Once Wesley discovers that his father was the world’s greatest assassin, and that his fellow supervillains secretly rule the world, he uses his knowledge to get revenge on everyone who’s ever wronged him, while also becoming a prolific, indiscriminate rapist and murderer. The comic proposes a twist on Spider-Man’s axiom: Here, ultimate power comes with no responsibility. It takes place in a Watchmen-like world where in 1986, the supervillains defeated the superheroes so thoroughly that nobody in their world even remembers what a superhero is, let alone recalls a time when their derring-do filled the newspapers. The comic Wanted is an unabashed, hateful celebration of supervillains and rage-filled adolescent misanthropy. The book asks, “What if you were Bane’s son and could be one of the secret evil rulers of Earth?” Bekmambetov’s film instead asks, “What if you were Batman’s son, and with a little training, could carry on his legacy meting out justice?” So its fantasy is similar to the comic’s, but also fundamentally antithetical. As a $75 million potential international franchise, the film version of Wanted does not have the comic’s luxury of amorality. In its various forms, Wanted offers a seemingly irresistible tease: What if you woke up in the morning broke, depressed, and anxious, just another paper-pusher with a nowhere job and a spiteful girlfriend who’s sleeping with your smarmy best friend? What if, before the day was over, you found out your father was one of the most gifted men in the world, and has passed his extraordinary skills to you as the ultimate genetic blessing?īoth comic and movie offer fantasies of power they then take in opposite directions. And both the comic book and would-be-tentpole-blockbuster traffic in power fantasies seemingly designed to appeal to the men’s-rights demographic.īoth versions of Wanted are narrated by Wesley Gibson, an emasculated, anxiety-ridden, cuckolded wage slave who oozes hatred for the company he works for, especially his boss. Oh sure, the comic involves a secret society of assassins who call themselves The Fraternity, but otherwise, the two premises differ wildly. That series does not involve a clan of weavers who carry out executions, and unlike in the film version, does not prominently feature a loom with uncanny powers of prognostication. Wanted is based on a comic-book miniseries written by Mark Millar (also the author of the Kick-Ass books, which also made it to film) and drawn by J.G. They silently carried out executions to restore order to a world on the brink of chaos. It opens with the following:Ī thousand years ago… A clan of weavers formed a secret society of assassins.
Timur Bekmambetov’s 2008 thriller Wanted was that year’s 18th top-grossing film, bringing in more than $130 million domestically, and another $200 million internationally.
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