Valiant Comics' Faith Movie in the Works at Paramount
Fan-favorite comics hero Faith might finally be headed into live-action. On Thursday, a report from Variety confirmed that a Faith movie is currently in early development at Paramount. The film will be written by Emily Carmichael, whose previous work includes Pacific Rim: Uprising and Jurassic World: Dominion. This will be the second film within Paramount's "Valiant Cinematic Universe" after Harbinger, an ensemble film helmed by Brittany Runs a Marathon's Paul Downs Colaizzo. Faith is expected to appear in the Harbinger film. There were previous efforts to develop a Faith movie at Sony Pictures, the studio that produced and released 2020's Bloodshot, with Maria Melnik penning that iteration of the script.
Created by Jim Shooter and David Lapham in Harbinger #1, Faith Herbert / Zephyr is a superhero with the ability to fly. When not saving the day, Faith moonlights as Summer Smith, an unassuming journalist in Los Angeles. She is often regarded to be one of the most well-known plus-size superheroes, with many fancasting Pitch Perfect's Rebel Wilson to portray her in live-action.
"Some people online say there's a character called Faith, I forget which comic it's from, that they'd like me to play," Wilson revealed in a 2017 interview. "But I don't know, [I just would love to play] somebody who kicks ass."
What's next for the Valiant Cinematic Universe?
Faith would be the latest entry in Valiant's efforts to created a shared cinematic universe of its characters — something that seemingly would not be "impossible" amid the rights to the characters being split between Paramount and Sony. The Valiant universe already made its way onto the big screen with 2020's Bloodshot, starring Vin Diesel.
"There's a lot of wind to its back and it gives confidence to other studios and other partners to really step up and push these things forward," Valiant Entertainment's Dan Mintz told ComicBook.com back in 2020. "So, I'm feeling good about all of that, and that rollout to me is very, very clear. It's very, very clear because A, you have two studios rolling stuff out, and then B you also have us rolling things out."
"Set the voice, set the pace, make sure that it holds up, and then within that, you have an amazing amount of creativity," Mintz tells us. "People always want to just have as much playroom as you can, but if you notice, some of the most successful pictures are really not very good canvases. You can be as creative as you want within that, but you can't go off and start painting on the wall, or on the floor, or whatever, which often happens. Now, you can bring your voice and bring your vision, and bring your talent. It really is a collaborative platform, but it definitely needs that canvas."
What do you think of Paramount Pictures developing a Faith movie? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!