There's nothing like getting what you want to make you wish you'd never wanted it in the first place.  Many years ago, comic book geeks like myself used to wish for one...just one...decent big-screen adaptation of the adventures of our favorite superheroes; now, capes and cowls are so prevalent on the big screen that we're getting good and sick of them.  The give-and-take we used to long for between the comic book industry and the motion picture business has become alarmingly one-sided; the funnybook biz is in one of the most precarious financial states it's ever seen, even as superhero adaptations teeter on the brink of billion-dollar box office business.

Things aren't likely to change, either.  Even dedicated comics-to-film watchers like us were a bit shocked when we stumbled across this post at Den of Geek:  it lists no less than seventy-five film adaptations of comic books that are said to be coming down the pike.  Even if their definition of "comic book movie" is a little elastic (Sherlock Holmes and Conan villain Thulsa Doom are both referred to as comics properties), that's a hell of a lot of four-color heroes headed to the big screen.  Even if as little as a third of them actually end up getting made, this is what is technically referred to as a "glut".

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Via, of all places, Latino Review, comes a review of the latest script from superhero specialist David S. Goyer (Batman Begins):  SuperMax.

Although it hasn't locked down a distributor yet, SuperMax is generating tons of buzz in the cape-and-cowl nerdworld of superhero films, and we'd be very surprised if it doesn't land a production company by the end of summer.  (Some sites have already assigned Matt Damon to the leading role, but this is the kind of speculation run amok that is endemic to the world of super-flicks.)  We recently discussed how Marvel intends to make further inroads against rival DC in the movie business by taking a multiversal approach to its storytelling as they did in their comics of the 1960s; while it's not clear if this move will pressure Warner Brothers to do the same in DC movie adaptations, it's at least clear from the SuperMax script that they'll be dipping deep into fanservice, rewarding geeks with tons of cameos by popular DC supervillains, including the Joker, the Riddler and Lex Luthor.

Essentially, SuperMax tells the story of billionaire playboy Oliver Queen's transformation from self-absorbed layabout to crimefighting liberal crusader the Green Arrow, as well as his subsequent frame-up for murder.  After the framejob, he's found guilty and transported to the SuperMax prison, a specially designed high-security penitentiary meant to contain super-powered threats.  The movie quickly transforms into a race-against-time thriller, as Green Arrow must prove himself innocent and find out who framed him (and why) before the inhabitants of SuperMax -- many of whom he put there himself -- get their revenge.

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Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds are getting hitched, and we here at the Screengrab haven't been this proud and excited since our guppies mated! These are two of our favorite people: Reynolds, because he's a likable fellow who's shown himself to be a reliable, capable actor whether he's flexing his chops in bad comedies (Van Wilder), bad action movies (Smokin' Aces), bad horror movies (The Amityville Horror), or bad unintentionally comic action horror movies (Blade : Trinity); Johansson, because she was once in a good movie (Ghost World) without doing it much harm, because Tom Waits isn't too proud to cash the royalty checks, and because every time we run a picture of her, such as this computer-generated simulation of what she'll look like in her wedding outfit, our page numbers go up for some reason. (Also, her name is Scarlett, but she's a blonde! How trippy is that!?) Interestingly, though both of them keep very busy, the 23-year-old Johansson and the 31-year-old cradle-robbing bastard Reynolds have never worked together before. (IMDB lists their only shared credit as 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies on TV, which we haven't seen--we're waiting for the opera---but we have a hunch it would stretch the definition of "working together.") But if this marriage is going to work, and I think we can all agree that the thought of it failing is just too morbid to contemplate, then they're going to want to explore the possibility of co-starring vehicles to increase their volume of quality time together. (It worked for Julia and Kiefer, right?) Because the kids must have their hands full with wedding plans--registering at Sears, negotiating to rent out a bowling alley for the bachelor party, trying to get Survivor's Boston Robb on the phone to ask if he'd still lobby for the surf and turf buffet--they might not have a lot of time to flip through scripts, so we've taken the liberty of offering a few suggestions:

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