logic created this image showing what Leto could look like in the role.