Genndy Tartakovsky Pitched Marvel an Animated Superhero Series Like STAR WARS: CLONE WARS
Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory, Unicon: Warriors Eternal, and Primal, once pitched an animated superhero series to Marvel Studios that they ultimately passed on.
Tartakovsky once had some big ideas for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in a recent interview with Collider, the animator shared that he wanted to bring his Star Wars: Clone Wars aesthetic to Marvel.
In 2003 Tartakovsky worked on a two-season Clone Wars series that followed Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and several other Jedi as they fought in the titular conflict.
The series was set between the live-action prequel films Star Wars: Attack of The Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith, and it eventually led to the follow-up Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Tartakovsky talked about the pitch he made to Marvel's Kevin Feige, saying: "At the time, I had my own studio, and we were floundering. It was around 2008 and 2009, and couldn't get any work. It was the recession.
“I went into Marvel to pitch them an animated superhero series, like, 'I can take your characters and do what I did with Star Wars: Clone Wars.' So I met with Kevin Feige, and we started talking, and he goes, 'You know, Jon Favreau is a big fan of yours. Do you mind if he calls you?' And I was like, 'Yeah, of course.'"
While Marvel passed on the project, the pitch did land Genndy a gig working on Iron Man 2. He said: "And so then Jon actually called, and the animated superhero thing they weren't really interested in.
“So, Jon calls and we met for lunch, and he talked about how he really liked Samurai Jack and the way I do stuff. He actually told me that in Iron Man 1 he would look at the way I structured an action sequence, and he would kind of try to follow it, which was super, super nice.
“So, he asked if I could help him with the big action ending on Iron Man 2, and I said, 'Yeah, of course.' I just kind of got in there and just did what I did, and it was super interesting."
I previously wrote an article all about Tartakovsky’s involvement with Iron Man 2. The way some of the action sequences play out and the choreography are just classic Tartakovsky.
Favreau previously said of the animator: “I really dig his sense of humor and his sense of rhythm, and the way that he acknowledges the same cinematic masters that I really love the work of, like (Akira) Kurosawa and (Sergio) Leone.
“And he finds a way to pastiche it without ever undermining the stakes or the reality of the tension that’s created in his action sequences. Now clearly his stuff is a bit broad for a live action film but I love his rhythm and his attention to detail.
“It has a real comic booky feel but yet it feels cinematic and not gimmicky and even his cartoons feel… there’s an elegance to them.”
Together, they ended up crafting some awesome action sequences for the film. They wanted to try and take the action to the next level and I think they did a great job accomplishing that.
It’s a shame that Marvel didn’t jump at the opportunity to work with Tartakovsky on an animated series because there’s no doubt it would’ve been awesome!