Disney has Marvel. Warner Bros. has DC. Fox has the X-Men. Paramountâs got Transformers. And Sony has…uh, MIB 23? Oh right, and Spider-Man. But poor, ol’ Universal is the only studio without an epic superhero cinematic universe of its own. Until next year, that is!
See, Uni is about to wrap shooting on a reboot of The Mummy thatâll kick off an action-packed “Monsters Universe” utilizing the most timeless and beloved characters in their oeuvre – Dracula, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Wolfman, Frankensteinâs Monster, and his Bride. And they may have just locked in the singular piece they needed to guarantee this franchise is a mega-success…Dwayne Johnson.
Yes, it seems that instead of doing things the old-fashioned way and adding the Rock to a series on its last legs, like The Fast & the Furious, G.I. Joe, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, theyâre injecting the Monsters Universe with some Johnson before The Mummy even wraps production. As the Wolfman, no less! And with the furry one’s solo flick not slated to release until 2018, weâre guessing casting him now means youâll see the Rock pop up alongside The Mummy next summer to set the stage for this, our weirdest cinematic universe ever.
Check out this line-up: weâve got Kingsman‘s Sofia Boutella as The Mummy next year, facing off against Tom Cruiseâs Tyler Colt, a Navy SEAL weâre guessing is some kind of take on the monster hunter Van Helsing, Russell Crowe making a cameo as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Johnny Depp in talks to play the Invisible Man, Angelina Jolie rumored to be the Bride, and now the Rock as the Wolfman. With plans for these monsters to pop in and out of each otherâs solo flicks, and eventually team up for some kind of monster Avengers, it sounds like this is either going to be an epic disaster, or the coolest, most surprising cinematic universe of them all. One in which every monster is played by an Academy Award nominee. Or the Rock. Covered in fur.
But what do you guys think? Is the Monsters Universe the most exciting of the cinematic universes in our midst? The weirdest? The worst? Which monster are you most pumped to see reimagined as an action movie superstar? Letâs discuss!