Marvel’s Not Enough - Disney Also Acquires Stake In Stan Lee’s POW
Batman and Super Mario aren’t the only icons to have their own POW!
Apparently an acronym for Purveyors of Wonder,Stan Lee’sPOW! Entertainmentare an output for “new characters and franchises” created by The Man in recent years. At the same time as locking up their acquisition ofMarvelthis past Thursday, theDisneyboard also agreed to take on 10% of POW! shares. Seems that they just can’t get enough of that four-colour stuff.
So what do POW! have to offer? Officially, they have “20 new franchise characters in active stages of development and another 40 to be introduced”. So far, we only have significant details of a small handful.
The Hollywood Reporterreveal only “lighthearted mystery taleNick Ratchett, action-adventure projectBlazeand one calledTigress.” Go digging at thePOW! siteand there’s some more info.
Indeed, when it comes toTigress,Nick RatchettandBlazethe site explicitly mentions Disney, probably as a result of the First Look deal that already existed between the two companies:
Blaze-Disney – writer Gary Goldman
Nick Ratchett-Disney- writers Douglas Cook & David WeisbergTigress- Disney – writer Zoe Green.
I’m wasn’t sure if this is theBig Trouble in Little ChinaGary Goldman or theTitan AEGary Goldman, but an oldVarietystory indicates that it is the former.
Nick Ratchettis a kind of cybertisedJekyll and Hydestory in which a police officer becomes possessed by a shoot-first, ask-questions-later cop character from a videogame. According to thatVarietystory,Richard La Gravenesewas attached to direct back in early ‘08.
Aside from these live action films, the POW! site mentions some other projects of possible interest, including an animated feature film calledLeprechauns, a live action/animation combo picture calledLegends, and some live action TV series calledHero,SeekersandVampirates. What’s the betting thatHero, if it ever sees the light of day, undergoes a name change?
PeterreportedonHeroback in November ‘08:
I understand that Stan Lee has created some of the biggest superheroes of all time, but it seems to me that he has run out of good ideas. In recent years Lee’s contributions have included a risque animated superhero tv seriesStripperella, POW Entertainment direct-to-dvd animated moviesMosaicandThe Condor, an upcoming Playboy playmate superhero tv show, and theWho Wants to be a Superheroreality show (which is actually a guilty pleasure). Point is, when I here that Stan Lee is involved in a new project, I’m not expecting the nextSpider-Man.
Showtime is teaming with Lee to develop an hour long television project based on Perry Moore’s bookHero, about the life of a gay superhero. I’m not against the idea of a gay superhero, Robert Smigel’sThe Ambiguously Gay Duois one of the funniest shorts to be shown duringSaturday Night Live. But I’m guessing that the tv series will just aim for sensationalistic instead of good.
I’ll opt for a less pessimistic take, for balance if nothing else. Bring it on, POW! Let’s see what you’re made of. Good shows about gay lead characters are rare enough, even before they start dressing in tights and capes.
We could speculate as to why Disney took that 10% stake in POW! and the possible reasons are many and varied. Chances are, however, they just sniffed a profit on the horizon. Your guess is as good as mine as to which, if any, of these projects will eventually pay dividends.
