There are a lot more publishers of comic books than just the big dogs of Marvel and DC.
Let's not forget about Valiant Comics, originators of badass heroes with silly names like Manowar,
Ninjak, the Eternal Warrior, and Bloodshot.
While Marvel and DC have done a very good job of launching their properties from the
page to the big screen, Hollywood has been slow to grant a Valiant character their own
feature film.
That's all about to change, because a Bloodshot movie is on the way.
Created by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton in 1992, Bloodshot a seemingly
un-killable and invincible scientifically restructured super-trooper has sold more than
seven million comics since his debut.
There's clearly an audience for a Bloodshot movie, and Sony has finally decided to make
it happen.
Here's everything you need to know about the film, which is sure to be action-packed, over
the top, and drenched in buckets of blood.
C'mon… it's in the name!
Years ago, the only time filmgoers got a chance to see big, expensive, dazzling, and action-packed
movies at the cineplex was the summer.
The hottest months of the year were reserved for summer blockbusters, huge and extravagant
feasts for the senses starring Hollywood's most popular actors.
Appetites for these movies proved so high that studios started releasing them well before
summer, and now in the dead of winter.
Two of the most recent and biggest-ever comic book-based films hit movie theaters in mid-February:
Deadpool and Black Panther.
Huh… it's almost like Marvel has cornered the comic book movie market, and its competitors
should just give up or something…
"Are you done?
Are… are you, are you, are you done?"
Kidding, kidding… sort of.
Anyway, movie fans need some alternatives to the other stuff that dominates movie theaters
in the early months of the year, and 2020 will continue this trend.
Bloodshot was initially scheduled to be released over the weekend of February 21, 2020.
Sony confirmed the date with the film's first trailer, which hit the internet in October
2019.
In December, however, the studio announced that Bloodshot had been pushed back just a
few weeks, to March 13th.
Obviously, one-man action squad Vin Diesel is the biggest name attached to the upcoming
film adaptation of the Bloodshot comics, heading up the cast as Ray Garrison, deceased Marine
turned reborn overpowered soldier supreme.
How?
Nano-machines, son!
That's how!
"Nano-machines, son!"
Guy Pearce, best known for his role in memory-oriented thriller Memento is playing Dr. Emil Harting,
a "think-outside-the-box" mad scientist leading the experiments on Garrison.
Sam Heughan, the breakout star of Starz time-travel/period piece Outlander, is said to be playing Jimmy
Dalton, a Navy SEAL and super-soldier in his own right.
Eiza Gonzalez perhaps best known for playing Darling in Baby Driver stars as the mysterious
Ms. KT, a member of the inner circle of a strange underground organization.
She's joined by longtime New Girl star Lamorne Morris, who fills the comic relief role of
Wilfred Wigans.
"That is absolutely fantastic."
Judging by the first trailer, there looks to be a lot going on in the film version of
Bloodshot.
Vin Diesel is introduced as a humble Marine named Ray, and all seems to be going well
as he reunites with his beloved wife Gina in a lovely seaside town... only to wake up
in a cold and dark research facility connected to a bunch of machines, Matrix-style.
Ray learns from resident scientist Dr. Emil Harting that he actually died as did Gina
but he's now under the watchful eye of RST, a corporation that "rebuilds" U.S. military
assets.
A shadowy corporation with access to cutting-edge science trying to create super soldiers, huh?
We're sure they won't have any, you know, ulterior motives or anything.
"They've been manipulating you."
Oh, uh… yeah… scratch that.
Turns out that Ray is the first successful result of an ongoing program to remake and
enhance soldiers into living weapons.
Harting and his associates have injected into Ray's blood some out-there technology that
makes him virtually indestructible extra-strong and able to heal from basically any injury
within seconds.
With these powers in mind, Ray sets out to take care of "unfinished business" and get
vengeance on the men who killed his wife.
To make a long story short: Bloodshot is a lot like Deadpool …
"You know, it has always been a dream of mine to see my face reflected in your helmet as
you charge at me with murderous intent."
… only super, suuuper serious and without any breaking through the fourth wall.
There's also an added psychological complication, as RST just might be manipulating Ray into
pursuing its interests, not his own in other words, his memories may not be what he thinks
they are.
Behind the scenes, Bloodshot boasts a creative team with a wealth of entertainment experience.
Studios generally don't hand the reins of a big-budget extravaganza to brand-new directors,
but that's exactly what's happening with Dave Wilson.
It's his first feature-length project, building upon an episode of the sci-fi anthology Love,
Death & Robots and a long career directing trailers for major video game releases, including
The Elder Scrolls Online, Mass Effect 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic Knights of the
Fallen Empire.
Bloodshot's credits list two screenwriters: Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer.
Wadlow wrote a couple of episodes of Bates Motel before penning the scripts for comics
adaptation Kick-Ass 2, the spy farce True Memoirs of an International Assassin, and
the scary Truth or Dare.
Heisserer got his start in horror, writing the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake before
working on the scripts for innovative sci-fi hits like Arrival and Bird Box.
In today's movie world, it's all about comic books, superheroes, and cinematic universes.
Disney has its Marvel Cinematic Universe and Warner Bros. has DC.
Now Sony may be in the early stages of getting a Valiant-based world of interconnected characters
off the ground, using Bloodshot as its Iron Man-esque first chapter.
According to a Hollywood Reporter news item from 2015, Sony had plans to make five Valiant
adaptations: two Bloodshot movies, plus two based on Harbinger, a comic about a superhero
collective on the lam from a shady organization.
After that, the properties would receive their own Justice League or Avengers-style capper
with a crossover called Harbinger Wars.
Additionally, in 2018, Sony hired American Gods adaptation writer Maria Melnik for a
screenplay about the slightly meta Valiant character Faith Herbert, a.k.a. Zephyr, a
comics aficionado who becomes a hero herself when her telekinetic powers surface.
It's hard to say if this plan is still in the cards, and a lot rests on Bloodshot being
a success.
Harbinger moved from Sony to Paramount in September 2019, which could delay the development
of this particular cinematic universe.
Only time and Bloodshot's box office results will tell.
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