Firestorm or Captain Atom? Which Nuclear Hero Should Get Their Own Movie?

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Title says it all. DC has two prominent atomic/nuclear-themed heroes, each with compelling backstories. So, which one should get a film? Firestorm? Captain Atom? Both? Neither? Or should the DCEU just sort of combine them by including one in the films of the other?

[tako]

Firestorm needs to be more of a Shazam-y film. Kids and family fun and ****.

Captain Atom, I think, should definitely be like, a soldier film. More srs than Firestorm.

[byrd156]

I'd like both, you could pull a Captain America: First Avenger period piece with Captain Atom and a Teen/coming of age film with Firestorm. Completely different ends of the spectrum for genre types and character dynamics.

Captain Atom have it set during the 50s or 60s with a cold war space race vibe to it. Have Captain Atom follow a similar arc to Jack O'Neil from Stargate (Kurt Russell's character) undergo a bunch of tragedy (bad family home dynamics, friends die from war, divorce, that kinda thing) in his life that pushes him to risk everything to become Captain Atom and find new meaning in his life as the ultimate solider but realize he can be more than that as a person. Story plays out and Captain Atom does a bunch of good for the US government before he realizes that he has too much power and that war isn't what he should be using it for. In response to this the US creates Major Force as his replacement and they try to force him into an earlier "retirement". He goes underground wanting to change the US's attitude towards the Cold War and sue for peace. Have the movie end with a divided US military pro and anti Captain Atom fighting it out with Captain Atom vs Major Force. Major Force's and Captain Atom's containment suits are both broken, knowing they'll die and destroy a lot of people when they go out Captain Atom flies up sacrificing himself at the end. Basically the end of the Iron Giant, complete with some modern scientists discovering his and Major Force's energy signature and capturing it. Alluding to their possible return in present day.

Firestorm is a movie I want to see so badly, I just want more Firestorm in general. I love Ronnie and Prof. Stein and feel that there is so much to do with these characters. They has such an 80s John Hughes movie feel when I think about them in live-action. I'd set it in present day with Ronnie and Stein as the main combination but introduce the idea of Jason at the end. High School senior Ronnie Raymond is a total slacker and jock douchebag (he has a soft spot for Caitlin who isn't a part of the popular kids) who thinks he has it made before he realizes that this is his peak. I really want to this to be a smaller Breakfast club type story that focuses on Ronnie and his group of friends. His girlfriend (future Killer Frost) will be heading off to college at the end of the school year, his friends have sports scholarships and Ronnie looks like he won't be passing senior year. To try and save himself and fix this he signs up for an science program that will help him graduate. Caitlin is a part of it and it's headed by Prof. Stein owner of a small science company Star Labs who is looking for the perfect assistant/test subject in his Firestorm project. Ronnie isn't looking forward to the course but is soon picked out by Stein for his physicality and lack of intelligence. These two have a Doc and Marty type of dynamic and relationship that comes from Ronnie just needing a grade and Stein a subject to a real father/son mentor/pupil dynamic. A bunch of montages and screwing around with science leads to the creation of both the Firestorm Matrix and Killer Frost. The Killer Frost transformation will be slow and more of a Jekyll/Hyde situation while Ronnie and Stein are stuck together merged. I'd like the full on floating head but a force ghost type Stein that only Ronnie can see wouldn't be a bad decision and a little less work on simpler effects. Ronnie goes full on Spider-Man with no responsibility, he does whatever he wants occasionally and accidentally helping people kinda like in Shazam. Meanwhile Caitlin is alone with the popular kids not really fitting in while slowly becoming more and more like her namesake. Her Killer Frost persona will come out and take out some teenagers (they'll be okay by the end) in some freak emotional outbursts. Ronnie will finally slow down a bit after he learns how to un-merge and Stein realizes the project was a mistake and tries to stay away from Ronnie. Ronnie, Caitlin and friends who weren't attacked reunite for a house party that becomes another Killer Frost set piece. No one knows it's Caitlin not even her when she makes the transformation through serious stress, anger, emotions etc. She is picked on and sees another girl try to get with Ronnie. This freakout has Ronnie try to fight her depowered and goes about as well as you can expect but somehow Killer Frost won't freeze and hurt Ronnie like the rest. He is a bit of an idiot but figures out that Caitlin is Killer Frost. Ronnie runs back to Stein begging to be Firestorm again but this time as a heroic act to save someone he loves and not for the thrill of the power. They confront Caitlin who plays dumb and is completely scared out of her mind before becoming Killer Frost. This will be a chase action sequence through the city to give a bit of spectacle as Ronnie really tries to focus and learn more about his powers since he doesn't want to actually hurt her. She'll freeze a building that makes Ronnie choose between catching her or saving the people inside leading to her escape. Ronnie and Stein save the people and want to continue after her but need to get back to their normal lives for the last day of school which is doubling as Prom Night. The last day of school Ronnie and Stein are really tense and nervous about Caitlin the whole day trying not to unleash Killer Frost. This would be a really cool tense sequence where they can't tell if she knows what's happening. The whole day goes pretty well until prom night, here we get Ronnie and Caitlin crowned King and Queen, the latter as a prank straight out of Carrie. Caitlin absolutely loses it, Ronnie almost calms her down but fails because Stein rushes to merge with Ronnie to save him. Killer Frost seeing the transformation goes even more into a rage with an epic showdown between the two. The fight ends with Ronnie un-merging and approaching her as himself again, he plays to her good half trying to reason with her. Calming her down manages to bring Caitlin back while still in her Killer Frost form. Ronnie vows to find a way to fix her along with Stein who blames himself. The movie ends with Ronnie heading off to college meeting his new roommate Jason Rusch, along with Stein who creates an official Star Labs for a incarcerated Killer Frost.

Thinking of Firestorm as a mix of Back to the Future, Weird Science, Carrie, and the Breakfast Club with a bit of Raimi Spider-Man thrown in. This was something I just whipped together and would really like to see something kinda like it.

[phantom1592]

I've always found Captain Atom REALLY boring... and Firestorm looks amazing with the flaming head. I know which movie I would prefer.

[jb681131]

Title says it all. DC has two prominent atomic/nuclear-themed heroes, each with compelling backstories. So, which one should get a film? Firestorm? Captain Atom? Both? Neither? Or should the DCEU just sort of combine them by including one in the films of the other?

Well, why not have them both in the same movie ?

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Well, why not have them both in the same movie ?

That's what I said in the last option.

[MajorHoy]

Aren't there any other characters who should earn their own movies before either of those two?

I mean, how long has it been since either of them were able to hold down a decently successful solo-series?

[Frontier]

Firestorm was already done in live-action in Legends of Tomorrow but I'd like a film that got to do more with him then that show did, at least ability-wise, but Captain Atom would be cool too .

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Aren't there any other characters who should earn their own movies before either of those two?

I mean, how long has it been since either of them were able to hold down a decently successful solo-series?

To be fair, when was the last time the Eternals or even the New Gods were able to hold down a successful series?

[kcekada]

Visually, I think Firestorm is more interesting. The merging of two individuals is also more interesting.

Captain Atom doesn't really have much going in regard to concept -- he's just a wielder of nuclear energy. Big deal!

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Visually, I think Firestorm is more interesting. The merging of two individuals is also more interesting.

Captain Atom doesn't really have much going in regard to concept -- he's just a wielder of nuclear energy. Big deal!

I mean, I think there'd be plenty of stuff to work with from the Cary Bates/Greg Weisman run from the 80s and 90s



Plus, he does have a cool aesthetic as well.

I think I'm leaning toward the option of having them both in a single movie. The only question would be how to do that.

[El_Gato]

Aren't there any other characters who should earn their own movies before either of those two?

I mean, how long has it been since either of them were able to hold down a decently successful solo-series?

The general audience isn't going to care that a character can't hold a comic series, especially when the comic reading audience is so miniscule and monotonous compared to movie going audiences.

Anyway my vote is for Firestorm. Go with Jason, just so I can have Jaime, Jason and Ryan on the big screen, effectively sticking it to all those "fans" who tore those characters down when they were first introduced.

[Zero Hunter]

Captain Atom doesn't really have much going in regard to concept -- he's just a wielder of nuclear energy. Big deal!

A air force officer framed for a crime he didn't commit and forced to take part in secret govt experiment by the same man who set him up. The experiment going wrong and throwing him 20 years into the future and giving him insane powers. His wife and children thinking him dead for 20 years and him forced to take on a new identity. His wife marrying the man who set him up and ruined his life ends up raising his kids.

Yeah there is nothing there that would make a great movie .........

[byrd156]

Visually, I think Firestorm is more interesting. The merging of two individuals is also more interesting.

Captain Atom doesn't really have much going in regard to concept -- he's just a wielder of nuclear energy. Big deal!

Characters sure are just powers and designs.

I hate this mentality and DC keeps feeding it in recent years.

[byrd156]

The general audience isn't going to care that a character can't hold a comic series, especially when the comic reading audience is so miniscule and monotonous compared to movie going audiences.

Anyway my vote is for Firestorm. Go with Jason, just so I can have Jaime, Jason and Ryan on the big screen, effectively sticking it to all those "fans" who tore those characters down when they were first introduced.

"Sticking it to fans" (even horrible ones) shouldn't be anywhere on the list of things that should go into making a big screen superhero movie.