Summary
- Vin Diesel’s role in Valiant Comics’
Bloodshot
showcased a potential future for the superhero genre outside of Marvel and DC. - A fan-made series,
Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe
, introduced audiences to a plethora of Valiant Comics characters in a unique way. - Despite removing the fan project, Valiant Comics seems to be on the right track with upcoming events and potential movie adaptations.
If the actor Vin Diesel is ever brought up during a conversation about comic book movies, it’s most likely due to his iconic run as Groot in The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. But dig a little deeper into his superhero credentials, and you will find that the action genre star was actually once put into place to become the herald of another cinematic comic book universe: Valiant Comics. An award-winning publishing company created 35 years ago and holding over 2000 characters in its library, 2020’s Bloodshot saw Vin Diesel take on the role of the title character in an exciting thrill ride. He would portray Ray Garrison, a soldier whose perception of reality is shattered when he realizes that the scientific facility that “innocently” brought him back to life is instead using him as an endless killing machine.
Wielding super strength and nanite technology that heals him from any and all injuries almost instantaneously, Garrison then takes matters into his own hands when he finds out about the lies that he has been living. As much as the special effects and action sequences of Bloodshot impressed audiences, Valiant’s first outing at the box office would also be their last. Due to COVID protocols (at the time) halting movie theater popularity and some negative critical reception, worldwide box office gains didn’t meet the budget for Valiant’s first movie. But is there still hope to be found for the underrated comic book company with a fan project that has now been officially scrubbed off the internet?
Bloodshot
- Release Date
- March 13, 2020
- Runtime
- 1h 49m
The Valiant Universe Steps Up
Let’s face it. With Marvel floundering and DC resting on one man’s shoulders, the superhero genre is seemingly going through an identity crisis. Almost as if they could forecast the future, a Los Angeles-based audio and video company called Bat In the Sun Productions might have supplied us with the antidote. Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe was a six-episode series that was uploaded and then taken off comicbook.com in a matter of two years – never to be seen again.
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Based on a Valiant comic event that came out a few months before the release, this well-put-together superhero action film not only showed off a more violent version of Bloodshot but also introduced audiences to other mainstay Valiant names. There was X-O Manowar, a 5th-century European soldier with futuristic space armor; Livewire, a female teletechnopath who can do some serious damage; a brutal, immortal guardian of Earth called Eternal Warrior; Roku, an ex-MI6 agent infused with dark magic, Archer and Armstrong (masters of liquor, crossbows and magical bottomless satchels), a paranormal hero with voodoo elements called Shadowman and of course, Ninjak (just as the title implies). While admittedly, there are a lot of characters to digest at once, imagine the route the comic book genre would have taken if Bloodshot hadn’t been a failure.
A Surprising Cast Elevates the Valiant Characters
As the title implies, Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe’s story revolved around Ray Garrison being blackmailed into stealing the Book of the Geomancer for the villainous Roku. Even though he is a protagonist most of the time, his unusual actions force the other heroes (names mentioned above) to spring into action. Just because this is a fan film does not mean the cast is filled with unknown names. While Ninjak is played by Michael Rowe (Deadshot in Arrow) and Derek Theler (ABC Family’s Baby Daddy) brings X-O Manowar to life, the late but great Jason David Frank is none other than the super violent Bloodshot. Chantelle Barry (2013’s 90210) was Roku, and pro wrestler/actor John Hennigan stepped into the shoes of Eternal Warrior.
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While some Valiant devotees have a right to say that the script was subpar, these names did their best in carrying this unique comic book world into a new dimension and gave audiences a glimpse into what could take place if these properties were handled with the proper big name studio behind them. With all this being said, why was the entirety of Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe quietly taken down without warning? The most obvious answer to this question lies in DMG Entertainment’s buyout of Valiant Comics in January 2018.
Why Was Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe Deleted?
The global media entertainment company had a vested interest in adapting the many Valiant publications into motion pictures. It can be assumed, then, that when they finished Bloodshot, they didn’t want any pre-existing version to be remembered by fans (or any other character, for that matter). It is also safe to assume that they didn’t want an “official” fan project (since a pre-buyout Valiant endorsed it) to become more popular than a multi-million dollar official release.
Whatever the case may have been leading up to its deletion from comicbook.com, the high-octane battle royale that is Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe can still be seen from various sources on YouTube who saved the series all those years ago. There was also a teaser for a sequel at the end of the series, which would have featured one of Valiant’s most notorious baddies, Master Darque, the world’s strongest (and evil) necromancer.
But is it too late for any of this to be realized on the big screen? Not necessarily. Look at all the failures (The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Black Adam, to name a few) Warner Brothers had to go through before creating reputable hype with James Gunn. While Bloodshot wasn’t necessarily a bad movie, at least according to audience scores, and more so the result of bad timing, Valiant Comics has affixed themselves to the right track once more and already seems to be on a bit of a rebound with a massive comic event slated for September. If The Resurgence of The Valiant Universe succeeds, maybe we will see those Harbinger Wars and Faith movies after all. Oh, and another Bloodshot. Just not with Vin Diesel. Bloodshot is streaming on Hulu.
