By Erin Free
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Beginning life as a series of action figures (ingeniously held together magnetically, allowing for user-inspired transmutations) from The Mego Corporation, The Micronauts found narrative form courtesy of Marvel Comics’ writer, Bill Mantlo, who was hit with an instant wave of inspiration when his son opened his Micronaut-laden presents on Christmas Day in 1977. Mantlo encouraged his bosses at Marvel to purchase the licence to the toy line, and he was then assigned to write a new series, with Michael Golden on illustrating duties. The result was an initial line of comics that ran from 1979 to 1984, along with various other incarnations in subsequent years. Per Mantlo’s original mythology, the comics are set in the Microverse, a microscopic series of diverse habitats linked together like a molecule chain. As the story begins, the Microverse is under the control of the murderous dictator, Baron Karza, who has slaughtered the ruling royal family and implemented a cruel reign of martial law. His immediate enemy is the heroic Commander Arcturus Rann, who has returned from a thousand-year deep space voyage in suspended animation. Upon discovering Karza’s violent trespasses, Rann assembles a team of allies, and an epic war across the Microverse is set in thrilling and occasionally terrifying motion.
WHY WOULD IT MAKE A GOOD MOVIE? Though its late-seventies origins mean that echoes of Star Wars abound, The Micronauts remains a fascinating and wonderfully entertaining property. Bill Mantlo’s Microverse is filled with eye-popping, inter-connected planets (including water worlds, tropical environments, and various alien races), and the story is framed in a classic good-versus-evil style, while also offering up plenty of twists and turns. The epic nature of the tale also provides ample opportunity for follow-up films, while The Micronauts often travelled to Earth in the comics, where they crossed paths with the likes of The X-Men and The Fantastic Four, opening up the chance for big screen tie-ins too.
WHO SHOULD DIRECT IT? J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) was attached to a Micronauts film back in 2009, but with the director now involved with the continuing Star Wars and Star Trek films, the likelihood of that ever happening is now close to zero. With Abrams out of the picture, an equally good choice to direct would be South African filmmaker, Neill Blomkamp, who has proven a strong purveyor of the sci-fi genre with District 9, Elysium, and Chappie. With a big budget to play with, his facility for rich characterisation, stunning visuals, and inventive action sequences would make him the right man to helm The Micronauts.
WHO SHOULD BE IN IT? Jake Gyllenhaal has the right mix of toughness, decency, and heroism to play the still nuanced Commander Arcturus Rann, while Charlize Theron could fill the regal shoes of Marionette, the remaining member of the murdered royal family, and brave ally and love interest to Rann. The ranks of The Micronauts offer more plum roles: Idris Elba could essay the noble warrior king, Acroyear, with Naomie Harris as his lover, Cilicia; Neill Blomkamp’s regular star, Sharlto Copley, could don a motion capture suit to play the wisecracking insectoid thief, Bug; while the robots, Biotron and Microtron, could be voiced by Hugo Weaving and Geoffrey Rush respectively. The thundering tones of the armoured, faceless Baron Karza, meanwhile, could come courtesy of Ralph Fiennes.
Agree. I feel the worse though.