In an age when Marvel and DC have proven the immense marketability of the superhero genre, Valiant Comics has also entered the movie business with Bloodshot. Bloodshot has Vin Diesel playing the hero of the same name and is intended to usher in a shared Valiant Comics universe. While the reviews for the film were mixed and box office collections will obviously get affected due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the movie offers promise for bringing new, edgier heroes on the big screen.
Bloodshot is an increasingly powerful character who can manipulate his shape, strength, and combat skills due to millions of nanobots inside him. However, he's not the only hero in the Valiant universe nor is he the only one with such incredible powers. Without further delay, here are 10 other superheroes from Valiant Comics who should get their big-screen outing too.
Doctor Mirage
These days, people don't just want their heroes to beat the baddies and save the day. Superheroes also have philosophical dilemmas plus their own motives to use their powers or otherwise. A Doctor Mirage film would, hence, be an unconventional cinematic take on the superhero genre, due to his emotional origin story. In fact, apart from Hwen Mirage (the Doctor), his wife Carmen would play a major role in the film just like the comics.
The husband and wife team were parapsychologists investigating supernatural activity all over the world, but one encounter converted Hwen into a positively charged necromantic being. Most of their stories involve the troubled marriage life of Carmen and Hwen after Hwen's transformation. While her husband possesses the powers to manipulate a force called "dark matter," Carmen is a skilled martial artist.
Ninjak
Created by the legendary artist Joe Quesada of The Amazing Spider-Man fame, Ninjak has been a pretty popular character for Valiant, especially in the 1990s. Ninjak is a martial artist who uses his hand-to-hand combat skills and intellect to fight all sorts of super-powered villains. And to add more elements to his character, he works for MI-6.
Basically, he's like James Bond if 007 didn't need gadgets to carry out his work. A movie starring Ninjak would excite die-hard fans of Valiant Comics and the character's popularity also resurged recently due to a web series on ComicBook.com called Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe. The action-heavy series starred Michael Rowe (Deadshot in CW's Arrowverse) as the character.
Zephyr
Zephyr (popularly known by her real name Faith Herbert) is one of Valiant's more recent characters. She's a positive woman who is capable of using telekinesis, flight, and psychokinesis. Her character, her relationship, and her lifestyle of managing her day job in LA and superheroing at night is heavily suited to impress post-millennial readers. She seems like a real superhero with real issues.
Her film would be a fresh approach to increasingly gritty superhero films. Further, the crises that Faith faces are limited to Los Angeles. Hence, it'll be a break from all the monotonous world domination supervillain plans with aliens and sky beams.
Rai
Rai was the first original character by Valiant Comics so it does make sense to make a movie on him in the Valiant Cinematic Universe. Rai is very much like the classic comic book character Phantom as Rai is a mantle that is passed from generation to generation, carrying on his heroic legacy. Furthermore, Rai will be a good superhero in terms of diversity.
He's not the defender of an American city like New York (which is equated as the entire world for many superhero films) but the defender of a futuristic Japan. Rai wields archaic Japanese weapons like the katana, but also is a master technopathy, teleportation, super speed, and even a healing factor!
The Anni-Paddas
The Anni-Pada Brothers or the Eternal Warriors is a trio of immortal brothers. Ivar, the Timewalker is the eldest of the brothers and the world's oldest time-traveler. Eternal Warrior has mastered his skills with various weapons and combat styles. And then Armstrong is the girl-charmer, the poet, the adventurer, who uses his powers for various his own needs along with restoring world peace.
The three brothers got their powers and immortality after stealing an ancient artifact called The Boon. The varied nature of the brothers would make for interesting storylines and a few laughs in a potential film adaptation. Valiant might also make individual spin-offs of each of the Anni-Padas to cash in further on the franchise.
Divinity
Adam Abrams was a cosmonaut sent to space by the Soviets back in the Cold War. But due to unexplainable reasons, an incident gives him control over space and time, transforming him into a powerful god-like figure aptly named Divinity. For instance, he's shown to have transformed arid lands into fertile fields.
Divinity is quite an ominous figure, and can sometimes be treated as the Valiant equivalent of Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen. While he has immense powers to bend dimensions and the forces of nature, he exercises restraint over his power and tries solving issues with his brain when possible. Such a hero might be useful for a philosophical superhero movie.
Archer
While Marvel might experiment with developing its Hawkeye series for Disney Plus, Valiant can market on its own Archer who as his name suggests, is an ace archer. Often partnering with the Anni-Pada brother Armstrong, Obadiah Archer was a young religious boy when he discovered his evangelist preacher parents were serial child-molesters. The parents found this out and attempted to kill Archer himself but he survived a near-death experience, after which he ends up at a monastery.
In this monastery, he realizes that his combat skills have improved since he cheated death and he also masters the bow and arrow. This prompts him to do the Lord's work and serve justice to perpetrators like his own parents. That origin story is enough in itself to generate interest in this character. Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer was also interested in making an Archer and Armstrong film in 2017, but not much has been announced regarding that.
Magnus, Robot Fighter
Magnus was a creator who initially appeared in Gold Key comics, was then included in the Valiant roster and has also been rebranded by Dark Horse. In fact, Valiant's Rai first appeared in minor stories in Magnus's comics.
Magnus lives in a futuristic dystopia of 4000 AD when humans are increasingly dependent on robots. Then in a manner typical of an Isaac Asimov story, the robots go out of control and we have Magnus taking them down. The character's initial storylines and art were reminiscent of classic yesteryear sci-magazines and characters like Flash Gordon. Therefore, it can be fun to see a modern yet pulpy take on Magnus, Robot Fighter.
Quantum & Woody
MD Bright is a comic book artist who worked for Marvel on the Power Man and Iron Fist series, revolving around the iconic duo of New York heroes who created a superhero firm called Heroes For Hire. Valiant asked him to create a similar series that dabbles in light humor and action and the result was Quantum and Woody.
Quantum and Woody are two brothers who set out to find their father's killer and accidentally got the powers to shoot energy blasts after a freak accident. They are funny, unstable, and usually, work with a goat called Vincent Van Goat! The goat is a powerful and intellectual being who helps the duo in their misadventures. Like Archer and Armstrong, these two heroes would also make for an amusing action-comedy.
X-O Manowar
X-O Manowar is one of Valiant's most popular and iconic characters. Like Magnus' stories, Manowar's origin too has a pulpy Conan/John Carter atmosphere to it. He was initially a 5th Century Visigoth called Aric who fought the Romans. Aric is then abducted by an alien race called the Vine.
Spending years aboard their spaceship, he eventually leads a rebellion against the aliens after finding a powerful armor that grants him superpowers. He comes back to Earth, only to discover that he has traveled through a different time span and he's trapped in the 21st century. Meanwhile, the Vines still chase him for the armor and his adventures continue. X-O Manowar's story has the potential to blend elements from a sword-and-sandals swashbuckler and a sci-fi epic.