Inarguably, it was director Justin Lin who turned the Fast and Furious franchise into the juggernaut it is. He directed entries three, four, five, six, and nine. But after departing the upcoming tenth installment a week into filming, no one was sure what Lin would do next. Until now! According to Deadline, Sony has tapped Lin to bring manga and anime powerhouse One Punch Man to the big screen. Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, who wrote Venom and Jumanji: The Next Level, will write the screenplay for this One Punch Man movie adaptation, and Avi Arad (who produces a million things, including the Spider-Man movies) will produce.
Lin’s movie will also include a familiar name on the writing front. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon and writer Heather Anne Campbell are currently writing the One Punch Man live-action movie. This totally makes sense considering the tone and general weirdness of both properties.
One Punch Man debuted in 2009 from mangaka ONE and quickly shot to prominence in the manga community. An anime series followed in 2015 and became a behemoth around the world. It follows a regular guy named Saitama who becomes the most powerful superhero of all time. The problem is, his power is that he can defeat any foe with only one punch. He gets immediately bored with no one able to even give him a challenge. The story parodies superhero and Shonen media alike, indulging in all the excess and ridiculousness of both.
Lin is not a stranger to bringing a beloved franchise to the screen. In addition to Fast and Furious (which wasn’t really anything until he took over), Lin also directed the criminally underseen Star Trek Beyond. Easily the best of the Kelvin Timeline Trek movies; it had the unfortunate problem of coming out after Into Darkness. He has also directed episodic television, including True Detective and Community. Lin certainly has the chops to bring the enormous battles and hilarious awkwardness to live action. Here’s hoping Sony has learned the lesson from other recent western manga adaptations that have been…well, bad.
No word on a release date or anything else as of yet for this One Punch Man movie adaptation. But we shall keep you all up to speed.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
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