Alan Moore’s graphic novel The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen had a can’t-miss premise, with a team of Victorian-era literary characters, led by Allan Quartermain, Dracula’s Mina Murray, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll, and the Invisible Man, going on gentlemanly adventures. Naturally, Hollywood took this can’t-miss premise and missed spectacularly in 2003, departing from the source material considerably and shoehorning in Tom Sawyer for some reason.
Now, in only slightly longer than it’s taken us to get two Spider-Man reboots, Hollywood is taking another swing at the League. (A third swing, actually—Fox attempted an Extraordinary TV series that never made it to air.) Whether it’s the enduring popularity of Moore’s series, or the ever-so-convenient fact that all of the characters are in the public domain, Fox is banking on an action-packed, character-licensing-fees-free blockbuster that, let’s face it, can’t be much worse than the first one.