Marvel Announces 2 More Superhero Movies

This is certainly unexpected.

After teasing fans for the last month, Marvel has finally revealed what it’s next slate of projects will be. And it’s not “Black Panther” like many sites have been speculating. In fact, Electroshadow reader yazs was among the first to get it right. According to breaking news in The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel is doing a “Guardians Of The Galaxy” movie (Rejoicing yet, bro?). No, I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of them in your entire life. They’re pretty much a 2nd-tier bunch of characters as far as the Marvel universe goes.

There are two versions of the team, a classic one from the 70s, and a more recent 2008 line-up. Members of the classic team include Major Vance Astro, a 20th Century American astronaut who traveled to the future; Charlie-27, a space pilot from Jupiter; Martinex, a scientist from Pluto whose body becomes covered in a crystal-like substance; and Yondu, a blue and red-colored hunter from the Earth-like planet Centauri IV. Other members include minor Marvel characters like Firelord, Starhawk and Talon. The more recent version of the team included Adam Warlock, Drax the Destroyer and Star-Lord as well as a version of Vance Astro called Major Victory.

Looks like Marvel is going way cosmic this time, since the Guardians are primarily an outer space concern. To its credit, the studio did set this direction up with the introduction of Thanos in the post-credits scene in “The Avengers”. Apparently, there is already a script by Nicole Perlman (script doctor work on “Thor”), which is rumoured to be quite good. The film is slated to hit SUmmer 2014. No other announcements have been made. Expect more news at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con in July. Personally, I think this is a cheesy property, and would’ve preferred seeing more mainstream characters getting a shot first. For example, Luke Cage & Iron Fist.

But this is nothing compared to the sheer bizarreness of their other decision. Marvel has looked WAAY back into their C list catalogue, and pulled out one so obscure, it hasn’t been around for over 30 years! I’m talking about “The Human Fly”. Nope, I’d never heard of him either until now. Deadline today reported that this is indeed a real big screen outing.

Here’s a description, for all our benefits: “The Human Fly was a stuntman who after suffering a horrific accident went through several reconstructive surgeries where much of his skeleton was replaced with steel. He then used his abilities to perform special stunts and tricks for charities but often ran into criminal activites due to his daredevil antics.”

What’s even stranger about this project is that it had its beginnings in a real stuntman from the 1970s. He was the brainchild of Joe Ramacieri, an American sausage maker (seriously), who hired a guy to dress up in a cheesy outfit and perform outrageous stunts for publicity. I doubt Marvel’s film will be a biopic, but it’s probably the first superhero flick of theirs to be based on a real person.

“The Human Fly” will be directed by Steven Goldman film from a screenplay by Tony Babinski. No release date or casting has been determined just yet.