Paramount Picks Up Superhero Sex Worker Comedy ‘The Pro’

Now that R-rated superhero movies are starting to make blockbuster money – after last year’s surprise hit Deadpool and the critically acclaimed Logan – it should come as no surprise that studios would start scooping up more “mature” power fantasy comics. Paramount has already made their movie, acquiring the rights to The Pro, a superhero comedy about a prostitute with powers, originally published by Image Comics in 2002.

The Pro tells the story of the title character, who gets superpowers but has no interest in super heroics, preferring to use her newfound abilities to be the most successful prostitute in town. Superhero analogues based on Superman and Batman try to get The Pro to reform herself, but her keen awareness of their sexual desires usually takes them down a peg, and cuts right to the heart of the moral hypocrisy of individuals who hold themselves to impossibly high standards.

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The original one-shot comic book was written by Garth Ennis (Preacher), penciled and lettered by Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn) and inked by Jimmy Palmiotti (Painkiller Jane). Deadline reports that the screenplay to the feature film version of The Pro will be written by Zoe McCarthy, who has three upcoming screenplays in development called Heart You, Cut and Run and Bitches on a Boat.

The Pro became a celebrated comic book upon its initial release, and even though the character hasn’t made many appearances since her debut, the one-shot frequently pops up on lists of Garth Ennis’s greatest stories and beloved superhero parodies. It is also graphic and cynical entertainment, the sort of story that could only ever be produced with an R-rating (or higher) in mind. So even though Paramount has not explicitly said that they plan to produce an R-rated feature, we can only assume they aren’t trying to downplay the material they’ve just paid good money for.

Let’s see if any other studios start picking up the gauntlet and green lighting more R-rated superhero stories, and let’s see if audiences really are eager to get raunchy while wearing tights!

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William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.