Can a Cowboy and a Bunch of 'Losers' Make DC, Warner Bros. Into Winners?
Wed, June 24, 2009 
Jonah Hex
Many people will tell you that the big boom of Marvel Comics movies started with the success of Bryan Singer's first X-Men movie in 2000. To these people, I say thee, nay!
It all started two years prior with Blade, which was a little-known commodity at the time. Blade is half-human, half-vampire. Known as the Daywalker, he has all their powers and none of the weaknesses.
As a movie, Bladeappealed to more than just the hardcore comic geeks who, in fact, knew he was a comic book character. His appeal crossed to another genre, that of vampire lore.
Vampires are a proven entity, and something we as viewers continually ask for -- as evidenced by the decades upon decades of movies such as Nosferatu, Dracula and Interview With a Vampire, Buffy and Angel on TV, and dozens of others that are too numerous to list.
The fascination we have with Vampires, combined with the star power of Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson, helped build a "C-lister" into an overnight sensation who spawned a three-movie franchise (that raked in the cash) and a television series.
And, believe it or not, the similarities between Blade and Jonah Hex go beyond them being C-list comic characters who got the nod for a movie.
So, what do a Civil War-era Cowboy with a scarred face and a vampire-hunting, super-powered martial artist have in common? Well, both are not your typical always-do-the-right-thing heroes. They are definitely antiheroes; which, judging by comic sales and movie-going audiences, is what we want. Plus, like Blade before him, Hex appeals to a wider audience.
Only this time, it's not vampire mythology, but fans of the Western -- the audience who enjoys Clint Eastwood as The Man with No Name, the ones who turned out to see Appaloosa and 3:10 to Yuma.
And like Blade, Jonah Hex features "A-list" talent. Where Bladehad Snipes and Kristofferson, Hexbrings Josh Brolin in the lead role and the uber-talented John Malkovich as the antagonist. Add the sizzling hot Megan Fox to them and you've got yourself a pretty good start for a potentially-lucrative franchise of characters that people supposedly don't care about
THE LOSERS
On to The Losers, another "no-name" property from DC Comics that is being made into a movie by director Sylvain White (who, from what I've heard, will surprise people the same way Jon Favreau did with Iron Man).
Now, I know MANY of you will say the X-Men had WAY more name recognition than The Losers, but did they really? I mean sure, if you mentioned the X-Men prior to the live-action franchise, people could tell you it was a comic or a cartoon, but could those people actually name any of the X-Men for you?
Nowadays, I'm sure most everyone could name at least two to three X-Men.
And I'd say Wolverine alone is close to on par with Spider-Man in popularity, as evidenced by his nearly $400 million dollar gross between domestic and world wide box office.
But what what do The Losers have in common with the X-Men? In movie terms, minus the powers, they are fairly similar. Both are teams of diverse individuals with interesting and unique personalities, operating in secret so the government doesn't try to stop them from completing their missions. They do it for VERY different reasons, but both go up against a villain who, if they make one wrong move, they're in deep trouble and they know it.
The X-men had an edge as nothing like that had been seen on film before, but The Losers can be a whole team of Jason Bournes and Jack Bauers. C'mon, how cool does that sound?
The success of Blade and the X-Men is what finally brought the one we'd ALL been waiting to see on the big screen: Spider-Man. And when that succeeded, thenthey brought out the Hulk, Daredevil, Elektra, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, Iron Man and even a Sci-Fi movie original of Man-Thing!
Were they all great? No, but they did get made. And after starting a little lower on the name recognition scale, we are eagerly anticipating the upcoming Thor, Captain America, and Marvel's holy grail, The Avengers.
So for those asking why they are making movies of Jonah Hex and The Losers before The Flash or Wonder Woman or Aquaman, I say just be patient.
The Marvel boom didn't start with Spidey and Captain America and work its way down to middle and lower tier characters -- it started with a "C-lister" named Blade.
MY belief is that Jonah Hex and The Losers can provide the same kick start for the DC Movie Universe.
Reader Comments (3)
You make some very good points here.
Nice article. I hope Jonah Hex and The Losers will indeed open the doors for DC's A-Listers.
But DC already has had a great deal of success with it's non-superhero stuff. It's sad that Warners doesn't get more credit for greenlighting such endeavors from the fan community.