Mark Millar Talks About Working With Fox On Their Marvel Properties

It was announced just yesterday that Fox would be bringing Mark Millar (The Ultimates, Kick-Ass) on as their creative council for their Marvel films. Basically, Fox has made Millar their Joss Whedon. Below, Millar also thanks directors Matthew Vaughn and Joe Carnahan who were instrumental in Millar getting the gig. While we know that we can expect great things from the combination of  Vaugh and Millar, it’s going to be interesting to see what could possibly come from him and Carnahan. Maybe we will see Nemesis released by Fox? Anyway, Millar has decided to talk about what he will be doing with Fox which you can read below.

Dear Boys and Girls,

I’m just out of bed and hardly slept a wink. Weirdly, the baby slept right through and we could have had a clear eight hours, but I was still buzzing about the big announcement last night. It’s pretty much the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me so as you can imagine adrenaline is coursing. For those who missed, I’ve just signed a contract with Fox to work on ALL their Marvel movies, details of which can be seen here:

PRESS RELEASE: Mark Millar To Consult On FOX’s MARVEL ADAPTATIONS

It’s way too early to talk about plans just yet, but as you can imagine the idea here is to make exactly the kind of superhero movies you and I want to see most. There literally isn’t a more talented bunch of film-makers to be working with and the team at Fox are incredibly excited about this bold new direction too. I also want to post this here to say thanks for the hundreds of emails I woke up to this morning and the thousand-plus tweets I got overnight from well-wishers. I wish I had time to reply to them all today – I usually reply to most of my tweets @mrmarkmillar – but this morning was an AVALANCHE and so I just wanted to so a big thanks, that I’ve read every one and that they’re hugely appreciated. A highlight, I think, was well-wishes from Stan The Man himself. That’s like the Pope sending a message. Couldn’t have been more exciting.

But my biggest thanks has to go to director Joe Carnahan, I think. It was Joe who suggested me to the bigwigs at Fox for this role as he’s always been a supporter of what I did in comics like The Ultimates and so on. He and Matthew Vaughn – both of whom have a very strong relationship with Fox – really pushed for me to get this gig and I just want to publicly thank them both for their support.

Right, better get my Scottish ass showered, dressed and onto work. Kick-Ass 2 resumes shooting here on Monday and I’m on set the week after next, but a TON of stuff to get written before I can get down to Pinewood. Finished issue 2 of Jupiter’s Children yesterday for Mister Frank Quitely and issue one of Kick-Ass 3 is now in the can too. Oh, and thanks to everyone who picked up Hit-Girl #3 this week. We sold out by yesterday afternoon and will be going back to press on this and with the FOURTH printing of issue one. Thanks again for spending your hard-earned cash on these Millarworld books and keeping it away from the Romney campaign!

Right. Work. Catch you all later and I promise you are in for an awesome few years. If you’re on this board you know how much I’m INTO this stuff.

Lotsa love,
MM

Not only is this a great decision it is a smart decision. It’s clear that these movie studios are learning from Marvel Studios success that the best choice for people to work on films are not studio people, but rather the people who actually write comics and read them. It may have taken a number of years for them to learn this but I am glad they have. While there are many fans who want Marvel Studios to get back their Fantastic Four and X-Men properties I think that it’s better that they don’t have them. Yes, I know I just probably pissed someone off with that one.

As long as they’re making money Fox isn’t going to be letting go of these properties any time soon. And it’s better that way. We don’t need a Marvel Studios reboot of these films while they have tons of other properties that we could explore. But now with Millar on board, who has written X-Men and Fantastic Four titles before, you can definitely expect it to stick closer to the source as well as bring in some awesome things that you may not expect at all. I definitely can’t wait to see what he brings to the table.