Millar

This past summer marked a huge step forward for a project that had been very uncertain for quite some time: Kick-Ass 2. When Universal thankfully swooped in to save the day, development gained some serious traction and eventually led to a production start earlier this month with plenty of familiar faces reprising their roles from the first outing. Meanwhile the first half-hour of the film is still unfolding in comic stores everywhere as creator Mark Millar has been delivering the interquel Hit-Girl, which takes place between both main Kick-Ass series.

With MillarWorld branching out this year and tackling new projects such as Supercrooks and The Secret Service, keeping Millar incredibly busy. However now it seems that the writer will be spending more of his time and expertise regarding big screen installments as today it has been revealed that X-Menand Fantastic Four will seek some assistance from Millar in the very near future.

20th Century Fox has announced today that they have signed Mark Millar to become a creative consultant for upcoming films revolving around Marvel Comics. This involves the at least the next two X-Men features The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past, the planned reboot of Fantastic Four set to be directed by Josh Trank and anything else the studio has not yet announced.

The deal is very similar to that of what Marvel Studios accomplished last month with Joss Whedon, essentially becoming the godfather of the company’s Marvel Cinematic Universe while inking the creative talent to reprise his role for writer and director of The Avengers 2. Whedon is expected to assist in scripts, concepts and more for upcoming films while also developing the first live-action Marvel television seriesS.H.I.E.L.D., which has been guaranteed a pilot to be put into production early next year.

Here’s the full announcement from Fox:

Marking an expanded commitment to some of its most important franchises, Twentieth Century Fox has brought on comics superstar Mark Millar to serve as a creative consultant on the studio’s upcoming projects based on Marvel Comics properties.

Millar wrote several celebrated Marvel books such as The Ultimates, Civil War and Wolverine: Old Man Logan, before moving on to found Millarworld (millarworld.tv), where he continues to develop existing film franchise titles Wanted and Kick-Ass, as well as newer comic properties The Secret Service, Superior, and Nemesis — the latter also in development at Fox. Millar will work with Fox on developing new avenues for its “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” tentpoles.

Commented TCF production president Emma Watts: “We are excited to be working with Mark. In addition to his groundbreaking Marvel work, he is simply one of the most original voices in comics today and will be an invaluable resource to us and to our filmmakers as we look for fresh opportunities to innovate within our shared Marvel universe.”

Upcoming for the studio is THE WOLVERINE, starring Hugh Jackman, directed by James Mangold; X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, helmed by Matthew Vaughn; and a reboot of “FANTASTIC FOUR, to be directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle).

“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,” stated Millar. “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.”

About Mark Millar

Mark Millar is the writer of Civil War, Marvel’s biggest-selling series of the fifteen years, Ultimate X-Men, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four and The Ultimates (described by Time magazine in 2010 as the best comic series of the decade). His Millarworld line of comics boasts a roster of creator-owned books such as Wanted, turned into a blockbuster movie starring Angelina Jolie; Kick-Ass, which starred Nicolas Cage; and Nemesis, which Fox is presently developing as a theatrical feature. Kick-Ass 2 is currently filming in London and Toronto, starring Jim Carrey and Chris Mintz-Plasse and Universal is also developing his War Heroes series with Mike DeLuca producing. The Secret Service, co-created with Watchmen legend Dave Gibbons and X-Men First Class director Matthew Vaughn, is also currently indevelopment. In his native UK, he’s the editor of CLiNT magazine, an advisor on film to the Scottish government and managing director of his film and television company Millarworld Productions.”

About 20th Century Fox Film

One of the world’s largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, 20th Century Fox Film produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world. These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox International Productions and Twentieth Century Fox Animation.