5 Millarworld Properties Ready For Netflix

Streaming giant Netflix today announced that it had purchased Mark Millar’s creator-owned comics imprint Millarworld in its first ever acquisition. So, the question is, what exactly will Netflix do with Millarworld?

According to the press release, Netflix and Millar plan to “bring Millarworld‘s portfolio of critically and fan-acclaimed character franchises to life through films, series and kids’ shows available exclusively to Netflix members globally. Millarworld will also continue to create and publish new stories and character franchises under the Netflix label.”

Millar, who runs Millarworld with his wife, Lucy Millar, has an accomplished comic book career. He’s written for both of the “big two” publishers, penning The Ultimates, Civil War, and Old Man Logan at Marvel and popular Superman miniseries Superman: Red Son and post-modern superhero saga The Authority at DC Comics.

Millar exclusively writes for his own original creations these days, teaming with some of the biggest artists in comics to create new, adaptation-ready intellectual properties. Three Millarworld creations have already been adapted into movies: Wanted, Kick-Ass, and Kingsman: The Secret Service. Together, the films have grossed over $1 billion globally.

But that’s just the tip of the Millarworld iceberg. Millar’s Millarworld titles span multiple genres, from bombastic, “widescreen” superhero stories, to space opera, to fantasy sagas, and then some.

With so many properties to choose from, where should Netflix start? Millarworld’s best-known properties are Kingsman (based on the comic book The Secret Service) and Kick-Ass. With Kingsman: The Golden Circle releasing later this year it would seem that property’s rights still rest with Fox. Fox also had the rights to the Kick-Ass series, though the status of that property currently is unclear.

Assuming that those two Millarworld series are off the table for Netflix, we’ve taken a look at the rest of the Millarworld library to determine which titles in the catalog seem most ready for the Netflix treatment and narrowed it down to these five.

Nemesis

Artist: Steve McNiven

The original tagline for Nemesis, “What if Batman was the Joker,” turned quite a few heads (including DC Comics’) but it does a pretty solid job of describing what the series is all about.

Nemesis imagines what would happen if someone with all of the intelligence, skills, and resources of Batman had the morality, or total lack thereof, of the Joker.

While that sounds like a fun “what if?” scenario on the surface, the series goes deeper by revealing a backstory for Nemesis that rivals the childhood trauma of Batman himself.

This blend of superhero action and psychological drama could be right at home on Netflix.

Jupiter’s Legacy/Jupiter’s Circle

Artist: Frank Quitely

Millar and Quitely’s Jupiter’s Legacy examines the world that is entering its first post-superhero generation and is meant to explore Millar’s take on the American ideal through the overlap between superhero fiction and celebrity culture.

The series primarily follows the children of superheroes Lady Liberty and the Utopian. While one of those children, Brainwave, fights alongside his parents and their allies, the other two, Chloe and Brandon, show very little appreciation for their parents’ missions and take their celebrity for granted.

The companion series, Jupiter’s Circle, is a prequel that focuses on The Utopian and Lady Liberty during their prime. Combining the two narratives into a single series would give Netflix a series that plays out like a modern take on Watchmen.

Superior

Artist: Leinil Yu

Superior takes the innocent charm of Golden Age hero Shazam! and gives it a dark twist.

The series follows Simon Pooni, a young boy who is bitter over a life spent struggling with multiple sclerosis. When a magical monkey named Orman appears in front of him and grants him one wish, Pooni wishes to become Superior, the comic book superhero he’s always idolized.

The twist comes when Orman reveals himself to actually be a demon from hell and tells Pooni that he’ll have to sell his soul to the devil if he wants to continue being Superior.

Empress

Artist: Stuart Immonen

With Empress, Millar and Stuart Immone  took inspiration from classic science fiction movies like Flash Gordon and Star Wars to create one of the brightest works in the Millarworld stable.

Empress follows Emporia, the wife of a galactic dictator who decides its time to take her family and leave her husband for good. With the assistance of her royal bodyguard, Emporia flees with her three children in an attempt to reach her home planet where her sister still resides.

Empress has the potential to be a space opera with a strong family drama at its core.

Wanted

Artist: JG Jones

Wanted has already been turned into a major motion picture, but its inclusion in Netflix’s teaser video for Millarworld suggests it’s something they could turn into a new series or film.

Wanted presents a superhero world where supervillains have secretly already won and taken over. Protagonist Wesley Gibson discovers that he is the son of a supervillain assassin known as the Killer. When his father dies, he’s invited to take his place as a member of the Fraternity, a secret society of supervillains, to take the Killer’s place.

Wanted is a dark comic book with a twisted ending that could attract a lot of attention from Netflix viewers.