Netflix has announced their acquisition of Millarworld, the creator-owned comic company founded by famed writer/producer Mark Millar. The comic book maven has been a hot name in recent years, both from his various adaptations made with Fox (i.e. Kingsman 1&2, Logan, Fantastic Four) and elsewhere (Captain America: Civil War, Kick-Ass 1&2, Wanted). It seems that Netflix wants in on the action big time.
Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos on the acquisition…
“As creator and re-inventor of some of the most memorable stories and characters in recent history, ranging from Marvel’s The Avengers to Millarworld’s Kick-Ass, Kingsman, Wanted and Reborn franchises, Mark is as close as you can get to a modern day Stan Lee. We can’t wait to harness the creative power of Millarworld to Netflix and start a new era in global storytelling.”
Numerous other Millar comics already have their film rights residing at other studios, which makes me wonder what Netflix will pull from this deal first? Unfortunately it won’t be comics such as The Chrononauts, Starlight, Nemesis, Kindergarten Heroes, or Superior, as their rights all currently lie with other companies. It’s certainly possible that Wanted has returned to Millar by now as a property and a more faithful TV series adaptation could certainly be mounted based upon that source material. It’s also quite likely that the rights to Kick-Ass will also return to Millar in a few years, opening up the door to a new incarnation of it as well.
That’s the beauty of this deal. Sure, Netflix ends up with a lot of Millar properties right out of the gate that they can in turn make into films, live action shows, and animated series. They might not have the bigger ones just yet, but by owning Millarworld itself, they are practically guaranteed to hold the film and TV rights to all of these projects eventually. This absolutely amounts to them playing the long game in regards to Millarworld. Plus in the interim, they can still do adaptations of properties such as Huck, Reborn, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, and more.
In the meantime, Mark Millar still has a strong foothold at Fox. He still serves as a consultant for their X-Men and Fantastic Four projects, as well as a producer of his own content. In addition to soon-to-arrive Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Millar also has the following projects in active development with the studio: Starlight, Kingsman 3, and Superior.
