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'Mobile Suit Gundam' Is Getting A Live-Action Movie Penned By Brian K. Vaughn

Big mechs deserve big names

Suit up and get ready to head out. Legendary Entertainment has tapped Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan for an upcoming live-action Mobile Suit Gundam series.

Vaughan, who's penned innovative comic book titles like Paper Girls, Runaways, and Ex Machina, is on board to oversee the film's script while working as an executive producer with Sunrise, the parent company of the massively popular mecha franchise.

News of a live-action Gundam adaptation first rose during 2018's Anime Expo, where Sunrise president and CEO Yasuo Miyakawa announced the studio's intention to go with Legendary when creating a live-action version of one of the most influential anime series of all time.

Sunrise

Gundam

As far as which Gundam series the movie is set to adapt, however, that's unknown at this time. Seeing as next month marks the 40th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam, the series that started it all, it will likely take the show that cemented the mechs genre as a veritable cultural phenomenon and adapt it for modern audiences.

Mobile Suit Gundam is set in a fictional universe in the year 2179 (which translates to Universal Century year 0079 according to the Gundam calendar — it's a little complicated). It follows the war that breaks out when the Principality of Zeon declares independence from the Earth Federation. The One Year War, as it was called, ended up wrapping the entirety of the Earth into battle, including the space and lunar colonies of the Gundam universe. Nearly half of humanity is exterminated during the conflict before any sort of stalemate is reached between the warring factions.

The story focuses on a young man named Amuro Ray who stumbles upon the Earth Federation's prototype arsenal of mechs called Gundams — particularly, the RX-78 Gundam. The Gundams are a central part of the story, as is a Zeon commander named Char Aznable, who has an intriguing agenda to fulfill, despite appearing as one of the enemy. It can be a convoluted story that's a bit difficult to understand, but it's well worth digging into. There are dozens of different Gundam series, movies, and continuities to follow beyond the original series, too. This fandom is gonna have its hooks in you for the long haul.

There aren't many details floating on around Mobile Suit Gundam just yet, but with Vaughan on board, the future is certainly looking bright for Gundam fans around the world. And one thing is for certain: This adaptation is going to be huge.

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