Inhumans Coming To Hollywood Courtesy of Marvel Studios?

The website BadAssDigest.com has picked up on an online listing that says Marvel Studios is developing a motion picture based on Marvel Comics's Inhumans characters. According to this un-verified report, the movie would re-imagine Black Bolt and the gang as "aliens who were put on Earth as sleeper cell aliens to eventually call back their race to take over the planet.” But as any heroes would, the Inhuman rebel against their overlords and come to protect the planet they were sent to destroy. The project is very early in the pre-production process, with the concept being sent out to potential screenwriters for pitches.

Inhumans have existed in the framework of the Marvel universe largely as supporting characters in Fantastic Four and various cosmic-related titles, but amongst the handful of limited series the highpoint is the 1998 twelve-issue maxi-series by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee. This has nothing to do with this movie rumor, but I always thought Black Bolt had the best real name: Blackagar Boltagan.

What do you think — should they make an Inhumans movie, and if so, who should be entrusted to take this unique concept to the silver screen?

Comments

  1. Neil Blomkamp
    Peter Jackson
    J.J. Abrahms
    James Cameron

  2. I think this is a bad idea.  I LOVE blackagar, but it will not translate.  First off, sonic screams look dumb as shit on the silver screen.  Second, there is something about how whenever he does say something it is written in tiny font, as a whisper, that is just so cool.  It will not look good on film 3D or not.

    BUT, maybe this will get people to read it.  I heart b-bolt. 

    Has he ever shown up in any media?  TV?  Animated Movie?  Wikipedia, here I come.

  3. just ask Rango

  4. Katey Sagal as Medusa!

    Wow, this is such a bad idea.

  5. developing is different than making especially in movies. 

    Sounds like it could be cool though, but i wonder if the name is what is making it happen.

    “producer its called the “Inhumans” —– Studio Guy…”sounds like gold, make it!” 

  6. Black Bolt doesn’t scream. He just has to whisper. That’s why he’s a badass.

  7. i think, if done right, a straight up inhumans movie would work, but this sounds promising, the story idea is kinda cool? that marvel knights run is one of my favourites and i’d love to see less known characters like these make it to the silver screen, but to be honest, i can see marvel and other studios pushing out a load of poorly made comic adaptations (especially after this summer’s blockbuster season) and tarnishing the medium; or at least the idea of the ‘comic book movie’?

  8. @ resurrectinflan – It’s also not sonic.  It’s electromagnetic, i wasn’t really thinking while writing.

  9. You just show his lips parting and a half frame of breath then cut to outside as the building collapses or explodes… BLACKBOLT’D!

  10. Charlie Sheen would be good as Black Bolt

  11. I would rather see this as an animated feature. Probably in the same direct market as DC has done.

  12. I don’t anticipate this ending well.

  13. Can Marvel make a movie that doesn’t tie into the new universe is the question? Better to sell this to fox to include this in an FF movie and use the money to make a Moon knight film!

  14. oh dear

  15. Superhero movies are frequently tough because the main character wears a mask over a lot of his face.  The line is always “Nobody wants to pay 10 bucks to see [Top Heart Throb Actor] with his face covered up.”  Or “Why are we paying [Top Heart Throb Actor] $20 million when we’re not even seeing his face?”  Add to that that we’re not even using his voice and then you have a movie where the star has to act entirely with pensive mouth acting.  Fine for some starlet in a Twilight movie, but tough for a major motion picture.

    That said, I think the Inhumans are awesome and I’d love to see that movie getting made.  Although, I think it’d be fun as a spinoff of a new Fantastic Four movie that wasn’t terrible.  That’s a lot of ifs, I know and it’s the thing that kept the Silver Surfer movie from getting made, but there you go.

  16. I could see the Inhumans as supporting characters in a FF movie, but not in their own movie. They are not widely known enough to have appeal outside the comic community.

  17. I’m never gonna get a Dr. Strange movie, but they’re testing the waters on Inhumans? Heh.  I don’t expect this to see the light of day.

  18. I was hoping for an Inhumanoids movie. That sounds more appealing to me than an Inhumans movie. 

  19. Could be a lot of fun if it’s done right…. hopefully not by Fox. I’d love to see Peter Jackson do it, but he’s got his hands full of hobbits, so maybe The Wachowshi Brothers or Richard Kelly?

  20. If it was 1997 I would say Tim Burton would do a pretty interesting Inhumans or Del Toro. I would like to see a 1997 Tim Burton Medusa and Triton…

  21. Yeah, they’re desperate to develop a film based on characters who are so succesful they can’t even sustain their own title.

  22. oh boy, that Charlie Sheen joke was topical and hilarious!

  23. @AndyL  That’s not really comparable. The audience for a film is a far different base of people than an audience for a comic book.

  24. I don’t disagree Conor, but can you name a similar genre project that succeeded without first having a dedicated audience within the genre?

  25. I actually think this could translate into a pretty cool sci-fi movie. I would love to see Ridely Scott’s take on it, in the “future noir” style of Blade Runner. could be visually stunning if the character designs are updated and modernized. 

  26. i wonder what blackbolt would say about this?
    wait. . . i think he should say something about this, to their faces.

    -yeah, you see what i did there? 

  27. Animated flick perhaps. Not live action.

  28. Medusa is the only one whose power would translate to the screen well, via wire-fu, so I don’t see this being live action. 

    @blenderzen:  There is a commenter on the avclub comment sections who randomly posts as Black Bolt, always saying merely:

    “. . . . . “

    I laugh every time he does it.

  29. @ AndyL   Blade

  30. They need to remake Nightbreed….fuck the Inhumans.

  31. If this was done…in a sort of take the concept of a lost group of divergent humanoids living in a closed off environment, afraid to come into contact with humanity for fear of being wiped out…if silly costumes and to some degree silly names were removed…if the superhero element were removed and they went with a purely sci-fi concept…if somebody like Peter Jackson or the Hellboy director (who was that again?) then it could find a decent audience and actually could make for a cool picture. Its a lot of ifs and the only reason its being considered is because comic books are the current gold mine and thus, if it were to be made, countless hours and dollars will be spent stressing over the costumes and other irrelevent crap. 

    Imagine it being pitched in a world where there was no Bryan Singer… 

  32. @AndyL  As @AlanRob already said, the Blade Trilogy proves you don’t need to use a popular comic book character to make a popular comic book movie. I’d also add Ghost Rider to the list.

  33. @conor @AlanRob  @AndyL  –we could also add Men In Black, TMNT and the Rocketeer (i know Rocketeer wasn’t a financial success…but its well loved in a lot of circles) although those maybe stretching it. In the end its all about storytelling and character regardless of media. 

  34. @conor  I see where you are coming from, but I don’t think I would include Ghost Rider in that argument. He may be a kind of third tier character now, but during the huge comic boom of the 90s, Ghost Rider was a hugely popular character. I think Blade is the perfect Marvel character to use for this argument, but I actually think I have a better one: Men In Black. How many people even TODAY know that MIB was a comic book first?  

  35. Also, The Crow. Very small readership, hugely successful film.

    In the “non-superhero” genres, what about Road to Perdition? That hardly had some huge fan base before the movie came out. 

  36. @JohnVFerrigno  Ghost Rider might have been a hugely popular character WITHIN comics, but not with the general public, which is the point of what I’m saying.

  37. @wallythegreenmonster  Damn you for posting while I was typing my post and making me look like I was copying you with MIB! LOL I need to type faster….

    I think the success of the TMNT movie had more to do with the cartoon series than the comic, but it’s still a great example. Rocketeer is a good one too. It didn’t do huge numbers, but has developed a strong following over time. 

  38. I can definately see the connection between this news and the TMNT movie that came out two decades ago

  39. @JohnVFerrigno  –ha it happens. although i did hear that MIB the comic is nothing like the movies. More of somebody used the idea and ran with it. I’m sure there are a ton more .

  40. This feels like a bad idea…but if they can pull off a mythological Thor and make it cool maybe this can work too. It is refreshing to see a comic company taking some chances. Given the upcoming reboots of X-Men and Spider-Man, guarenteed successes, its nice to see something different on the horizon.

  41. … The real question is, which role will Chris Evans play in the movie?

  42. If they were going to do an Inhumans movie, that seems to be a smart way to play it.  It saves having to explain the Terrigen mists.  I’d say its a shot in the dark that this’ll make the screen, but if done right, it could be cool.

  43. With regard to movies made from comics, whether the public knew about the comics or not… Hollywood can make a movie out of anything. Heck, they’ve even made movies from board games (Clue, anyone?). But just because they can make a movie doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. I just don’t see the Inhumans translating well to film or standing on its own without tie-ins to other more prevalent Marvel characters. I don’t see an audience for this film.

  44. @kennyg: I think people are lookig at this wrong. By removing the terrigan mists and making them an alien sleeper cell you can effectivly remove most of the decades old comic booky feeling of the characters and market the film as a straight sc-fi action movie. Fans will still know what it is but the general public won’t be as apt to write it off as comic book fanboy wierdness. Presented like that I’m not sure why it would have any less of an audience than something like say…Battle: Los Angeles.

  45. @USPUNX  Or LXG!

  46. The Inhumans could work as a film since several of them have very visual powers, e.g., Medusa and Karnak.  I think audiences would find it easier to relate to the Inhumans if the comic concept of the Inhumans being humans who were experitmented upon by aliens was retained.  I have long thought that a good way to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise would be to have them fight the original Frightful Four which included an amnesiac Medusa.  Perhaps they should reboot the Fantastic Four and then spin the Inhumans out of that movie.

  47. @WonderManFan  That’s a tough one. Do the Inhumans have a wise ass womanizer on the roster? And is there ANY doubt Doug Jones will play Triton?