Shane Black Writing 'Doc Savage'

There are Supermen, and there are perfect men. Doc Savage belongs in the latter category. Bronze and buff, with a mastery of everything from martial arts to surgery, he can do anything or be anything you ask him to be. Except a movie icon. For years, Hollywood has been trying to get a Doc Savage movie up and running (there was a disastrous attempt in 1975), but now the strength of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman just might see it through. Ain't It Cool News reports that they're the latest names to become attached, and try to see it through to completion. Even better, they've hired my personal Jesus Shane Black to write a script. The news comes straight from the mouth of Black, who just happened to run into Harry Knowles at an Austin bowling alley.

Let me back up for a little biography on Savage. He's a pulp hero from the 1930s and 40s, an ordinary man who was trained from birth to achieve mastery of everything from medicine to music. Naturally, he uses his awesome abilities to punish wrongdoing, and his travels take him all over the world. He's usually accompanied by "The Fabulous Five": Monk, Ham, Renny, Long Tom, and Johnny. (Check out Wikipedia for exhaustive descriptions.) He also had a cousin named Patricia Savage who tagged along, but was no pretty little wimp, as she was a pilot and a skilled markswoman.

As Doc Savage scripts have come and gone, the temptation has often been to move him into the modern era. Black revealed that he fully intends to keep him in the 1930s, keep the Fabulous Five, and try to capture all of what made author Lester Dent's storywork so memorable. Thin news, but something to keep Savage pulp fans awake at night, as well as those of us itching to see Black return to the big time.

ETA: Ain't It Cool News has since run a correction that Orci and Kurtzman are not producing. Neal Moritz and Ori Marmur are for Sony Pictures.