Loads of Super-Hero News

SILVER SURFER SPIN-OFF
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that writer J. Michael Straczynski is currently working on a script for a Silver Surfer spinoff. 20th Century Fox is apparently interested in a "darker direction to attract the slightly older demographic of its X-MEN films." Recently Straczynski wrote fifteen issues of FANTASTIC FOUR for Marvel Comics. He also wrote SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM, and three more are being worked on.

MARVEL PRODUCTIONS - CAPTAIN AMERICA, SUB-MARINER AND MORE
Kevin Feige, president of production for Marvel Studios and producer of the upcoming Iron Man movie, revealed that the company's next independently financed project will be a version of CAPTAIN AMERICA, which would mix a period story with a modern-day one. "We'll have to play with Captain America as being a patriotic propoganda machine on one hand but also being a very human Steve Rogers, ... [an] interesting, fascinating hero in his own right," Feige told reporters on the set of IRON MAN, which is in production in Playa Vista, Calif. Is the script they're developing a period piece? "Right now what we're developing would be about half and half," Feige said. Feige said that CAPTAIN AMERICA will aim for a PG-13 rating, like IRON MAN. The comic studio has brought on writer David Self (Road to Perdition) to draft a screenplay. A director will be announced soon, Feige said. Production is expected to begin in a year. Marvel, meanwhile, is gearing up production on THE INCREDIBLE HULK, which stars Edward Norton and is expected to commence principal photography on or around July 9, about the same time that IRON MAN, starring Robert Downey Jr., wraps. Marvel is also moving ahead on other productions, Feige said. Among them: SUB-MARINER, on which Jonathan Mostow is doing a rewrite of Self's script; PUNISHER 2, for which the studio would like to announce a director and actor soon; THOR, for which Mark Protosevich (The Cell) is drafting a script; and WOLVERINE, which will again star Hugh Jackman and will be released before the other X-Men spinoff, MAGNETO, which David S. Goyer will direct.

AVENGERS
Marvel Studios has begun the process of bringing the elite superhero team the AVENGERS to the big screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Zak Penn, who wrote the screenplay for Marvel's upcoming THE INCREDIBLE HULK, is slated to pen the live- action adaptation that would be titled THE AVENGERS. While Penn has not begun his screenplay, those who have read the Mulroneys' draft give it a thumbs-up, and a search for directors is about to begin. One challenge facing the writers is which heroes to include in their scripts. While the roster for the AVENGERS has changed since its inception in 1963, growing to include the likes of Spider-Man and X-Men hero Wolverine, the classic iteration of the team consisted of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the diminutive Ant-Man and Wasp. Other members have been the Hulk, the bow-and-arrow-wielding Hawkeye and the probability-altering gypsy Scarlet Witch. Many of these heroes are getting their own starring portrayals in other movies, with Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk scheduled for a summer start. Ant-Man is being developed by Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz). Marvel wants to wait until all those films have entered the market before unleashing THE AVENGERS.

JUSTICE LEAGUE
Warner Brothers Pictures is developing its superhero superteam movie, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, with Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney having submitted a draft adapting the DC Comics series.