There’s an excellent piece online right now at CNN Money that takes a look at Marvel’s current venture into th world of independent film making. With the successful launch of their direct to DVD Ultimate Avengers animated feature, they’re off and running, but as the article points out, even with successes like Spider-Man and Blade to look at, it’s not a sure thig that audiences will line up to see Ant Man: The Movie. Another interesting note is the fact that if things end up going south, Merrill Lynch (who have invested heavily in the development of Marvel’s movie division to the tune of over $500 million) is in a position to gain control of the movie rights of various characters and sell them to other studios, leaving Marvel in the cold.

Among other points of interest in the article - and there are quite a few - is the fact that Avi Arad publically acknowledges that “Elektra” was a crap flick, and that Ang Lee’s “Hulk” was, at the least, a creative misfire. It’s also kind of odd to see Arad painted as a man of vision, since as comic readers I think we’re used to viewing him more as the guy that dictates to the comic creators what they can and can’t do with Marvel’s characters, limiting the stories that are told in order to preserve their Hollywood-friendly appeal. While I’m not sure that he’s as brilliant as the writer protrays him, he does seem to know what the audiences want from at least the next Hulk flick - all out war with the Abomination.

In his office, surrounded by his Hebrew comic books and an army of Marvel action figures, Arad seems supremely confident that his company is making the right move. “We have the most valuable library in the world,” he says. “We’ve had one bad movie, Elektra, and it was bad because we didn’t have creative control. That won’t happen again.” Soon, Arad is musing about the Hulk, whom many Hollywood observers now believe has the inside track to be the star of Marvel’s debut self-made film. It would be an interesting choice, given that Ang Lee’s version was a box office disappointment. But Arad thinks he knows what went wrong, and he has a plan for fixing it.

After praising Lee as a genius, Arad observes that “the Hulk movie was a study of anger, and people wanted a popcorn movie.” Lee’s film focused on the Hulk’s origins - Bruce Banner’s abusive father, his mutated DNA, the gamma ray accident that gave him the power to transform into a walking steroid attack. It was dark and intense, and Banner didn’t even do his Hulk bit until nearly halfway through the film. “Our Hulk,” Arad says, “will be a diet Hulk. Lighter. Focusing on the love story, Hulk as hero, and his battle with the villain.”

For that villain, Arad has chosen one of his favorite baddies: Abomination, a former Yugoslav spy who has mutated into a 980-pound freak of terrifying strength and unpleasant demeanor. “He’s capable of amazing feats,” Arad says, eyes gleaming. And if Arad is right and the Hulk sequel or some of Marvel’s other self-made films break into blockbuster territory, people will be saying the same thing about him someday.

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