A newly announced film adaptation of the 90’s comic book Ball and Chain is set to star Jungle Cruise’s Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, with a script by The Big Sick’s Emily V. Gordon. The comic first published in 1999, written by Scott Lobdell, with art by Ale Garza, is about an impending divorce, which turns into a superhero team-up after a meteorite literally lands on a bickering couple.
The plot involves a married couple who find themselves on the verge of divorce, only to be hit by an otherworldly object that gives them superpowers, with one ironic twist: they have to stay together in order for them to work. Edgar and Mallory Bulson, AKA Thunderball and Chain Lightning possess the respective powers of super-strength, super-speed, flight, and invulnerability. Together, they are Ball and Chain!
As explained by a floating, holographic head, Edgar and Mallory's abilities are a side effect of its planet’s “neuro-schematic communications system.” Much like cell phone technology, it has boosted their biological infrastructure, but the effect is limited by range. Ball and Chain face off against villain Slaughter, an evil scientist who fled to Earth, amassed power and was awaiting the arrival of the meteorite when it accidentally hit the titular duo.
The four-issue limited series was published in 1999 by Homage Comics, a subdivision of Jim Lee’s Wildstorm Productions that also printed titles by Sam Kieth, Kurt Busiek, James Robinson, Terry Moore, and Warren Ellis. It was turned into a TV pilot in 2001, starring Dan Cortese, and later developed as a series at Syfy in 2010. Major content producers like Netflix have been scouring the IP landscape for star vehicles, and are in talks to pick up the project. Meanwhile, Johnson and Blunt’s Jungle Cruise has already been delayed a year due to COVID-19.
It seems that Hollywood is making use of its spare time by re-visiting lost pitches. Ball and Chain is not a bad read, mostly because it is intended to be a romantic comedy dressed up as a superhero romp. The art is a throwback to more innocent times, back when Lee sold his company to DC Comics, but long before he and Dan Didio became co-publishers. If we’re lucky, film producers will begin to set their sights on other Wildstorm properties, such as WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch, or The Authority.