FAQ for
Wanted (2008) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Wanted can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/parentalguide.

Wanted is loosely based on a comic book miniseries of the same name by Scottish graphic novelist Mark Millar, with art by J.G. Jones, published in 2003 and 2004 by Top Cow as part of Millar's creator-owned line known as Millarworld. American screenwriting partners, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, adapted the comics into the original screenplay, which was revised in part by screenwriters Chris Morgan and Dean Georgaris.

Wesley Gibson and the Fox have made the transition to film largely unchanged. The only major differences being their appearance (Wesley was originally modeled on Eminem, Fox on Halle Berry). However, as the main plotline of the comic books (in which all of the main characters are actually supervillains modeled on DC characters) has been altered, many other characters were re-imagined or cut entirely from the film.

Examples being:

Dr. Solomon Seltzer (a short, bald super-scientist and friend to Wesley's father) became Sloan (Morgan Freeman). Seltzer is referenced by name at one point in the film.

Mr. Rictus (an evil, goul-faced murderer) became the assassin Cross (Thomas Kretschmann). Rictus is also referenced in the film as an assassin killed by Cross.

The Killer (famed assassin and Wesley's father, modeled after Tommy Lee Jones) became Mr. X (David O'Hara).

Wesley's boss, girlfriend and best friend are also largely unchanged.

There are significant changes from the comic book.

-Perhaps the most significant change is the underlying purpose of The Fraternity. In the comic, The Fraternity are a secret group of supervillains with an array of powers and they behave as supervillains would be expected to: committing crimes and killing people. In the movie The Fraternity is a secret guild of assassins who work to maintain order in the world by assassinating evil people. The film portrays them in a far more positive light than the book.

-The book is far more vulgar than the movie and revels in pushing boundaries of taste in terms of violence and sexuality. In the book characters talk much more matter of factly about topics such as murder, rape, pedophilia, and bestiality.

-The backstory of the film is entirely different from the book. In the comic a group of supervillains murdered all the superheroes and erased their existence from reality. In the film a group of medieval weavers-turned-assassins founds the Fraternity to maintain order.

-Most of the characters were wholly invented for the film. While Fox and Wesley make the transition largely unchanged Wesley's father is almost completely different from how he was portrayed in the book, Mr X, Sloan, The Russian, and the Gunsmith are complete inventions. The Repairman is an expansion of an unamed character who appears in a few panels in the book, and The Butcher is created from a scene in the book where Wesley himself is sent to work in a slaughterhouse to help desensitize him.

-The plot is dramatically changed. While the introduction and Wesley's training are very similar the plot of the comic involves intrigue between different factions of super villains while the film deals with the efforts to apprehend one rogue assassin. In addition the film focuses far more on Wesley's quest to avenge his father. While the book version of Wesley is interested in knowing who killed his father it is not a driving aspect of his character.

- Scenes of Wesley's training are greatly expanded in the film.

-The film version of Wesley is considerably nicer and more sympathetic than the comic version.

-The film includes far more moral conflict about the nature of what The Fraternity does than the comic book.

A sequel is already in the works. Derek Haas and Michael Brandt have already been hired to write by Universal.

The song is called "The Little Things", and is sung by the film's composer, Danny Elfman.