There’s already been a movie based on Lester Dent’s Doc Savage, but it was more Man of Bronzer than Man of Bronze. You can actually buy that misguided film from the Warner Archive, but it’s well past the time for a good version of the classic pulp character.
So thank god for Shane Black. The writer/director tells Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool that he’s writing a new Doc Savage movie that will be produced by Orci & Kurtzman, two writers who could learn a lot from him. Black is setting the film in the 30s, the original era of Doc Savage, and he’s going to include Doc’s sidekicks, the Fabulous Five. And with Black putting words in their mouths, I bet they’re all gonna be witty motherfuckers.
There’s no director attached at the moment, but why not Black? I’d be interested in seeing him tackle something a touch more fantastical, and I think he’s a damn fine director anyway.