“The Dark Knight” aside, Marvel have something of a monopoly on superhero movies at the moment, but rivals DC Comics have plans to change that, with “Jonah Hex” out in a couple of months (for better or worse…), filming on “Green Lantern” now underway, and new Batman and Superman movies in the pipeline under the watchful eye of Christopher Nolan. And it looks like another costumed hero is set to join the ranks.
Pajiba are reporting that “Starman” (not to be confused with the Jeff Bridges/John Carpenter movie) is in development at Warner Brothers, with Dan Lin (“Sherlock Holmes”) and Gregory Noveck (“Jonah Hex”) set to produce. Like most comic book characters, Starman has a tortuously complex backstory, starting off in the 1940s as an astronomer with a red costume and a ‘gravity rod’ that enables him to fly, while later also being a bisexual blue-skinned alien, a spoiled extraterrestrial prince and a schizophrenic, displaced hero from the 30th century, among other incarnations.
It’s pure speculation, but we imagine that the film will be based on writer James Robinson’s acclaimed run in the 1990s, which saw the mantle being taken up by the son of the original hero, which seems a little more grounded than the other takes, with the central character eschewing a costume in favor of goggles and a t-shirt. We’re not overly familiar with the character, but Robinson’s version seems ripe for adaptation, with a complex father/son relationship at its centre, and an uneasy, ambivalent alliance with a retired supervillain, The Shade, driving many of the plots. No talent is yet attached, but hopefully Lin and Noveck will pick someone closer to Christopher Nolan than to Jimmy Hayward…