When you hear the words ‘Stan Lee’ and ‘cinematic universe’ in the same sentence, your mind is instantly going to wander over to Kevin Feige’s series of Marvel Comics adaptations, which is fair enough when the MCU is the highest-grossing franchise in the history of cinema.
However, Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov is now developing an entirely new interconnected mythology based on the legendary creator’s latter works, with Sawbones and Carnival of Killers now in development for live-action in conjunction with Lee’s POW! Entertainment.
As per Deadline, Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer, and Matt Greenberg have been tasked to bring the two horror-inspired titles to life, and they’re a million miles away from what fans have come to expect from Lee’s work. Sawbones follows 12 year-old Alex Corvin, who reads a comic that transports him to a haunted juvenile detention center overrun by demons led by the titular murderous entity.
Meanwhile, Carnival of Killers unfolds during the Dust Bowl storms of the 1930s, focusing on a young girl with psychic abilities that discovers the traveling circus where she and her mother sought refuge is in the midst of an impending alien invasion. Lee’s legacy is largely rooted in Marvel, but there were many more strings to his bow than simply spandex and superheroes, and a pair of horror-tinged adaptations forming the basis of an all-new shared mythology will prove it.
