After The Avengers achieved box office success, Marvel Studios signed director Joss Whedon to an exclusive contract where he will serve as a creative consultant for any Marvel Studio-owned property (including the new S.H.I.E.L.D. television show) and to direct The Avengers 2.
Now Fox is getting in the game of signing creative minds for their Marvel properties. In a press release, the studio announced that they’ve signed Mark Milliar (creator of Kick-Ass and Wanted) as a creative consultant on the Marvel properties they own.
Fox owns the rights to properties like X-Men and Fantastic Four. Millar has spent the better part of his career writing for Marvel Comics, and was the creative mind behind major Marvel Comics storylines like The Ultimates, Civil War, and Wolverine: Old Man Logan. Eventually he moved 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.
This bit of news comes after Tom Rothman stepped down as chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox and became a producer of Steven Spielberg’s Robopocalyspe. The Wolverine has already begun filming, but X-Men: Days of Future Past is expected to begin shooting early next year, and the Fantastic Four reboot is currently under development, so we’ll see how much of an influence Millar has on these titles.
Here’s what Millar had to say about the new deal:
“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.”
[Source: Collider]
