According to Deadline, there have been plans and discussions about bringing Image Comics‘ Rogues’ Gallery comic book series to life in a TV series adaption, between Don Cheadle (the actor who played War Machine in the MCU) and Hannah Rose May.
With the banner of her company Weird Neighbour Production backing her, along with additional help and input from Cheadle, his production label This Radicle Act, and Karyn Smith-Forge, May will be serving as the Executive Producer on the Rogues’ Gallery show.
It’ll be interesting to see how they decide to bring the characters of Rogues’ Gallery to life and how fans will react to a story that’s sole purpose is to challenge the way they consume media and think about celebrities.
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What is Rogues’ Gallery about?
Written by Hannah Rose May and Declan Shelvey, and drawn by Justin Mason (the artist behind Spider-Punk), Rogues’ Gallery is a comic that follows the main character, Maisie Wade, and how she deals with what life throws at her after quitting her role as Red Rogue, a popular comic book character whose story has been adapted in a television series. Unfortunately for fans of the show, Maisie’s decision to quit playing her character leads to an abrupt cancellation and the fans do not react well to the news.
Deciding they want to teach her a lesson, fans of the show dress up as her character’s arch villains and trap her in her home. Maisie has to become the hero she grew to despise playing if she wants to come out of this experience alive.
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Real World Commentary
The comics are a social comment on the toxicity and obsession of fandom and fans’ inability to see the actors of their favourite characters and anything other than that. It’s written in a way that forces fan’s check themselves and brings to light the very real problem of fans not always thinking of celebrities and actors as human.
In the not-yet-completed story, we watch as Maisie Wade is faced with those struggles in a very intense and hard-hitting way. There is one scene in particular in which she and her husband attempt to go eat out at a quiet little restaurant, wanting to keep out of the public eye, but still hoping to spend a meal together outside of their home. They end up having to make an early exit when the owner of the restaurant, someone the couple knew and thought they could trust, let’s the press know where Maisie is.
It paints a brilliant picture of the very disrupted, invaded, and difficult life of someone who is constantly in the limelight and unable to escape it no matter what they do. It’s a very simple scene, but ties in with the theme of the story perfectly and is extremely eye-opening to the harassment that is experienced by the people who play and create our favourite characters.
Hollywood pitying itself again.