At the tail end of last year there was yet another call to Marvel from Venture Bros. creators Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick to allow them to be apart of the Doctor Strange film. It sounded they were more disappointed than anything else. They weren't even contacted considering their cartoon series is a giant homage to the characters of Marvel comics. One hero being a direct wink to Strange himself with Dr. Orpheus. While it looks like their involvement is looking unlikely I have a few other Marvel Studios films they could be perfect for as writers.
IRON FIST: Similar to Doctor Strange, the origin of Iron Fist takes place in a world of mystical mysticism and the occult. There could also be noir elements of classic heroes like the Phantom or the Shadow mixed in as well. It would do the film justice if it took cues from the Immortal Iron Fist including both Daniel Rand and Orson Randall. My take is that it could be a kung-fu version of Highlander if done properly. Spanning a bunch of different time periods would also be a great way to separate the character from Strange.
Originally Ray Park (G.I. Joe 1-2, X-Men) was set for lead with John Turman (Fantastic Four 2, Hulk) handling the script and Kirk Wong (The Big Hit) was set to direct. Wong left the project and Steve Carr (Next Friday, Daddy Daycare) was brought in, luckily the film was again put on hold and he exited. Currently, Rich Wilkes is attached as the film's screenwriter but there is no word if the studio was happy with his script so far.
BLACK WIDOW: I assume after The Avengers hits theaters in May the studio is going to quickly gear up on the Black Widow spin-off. Marvel has Scarlett Johansson locked in the role and have previously mentioned a new film is in development back in 2010. At one point there was a Widow film setup at Lionsgate with David Hayter (Watchmen, X2) writing a script. He was expected to also direct but the film ultimately never happened. I would hope that while including some elements of the original script they'd be better off scrapping most of it.
Venture's Molotov Cocktease seems to have a slight edge to her that Widow has always been missing. It might be interesting to see the character in more of a hard boiled Bourne styled spy setting. The Venture guys have always written episodes with lots of classic Bond moments and as long as they go more grounded and less Austin Powers I think they could a great job here.
BLADE: Just last year Marvel regained the film rights to Blade from New Line Cinema and I assume all of the characters from Tomb of Dracula. The character rights includes Blade, Whistler, Hannibal King, Morbius The Living Vampire and Dracula's Daughter Lilith. Jefferson Twilight is obviously inspired by Blade and they seem like they could tackle the satirical nature of the world the Day Walker inhabits. In the first two films Stephen Norrington and Guillermo del Toro were able to balance the horror elements with some grounded actions scenes along with the satirical humor you would normally see in movies like Robocop and the original Total Recall. I know beyond a doubt with the reboot already in the works Hammer and Publick would be able to write the hell out of this. Not to mention that Blade has always been more geared to adults and they wouldn't be hindered by the amount of violence and raunchy humor they could include.
LEGION OF HORROR: The Legion of Horror has never been mentioned as a future film but with the rise of horror based action films and television shows it's likely that it will eventually come up at the studio. The lineup includes team leader Jack Russell (Werewolf By Night), Michael Morbius (The Living Vampire), Santana Hellstrom, N'Kantu (The Living Mummy), Dr. Ted Sallis (Man-Thing) and Manphibian. It could be interesting to see this group being an occult division of SHIELD becoming Marvel's answer to Hellboy's BPRD and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It would also leave the door open for Blade and Doctor Strange crossovers.
