Jonathan Mostow has signed on to write and direct the Marvel Comics adaptation, Sub-Mariner for Universal Pictures.

Sub-Mariner is one of the oldest superheroes, first appearing in Marvel Comics #1 in 1939, when the company was known as Timely Comics; he made his first modern appearance in the pages of Fantastic Four in the early 1960s. He's a half-man/half-amphibian from the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. The Hollywood Reporter notes he's an anti-hero, who frequently finds himself helping the human race as much as he fights it when humans pollute the waters.

Created by cartoonist Bill Everett in April 1939, Sub-Mariner makes the superhero character one of the oldest and centers on a young man who discovers he's actually a descendant from the long-lost kingdom of Atlantis. He turns out to be the key man in a brewing war between the underwater world and our own.

There's no release date currently for Sub-Mariner.