Fri Sep 19, 2008 — by Karl Cramer

Avi Arad's Next Project: Mass Effect

The former Marvel head honcho turns from comics to games

Avi Arad is widely credited as one of the linchpins that turned Marvel around from the edge of bankruptcy to multimedia superhero powerhouse it is today. The former CEO and founder of Marvel Studios, the production company responsible for the Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk movies, left in 1996 to form his own production company.

Variety is reporting that Avi Arad Productions has optioned the rights to Mass Effect. The sci-fi RPG was a huge critical and commercial success. It even gained some notoriety when FOX News blew a possible lesbian relationship in the game out of proportion. The story centers around Commander Shepard, one of the first humans allowed to join a multispecies, intergalactic police force known as the Spectres. He discovers one of their greatest members has gone rogue. (Shades of Green Lantern, wouldn’t you say?)

Mass Effect is owned by BioWare, a developer best known for epic RPG games with rich stories. Mass Effect was released for the Xbox 360 by Microsoft Games and PC by Electronic Arts. It is considered the first part of a bigger trilogy. Novels based on Mass Effect proved popular. Hopefully with Arad’s connections we’ll see a Mass Effect comic book too.

Watch the trailer below if you have any doubts that this sci-fi story wouldn’t be great comic.

Be the first person to comment!