Comic Book Characters in Need of Big Screen Love
Today I take a look at lesser-known characters who haven't been cast onto celluloid yet, but deserve their own films all the same. I will also give my take on how to make the most out of these potential heroes' big screen debuts.
By Dane Ingham - 11/9/2011
You may notice a lack of DC characters. This is mainly because the DC characters that lend themselves easily to film adaptations are few and far between. Marvel characters need very little tweaking. Try not to fill the comments section with hatred toward me for that fact.
Doctor Strange:
As I am no fan of magic as a central plot device due to its inherent undefined laws and the potential for cheesy story manipulation through its use, I must say that Thor did an excellent job of creating a world of "magic" and explaining that our perception of the term is quite flawed, thereby making a tangible, yet no less mystical legitimacy in which I could suspend my disbelief. Marvel would be wise to take note of this when writing their planned Doctor Strange movie. Just like Thor, Doctor Strange, for me has never been one of my favorite characters, due to his otherworldy power and history of inconsistent definition of said power. His wikipedia article lists the following as abilities: Strange is capable of stopping and reversing time, sealing black holes, restoring universes, absorbing power enough to unconsciously destroy any surrounding galaxies...(!) Holy shit, this guy can do anything! Well, that just won't work in a movie. There need to be defined limitations and a very human aspect to him. Even Thor's movie version wasn't quite as powerful as he'd been displayed in comics, but that didn't make him any less badass. Give me cleverly-written pseudo-scientific explanation to Doc's powers and the extradimensional "demons" he contends with, not just magic spells and monsters from hell. It worked with Thor, and I'm now a much bigger fan of him.
Ant-man:
Allegedly, super-director Edgar Wright has been working on a script to this. I have no doubt that whatever he sets his mind to will be great. But this undoubtedly means we're getting the more humorous, sexist, cowardly version of Ant-man, not the original Avenger who is mostly known for creating one of Marvel's baddest bads(Ultron), beating his wife, and then creepily using his dead wife's name(Wasp). So I'm torn as to which would be better. Hank Pym would be a great setup for future Avengers conflict, but Eric O'Grady sneaking into sexy SHIELD agents' showers and basically lampooning the agency in general would be a welcome aspect to the Marvel movie world.
Guardians of the Galaxy:
This one's supposed to be in beginning script phases, and Marvel hints that it will be a big part of the next phase of their movie plans after the Avengers. This is effing exciting. Marvel's space-based stories have become very-well-defined and rich with terrific characters and epic stories in the last few years. Give me the recent incarnation of the team, or course, led by the reluctant and often in-over-his-normal-human-head Peter Quill. Throw in Groot and Rocket Raccoon, and you're not only going to get awesome fighting abilities and weapons, but one of the most delightfully fun dynamics in comics. A time-travelling Major Victory, with Captain America's shield from the future, would not only set up the main story, but connect it all to the Earth-based heroes as well. Maybe we'll get lucky and the hints and rumors of Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers may not only be true, but could set us up for Drax, and the ultimate cosmic showdown in GOTG, as well as a perfect setup for this guy.....
NOVA.
Anyone who knows me knows that this article was really an excuse to write about this guy. Nova, after being a lame character on the lame New Warriors, and essentially a lame ripoff of Green Lantern, has become since 2007 my hands-down favorite fringe Marvel character. If you haven't read Annihilation, do it. When his Nova Corps is decimated by the annihilation wave, led by Negative Zone dick Annihilus, earthling Richard Ryder is left the sole surviving member. Forced to carry not only all the power of the Corps that was always evenly distributed, but have the voice of the Worldmind in his head, Nova was forced to dig down deep to become the champion of the universe. The Worldmind aspect alone is perfect for humorous and expository dialogue that would carry a space-based film in the way Green Lantern only dreamed of. But by god, this moment had better be in the movie:
Yeah, that's right. There's no more fitting punishment for a guy that has murdered billions than just reaching in and pulling out his innards. And not much in recent comic book history has been more satisfying. And as this cosplayer recently showed, his newest costume lends itself quite nicely to real-world execution: 
Thoughts? Who else deserves movie love? Why?
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