A number of new super hero movies are just over the horizon in 2007. Of course, Spider-Man 3 is my main obsession, and I can't wait to see the film in early may. Ghost Rider will come first, though… and I'm not convinced that the film's February release date is necessarily a bad sign.

Other super hero movies in the works include Iron Man, the Fantastic Four And The Rise Of The Silver Surfer, and Dark Knight, a sequel to Batman Begins. I'm interested, to one degree or another, in all of them.

None of them, however, pack the promise of the new project that Marvel and Universal Studios are developing: Otis-Man… the story of a super hero and his super pug sidekick.

I can't divulge my sources, but I've been fortunate enough to get a copy of an advance treatment of the script. I'm unsure if leaking any of it on the net is a good idea or not, but it looks really promising… So I'll go ahead and post some of it, just to try to build a little advance hype for what I'm sure will be a remarkable film:

Otis-Man:
An Advance Script Treatment Of The Opening Sequence

(Opening scene: A young man walks through a dark and grungy paper mill. The scene is unexceptional, just one more industrial setting in one more corner of the United States. The young man is unexceptional, too. Just one more "dumb laborer," as he might call himself, doing one more "dumb job" before quitting time, headed toward yet one more unexceptional doorway. His name is Otis. As he travels, unbeknownst to him, a seemingly unexceptional cockroach sits beside the doorway he's approaching. Neither the young man, nor the cockroach, are aware that they're about to have a meeting that will change one of them forever.)

OTIS: (singing) "Can't touch dis… NAH Nuh Nuh Nuh… nuh nuh… nuh nuh… Can't touch dis… NAH Nuh Nuh Nuh… nuh nuh… nuh nuh…"

(Suddenly the cockroach scurries from it's informal post by the doorway, directly toward Otis.)

OTIS: (singing) "My, my, my, my MUSIC makes me so HAHD… Makes me say OH MY LAWD…"

(The cockroach stops in front of Otis, prepared to defend himself with every degree his white-hot cockroach fury. He raises up as high as possible on his spindly legs, shakes himself and hisses with rage. So does the cockroach. It is clearly too late to avoid confrontation. The cockroach launches himself toward the young man.)

OTIS: "Stupid cockroach!"

(With that, Otis stomps the cockroach and continues on his way.)

OTIS: "Who did that bug think he was messing with? I'm too legit!"

(After a few more steps, Otis stops. His conflict with the roach has stirred something deep in him. He remembers Abby, his trusted canine sidekick. Like the roach, Abby is just another animal. Like the roach, Abby had once been an obstacle to Otis. Yet he'd treated these two animals so differently. He'd simply stomped one of them. The other, he'd spent months training and working with closely. After long weeks of ceaseless instruction, love and attention, Otis had trained Abby to do many great things. Like Otis himself, Abby was capable of making complex associations between menial behavior and a reward system. Like Otis himself, Abby had come to learn that doing something that was expected of her, no matter how inconvenient, would lead to personal compensation. Like Otis himself, Abby was capable of doing poo poo in the backyard. The paper mill where Otis worked was swarming with cockroaches… so-called dumb animals, just like Abby. Why had he recognized potential in one kind of dumb animal and simply disregarded the other? Maybe… just maybe… he'd made a mistake. Suddenly, it all became clear to Otis.)

OTIS: "Hey, I know what I should have done! I should have just stomped Abby! Word to your mother."

(Otis continues on his way. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, Abby is at home chewing up his C&C Music Factory CD……

….to be continued...)

(Thanks to MCF, who's link to the Hero Machine made this retaliation possible… and apologies to anyone who didn't get the multiple in-jokes.)