Wanted is a creator-owned comic book miniseries, consisting of six issues written by Mark Millar with art by J. G. Jones and published by Top Cow as part of Millarworld. It features an amoral protagonist who discovers he is the heir to a career as a super-villainous assassin in a world where such villains have secretly taken control of the planet.
The series is very adult in nature, similar to more grown-up ’super-hero’ titles such as The Authority. Like the Authority or the Squadron Supreme, several characters are based on DC Comics characters and super-villains (See below). Rumour states[citation needed] that the series was originally supposed to be a revamp of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. The series also bears resemblance to the 1999 films Fight Club and The Matrix as it is about a despondent man in an unfulfilling white-collar job who finds a new lease on life but becomes extremely violent and marked as outside of ‘normal’ society.
The Sunday Times dubbed the title “the Watchmen for super-villains.”Synopsis:
25-year-old account manager Wes (James McAvoy) was the most pathetic, cube-dwelling hypochondriac the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend cheated on him daily and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this weakling would never amount to anything. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die a slow, clock-punching death. Until he became Wanted. After the murder of a father he never knew, Wes discovers powers beyond his dreams. He becomes the latest recruit in the Fraternity–a secret society of assassins–and develops lightning-quick reflexes with superhuman agility. Wes soon learns his league of henchmen has but one mission: carry out the death orders of the mythological Fates, weavers of every man’s lifeline. With wickedly brilliant tutors, he morphs into a killing machine and starts erasing one bad guy after another. But as Wes grows into the mantle passed down by his father…he discovers his clan members are not exactly the enforcers of justice they claim to be. Just as he gets everything he ever Wanted, Wesley Gibson will learn that with the ability to deliver death comes an even more difficult power…controlling your own life.
Wanted the Movie
Wanted is a 2008 film adaptation of the comic book miniseries Wanted by Mark Millar. The film is directed by Timur Bekmambetov and stars James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie. Production began in April 2007. Wanted has a target release date of March 28, 2008.
Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is offered the opportunity to seek revenge in the murder of his father, who was a super-villainous assassin. Gibson is invited by his father’s partner, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), to follow in his father’s footsteps. Sloan’s second-in-command (Angelina Jolie) mentors Gibson. Wesley Gibson follows the death orders issued by the Fates, weavers who read individuals’ destinies in fabrics produced by mystical looms.
Director Timur Bekmambetov is planning a sequel to Wanted with the studio, though creator Mark Millar has denied that he will write a sequel to the comic book.
