Netflix Wins ‘Failsafe;’ Teams Michael B. Jordan & ‘Black Panther’ Co-Writer Joe Robert Cole

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix prevailed to win an auction for Failsafe, a Vault Comics title that will be scripted by Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole as a producing and potential starring vehicle for Michael B. Jordan. Jordan and Alana Mayo will produce through their Outlier Society Productions banner along with Vault Comics’ F.J. Desanto.

The project was pitched on the heels of the Black Panther’s record-breaking theatrical run, and numerous suitors emerged for a re-team between Cole, who wrote that script with director Ryan Coogler, and Jordan, who turned in a powerhouse performance as Killmonger. Sources put the deal in the seven figure range. Jordan, currently reprising in Creed 2 and who will be at Cannes when Fahrenheit 451 plays there, has set up numerous projects through his company. In high demand, he’ll decide whether or not to star when the script comes in. The subject matter certainly fits his wheelhouse.

The protagonist is John Ravane, a legendary insurgent hunter who thought he had executed the last nanotech-enhanced super soldier, in a personal battle that included the kidnap of his daughter. A decade later, it becomes clear that sleeper agents scattered around the country are activating, in an attempt to take over New York, and the government leader who pressed him into duty last time has been exposed as corrupt. The comic is written by Desanto and Todd Farmer.

WME and Bloom Hergott rep Jordan and Mayo; CAA, Circle of Confusion and Jackoway Tyerman rep Cole, and Industry Entertainment and Weintraub Tobin rep Vault and Desanto.