BREAKING MOVIE/TV NEWS

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

"The Weapon" vs "Iron Fist"

The 2007, 4-issue martial arts comic book mini- series "The Weapon", written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Scott Koblish, is currently in development as a feature film:

"...martial arts enthusiast 'Tommy Zhou' has discovered a means to create solid objects from light, inventing the superhero identity 'The Weapon'.

"Not believing the legends his grandfather told him as a child, Zhou's inventions unsuspectingly make him the target of a millennia-old assassin cult that's convinced he's unlocked the ancient mystical techniques of the 'Order of Wu-Shi' ('The Way of the Weapon')."


Jim Henrie ("The Beautiful & The Damned") will produce.

In other martial arts-related comic book-to-film projects, development continues on Marvel Studios "Iron Fist" , with a screenplay by Rich Wilkes ("XXX").

'Iron Fist' aka 'Danny Rand', a practitioner of martial arts was created by writer Roy Thomas and "Green Lantern" illustrator Gil Kane, debuting in "Marvel Premiere" #15 (May 1974).

Co-creator Thomas said that the origins of Iron Fist owes much to writer/illustrator Bill Everett's 1940's comic book superhero, "Amazing-Man".

"I'd seen my first kung fu movie, even before a Bruce Lee one came out," said Thomas, "and it had a thing called 'the ceremony of the Iron Fist' in it."
"I thought that was a good name, and we already had 'Master of Kung Fu' going, but I thought, 'Maybe a superhero called 'Iron Fist', even though we had 'Iron Man', would be a good idea'. Stan (Lee) liked the name, so I got hold of Gil and he brought in his 'Amazing Man' influences, and we designed the character together..."

"...Plunging his fists into the molten heart of the dragon 'Shou-Lao the Undying' infused the dragon's superhuman energy into 'Rand', This along with training by 'Lei Kung the Thunderer' gave Danny Rand the power of the 'Iron Fist', allowing him to summon and focus his chi (or natural energy) and enhance his natural abilities to extraordinary levels.

"The ultimate expression of this focus is the ability to concentrate his body's natural energies into his hand, manifesting as a supernatural glow around his clenched fist, making his fist 'like unto a thing of iron'. So concentrated, this 'iron fist' can smash into its target with superhuman hardness and impact, while his hand becomes impervious to pain and injury. However, the feat of summoning the power required leaves Rand physically and mentally drained, unable to repeat the act for a time.

"Other applications of the Iron Fist power include the ability to focus chi energy inward to heal oneself or outward to heal others of injury, as well as the ability to telepathically fuse his consciousness temporarily with another person and meld with that person's mind..."

Click the images to enlarge...