Sony Pictures is coming up with a feature adaptation of Valiant Comics’ Faith which probably brings the first plus-size superhero on screen.
The comic book follows an aspiring geeky teen Faith Herbert, obsessed with comics and science-fiction who also happens to possess telekinetic superpowers.
Faith marks a step forward towards defying the norms, as men are almost always well muscled and women are modelled thin. Unless she’s redrawn, Faith represents the first plus-size superhero character to be brought on screen.
She made her debut in 1992 as a member of the Harbinger team and her accessibility made her popular enough to get her own comic book series. She is able to fly and has the ability to levitate other objects in her ‘companion field’. Unlike most superheroes, she doesn’t brood but is a pretty effervescent young woman.
The current comic series is written by Jody Houser with artwork by Francis Portela and Marguerite Sauvage and covers by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic. In this version, Faith moves to Los Angeles and takes on a secret identity as a reporter.
The studio has roped in Maria Melnik (American Gods, the upcoming action thriller The Escape Room), who is represented by WME and LINK Entertainment to write the film that will be produced by Toby Jaffe and Neal Moritz under their Original Film banner with Dan Mintz of DMG Entertainment.
Melnik’s other credits include Sony’s The Maze which is slated for a February release, as well as the Starz! series Counterpart, starring J.K. Simmons.
