Hickman Says He Has Quietly Consulted on Marvel Scripts for Two Years

Comics writer Jonathan Hickman said he has been acting as a script consultant for Marvel Studios, telling SlashFilm in an interview that he has been reading scripts for about two and a half years.

Hickman said he reads almost all the films Marvel Studios is making while they are in development, including work connected to Avengers: Doomsday. He added that he has not seen a final cut of any of them, only work in progress.

In the interview, Hickman praised the Russo Brothers, who direct Avengers: Doomsday, along with Robert Downey Jr., who plays Victor von Doom, and co-writer Stephen McFeely.

Avengers: Doomsday appears to loosely adapt the Avengers: Time Runs Out arc, which leads into Secret Wars. In Secret Wars, Victor von Doom rules a new realm assembled from a broken multiverse. Hickman began writing Avengers for Marvel Comics in 2012 and wrote Secret Wars, with art by Esad Ribic.

Hickman took a hiatus from Marvel after Secret Wars and later returned to relaunch the X-Men with House of X/Powers of X, drawn by Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva, though he did not get to finish his planned X-Men arc. The Russo Brothers and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently wrote forewords for Marvel Premier rereleases of Time Runs Out and Secret Wars.