Originally published in the 1930s by Street and Smith, the company responsible for the pulp adventures of ‘The Shadow’ and ‘Doc Savage’, ‘The Avenger’ was Richard Henry Robinson, a wealthy adventurer who gains the power to re-sculpt his face at will in order to disguise himself, so that he could ‘avenge’ the deaths of his wife and daughter.

The CW is developing a new take on the pulp hero, recasting him as a young woman, out for revenge after her parents are killed. Here is their official plot synopsis:

[The Avenger] tells the story of Alice Benson, a young woman who, in the wake of her parents’ murder, discovers she possesses a superpower as a result of genetic bio-hacking which allows her to transform her appearance at will. Alice will use her face-altering talents to investigate the mystery of her parents’ deaths and uncover the origins of her strange ability.

Unlike ‘Doc Savage’ and ‘The Shadow’ which both have something of a fanbase today, ‘The Avenger’ is much more obscure, so it doesn’t sound like the producers feel the need to retain most of the original set-up.

But of course, the elephant in the room is, what about that name? Surely, they’ll come up with something else in order to avoid confusion with Marvel’s million-dollar franchise. It was bad enough dealing with the 60s spy series ‘The Avengers’ which was made into a movie in 1998. I’d steer clear of that name at all cost. I wouldn’t even go with anything close, like ‘Codename: The Avenger’ or anything like that.

‘Under The Dome‘ executive producer Neal Baer is overseeing the project which will be written by Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab, two writers from the Syfy series ‘Warehouse 13’.

What do you think? Does this project sound appealing to you? And what do you think about the name?

Sources Blastr and Giant Freakin Robot