It may not come from a company named DC or Marvel, but Sony’s adaptation of Valiant Comics’ Bloodshot is shaping up to be a pretty exciting project. Set to direct is Dave Wilson, who’s had considerable experience in the genre thanks to his work across films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Deadpool, and with plans in place to spawn a whole Valiant cinematic universe from Bloodshot, the studio is now busy looking for a leading man.
For those unfamiliar with the property, it was created back in 1992 by Kevin VanHook and Yvel Guichet and tells the story of a “former soldier brought back from the dead and infused with nanotechnology, which gives him powers of regeneration and meta-morphing.” Sounds like an interesting premise, right?
With a script from Arrival scribe Eric Heisserer, it definitely has the potential to be something special and hopefully stand apart in an already over-crowded genre. Especially because we’re now hearing from Deadline that Sony is in talks with Jared Leto for the lead role of Angelo Mortalli.
Should Bloodshot prove to be a success, the studio has a sequel eyed along with plans to adapt another Valiant Entertainment title: Harbinger. Progress on the latter remains in early development, with Heisserer attached to write while the hunt begins for a director. Once sequels to each movie have bowed, Sony then intends to wrap things up with a crossover entitled Harbinger Wars.
There’s big plans for the franchise then, and if Leto does indeed sign on, then you can bet that things will start to come together very quickly here.