A trend is beginning to occur in the world of comic book movies – slightly more obscure comic book properties are being given a chance by the major companies.
Both Marvel and DC are proving that they aren’t afraid to showcase less popular/well-known characters in big-budget productions – Marvel Studios have already released Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, while DC and Warner Brothers released Suicide Squad movie.
With that in mind, you have to wonder just how far they are prepared to go when it comes to making movies about lesser-known groups of characters. We think certain lesser-known groups than, say, the Avengers would make for great movies – so let’s discuss a few here, starting with Marvel.
Here are five quite obscure Marvel properties that deserve movies…
Lady Liberators
Would Marvel ever dare to make a movie based on a team of female superheroes? It’s taken them long enough to give one a solo movie, but Captain Marvel AKA Carol Danvers will indeed be hitting our screens in 2018.
The Lady Liberators are probably Marvel’s best-known all-female team – but they’re still not exactly very prominent. That’s not to say that the team isn’t full of well-known individuals, because they really are – the likes of She-Hulk, Invisible Woman and Storm have been key members in the comics, for example – but they aren’t exactly used a lot in the comics as a group.
A movie based on them would make a really refreshing and pleasant change and, given some of the existing characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it would certainly be possible.
Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Wasp are all former members in the comic books and all three of those characters now exist in the MCU. Give them a foe like the Red Hulk (who they have fought in the comics) and it would be one hell of a movie!
Starjammers
The Starjammers are a group mostly associated with the X-Men comics and they would make for an interesting movie, as the current X-Men franchise has yet to expand beyond Earth and they’re a space-based team.
The team were formed when Christopher Summers (father of Cyclops and Havok) was abducted by aliens along with his wife (they ensured that their children were parachuted to safety during the abduction). When Christopher tried to escape, he was sent to work as a slave and his wife (Katherine) was killed in front of him.
Whilst slaving away in the mines of a distant planet, he rebelled with a number of other slaves and, having named Christopher as their leader, they became the space pirates known as the Starjammers.
With diverse and interesting members such as the lizard-like Ch’od and the Shi’ar known as Korvus, they’d make for a cool movie and having them come to Earth and teaming them with the X-Men in a movie (which has happened many times in the comics) would be awesome.
The Craptacular B-Sides
These guys should be given a movie for their name alone! If you’re looking for a cool – but extremely obscure – concept to adapt to the big screen, look no further than the Craptacular B-Sides.
Their story is that they were initially four super-powered high school friends - Jughandle, Fateball, Mize and Feeva – but they fell out with Feeva after she deceived them. With just the trio remaining as buddies, they received a mysterious invitation to a bowling alley, where they were greeted by a man named Charley Huckle.
Huckle proposed that they become “the hottest new superhero team since the New Warriors“ and aimed to manage them – mostly with financial gain in mind – and they accepted. They mostly go up against Doctor Dark in the comics – Huckle’s first failed attempt at creating a superhero.
The B-Sides possess the ability to “step sideways in time” (Jughandle), the ability to make things decay (Mize) and great combat skills and fortune telling abilities (Fateball). A movie based on them would be a lot of fun.
Runaways
While the Runaways aren’t necessarily a well-known or particularly popular Marvel property, they are the highest-profile group on this list and have been rumoured to be getting their own movie for several years (as far back as 2010 the movie was expected to start filming in 2011), but it has never come to fruition – and that’s a real shame.
It’s a really great comic and a very cool concept, and it would be something totally refreshing if it was made into a movie – one that would surely go down well with viewers of all ages.
They are a group of children who find out that their parents are a super-powered group of criminals known as "the Pride". As a result, they run away (hence their name) and, having discovered they have inherited some powers, become a group of heroes in their own right.
Their ranks include characters as diverse as the witch Nico Minoru, the cyborg Victor Mancha and the super-strong Molly Hayes.
Damage Control
Now, this would be a great idea for a movie and, based on what is about to unfold in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it does actually make sense for it to happen in the future.
Damage Control are an organisation in Marvel comic books – essentially a construction company – who were put together to rebuild any damage caused in super-powered conflicts.
Initially, the organisation was half-owned by both Tony Stark and Wilson Fisk – Iron Man and the Kingpin – even though Stark felt uncomfortable co-operating with a notorious criminal. These are two characters who already exist in the MCU, which makes the idea of Damage Control becoming an on-screen thing even more plausible (as does the fact that characters like Ant-Man have worked for the company).
With Captain America: Civil War on the way – an event triggered by superhuman destruction – and the inevitable devastation that the Infinity War movies will leave on Earth, an organisation like Damage Control in the MCU may well be needed – and a movie based on their escapades would certainly be different.
What do you think? Would you like to see these lesser-known Marvel properties turned into movies? Which others would you like to see? Have your say below.
