FOX announced recently that they’ve purchased a show called Gotham, centering on Bat-buddy Jim Gordon and his law enforcement career before meeting the Dark Knight. What a wild coincidence that this announcement came on the same day that FOX rival ABC debuted DC rival Marvel’s new fall show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!
By fall of 2015 it is safe to assume that each network will own a comic book-based TV series, and the various cable networks will fast track the various comic projects that have been rumored forever (Locke & Key, Chew, American Vampire, etc.). Hell, AMC will have some slots to fill next year, and based on the success of The Walking Dead I’d love to see them pick up a show based on one of those properties.
The news and details of the Gotham series coupled with the premise of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the announcement of Marvel’s Agent Carter series shows a certain trend: bring a supporting character or organization to the forefront, develop them on television and let the “book title” superheroes continue to appear only in the cinematic portion of the shared universe. I’m all for the secondary-characters-on-TV-only trend continuing, in fact some of us have been begging for Deadpool to appear in an episodic cable series instead of the Ryan Reynolds movie project that’s been floating around the bowl for years.
So what other supporting comic book places or organizations lend themselves to the hour-long network drama? Here are the first 5 I could think of:
Cadmus Labs
The clandestine scientific research facility owned by LuthorCorp would be a great setting for a weekly drama/mystery- each week could feature a new secret project (inevitably gone wrong), and they’d share a universe (but not screen time) with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
image via Smallville Wiki
Their first project: building a super-guardian defense system to protect Metropolis from ultra-destructive alien super-beings, you know, the kind that destroyed most of the city in Man of Steel.
Atlantis
Aquaman apologists are trying to rush their favorite sea-bound hero to the big screen, but I think he’s better suited for the small.
image via comicbookmovie.com
The CW Aquaman Smallville spinoff didn’t get past the pilot but I believe that’s because they tried to base it on Arthur’s above-sea level life. A show based entirely in the underwater city of Atlantis, where the main character is simply referred to as “Arthur” (he wouldn’t be “Aquaman” to them) could be visually stunning and a great way to introduce the character to a new audience (a la Green Arrow).
Weapon Plus Program
Marvel’s super-secret Weapon Plus Program (specifically Weapon X) has been responsible for Wolverine, Deadpool and other characters and storylines. Hard to imagine the program sitting idle for the rest of the time! A show could highlight the countless other experiments gone wrong (and maybe even some right, imagine that!) that take place in the Canadian facility.
The program began back in 1945 as the Weapon Plus Program, the show could be set in the past and chronicle the various stages of development of the Weapons I-IX Programs.
Arkham Asylum
I realize that the greenlight for Gotham probably eliminates this from consideration, but the thought of it is exciting.
Rumor has it that Gotham will feature many of Batman’s arch enemies (yes, Joker included), so it’s not out of the question to have seen them in a series- what better setting than Arkham Asylum?
Ferris Air
A show about war planes featuring a hot female lead? Yeah, nevermind, I’m not buying it either.
