'One Punch Man' Movie Gets Rewrites From 'Rick & Morty's Dan Harmon

The Big Picture

The
One Punch Man
live-action movie is still in the early stages, undergoing re-writes by new writers.
The new writers indicate a comedic tone, with potential for humor in Saitama’s one-liners.
Writers Heather Anne Campbell and Dan Harmon have experience blending comedy and action, suggesting a promising script.

After a pretty long time without any news from the live-action movie based on the One Punch Man manga and anime series, we finally know what’s going on with the project. The good news is, it’s still alive inside the Sony offices but… It’s still in the early stages. This weekend, Rick and Morty writer Heather Anne Campbell confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that she’s been called on for re-writes along with fellow Rick and Morty alum and Community creator and writer Dan Harmon.

The revelation that One Punch Man is currently undergoing rewrites might suggest that it could be a while before the cameras start rolling, and the new writers’ selection also indicates the tone that Sony is going for with the adaptation. Both Harmon and Campbell are humor masters and have crafted some witty characters throughout their careers. In the One Punch Man manga, an anime series, protagonist Saitama is not extremely witty, but he does come up with great one-liners. So there’s certainly room for comedy in the story.

The duo of writers is also excellent at pairing up comedy and action. In Community, Harmon was the mastermind behind the famous paintball competition episodes that were always the standout of the season — and they also paid homage to cinema classics such as Star Wars and A Fistful of Dollars — and Campbell wrote up scenarios of absolute chaos, time-travel, aliens and multiverses in several Rick and Morty episodes. The bottom line is, they certainly have what it takes to come up with a killer script or improve the one that already exists.

Justin Lin Is Still Attached to Direct ‘One Punch Man’

As the Hollywood Reporter story cited by Campbell indicates, director Justin Lin is still attached to helm the One Punch Man adaptation. Lin has been under the radar since his shocking exit from the Fast & Furious franchise. He decided to leave the project shortly after Fast X began filming, and Louis Leterrier came on as a last-minute replacement. Lin is also attached to helm Two For The Money, an action flick starring Charlize Theron (The Old Guard) and Daniel Craig (Glass Onion).

One Punch Man was originally published as a webcomic that rose to popularity to become one of the best-selling mangas ever. It was created by One and tells the story of a superhero who has a unique ability: He can defeat any enemy with a single punch, which ends up making him bored because he never has a challenge. The anime series is currently on hiatus and production is underway for Season 3.

Stick with Collider to find out more news about One Punch Man as soon as it is announced. The TV series is available to stream on Crunchyroll.