Jason David Frank On Becoming Bloodshot For Ninjak Vs. The Valiant Universe

The world is about to become more familiar with the characters from the Valiant Universe. Valiant [...]

The world is about to become more familiar with the characters from the Valiant Universe. Valiant Digital revealed the first trailer for Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe at New York Comic Con on Saturday, and it features an impressive lineup of Valiant's best characters.

Jason David Frank, who played the Green Ranger in Power Rangers, is set to play Bloodshot, Valiant's deadly super soldier. ComicBook.com spoke to Frank about the role during a visit to the set of Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe. Frank seemed excited about the role but admitted he knew little about the character going in.

"When [director Aaron Schoenke] called me about Bloodshot and talked about Valiant, I didn't know too much about Valiant, so I wanted to make sure," Frank explains, saying he did some research on Bloodshot and the Valiant Universe. "I found that it was perfect because when I did Power Rangers, Tommy, to me, was an outcast as a kid. Tommy was a very popular character, although he wasn't in a lot of episodes. I just felt the same thing with Bloodshot. He was a very cool, popular character that might not be in a lot of episodes, but he's cool. He heals. He's got so many different powers."

Part of Frank's excitement from the role comes from Bloodshot giving him an opportunity to do something out of the box from what his fans are used to.

"I'm just really happy to be part of Bloodshot because it doesn't look like me. The eyes are even done up in post," Frank says, but it isn't just about the visuals for him. "Fans are going to be like, 'I thought you're not all for violence. We asked you how you felt about the Power Rangers' violent movie and you gave us an answer about well, we don't do the blood and this and that.' Yeah, that's the Power Rangers movie. We're talking about Bloodshot. Bloodshot was established in the nineties and that's what he is. That's what he's known for. Would we make a PG-13 Bloodshot? That's not going to work, you know what I mean? That's what you're hired for as an actor. That's what I was attracted to.

"It ain't about money," Frank continued. "I was talking to Michael [Rowe]. Michael said he loves it because you got this company that's building such a good strong base, Bat in the Sun, and you've got Valiant, who's really just going to make a statement. People are going to see this and I won't even say underestimate it because they won't have time to pick it apart. They're just going to be so like, 'Oh, wow. Crazy. When are you guys doing movies? What's the next step going on?'

Bloodshot

Bloodshot has been on of Valiant's most popular characters since he first debuted in 1992. Frank believes his popularity is a mixture of stellar character design, his unstable psyche, and his super power.

"He just looked cool," Frank says. "I like Bloodshot because his mind is not all there. I can relate to that. Like sometimes, I know it sounds crazy, but like there's so much stuff going through his head that you don't know if he's in this world right now or if he's in another world or who's talking to him. Just through the nanos and the powers, you can't kill the guy. There's something that's attractive, like with Wolverine, about somebody you just can't kill. You can maim him, take his arms but you just can't kill him."

Now that Frank has a greater understanding and appreciation of Bloodshot, he hopes to do the character justice and make Bloodshot fans proud.

"I'm hoping that the hardcore Valiant people are really excited about it because I'm trying to do the best I can with Bloodshot," Frank says.

At New York Comic Con, Valiant Entertainment announced Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe, the first project from Valiant Digital, with a trailer featuring fans first look at the Valiant Universe in live-action. Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe is currently in production and will release online in 2017.

0comments