I was just thinking about this.
I would like to see Marvel Studios make a Speedball movie.
Let me explain!
Marvel Studios can't make a Spider-Man movie, and it's likely they will NEVER get the film rights to Spider-Man back. This means no Spidey in the same universe as The Avengers, and I think that a Marvel Universe without a Spider-Man type of character is a lonely place, indeed.
So make Speedball the "spidey" of the Marvel Movie Universe!
Sure, it would take some tweaking. He'd have to be altered a bit. But think of this:
High school student Robbie Baldwin is granted powers when he's exposed to some accident when working in a laboratory part time (this is his actual comic book origin, by the way). Nothing to change here. It's practically Peter Parker all over again.
Move him from Springfield to Manhattan. Easy enough.
Tweak his costume a bit. Cover his face entirely. Keep the circle patterns, though.
His personality is perfect. He's a wise-cracking, likable guy.
Instead of shooting webs, he creates kinetic balls. He's agile, bouncy, etc. He could easily replace Spidey as the flipping, jumping, quick, high-leaping character. His powers could be expanded to let him cling to things (kinetic control or something like that), and he also has the resistance to damage (which could be toned down for the movie universe).
Give him a rogues gallery made up of less-popular Spidey villains. I doubt Sony has control over The Ringer, The Spot, Frog-Man, Jack-O-Lantern, Stilt-Man, Hydro-Man, Kangaroo, or Morbius.
Make Penance his Venom. After he sheds the Penance persona, have someone else become Penance to hound him as a villain. (They changed Venom's origin significantly for the movies, so why couldn't they change Pennance's origin?)
This is a whole new universe to play with. Captain America's background is totally different from his 616 and Ultimate versions. The Hulk got his powers from a lab experiment and not a gamma bomb. Black Widow wasn't a Soviet double-agent. Iron Man goes through four versions of his armor in his first year and has a different origin and background. Thor is an alien who was mistaken for a god by ancient humans.
If they can make these changes, then they can make Speedball the Spider-Man of the Marvel Movie Universe with the right tweaks and alterations to the character... And best of all, they wouldn't be infringing on the Sony claim to Spidey.
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