Mega Man Is Reportedly Side Scrolling to Netflix

Whispers of a Mega Man film have been floating around since 2018, but a source close to IGN let the news outlet know that Netflix is working on it.

Mega Man may be making a big time jump very, very soon. Whispers of a Mega Man inspired film have been floating around since 2018, but a source close to IGN let the news outlet know that Netflix was the final boss for everyone’s favorite side-scrolling android hunter. This proposed film would not be the first foray into cinema for the little blue android, but it would be the most ambitious to date. So who is Mega Man, and what do we know?

Mega Man is a wildly popular video game character created in the earliest days of Nintendo. Also called Rock Man, the series focused on the battle of good, represented by Dr. Light and his creation, Mega Man, battling evil in the form of the nefarious Dr. Wily aided by his evil android army. The game was primarily a fun, side scrolling adventure. Although there were later attempts to make the game play more complex, nothing truly ever beat the original formula. Mega Man would absorb the powers of any evil android he would defeat in battle and be able to use that power during the next boss fight, making it easier if you beat the bots in the right order. Players would then be set lose on a final group of stages where you would fight more creations of Dr. Wily, such as a giant shape-shifting clay monster, the previous bosses, or giant tank robots before getting to square off against Dr. Wily.

But we don’t know much. Supermarché, a production company working on the film, made IGN aware of the news. A statement on the comapny’s site states: “Features in the works include an adaptation of Capcom’s Mega Man for Chernin Entertainment and Netflix, which they wrote and are directing.” Mega Man 11 was released in 2018, and shortly thereafter is when the aformentioned whispers started, connecting Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman to the project. Joost released a statement: “We are super excited about it.I think we’re going to have some big news about it soon. I can’t say all that much right now, but it’s a project very near and dear to our hearts and we’re psyched.”

The premise could be very interesting. Mega Man, as stated above, is incredibly popular in video games but that popularity has not been explored much in other forms of media. The character’s first appearence in media was in a show called Captain N: The Game Master which first aired in 1989. From there, he had a short three episode run in an anime, and two attempts at a series, but nothing truly groundbreaking. There is a lot of exploration to be had in this fun little franchise. Imagine this scene: shortly before COVID-19 protocols, I was able to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert and I’ve often wondered what it would be like to see their instrumental Wizards of Winter blasting in the background as Mega Man was on the hunt for Blizzard Man. If you haven’t heard the song, close your eyes and listen to it. It’s easy to see a fun adventure ensuing to the beat. Make it happen Netflix.

We still have quite a while to go before any such adventures take place on the streamer, but hopefully information starts flowing a bit more about this, perhaps starting with a formal announcment from Netflix. The fans of this franchise, myself included, will be eagerly awaiting any and all details coming our way over the coming months.

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