Thor blimey! Marvel superheroes embark on new mission... to save, er, Coatbridge
THE superheroes he created have become a global phenomenon – and made him a fortune.
Now Scots author Mark Millar – behind Hollywood blockbusters such as X-Men, The Avengers, Kick-Ass and Kingsman – has pledged to invest some of his cash in the town where he grew up.
As a child he played on the streets of Coatbridge, pretending he was Spider-Man.
His first script, drafted when he was a struggling writer, was produced on a typewriter in the Lanarkshire town’s library.
Now a multi-millionaire, the 47-year-old has announced he will use some of his fortune to redevelop the Townhead area, starting with a plan to build 30 houses. He is also sending local schoolchildren on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Christmas pantomime.
Mr Millar recently sold his Millarworld publishing company to home entertainment giants Netflix for a sum rumoured to be up to £76 million.
As chief writer at Marvel, he reinvented the Avengers comic book heroes, including The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America. He also breathed life into the X-Men franchise.
Work on the new homes is expected to start early next year and the profits from the venture will be put back into community facilities. If all goes well, he intends to launch a longer-term regeneration plan.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Millar said: ‘I want to have private-school level facilities and after-school clubs to the point where parents are champing at the bit to get into the area and have their kids schooled in Townhead.’
Meanwhile, he will offer a fully funded trip to the panto for children and two events for pensioners – a Christmas dinner and a variety show.
His ambition to improve life in Townhead lies in his own upbringing. Previously, he has paid tribute to the role Coatbridge played in his early life, saying: ‘The town is synonymous with comics because my childhood memories are of playing Spider-Man with my pals. These shops dotted around, to me, it kind of felt like Gotham City or Metropolis, it’s where SpiderMan lived, in a weird way.’ He also said: ‘The old Coatbridge Library was a big part of my life. My parents had died, I was living on my own in a tiny flat and had no money. ‘I had a cat, and the cat and I ate on alternate days. There wasn’t enough money for me to eat every day. Hunger is a brilliant motivator... ‘I used to sit in lectures as a student and write down ideas and then come to the library... and write proposals. I got tons of rejections but there wasn’t any alternative, it was the 1980s, there were no other jobs around, I was dropping out of university and there was no choice.’