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Fox Will Reboot Flash Gordon

He will, presumably, once again save every one of us

It was only a matter of time, but pulp hero Flash Gordon is set for a return to the big screen. Twentieth Century Fox has aquired the rights to to legendary Golden Age comic-strip hero, with eyes on a big-screen revamp from a script by Star Trek 3 writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. No director, cast or story-concept has been set at this time.

Created by writer/artist Alex Raymond in 1934, Flash Gordon was a sci-fi adventure comic strip whose title character, a Yale-educated champion polo player, was transported to the distant Planet Mongo along with his girlfriend Dale Arden and mad scientist Dr. Zarkov during a meteor shower. On Mongo, Flash becomes the leader of a rebellion by Mongo’s various races and kingdoms against their evil ruler Ming The Merciless. It bore a strong similarity to earlier pulp heroes like Buck Rogers and John Carter of Mars, but distinguished itself through Raymond’s flare for space-opera melodrama and striking classical-style artwork.

The character has been adapted dozens of times to television, film serials, books, graphic-novels, games, etc; but modern audiences are likely most familiar with a popular feature-film version made in 1980 with Sam J. Jones as Flash (upgraded from polo to a NY Jets quarterback) and Max Von Sydow as Ming.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

About the author

Bob Chipman
Bob Chipman is a critic and author.
Bob Chipman
Bob Chipman is a critic and author.

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