Lesser-Known Superheroes that Should Be Brought to the Big Screen

Since X-Men hit movie theaters across the country in 2000, followed shortly by the runaway success of Spider-Man in 2002, comic book superheroes appear to have taken up a permanent residency on the silver screen. It's not that there wasn't any superheroes on film before that point - Superman and Batman both had their own respective franchises - but never before have they had such a constant presence in the multiplex.

One of the most rewarding aspects of this for comic fans everywhere is finally getting the chance to see not just the big league heroes make their film debut, but also the lesser-known properties such as Blade, Hellboy and Ghost Rider, projects which only a little over a decade ago seemed impossible to even imagine.
So which characters are next?

It's always hard to say for sure, but it seems like in the Marvel world, the next smaller hero coming up (literally, in this case) is probably Ant-Man. With Edgar Wright behind the project, Ant-Man will tell the story of Dr. Henry Pym, a scientist whose creation of the "Pym Particles" allows him to shrink and even grow to impossible sizes.

After that, it's anyone's guess; movie development can move fast or slow on any property, and the lesser-known characters are walking into the arena without the advantage of name value. Luke Cage - a so-called "Hero for Hire" who only saves people for a fee - seems like a good possibility. The silver-cloaked and sometimes psychotic sufferer of Multiple Personality Disorder known as Moon Knight could make for a fantastic movie, as could the former druggies and runaways named Cloak and Dagger. It's also crazy to believe that they have yet to really approach a psychedelic adaptation of Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. Personally, I'm still craving a faithful movie about Deathlok, a cyborg in a post-apocalyptic world trying to find his humanity, that pre-dated both Robocop and The Terminator by nearly a decade.

On the DC Comics side of the coin, things are moving a bit slower. Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds as the Hal Jordan version of the character, is their first major studio attempt at doing a hero that doesn't have either a bat or S-symbol on their chest. It's success or failure will likely determine whether characters like the Flash or Aquaman move forward.

What about the lesser-known DC heroes, though? There were plans a couple of years back to make a movie called Super Max, that would feature the Green Arrow being wrongfully imprisoned (and breaking out of) a high-tech prison housing hordes of supervillains. Martian Manhunter, though normally only associated with the Justice League, could make for an interesting sci-fi/detective movie if his alter ego, John Jones, was utilized. There's been no word on characters like the Spectre or Hawkman, but one can hope they'll someday find a place on the schedule.

In the meantime, as all the properties slowly migrate to film, it's an important time to rejoice for comic fans. Superheroes are more accepted - and being taken more seriously - than they ever have been before. After all the years of sitting in boxes, time is finally giving them their due.