Vin Diesel Confirms Valiant Cinematic Universe Plans After Bloodshot

The Fast and the Furious franchise may be approaching its end, but Vin Diesel has possibly found his next steady paycheck in the form of this week’s Bloodshot, which was originally announced as a launching point for a possible cinematic universe focused on Valiant Comics characters. With Paramount taking the rights for Harbinger, it appeared those plans were in trouble, but the 52-year-old actor has confirmed there were threads left open for future franchises in his solo superhero effort (via The Playlist).

RELATED: Bloodshot Review

In an interview with Superhero Fanatic, Diesel confirmed that there are hopes for Bloodshot to take off and spawn future installments and that his film left open plenty of room to introduce other Valiant heroes and villains on the big screen.

“I think what [Bloodshot] does is that it opens the door for all of them,” Diesel said. “I think you’re going to see all of them. I think if you’re a fan of Valiant Comics, then you are going to be delighted to hear—and I think they’re going to wait until the movie comes out—but they’re going to start putting out into the press all of the Valiant comic books that are going into the cinematic universe. It’s going to be very exciting.”

While Diesel clarification that the studio is going to wait to see how this film performs is fair, Bloodshot has a few major hurdles to overcome, as early reviews for the film have done nothing but pan the effort for its lackluster action sequences, poor script from Jeff Wadlow (Fantasy Island) and Oscar-nominee Eric Heisserer (Arrival) and generic story. Additionally, it’s only projected to open to $10 million at the box office, and given its $45 million production budget — with marketing costing more than likely costing double — that is no small hill to overtake.

Created by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton, Bloodshot tells the story of a former soldier, Ray Garrison, killed and brought back to life with technological upgrades thanks to Rising Spirit Technologies, filling his body with billions of nanobots. This allows him to be the perfect soldier by healing from injuries, shapeshifting and even interacting with technology. Ray, aka Bloodshot, suffers total memory loss and struggles to reconnect with who he was while learning what sort of weapon he has become, with the help of a group of other augmented combatants known as Chainsaw.

The star-studded cast includes Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious series, xXx series) in the title role, Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Sam Heughan (Outlander), Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver), Talulah Riley (Westworld), Johannes Haukur Johannesson (Game of Thrones), Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Game Night), Guy Pearce (Prometheus) and Alex Hernandez (Unreal).

The feature is directed by Dave Wilson, who worked with Deadpool director Tim Miller at Blur Studios, directing cinematics for video games including Halo 2, Mass Effect 2 and BioShock Infinite. Academy Award-nominated writer Heisserer (Arrival, The Thing) has penned the script for the film, as well as another of the Sony/Valiant features, Harbinger.

Diesel will be reunited with producer Neal Moritz, who he has collaborated with on both The Fast and the Furious franchise and the first xXx film. Moritz’s other credits include 21 Jump Street and I Am Legend, plus another superhero film with The Green Hornet.

The film will hit the theaters on March 13, 2020.