Charlie Hunnam’s New Crime Show Has a Secret Marvel Connection

It’s recently been announced that Charlie Hunnam will be returning to the realm of television, taking on the lead role in Amazon Prime’s upcoming crime drama series, Criminal. It’s been quite a while since Hunnam last starred in an ongoing TV show, with his only other television credit since Sons of Anarchy‘s finale in 2014 being the Apple TV+ miniseries, Shantaram. Hunnam’s return to the medium that made him into a household name, however, is more than just a big deal in that singular sense. Not many people may be aware, but Criminal just so happens to be based on a comic book series of the same name. With the comic book series having been previously published under a certain imprint of Marvel Comics, on a level of technicality, Hunnam has become one of the latest actors to join a project based on a Marvel property.

The comic book’s history isn’t the only connection that can be made with Marvel, however. The show’s main and supporting cast just so happens to be stacked with actors who audiences may recognize from their previous involvement in Marvel films and television series, both inside and outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Those who have read the comics have every reason to be excited about what could potentially be a solid and popular adaptation. For those who are completely unaware of the source material, the casting alone should be enough to hype them up.

Prime Video’s Criminal Marks Charlie Hunnam’s Return to Television

The Series Will Be The Actor’s First Ongoing Series since Sons of Anarchy

It’s hard to forget what Charlie Hunnam has done to contribute to the history of television. FX’s hit biker crime drama, Sons of Anarchy, was one of the most acclaimed and talked-about television series throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. The casting of Hunnam as the series lead character, Jax Teller, catapulted his name into superstardom. In his performance as Jax, Hunnam’s performance has cemented a legacy as one of the greatest TV characters of all time, alongside the likes of Walter White in Breaking Bad and Dexter Morgan from Dexter. The success of the show also led to the increase of success in his film career, having since played some rather major roles in such films as Pacific Rim, The Lost City of Z, and Guy Richie’s The Gentlemen.

Despite the amount of credibility he has since established as a movie star, the announcement of Hunnam’s casting in Criminal has plenty of reasons for fans of his work to be excited. According to Variety, Hunnam’s character, Leo, has been described as “A brilliant master thief who sees all the angles, and specializes in plans with no guns and no violence.” Similarly to Jax, should the show get renewed for more seasons, it’d be quite interesting to see what the actor could do with another character that gradually grows and evolves throughout each episode. Not only that but for fans of the Criminal comic book, it’d be even more interesting to see exactly how he’ll adapt and interpret a character from another source material.

Criminal Has an Interesting Connection to Marvel Comics

The Series Would Eventually Fall Into The Hands of Image Comics

The official synopsis of the Criminal has described the story of the comic series as “An inter-generational story of families connected through shared criminal history.” While it remains to be seen exactly what kind of liberties the TV adaption will be taking with its portrayal, this initial description seems more or less in line with the story of the comics. Each volume (comprised of around 3–5 issues each), tells a self-contained story and is focused on different characters, with all them occupying the same world and being connected through two generations of crime in the same city. Jumping back and forth through time, the series followed both the successful and unsuccessful crimes of a loosely connected collection of criminals. These characters include Ivan and Tommy (two pick-pockets), Tommy’s son, Leo, who was taken in by Ivan and taught the way of criminal life after Tommy’s arrest, and members of the appropriately named Lawless family; with the patriarch, Teeg Lawless, being the man whose murder Tommy was arrested for.

Created by writer Ed Brubaker and illustrator Sean Phillips, the first ten issues of the series were initially published in 2006 by Icon, a now-defunct imprint of Marvel Comics. Two years later, in 2008, the series was revived with a new set of seven issues. Following the release of two spin-offs, Criminal: The Sinners (five issues) in 2009 and Criminal: The Last of the Innocent (four issues) in 2011, the series moved to Image Comics (whose co-founder and president, Todd MacFarlane, just happens to be well-known a previous work for Marvel in the 80s and 90s) with a set of one-shots. The series was returned once again under Image in 2018, with the spin-off graphic novel, My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies.

Some of Criminal’s Supporting Cast Have a History of Marvel Projects

Charlie Hunnam Will Be Joined By a Few Familiar Faces From the MCU and Beyond

With the casting of Hunnam as the series lead in the role of Leo, it appears that the show, at least in its first season, will be adapting the story told within the first ten issues. Also joining the cast is two-time Academy Award nominee Richard Jenkins in the role of Ivan, the robber who took Leo in as a protégé, now suffering from dementia. Luke Evans, perhaps best known for his role as Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit trilogy, will be playing the role of Tracy Lawless, one of Teeg Lawson’s sons, who joins the U.S. Army to evade the remainder of his prison sentence. For these three actors, the series will technically be their first time involved in a Marvel-based project. However, they’ll also be joined by a few other names that Marvel fans are sure to recognize from other films and TV series throughout the Marvel multiverse.

Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame will be part of the lead cast, playing the role of Mallory, an armed robber and member and crew member of her love interest, Ricky Lawless (Tracy’s younger brother). Marvel fans may recognize her from her role as G’iah, the daughter of Skrull leader, Talos, in the Disney+ miniseries, Secret Invasion. While many will be quick to recognize Michael Mando as Nacho from Better Call Saul, others may recognize him for the small supporting role he had in Spider-Man: Homecoming as Mac Gargan (who will later become the villain Scorpion). As Mando continues to wait for the MCU to revisit his character, just as the film’s cliffhanger post-credit scene teased it would, he’ll be playing alongside the cast of Criminal in a recurring role as Jeff, a vice cop. Marvin Jones III (also known by his rapper name, Krondon), who had previously voiced a minor role as Tombstone in Sony’s Oscar-winning animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, will be playing Chester, the chief enforcer of crime shark Sebastian Hyde.

With Criminal currently in production, it remains to be seen just how faithful it will remain to the source material. For Marvel fans who may or may not be in the know of the comic’s origin, and especially for fans of Charlie Hunnam’s previous work, there are plenty of reasons to get excited over the actor’s television follow-up to the show that made his career what it is today.