Margot Robbie, LuckyChap, and Warner Bros. are continuing their working relationship after “Barbie” became the biggest film at the global box office in 2023 (earning a massive $1.4 billion). A report from Deadline has revealed the studio has scooped up a new superhero hero package that will see Robbie star in a feature film adaptation of the Rob Liefeld (co-creator of “Deadpool”) comic book, “Avengelyne.” Published by Image Comics, the comic focuses on an angel who fights the forces of evil.
The surprising aspect is the impressive creative team assembled for the film, which is director Olivia Wilde (“Book Smart”) and Aussie screenwriter Tony McNamara (“The Favourite,” “The Great”), the latter coming off the Oscar-winning movie “Poor Things.”
Here is how the outlet describes the property in their report, which sounds like a combination of Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy” meets former “Spawn” heroine Angela (now an Asgardian and ruler of Hel in Marvel Comics):
“Avengelyne is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. She was the most feared warrior in heaven’s Warhost, having single-handedly broken into Pandemonium, the outer fortress of hell, to confront the devil himself. She is a fallen angel, banished from heaven by God after being tricked into questioning his love for humans. Avengelyne was stripped of all her angelic abilities, other than her great strength and her blood, which, once extracted from her body, could be used as a weapon or a miracle when it is empowered by quoting verses from the Bible. Avengelyne uses her powers to fight demons on Earth and is being groomed to be humankind’s last hope in a coming Armageddon.“
McNamara is a screenwriter known for biting wit and comedic timing, making him just the right kind of creative to help potentially overhaul a property that could be reworked for a global audience.
Robbie isn’t a stranger to the comic book genre after playing the DC Comics villain/antihero Harley Quinn in two “Suicide Squad” movies from directors David Ayer and James Gunn alongside a spinoff with “Birds of Prey” that was helmed by Cathy Yan. Her future as the character doesn’t seem all that concrete with various resets of the DCU from DC Studios, and Gunn has yet to announce a fourth project with Robbie back in the Quinn role. LuckyChap and Robbie have also been trying to get a remake of “Tank Girl” (created by Gorillaz co-founder/artist Jamie Hewlett) going with director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, but there hasn’t been any word of what stage that is currently in.
Wilde has been itching to get into the superhero genre for years now as the filmmaker was once attached to direct a Marvel Comics project in 2020 that had been referred to in reports as “Spider-Woman” for Sony Pictures. However, there really hasn’t been an update since that project was first announced, and Marvel Studios’ participation was never made official.
This isn’t the first time Liefeld has attempted to get his lesser-known comic book characters into films and television. There was a time when Netflix was looking to flesh out the Liefeld properties like the “Extreme Universe,” until that deal, first announced in 2018, went up in smoke. That deal included the rights to Brigade, Bloodstrike, Lethal, Cybrid, and Kaboom. Things might have gone south potentially, we speculate, after the streamer had buyer’s remorse about acquiring the Millarworld (Mark Millar’s comic book material) source material when their expensive series adaptation of “Jupiter’s Legacy” failed to secure an audience ending its run at one season.
SOURCE: DEADLINE


