David Goyer may be off The Flash (the project has been taken over by Shawn ‘Night at the Museum’ Levy, and no matter how you feel about Goyer, this is a turn for the worst), but he’s not done with superheroes. He tells Wizard Magazine that he’s turning his attention to bringing another DC character, Green Arrow, to screen in a very unique way. He’s going to send him to prison.
The film would be called Super Max, and it would open with Green Arrow being wrongly convicted and sent to a superhuman prison filled with the kinds of bad guys that he once put away. Stripped of his costume, trick arrows and even his goatee (I thought the Constitution banned cruel and unusual punishment!), Ollie Queen is sentenced to life and must team up with some of the villains he’s captured so he can escape and clear his name.
“We’ve populated the prison with all sorts of B and C villains from the DC Universe,” says Goyer. “For the fans, there will be all sorts of characters the hardcore comic book junkies will know, but they’re all going to be there under their human names and no one is wearing a costume, but there will be a lot of characters with powers and things like that.”
I love this idea. Super Max is a movie that could be done without Green Arrow or DC villains – just the logline of ‘A superhero gets sent to a prison filled with villains he put away’ is a strong concept – but a story-based movie like Super Max is a terrific way of introducing a mildly silly character like Green Arrow to the moviegoing audience, who is now familiar enough with superhero tropes to accept a movie that doesn’t open with an origin story.
Goyer’s also working on the story as a graphic novel or miniseries for DC Comics. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be the only format in which we see Super Max, but I hope that Warner Bros gives this a chance – this is just a strong movie concept that could make for a midrange success.