Everyone needs a hero.
When there’s a clear lack of comic book inspired superhero movies in the world, what’s a studio to do but pluck an obscure hero from the fringes of comicdom.
Studio 8 are developing a feature based on Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld’s Prophet, with hopes of kick-starting a franchise. Liefeld, Hitman producer Adrian Askarieh, and Out of the Furnace producer Brooklyn Weaver will spearhead the project.
In the comics, John Prophet is homeless during the days of World War II and volunteers for super soldier experiments headed by Dr Horatio Wells. Unknown to Prophet, the aim isn’t to create a soldier but a warrior to be exploited by evil. However, Dr Wells changes Prophet’s programming from evil to a belief in God. Then, Prophet was place in stasis to be awakened in the far future to defeat the evil Disciples. And all too predictably, Prophet awakens too early.
John Prophet’s journey is similar to Captain America’s, without a PG-rating. Unlike the Captain, Prophet forfeited spandex in favour of big muscles, bigger hair, and safety regulation breaking headgear. Liefeld’s hero is the idol of  ‘Gym Bros’ and ‘Meninists’, whilst Captain America is the by next door your mum wants you to date.
2012 saw ‘Prophet’ rebooted with a new weirder, trippier story. Set 10,000 years in the future, it follows the lives of various Prophet clones spread across the universe. The basis for an epic sci-fi film, if you’d ever heard one.
But Studio 8 are set on adapting the original comic from the 90s, as a press release reads:
“John Prophet is a DNA enhanced super-soldier placed into a cryogenic freeze for a future mission only to awaken in the wrong time searching for a mission that does not exist. Pitched as very much the anti-Captain America across the board. He’s a ruthless berserker that must find his humanity.”
A release date is to be announced.
