The recent announcement that Netflix has acquired Mark Millar's Millarworld has set us up for many new comic book adaptations in the near future, but what does it mean for the online streaming giant, the comics industry, and the future of media in general? This move could signal a drastic change in how companies bring adaptations to the screen.

Netflix Continues to Go All In on Comic Book Content

defenders rumors

By acquiring Millarworld, Netflix didn't just support Mark Millar's brand -- the company expressed confidence in its own programming. For a powerful media company like Netflix, it says a lot that its first acquisition was not a production company or movie studio, but a comic imprint. This shows that Netflix feels confident in the company's ability to continue turning out high-quality content without the help of a traditional studio.

While we don't have viewership information on Marvel's Netflix shows, we know that Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist have all been massively successful for the streaming service. Luke Cage actually out performed season two of Daredevil, and despite criticism from fans and critics alike, Iron Fist saw similar viewership trends, proving that the level of interest in that sort of programming continues to grow. The company is primed to release both The Defenders crossover series and The Punisher spinoff show in 2017, and both should break records in a matter of days.

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Considering how well the Marvel series have performed for both parties, you can't blame Netflix for wanting to repeat that same success without another company making money off their work. It has been Netflix's long-term goal to distance itself from licensing deals in order to create its own original content, after all. Outright owning the comics and characters allows Netflix to avoid any kind of additional cost it would take to get these adaptations to series.

We may never know the financial details of this deal, but it likely cost a pretty penny. This continues the company's trend of massive spending in the hopes of attracting new customers via better content. The strategy of spending now to make money later on has helped Netflix to accrue $20 billion worth of debt, as reported by the LA Times, and yet, it looks like Netflix is going full steam ahead.

Superheroes Aren't Dead Yet

Despite all the digital ink that has been written about the fading popularity of superhero adaptations, the genre seems to be doing alright for itself.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is still going strong, 10 years in. In fact, Marvel Studios is now prepping to unleash Phase 4 of its overarching story, and has hundreds of as-yet unseen on the big screen characters and thousands of stories from which to pull from. At this point, every Marvel movie is practically guaranteed to bring in at least $500,000,000 worldwide, and most go well beyond that number.

Even DC's critically derided fledgling universe is making Warner Bros. a boatload of money. Justice League is due out in November, and should be another massive financial success. The accolades given to Wonder Woman will only invigorate the studio to create more, and hopefully better, movies going forward.

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One criticism of the superhero movie world we live in today is the dip in movie quality as studios shift focus to crafting a universe instead of self-contained stories. We saw this happen to Universal's Dark Universe, which announced additional entries to its connected continuity before the first entry even hit theaters. With The Mummy flopping, the future of the series may already be in doubt.

Netflix, however, has proven with its Marvel series that it can focus on both quality and quantity. The format of its content allows for fewer episodes and more precise storytelling that can be consumed faster than ever before.

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What to Expect from Netflix's Millarworld Franchise

Studios acquiring the film rights to creator-owned comic work is nothing new. It happens all the time, in fact, with the most recent big deal arriving back in January, when Rob Liefeld signed a deal to option his Extreme Studios characters for film. However, outright acquiring an entire company's library a la the Netflix/Millarworld deal is less common.

Perhaps the best and closest example to the Millarworld purchase is when Nickelodeon flat out bought the rights to Mirage Studio's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise in 2009. Since that acquisition, the franchise has launched a successful comic book line with IDW Publishing, released two features films produced by Michael Bay, and developed one television series, with another on the way in 2018.

RELATED: Nickelodeon’s ‘Turtles’ products rake in $475 million in retail sales

If the Netflix deal follows a similar path, don't be surprised to see multiple adaptations of Millar's work in production. Popular titles like Reborn, Huck, Jupiter's Legacy, Superior, Super Crooks, Nemesis, and Wanted give the company plenty of content to work with until Millar and his artistic collaborators can create even more comics down the road.

This deal doesn't just have the potential to be a success for Netflix; it could change the way both media and comic book creators interact. If Millarworld content proves successful, it's not out of the realm of possibility to see other high-profile creators make similar business deals. In order to compete with their rivals, it could be only a matter of time before Amazon (The Tick) and Hulu (Runaways) make similar deals to gain access to other popular source material.

Rise of the Creator

Wanted by Mark Millar

During the superhero boom over the last 20 years, we have seen companies pick up movie rights to comic books at every turn. Now, we're likely to see something different. If the film and TV industry is watching (and you know it is) the Millarworld deal will significantly increase the value of the creator-owned comic. Most mainstream superheroes are already owned by billion dollar corporations, but creator-owned comics provide an interesting alternative for studios that want to jump into the superhero business.

Businesses like working in-house. Rather of continuing to option individual properties, purchasing a full collection of work would give the acquiring company a lot more content to work from. It would also establish a working relationship with the creators on future work. There are many other writers and artists out there who are going to be just as eager to make a deal as Millar, Sean Gordon Murphy, Rafael Albuquerque, Greg Capullo and the rest of the Millarworld family were.

It could become common practice for creators to sell their line of work to studios in order to gain a nice paycheck to support future work and almost assure that their work hits the big screen. After all, it's one thing to acquire a film option that goes nowhere, and another to buy the work outright. Either way, one thing is certain: We're about to get a lot more superheroes, from Millarword and elsewhere.