Arnold Schwarzenegger spent much of the 80s blowing things up and throwing out quotable lines while doing it, but he took a small detour with the movie KINDERGARTEN COP in 1990, which was slightly less bloody. The movie was a massive hit, and one Schwarzenegger always wanted to revisit down the line. After expressing such desires to comic book legend Stan Lee some time ago, the movie star is finally getting his chance to go back to school with the animated series STAN LEE’S SUPERHERO KINDERGARTEN, which just dropped the first images.
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Schwarzenegger spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the new series, which is being written by Deadpool co-creator Fabian Nicieza. The actor said it all came about when he was speaking with Lee (who passed away last December at 95) about what projects he most wanted to do, one of them being more school-set shenanigans.
"My ultimate dream is to do more Conan movies and more Terminator movies. The one movie I think would be a fantastic sequel is Kindergarten Cop. He kind of looked at me and says, 'I really enjoyed that movie. That was fantastic. I loved the way you played with those kids and your communication with the kids, the fun you had.
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The 1990 movie found Schwarzenegger playing a detective, John Kimble, who has to go undercover as a kindergarten teacher to bust a drug ring. However, for this new animated adventure geared towards children, Lee pitched Schwarzenegger the idea of him played a gym teacher who was granted superpowers and became Captain Courage. After having to sacrifice his powers to defeat his nemesis, Dr. Sinister, he dedicated his life to teaching the new generation of young heroes after an explosion of superpowered particles gave them superhuman abilities.
Schwarzenegger continued, "I have to teach them about everything. Teach them about health and fitness. Teach them how to be inclusive, not to be a bully, how to set goals for themselves. How to use their powers for good, not for evil.” The series is a co-production between Genius Brands, Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, and Schwarzenegger’s Oak Productions, and the star is also executive producing.
Genius Brands’ Chairman and CEO Andy Heyward also spoke about the series, confirming that Lee will have an animated cameo in every episode, much like in the Marvel movies.
“Stan loved and admired Arnold as not just an actor, but a true hero in so many ways and always envisioned Arnold for this role. What will be particularly unique about this series is that there will be an animated cameo of Stan Lee appearing in each and every episode. Just as his millions of fans look forward to seeing him appear in each Marvel film, they will look forward to his presence in each episode of this cartoon."
Schwarzenegger said he and Lee had talked about him playing a Marvel hero over the years, saying “We have talked many times about various different ideas," but that he was “so happy that this is the one that we really clicked and started creating a vision as I was speaking about.”
It may not be the KINDERGARTEN COP sequel a portion of Schwarzenegger fans were hoping for, but it sounds like a fun little project, and I love the idea of Lee and the actor once hanging out and talking about new projects. If you were hoping there would ever be a series that would all at once educate your kids about life lessons, scratch their superhero itch, would introduce them to the world of Schwarzenegger without all the blood and carnage *and* would get them doing their own Arnold impressions, it looks like we will soon have that series that meets your inexplicably specific needs.