Hasbro Cinematic Universe Writers Room Enlists Marvel Studios Writers and More!

The franchises set to be the groundwork for the Hasbro Cinematic Universe are G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. and ROM: SpaceKnight. Paramount and Allspark Pictures (Hasbro’s film label) will produce all of the films with the writer’s room set to convene for the first time on Monday.

While audiences are already familiar with “G.I. Joe” after the two moderately successful films, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra in 2009 followed by G.I. Joe: Retaliation in 2013, you might need a refresher on the others if you were born after 1990. “ROM” started as a robotic toy kit from Parker Brothers (now a Hasbro subsidiary) and achieved a cult popularity thanks to a Marvel comic book series about a human who volunteers to transform himself into a robotic spaceknight to defend the planet Galador from invading Dire Wraiths. “M.A.S.K.” (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) was a Kenner product that spawned a one-season Saturday morning cartoon series about a special advanced task force that fights a criminal organization called V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). Another one-and-done animated series was based around “Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light,” which also became an unsuccessful line of Hasbro action figures that had holograms on their chests and staffs to represent their supernatural magic abilities. The “Micronauts” toys were originally launched in Japan as “Microman” but were re-imagined for America by Mego toys and in a Marvel Comics series as subatomic-sized warriors.

There is no word on whether the long-term plan is to integrate this universe with the Transformers universe, of which three more films are already planned, or if there is potential to reboot failed cinematic Hasbro properties like Battleship or Jem and the Holograms, though if these initial characters translate well, the sky’s the limit.