Even before “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” hit movie screens, 20th Century Fox reportedly started work on a spinoff movie with the Silver Surfer as its focus.
This spinoff is but one of at least a dozen movies in development featuring Marvel Comics characters, as Hollywood turns up the heat on its already-torrid love affair with superheroes. Marvel next year will self-produce two movies a year, beginning in 2008 with “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk.”
These Marvel character movies in the pipeline seem to have a good chance of reaching screens:
Spider-Man 4
The bloated “Spider-Man 3” made so much money that Marvel and Sony can’t quit. They won’t think too hard about the sequel until they stop rolling in the loot the last one brought in.
Magneto
This Fox spinoff will be an origin story, with young actors portraying 1940s-era Magneto and Professor Xavier. Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart, who played the characters, might be on hand to play the present-day characters. A young Magneto comes to grips with his powers in Auschwitz, where he is imprisoned with his parents.
Namor, The Sub-Mariner
Jonathan Mostow (“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”) is developing this movie about a half-human, half amphibian who’s torn between humans and his underwater race.
Captain America
A writer has been hired, and production is expected to begin in a year. The film would tell the story of Steve Rogers, a supersoldier developed in 1942 by scientists who disappears toward the end of World War II. He awakens in present-day America, his powers intact — though the world is a different place.
The Silver Surfer
The Surfer is the most soulful and tragically complex character in Marvel’s stable — a lone wanderer bound in servitude to the destructive Galactus, a fearsome, godlike being who devours worlds in order to survive. Who knows whether the movie will get made, but the character deserves more than a guest shot in a vapid “Fantastic Four” movie.
Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and playboy who creates a metal life-support suit after an accident, then uses it to fight crime. If successful, the movie will spawn a trilogy. Jon Favreau, the director, says the actors signed on for three movies. Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges co-star. The movie is slated for release on May 2, 2008.
The Incredible Hulk
Edward Norton stars as Bruce Banner, a scientist with a bad habit of turning into a green, superstrong monster when he’s stressed. Liv Tyler, William Hurt and Tim Roth co-star. The film is scheduled for release next summer.
Ant Man
Edgar Wright, the writer-director of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” is writing the script, reportedly about a small-time crook who happens upon a uniform once owned by the crime-fighter Ant Man — which turns him into an unlikely reborn hero.
The Punisher 2
Lion’s Gate reportedly will announce a director soon for this sequel about the continuing crusade of an ex-FBI agent that punishes violent criminals. It’s expected to be released next year.
Wolverine
Hugh Jackman’s surly, steel-clawed mutant gets his own movie. No director, writer or co-stars have been announced. Fox may release it next year.
