Mark Millar offers an exclusive update on the Super Crooks live-action show adaptation following the premiere of the Netflix anime. First published in 2012 by Marvel's Icon Comics, the four-issue limited series was co-created by Millar and artist Leinil Francis Yu. The story revolves around small-time supervillain Johnny Bolt as he recruits a team of fellow super-powered thieves to conduct one big, final heist to retire on.
Development on a Supercrooks adaptation first began in 2011 when Colossal writer/director Nacho Vigolando acquired the rights for a film ahead of the comic's publishing, though his and Millar's script rough draft would not get picked up and the project would eventually die. Following Netflix's acquisition of Millarworld in 2017, the streaming platform would announce a couple of years later their intention to adapt the comic into the anime Super Crooks, which would serve as a prequel to the source material before adapting it directly in the final few episodes. Netflix would later announce plans for a live-action adaptation, entitled Supercrooks, to operate as a spin-off continuation of the cancelled Jupiter's Legacy adaptation.
While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant for the anime adaptation of the comic, Millar offered an updated on the Super Crooks live-action show. Though noting he and his crew are sworn to "massive secrecy," the comic book creator confirmed development is progressing nicely on the series and teased their plan of how to differentiate the two adaptations. See what Millar shared below:
"It's going great, obviously we're bound by massive secrecy. It was one of those things, actually, that I think when people saw the animated stuff starting to come in, because we started seeing the first four or five episodes, everybody was like, 'Holy sh-t, this is great fun, this looks really great, we should just do an American live-action version of this to.' That was made public back in June and I don't think there's been anything we've been able to say since, but all I'll say is I'm super excited about this.
It's funny, somebody said to me, 'Will it not be weird to have the same story again?' I was like, 'Spider-Man is a cartoon and also a television show and a movie and everything in live-action. We'll just tell other stories, we're not going to tell the same story like three times or anything.' There's just so much room to explore here, we can have a ball with it. I think it would be a huge mistake to just tell the same story again. It's like the Avengers, imagine that the Avengers movie was the exact same story, you'd be disappointed. I think that we want to expand this world, I've already written a sequel to the comic and I'm planning a third one as well, so we're planning to tell a lot of stories with these characters."
The announcement of a live-action Super Crooks series came as a surprise to many given the anime was only months away from premiering on Netflix, namely as it came paired with Jupiter's Legacy's cancellation. With said announcement having been made just a few months ago, it's understandable that Millar would be keeping the details close to the chest on where they're at in the development process. However, his confirmation that development is coming along "great" and his expression of being "super excited" about the show is sure to come as exciting news for fans.
It's also interesting to note that Millar teases the different approach he and his team are bringing to the Super Crooks live-action show. Much like AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' Preacher, the anime elected to take a prequel route for the series before leading up to the actual events of the comics, leaving plenty of room for the live-action show to explore, namely in its ties to the cancelled Jupiter's Legacy series. In the meantime, audiences can familiarize themselves with the world of Super Crooks with the anime now streaming on Netflix.