Movies I Can't Wait to See: Firestorm

Image from Wikipedia.com

Here's a much-needed politics break.

Another announced superhero movie that really intrigues me is Firestorm: The Nuclear Man.

Firestorm is one of the more obscure (at least to mainstream America) of DC's stable of superheroes, but (along with The Flash and Captain Marvel) one of my all-time favorites.

Firestorm--as originally conceived--was a hero that was formed by a nuclear accident, and was the fused body and consciousness of two different people. Ronnie Raymond was a teenager at a nuclear plant protest, and Professor Stein was an employee there. The explosion (nuclear fusion, it is presumed) caused the two men to be fused into Firestorm.

The comic came out when I was 12, and captured the hero wish-fulfillment fantasy of becoming a superhero as a teenager. Ronnie wasn't all that much of an intellectual, so Professor Stein's side of the hero provided the maturity that reigned him in. The comic was very well written, and didn't seem like the typical adult-writing-"hip"-dialog. I collected every issue of the comic's first two runs. Loved it.

Firestorm seems to me like one of the most difficult heroes to depict onscreen. For starters, his hair is always on fire! And his powers--the ability to molecularly alter almost anything into almost anything--would tax even the most sophisticated CG computer. They really have their work cut out for them.

I fear that the cost of this film will prove too high for such an obscure hero, and that they'll ultimately decide not to make it. Even IMDB.com provides almost nothing on the progress of the film. But here's hoping!