Marvel Studios Was Very Close to Making RUNAWAYS Movie Before the TV Series
Here’s an interesting revelation about one of the film projects that Marvel Studios was developing back in 2008, the same year that Iron Man was released. It turns out the studio was actually making a Runaways film project! This was long before the Hulku series was developed.
It was in 2010 that Drew Pearce was hired to write a script for the film. He was relatively unknown at the time, but he did go on to write the script for Iron Man 3. Runaways was actually a very serious project for Marvel at one point and Pearce revealed in the newly released book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios that the project was very close to getting made. He said:
"Runaways' code name was Small Faces. [We had] a production office with the Small Faces logo on it - done in the style of the Runaways logo."
He confirmed that “Small Faces” was a nod to the influential rock band of the same name from the 1960s. He went on to add:
"So yes, it was a real thing. I don't think people understand that, but it was going to be a 'go' movie, you know?"
So what happened? Pearce said he started to worry about the project when the focus shifted to The Avengers and continuing the stories of each of the superhero team members. He eventually got the call from on high that the project was dead. He previously talked about the project saying:
“Basically, The Avengers came along and everything else at Marvel got put on hold for a year. But the script is there, we’re good go. It’s kind of like [being] at the airport when you’re waiting for your slot to take off with Marvel, and we’re hoping we get a slot next year. Fingers crossed. They’re very happy with it, so hopefully it happens.”
The movie was scrapped in favor of taking a gamble on Guardians of the Galaxy, which was the right choice because those Guardians movies were freakin’ awesome!
Years later, Marvel Television started developing its own Runaways TV show. That series was developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who were tapped as showrunners and production began in 2017. The show ran for three seasons and it was ok. I would’ve liked to see how the movie would’ve turned out, especially in the early days of Marvel when they were making great films.
The Runaways comic book was created by Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona, and follows a group of teenagers who find that some family secrets are bigger than others when they discover their parents are actually super-villains. Running away from their homes, the teens band together and begin a journey of discovery, both of their parents' origins and of their own inherited powers, while trying to make up for the evil done by their folks.
Via: CBM