Cinematical

For those closely following the exploits of writer-director Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces), you'll remember that shortly before the new year, he posted an image of the comic character Juggernaut, with a cryptic message that read, "I'll let you guys go nuts on this one." Of course, fans immediately thought the guy had been hired to direct an X-Men spin-off flick featuring Juggernaut, but Carnahan has finally spilled the beans and it's nothing like that at all. In a new post over on his official blog, Carnahan explains how he was approached to do "a limited run for Marvel comics after striking up a relationship with current X-Men editor Axel Alonso." However, Carnahan goes on to say that "my take on Juggernaut would have directly interfered with a major Marvel event, so I was asked to revive a character called Taskmaster and just today, about an hour ago, I got word that we were moving forward."

Carnahan goes on to add: "It will be a 4-6 volume series and will commence with the events following Taskmaster's severe beat down at the hands of 'Moon Knight.' I've always been a latent comic nerd and this will represent my opening salvo into that world. I'm being given the opportunity to literally build this character's origin story as well so I'm looking forward to pushing it as much as possible." Seeing as I'm not a hardcore Marvel geek, here's what I managed to dig up on Taskmaster (pictured above, via Wikipedia):

"Taskmaster possesses an ability which is a unique form of photographic memory that ties directly into his muscle memory, giving him an ability he refers to as "photographic reflexes." This ability enables him to watch another person's physical movements and duplicate them without practice as long as it is physically possible for an ordinary human to accomplish. He is capable of emulating the styles of, among others, Daredevil, Wolverine, Captain America, Elektra, Spider-Man, the Punisher, and Deadpool. In addition, he is a very capable marksman, able to emulate Bullseye's perfect aim, as well as that of the Punisher and Hawkeye."

He sounds like a really cool character, and definitely the kind I'd like to see adapted into a big-screen flick. Should Carnahan's work here prove successful, it will be interesting to see if he's approached to write and direct a Taskmaster film. What say you fans?