Posted in: Comics | Tagged: ashton kutcher, bill finger, Marc Nobleman, Midtown Comics, mila kunis, wonder twins

Has The Truth Behind The Wonder Twins Poster Been Found?

Remember back in November when the following movie poster was tweeted by Midtown Comics? A movie poster for a Wonder Twins movie starring Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis…

Well, thanks to Marc Nobleman we may finally know what it was about. While promoting his new book Bill The Boy Wonder, the story of Bill Finger and his co-creation of Batman, Marc met a guy named Pat Evans while doing BatPodcast and it seems that Pat had some connection to the poster. Marc interviewed him for his blog and sent us the link.

What inspired the idea to design a poster for a Wonder Twins movie—and send it anonymously to comic shops including Midtown Comics in New York?

I honestly don't remember the exact moment of conception. I was standing on my toilet trying to hang a clock, the porcelain was wet, the next thing I know: blammo!

Seriously, though…with the spate of superhero movies being released, I think it was just me thinking it would be fun to do a spoof version of one. I thought, "What would be the most preposterous superhero movie you could make?" Naturally, the Wonder Twins sprang to mind.

They were perfect, because it was just unbelievable enough a concept that it could be true, if that makes sense. "So crazy it might work" kind of logic. And Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher were kind of the clincher because they are in the media a lot now as a real-life couple. So it added that extra layer of "huh?"

When did you get this idea and when did you send it out? Was there a reason you sent it out when you did?

About ten months ago. I'm pretty busy, so sometimes my side projects take a while to complete. I had actually wanted to have them ready for Comic-Con but wasn't able to. The next big local event was Comikaze, so I thought I'd take some there to leave on the poster table and them stand back and surreptitiously watch people's reactions.

Unfortunately, this year they didn't have a poster table so I had to sort of leave them lying in conspicuous places and wait for people to notice them. So it was a little anti-climactic although I did get to see a few interesting reactions. But my friends and fellow geeks I showed loved them. Many were not sure if they were real or not.

Also unfortunately, I didn't think to change the release date from when I originally conceived the idea. I should have changed it to 2015— maybe that would have made it more believable as an actual film. Of course, with IMDB and everything now, it takes people about five seconds to figure out the truth anyway.

But what was weird is because people assumed that it was officially from Warner Brothers, it must be part of some sort of marketing gimmick for the Entourage movie because of their fake Aquaman movie and since it is due out in 2014. One person put forth that assumption online, and a lot of people ran with it. Repeat it enough times and it's true!

So to finish answering your last question: I sent it to Midtown and the other more well-known comic shops in New York, L.A., and Chicago because I wasn't able to pull off any great reactions at Comikaze and I had about half of the posters still left. So I said what the hell, I'll send it to some comic shops and see what happens. I wanted to do something with them after all the trouble of having them made.

When I made the mailing labels, I figured I should put the WB logo on them—make them look like they actually came from Warner Bros. Otherwise the gag is blown. Same with the logos on the poster. They had to be there or people instantly dismiss it.

[Still,] I figured they'd pretty quickly know it was fake but maybe think it was funny and put it in their windows as a joke. I forgot about the magic of Twitter.

What was your goal with this experiment?

Basically to make people think—if only for a few moments—that a Wonder Twins movie might actually be made. Sort of the equivalent of making someone believe in Santa Claus. A dangerous, drooling, and demented Santa Claus to be sure—but miraculous and magical nonetheless.

What reaction did you expect? 

"What the ****?" And that's pretty much what I got. So, mission accomplished, I guess.

Are you a Wonder Twins fan? If not, what made you choose the Wonder Twins for this experiment?

Who doesn't love the Wonder Twins? Seriously. Just ask my kids, Zan and Jayna. [MTN: I had to clarify: yes, this is a joke.]

For the full interview, go to Marc Nobleman's blog and help support the campaign to get Bill Finger a Google Doodle.

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