Earlier this week, comic book writer Mark Millar struck a deal with Netflix for the rights to almost all of the Millarworld comics created by Millar and his artistic collaborators. Though Kingsman and Kick-Ass are not a part of that deal (in part because their media rights had already been purchased), plenty of future Millarworld titles were included, and the list of titles may grow even larger.

Netflix has already had a lot of success with its original shows, including its series based upon several Marvel superheroes. However, the Millarworld acquisition will give Netflix the opportunity to develop franchises that it already owns. Millar has a very flashy writing style and a knack for easily adaptable stories. Potentially, this could lead to several original series or movies based upon the Millarworld comics, even if we won’t see them until 2018 at the very earliest.

In the meantime, we’ve put together a quick list of seven Millarworld titles that should be a priority for Netflix.

American Jesus

Millar and Peter Cross originally published American Jesus (under its first name, Chosen) in 2004. At the time, Millar described it as “the sequel to the Bible.” He’s got quite a gift for hype, doesn’t he? In reality, American Jesus was a story about a young boy named Jodi, who discovered that he may be the second coming of Jesus Christ. There’s definitely a Harry Potter influence in this story, but with a much darker view of humanity. Jodi’s gifts were very real, but there’s more going on than it initially seemed.

Considering that Millar never got around to making American Jesus 2, a TV series would be an ideal way to explore what happened after the finale. Also, there’s an important note for many of Millar’s stories: he tends to favor shock value scenes, including a causal description of a horrific rape in this story. Any adaptation can and probably should lose that aspect of the book, especially since it was not a major part of the plot.

Chrononauts

With Bright and War Machine, Netflix has demonstrated a willingness to spend millions of dollars on feature films that could legitimately be blockbusters. Millar and Sean Gordon Murphy’s Chrononauts would be the perfect property for that treatment. It’s a buddy comedy about Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly, two friends who created a working time machine…shortly before they screwed with all of history.

It’s a fantastic idea for a film, and the comic has some legitimately hilarious scenes that deserve more than a TV budget. If anything, we’re shocked that there hasn’t already been a Chrononauts movie!

Empress

Mark Millar and Stuart Immonen’s Empress also seems well suited to be a big budget sci-fi film. In this tale, the title character is Emporia, the queen and wife of the galaxy’s deadliest dictator, Emperor Morax. To save the souls of her children, Emporia took her kids and fled across the universe to escape Morax’s grasp. While there could potentially be sequels, Empress also seems like it would be well-suited for a single movie.

Jupiter’s Legacy/Jupiter’s Circle

Millar has previously tried to get a Jupiter’s Legacy film up and running, but we think this sprawling superhero family drama is better suited to be an original series. The two main Jupiter’s Legacy series were drawn by Frank Quitely, while Wilfredo Torres and Davide Gianfelice drew the two volumes of the spinoff series, Jupiter’s Circle.

Essentially, the idea behind this franchise is that a superhero team known as the Union emerged in the ‘30s and changed the world, before giving way to a second generation that didn’t share their morals or values. The story spans several decades and there’s a lot of drama ripe for exploration across multiple episodes of a series. And there’s more than enough superhero action in the book to keep everyone satisfied.

Huck

Millar and Rafael Albuquerque’s Huck would also make for a better TV series than a movie. But Netflix is somewhat of a problematic home for it. Some aspects of Huck’s backstory echo Stranger Things, even though Huck was published nearly a year before that series premiered. What makes it work for television is that it is about a decidedly small scale Superman-type of guy who didn’t want the attention of being a superhero. He just wanted to help people in his small town and be an anonymous good guy. Think of it as Smallville without all of the Kryptonite or freaks of the week. It might be a challenge to keep the series going past the events of the initial Huck miniseries, but the title character’s adventures would be better off with more room to explore and a smaller budget.

Starlight

Starlight is basically Flash Gordon, if Flash retired and lived on Earth for a few decades after his adventures on Mongo. Millar and artist Goran Parlov called Duke McQueen out of his self-imposed retirement and into a new adventure to save the planet Tantalus. This one could work equally well as a feature film or an original series, since the misadventures of an older Duke were so much fun. He may be an elderly hero, but Duke clearly had the right stuff. It’s also one of the lightest and least cynical comics that Millar has ever written.

Superior

While Huck was a small scale superhero story, Superior was the equivalent of a superhero epic designed for the big screen. Millar and artist Leinil Francis Yu essentially gave the story a twist upon the Shazam mythology, by depicting the tale of Simon Pooni, a 12-year old kid suffering from multiple sclerosis. An enigmatic being gave Simon the opportunity to become a superhero straight out of the comic books. But the price of Simon’s heroics is incredibly high, and it may be even higher if he turns down the chance to continue. It’s a very enjoyable and self-contained story, even if it doesn’t seem as suited for sequels as some of the other properties on this list.

Which Millarworld comics do you want to see Netflix adapt as films and original series? Share your picks in the comment section below!

Images: Millarworld