Image: Viz Media
One Punch Man is getting a live-action film adaptation through Sony Pictures that will bring our beloved bald-headed hero, Saitama, and his mechanical sidekick Genos, to life on the big screen, according to a report from Deadline.
The production team sounds solid, with Fast & Furious director Justin Lin on deck, along with scriptwriters Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, who previously worked on Venom and Jumanji: The Next Level. Arad Productions, a studio that has credits in Spider-Man: Homecoming and the live-action Ghost in the Shell will serve as the producers. The One Punch Man adaption could go into production by the end of this year, Deadline reports.
There still aren’t any details on who will actually star in the film and — most crucially — who will play Saitama, the self-made hero who delivers deadpan lines and knocks enemies out with (yes) one punch. At least we can probably rule out Vin Diesel (our token action movie bald guy), considering Lin and Diesel reportedly got into a spat that led to Lin’s departure from Furious X. It’s also too early to know what portions of the storyline the film will cover. Perhaps it will attempt to squeeze in the entirety of season one, concluding with Saitama’s battle with Lord Boros.
One Punch Man, which started out as a manga in 2009, was adapted into an anime by Madhouse Studios in 2015 and follows Saitama’s evolution into one of the world’s (and universe’s) strongest heroes. J.C. Staff took over production for season two but fans noticed an unfortunate dip in animation quality.
While I’m looking forward to seeing how the live-action adaption pans out, I’m still feeling a little hesitant. There have been far too many — mostly American-made — live-action anime adaptions that fail to capture the show’s original essence, like Netflix’s Death Note, for example.