A User hankers after a Shinobi film devoid of the much-anticipated Spider-Man/Batman battle.
In a world amped up by the success of Sonic's cinematic endeavors, Sega aims high and announces yet another gaming classic to receive a live-action overhaul: Shinobi. Is this ninja-driven story going to deliver a gritty, grounded action flick, or will it embrace the wacky, creatively rebellious spirit of the original?
According to Deadline, Sega teams up with Universal to bring Shinobi to the big screen, with Extraction director Sam Hargrave at the helm and a script from Sunny's Ken Kobayashi. Originating in the arcades in 1987, Shinobi follows the escapades of Joe Musashi, the Oboro clan's ninja prodigy, battling criminal syndicates led by Zeed and their ever-evolving successors aiming to return modern Japan to feudal times, a period favoring the ascendancy of ninjas. Since its inception, the franchise has spawned over a dozen games in four decades, including the recent announcement at the 2021 Game Awards.
This combination promises an exhilarating action story. Fans shouldn't stop there, though; they should expect a more unpredictable and thrilling adaptation that echoes the spectacle of Revenge of Shinobi. This Genesis classic, the third game in the series, showcased some outrageous cameos of pop culture icons in its initial versions, such as Rambo, the Terminator, and Jackie Chan as foes, and a Godzilla-like kaiju in one level.
The most iconic homage, though, comes in Revenge's sixth level, where the final boss, Metamorpher, shapeshifts into none other than Spider-Man, scaling ceilings, and web-slinging you. After taking enough damage, Spider-Man morphs into Batman, swooping around the arena adorned by bats. This audacious crossover was particularly intriguing given that Sega had no license for these characters at the time.
Subsequent versions of Shinobi underwent modifications to dial down many of these obvious cameos, but the Spider-Man transformations remained a constant fixture in the franchise's various iterations. In later years, Sega secured a licensing agreement with Marvel to produce the 1991 game Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, leading to the replacement of Batman with a random winged monster in the Revenge of Shinobi fight. However, due to the specifics of this agreement, the original game was barred from re-release for several years until cleared versions were rolled out on platforms such as the Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network in 2009 and 2012, with the Spider-Man sprite updated to a vibrant pink palette swap.
As the Shinobi film is in development at Universal rather than Sony Pictures or Disney, the likelihood of Tom Holland morphing into Robert Pattinson to dispatch a ninja on the big screen seems slim. With today's franchise cross-overs and meta-universes, a Shinobi movie without some flagrant copyright tiptoes seems off-key to many. Stranger things have happened (remember the days when a Spider-Man appearance in the MCU felt impossible?), but will the pink costume switch suffice for a blockbuster budget flick? Time will tell.
In other news, keep tabs on the latest releases from Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek, the future of the DC Universe on film and television, and everything you need to know about the continuing journey of Doctor Who.
- The future Shinobi movie, under development at Universal, might boldly venture into copyright territory, given the history of its video game counterpart boasting unlicensed cameos, such as Spider-Man and Batman.
- While Sega collaborates with Universal for the upcoming Shinobi film, fans might find it puzzling if it lacks the pop culture references so prevalent in the original games, like the extravagant appearances of Rambo, the Terminator, and even Jackie Chan.
- As technology advances, the line between video games and movies becomes more blurred, with IO9 suggesting that a gritty Shinobi could mirror the creative rebelliousness of the original games, which featured unexpected icons like Spider-Man and Batman.
- In the realm of movies, the forthcoming Shinobi film could challenge viewers with audacious technology, daringly weaving together characters once thought incompatible, much like the Genesis classic, Revenge of Shinobi, did in the Sega universe.
