Marvel is teaming with renowned animation studio Madhouse to re-envision its super-heroes for four anime series set to premiere in spring 2010 in Japan.
According to Simon Philips, president of Marvel International, the characters will have reimagined origins and new looks to reflect Japanese culture.
“It will create an entire parallel universe for Marvel,” he tells The New York Times.
Founded in 1972, Madhouse has been involved in the production of such works as Death Note, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Paprika, The Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight, and the Hellboy animated features.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:33 am
If this turns out like the new Iron Man cartoon or the last FF cartoon…suck.
On the other hand, if they give it the quality actual anime in Japan gets…it could be one of the most interesting things to come from Marvel Animation since the 1990s.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Madhouse is a nice studio with high standards, that with the added brand awareness of American based comics in Japan through anime, can make this a very good thing.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:12 am
But what series will Marvel produce? I would guess X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk, and TBD. Iron Man? Captain America? The Avengers? Or maybe they’ll go with someone more like Runaways, Big Hero 6, or Sentinel.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Someone at Marvel must have watched the Witchblade anime and thought it would work for them too.
Or they remembered Supaidaaman.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
I think Marvel should go with some of the lesser known properties Jared mentions. They’d work PERFECTLY and with little reimagining needed.
Knowing Marvel though, it’s gonna be the usual suspects.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:00 am
It probably won’t do that well. The Japanese already have their own comics, their own properties and frankly usually much better concepts.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Actually, the same American occupation force that brought the cartoons that inspired the “anime” style animation we still see today brought comics as well. These heroes are well known in Japan. The ’90s X-Men cartoon even got a special anime style intro for the Japanese market.
This is a brilliant move. If this works in Japan then it will get re-exported here, and might get a few more anime watchers jumping into our area of geekdom.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I can’t wait to see Captain Japan punching Roosevelt!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Another parallel Marvel universe eh?
August 25th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I saw someone else suggest Power Man and Iron Fist and I agree with that idea 110%.
To me, that would be a perfect series for adapting to anime. Plus we’d get Colleen and Misty
August 25th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Madhouse did Spawn and a short in Batman Gotham Knight so they’ll have no trouble adopting Marvel really.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Big Hero 6, Daughters of the Dragon/Heroes for Hire, and Sentinel are no-brainers.
Unfortunately, it’s probably going to be along the lines of Spider-Man, X-Men, and Avengers retellings — similar to the Indian re-imagining of Pavitr Prabhakar.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
An Elektra vs. the Hand series would be cool too.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Could be interesting… I mostly liked Gotham Knight, but with reservations. I wish it had been one full movie, and not six different interconnected vignettes. The last two stories were excellent, IMO, but I wish they’d both been longer. The Killer Croc story had potential, but (again) needed to be longer. The first three stories ran the gamut from pointless (the kids with different ways of seeing Bats) to good but a bit confusing (“Crossfire”) to god-awful (“Field Test”).
I have a question about “Field Test.” Why was Bruce drawn to look about 15, and why did Kevin Conroy even use a younger, higher pitched voice? I thought, at first, that it really was a story about a teenage Bruce, but nope. We get Lucius Fox and Bruce is indeed Batman. So WTF was going on there? Did I miss something?
As for the animation, the final part (“Deadshot”) definitely had the best look of the six. Again, too bad it wasn’t just a single-plot movie with that animation style all the way through. It could make for an excellent animated Bat-film while we wait for the third Nolan movie, or perhaps a TV series for Adult Swim? Good possibilities here.
Anyhow, back to Marvel. I have no idea what charcters they have in mind, but an Elekta/Hand movie would make sense. So would Iron Fist. I’d like to see some Daredevil or “Spider-Manime” myself! Just keep Spidey free of any of the comic book continuity, please.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
forget Japan: I want to see this here!
August 25th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Update: Marvel’s press release states that the first of the four series will launch on Japan’s Animax premium anime channel in Spring 2010, but does not list the dates for the other three. Each series will have 12 30-minute episodes. The first series will include the characters Iron Man and Wolverine.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-08-24/madhouse-to-create-4-anime-with-marvel-comic-heroes
August 25th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
IRON FIST AND THE HEROES FOR HIRE!!!!!!
X-Men (Morrison and Quitely run)
Variation on the Avengers
Deadpool
August 25th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Just because they haven’t announced a deal to air any of these in the U.S. doesn’t mean it won’t happen. They’ll find a network here that’s willing to deal. After Iron Man’s success, and the Wolverine movie next year? That won’t be a problem.
What I don’t understand is, the first series will have IM and Wolverine together? Seems like an odd pairing. I’d guess there will be others too. Not surprising that they’re going with tried and true, but a bit disappointing.
I know, I said I’d like to Spidey earlier. I still would, but I’d like to see some lesser-known characters get a shot too.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:17 am
This is great news. Here are my predictions/guesses on what the 4 animated series will be.
1. BIG HERO 6 (which MIGHT explain why Marvel decided to publish a new mini series featuring these characters)
2. Daredevil (ninjas + the mob = perfect anime)
3. Blade (four words and one initial “VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOOD LUST”
NUFF SAID)
4. Thor (because of the fantasy aspects which the Japanese love)
August 26th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Keep in mind that they’re going to retool the characters and their origins, so Iron Man and Wolverine may not seem like so much of a stretch to Madhouse.
Considering their past track record, I’m willing to give this one a shot. (Actually, I still need to see their Highlander anime.)