When Sam Johnson put together The Almighties, it's clear he had some ideas toward deconstructing The Avengers, but in order to make it stand well on its own, he bothered with far more characterisation. Maxi-Tron is the team's Iron Man, Nite Fang a British werewolf takes the Hulk's role, the rather unstable Ms. F takes the place of Ms. Marvel, Mason takes that of Hawkeye, perverting it more toward that of The Punisher, and the mysterious Stefanos - much like Wolverine - has more going on for him than his position on any one team (he helps run the family kebab shop). The humor keeps up all the way through the comic without hindering the action at all, and because the characters are well-realised it manages not to fall into the common trap of the parody, where a story might tend to meander until the writers find their way to the next joke. I honestly look forward to seeing what these guys can do once somebody gives them their two hundred million dollars to do Almighties Amass! With that much, Bradley Cooper as Maxi-Tron, Kit Harrington as the barely-human side of Nite-Fang, Elizabeth Banks for Ms. F, Diamond Dallas Page as Mason, and Michael Chiklis for Stephanos are all easily within budget. These are really just the tip of the iceberg; there are literally hundreds of movies waiting to be made from independent comic properties, and each and every one of them would prove a better watch than this last year's Hangover 3, Kick Ass 2, or any other remake or reboot or reimagining that Hollywood put together. Please Hollywood, go back to the comic shop and get some new ideas.
Michael Marcus is a game designer, author, and mad scientist living in Hamtramck, Michigan; his current project list include a series of comic short-stories collectively called "One-Punch," a book on hypnosis and language called "The Prometheus Codex," a collaborative game project called "Art War," and a fun spy story called "The Adventures of Jack Uzi" at http://tinyurl.com/JackUziChannel (for those interested).
