Lee Daniels to direct a new superhero movie from Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman
Because the only thing more guaranteed to continue shambling on in mindless perpetuity than the undead are superhero movies, today comes word of yet another one, albeit outside the usual Marvel/DC purview. The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman has written a new costumed hero comic, and even though it’s not even out yet, Lee Daniels has presumably taken a look at the royalties shelled out to anyone remotely associated with The Walking Dead, and thought hey, something written by that guy might be the perfect superhero movie to direct.
Of course, this new project seems like more of a collaborative effort on Kirkman’s part. Deadline reports that Stealth, the upcoming comic created by Kirkman and Marc Silvestri (with the first issue’s story authored by Mike Costa), is set to be adapted into a feature film by Universal, with Iron Man writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby tapped to pen the screenplay. Stealth is about a Detroit-based vigilante who has fought crime in the city for decades, but has recently begun to cross some ugly lines in his pursuit of justice. One reporter, Tony Barber, knows the truth behind Stealth’s reckless new behavior—because the crimefighter is his aging father, battling Alzheimer’s. As Deadline explains, Tony’s dad is “unwilling to accept that he’s no longer the hero this city needs…with enemies all too eager to force his retirement.”
While this narrative will likely be a touch more severe than Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, it sounds like there will nonetheless be ample opportunity for both deeply mawkish sentiment regarding the effects of such a horrific disease, and over-the-top melodrama of the superhero variety. In other words, hiring Daniels (Precious, The Paperboy) seems like a perfect fit. Also, this will have no relation to the sentient fighter-pilot movie Stealth, as far as we know.