On Thursday, tens of thousands of comic enthusiasts began descending on San Diego for the annual Comic-Con convention, where movie adaptations are among the hottest topics. But with so many cartoon superstars like Batman, Superman, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four already gone Hollywood, who's left?
"Ha ha!" laughs Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad. "You know we have 5,000 characters?"
Next up for Marvel is "Ghost Rider," in summer 2006, with Nicolas Cage as a possessed motorcycle rider hellbent on justice.
"For the hardcore group, 'Ghost Rider' is probably the most anticipated one," Arad says. "I think once the world gets to meet him, it will extend this community."
In various stages of development, Arad says, are movies for Thor (the hammer-welding Nordic hero), the Silver Surfer (who rides a flying surfboard), Captain America (the most patriotic hero, fashioned during WWII) and Namor the Sub-Mariner (one of the oldest superheroes -- think a more cranky Aquaman).
Also in the pipeline is Iron Man (who's protected by a suit of armor, to be directed by Nick Cassavetes), Doctor Strange (a sorcerer of the mystic arts), Nick Fury (a James Bond-like spy) and Black Panther (the first black comic book character, although he was beaten to the big screen by "Spawn").
It doesn't end with movies, either.
Stan Lee, who created so many Marvel heroes, has formed his own company, Pow! Entertainment. Aside from films, Pow! is currently creating an "urban superhero" for Vibe magazine, developing the animated show "Hef's Superbunnies" for MTV (which he says "will finally reveal the true secret of Hugh Hefner's existence") and has a reality TV show in the works that will be titled something like "So You Want to be a Superhero?"
Will comics remain popular long enough for all of these projects to flourish?
"The whole trick is taking a story that has a fantasy angle of some sort, but doing it as realistically as possible," says the 82-year-old Lee. "Saying, what if a fellow really could shoot a web and crawl on the walls? What would his day-to-day existence be?"
