Now that you've made this point, there is some truth to it (when in the history to begin the movie). 40K DOES have a huge history and being dropped off in the deep end would stir critics who'd go in complaining they don't know anyone or anything and the verse is full of those (people, places and races), even though sadly....LotR was guilty of these as well (you COULD say there was material for the LotR movies prior to its release, but 40K has just as much and more in that regard).
They COULD stage the story at the time when mankind goes out into the stars, BEFORE meeting any alien races. They could show their first, violent interactions with other races and perhaps have some period of time pass by where all the races they encounter are violent as well. They could maybe have a story where they resolve a violent conflict, and then in the epilogue show that a period of time has passed (they could have a main character and in the epilogue show that he's aged a bit and have him monologue) and the human race decides to treat the rest of the universe as hostile and to exterminate any xenos they find, showing the audience that the human race has gone down a dark path.
The sequel can involve the emperor, his kids and his war against...who's that important chaos son of his? The first (I think he was the first) to succumb to chaos and had to be defeated by the emperor himself.
With all the factions and important people in the verse, they might benefit from a controlled show (perhaps each season is a different story arc with different characters, or which follows a series of novels, what we DON'T need is a show with a monster of the week methodology), though I think I might be happier to see them as movies since shows, regardless of whether they're taken from actual novels or not, can get bogged down with fillers and fluff.
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StormBringer328
8 years ago
You speak of the Horus Heresy, taking place about 10,000 years before the general game setting of 40k. While the Horus Heresy has some amazing stories that would be amazing on the big screen, it is a very BIG story w/ lots to digest. The character list would be hard to handle for the uninitiated.
For the purposes of introducing the story to general audiences I think it would be best to start the film franchise off in the 40k 'current' storyline. Where to begin tho? There are so many books and stories to use as a basis. I've always found the Ultramarines series by McNeil as a good place to introduce newbies to the 40k universe.
The first book is laughable compared to later ones, but it has it's charm. Still, those characters and events would make for a good film series. The Ultramarines aren't the most interesting of chapters, but I think that's why they'd be the easiest for people to relate to in a way. The other good thing about this series is that each book introduces different alien or chaos threats, which make them good for introducing all the various threats facing the Imperium of Man.
After these films it would be easier to branch out and tell the stories of other chapters and enemies as the rules and background of the universe have been touched on.
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