History Creator / MarkMillar

** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''

** However, according to him, all of his works not for DC or Marvel coexist, which means somewhere out there is a genuinely kind and humble man named Huck who also has super strength and the ability to locate anything. Superior also shows that there are truly virtuous people still left in his world. It's not much, but this world is not ''entirely'' at the mercy of scum like the Fraternity, Nemesis, and Troy Hicks.

** Like Creator/GarthEnnis, despite his cynical approach to writing superheroes, even he has nothing but respect for ComicBook/{{Superman}}. In fact, ''Film/ManOfSteel'', in his words, "traumatized" him with its gritty and brooding portrayal of the Big Blue, to the point where he wrote an idealistic comic, ''ComicBook/{{Huck}}'' in response.

** In ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' Issue 4, Nick Fury is asked who he would expect to play him in a movie featuring the Ultimates. His response is; "Why, Mister Samuel L. Jackson, of course. That's not even open for debate".
** He did this to death when he was writing ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. Every time a plot device didn't make sense (the U.S. Army sending ''robots'' to fight ''Magneto'', the Brotherhood goons not recognizing Cyclops, Professor X not noticing that the Hellfire Club was plotting against him, etc.), someone in the cast would point this out. You almost got the impression that he was simply trying to apologize for creating so many plot holes.

** Close to all of the villains in ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' are this. The Future is definitely the worst though, as he is an unapologetic Nazi and misogynist.

* RealityWarper: If it involves superpowers, there's a chance someone can twist space and time like a pretzel in Millar's work. More often than not, it's a [[InvincibleVillain villain]].

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: He is a very cynical comic book author.

** Firmly on the idealistic side is Starlight, the story of a Flash Gordon expy returning to the world he liberated forty years ago to save it from an even greater evil. The protagonist is shown to be heroic, kind, and totally selfless, preferring to live a quiet life on Earth rather than become king of an entire world. Decency and kindness are highly valued, villainy punished, and there isn't a hint of cynicism in sight.
** Huck is also on the idealistic side. In fact, Millar wrote it specifically because ''Film/ManOfSteel'' applying DarkerAndEdgier to Superman himself was too much for even him.

** After he left Ultimate Comics, a continuation of his title ComicBook/TheUltimates was given to Creator/JephLoeb, who created the terrible ''Ultimates 3'' and the even worse ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''. After that he returned to writing comics in UltimateUniverse. The ''very first page'' of his ''Ultimate Comics Avengers'' starts with ComicBook/NickFury looking at the mess caused by Ultimatum and saying "What the #$%^&? I leave for ten minutes and everything goes to hell". He gives another one towards Loeb (and possibly towards mainstream Marvel) in issue four of ''Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates''. Tony Stark gives ten million dollars to charity in exchange for Thor promising to talk like a normal person again. He started using the whole "Faux Shakespearean" thing during Loeb's run.
** His recent attempts at writing more light-hearted stories appears to be one towards DarkerAndEdgier comics, possibly including the ones he is most well known for.

** The "special forces are trained by having them raise, then kill an animal myth in "Enemy of the State"
** The "girlfriend sends a picture of herself having sex with another guy" myth in ComicBook/KickAss
* VulgarHumour: He gets this on occasion.

A set of several independent comics written by Millar. He's confirmed they are all connected, a promise that later came to fruition with the ending of ''Nemesis: Reloaded'' which directly segues into Franchise/{{Millarworld}}'s first CrisisCrossover ''Big Game''.

A set of several independent comics written by Millar. He's confirmed they are all connected, a promise that later came to fruition with the ending of ''Nemesis: Reloaded'' which directly segues into Millarworld's first CrisisCrossover ''Big Game''.

[[WMG: Marvel Universe]]

[[WMG: DC Universe]]

[[WMG: Fleetway Comics]]

[[WMG: Other]]

* BlackAndGrayMorality: When his characters aren't morally reprehensible there are others who, while decent, are just as flawed but not as monstrous. Trying to find a genuinely good character (like Huck or Superman himself) in his works is a rarity.

** In ''ComicBook/TheSecretService'', James Arnold gives horribly offensive nicknames for his disabled henchmen. For example his {{Dragon}} with leg prosthesis is nicknamed Gazelle.

Millar's writing style is known for pretty much taking the concept of DarkerAndEdgier and [[{{Satire}} letting it]] [[BlackComedy off the leash.]] His stories involving popular superheroes are sometimes cynical, [[BlackandGrayMorality forcing heroes to deal with darker moral themes than usual.]] On the other hand, some of Millar's earlier super-hero work (on ''Superman Adventures'') and even some of his more recent projects like ''1985'' [[ALighterShadeOfGray are more optimistic in tone.]] He also runs his own little slice of the internet known as [=MillarWorld=], a comic news/forum where he's more than happy to dole out his opinion on whatever, and has been involved with charity work for children with disabilities.

* ''Superman Adventures'' (the comic version of the animated series)

* BlackAndGrayMorality: When his characters aren't morally reprehensible there are others who, while decent, are just as flawed but not as monstrous. Trying to find a genuinely good character in his works is a rarity.
** Well, there is Huck himself, who’s a pretty decent guy.
** And Superman, in Millar's ''Superman Adventures'' comics.

** [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/10/01/the-mark-millar-tie-up-athon-spoilers/ This article]] suggests that all of his later Marvel works (''1985'', ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', ''ComicBook/KickAss'', and ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'') is all interconnected. (Three of those are automatically canon to each other anyway, of course, but ''Kick Ass'' is more of a surprise.)

* ''ComicBook/{{Nemesis}}''

-->'''[[LawyerFriendlyCameo Legally-distinct-parody]]-of [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]]:''' Comics are for retards.

* Big Game

** Zauriel was created by him and Creator/GrantMorrison as a stand-in for ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}, who had been {{retcon}}ned so badly that [[ContinuitySnarl he was unusable]]. Morrison made it a point to lampshade this so readers would get the point, too. The first time he sees Zauriel, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} momentarily mistakes him for Hawkman. Later on, ComicBook/{{Superman}} invites him to join, saying, "there's always room in the Justice League for, well... a big guy with wings like you."

** In ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'', Lex Luthor breaks off his engagement and relationship to ComicBook/LoisLane in order to devote his entire life to beating Superman because....The deformed clone of Superman beat him in Chess! This is particularly hilarious because earlier he had explicitly stated "I have no doubts that [Superman] and I would get along if we had been born in the same country."

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: With some exceptions, Millar's villains barely get any characterization further than "they're the bad guy AndThatsTerrible."

** In ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' Issue 4, Nick Fury is asked who he would expect to play him in a movie featuring the Ultimates. His response is; "Why, Mister Samuel L. Jackson, of course. That's not even open for debate."

** After he left Ultimate Comics, a continuation of his title ComicBook/TheUltimates was given to Creator/JephLoeb, who created the terrible ''Ultimates 3'' and the even worse ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''. After that he returned to writing comics in UltimateUniverse. The ''very first page'' of his ''Ultimate Comics Avengers'' starts with ComicBook/NickFury looking at the mess caused by Ultimatum and saying "What the #$%^&? I leave for ten minutes and everything goes to hell." He gives another one towards Loeb (and possibly towards mainstream Marvel) in issue four of ''Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates''. Tony Stark gives ten million dollars to charity in exchange for Thor promising to talk like a normal person again. He started using the whole "Faux Shakespearean" thing during Loeb's run.

* YouBastard: He likes this trope almost as much as he hates his readers, whom he's argued use comic-book violence as a substitute for the emptiness and meaninglessness of their lives. ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' is particularly explicit about this.

** One of the supporting characters in ''Marvel 1985'' is an obnoxious {{Hipster}} who keeps talking about how stupid people who like superhero comics are, and how the only ''good'' comics are indie fare like ''ComicBook/{{Cerebus|TheAardvark}}'' and ''ComicBok/LoveAndRockets''. Accordingly, you can imagine how humiliated he is when ComicBook/IronMan saves his ass near the end of the book.

* BetterThanABareBulb

* EveryoneHasStandards: Like Creator/GarthEnnis, despite his cynical approach to writing superheroes, even he has nothing but respect for ComicBook/{{Superman}}. In fact, ''Film/ManOfSteel'', in his words, "traumatized" him with its gritty and brooding portrayal of the Big Blue, to the point where he wrote an idealistic comic, ''ComicBook/{{Huck}}'' in response.

A set of several independent comics written by Millar. He's confirmed they are all connected, though exactly how some of them are related to the others has not been revealed yet.

* ClusterFBomb: A lot of his edgier works like ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' and ''ComicBook/TheUnfunnies'' has characters swear like sailors. Ironically, Millar never curses himself in real life, being a Catholic.

[[caption-width-right:350:The t-shirt should have tipped you right off. Although it may have been when he was described as Scottish.]]

* UrbanLegend: Expect these to turn up and be treated as fact in narration and even as plot points, especially in his work around TheTurnOfTheMillennium and TheNewTens. Examples include:

* TheConspiracy: A frequent feature in his works is the idea that either a cadre of CorruptCorporateExecutive types is just offscreen, enriching and entertaining themselves by creating a CrapsackWorld for the rest of us and secretly controlling world governments, the military-industrial complex is in bed with them or just doing WarForFunAndProfit, or that the GenericDoomsdayVillain works for or leads some form of HollywoodSatanism group...complete with real DemonsAndArchDevils. Sometimes, the HollywoodSatanism folks ''are'' the Corrupt Corporate Executives.
** In particular, Millar likes to use the CorporateConspiracy and GoivernmentConspiracy tropes together as a MetaOrigin for villains.

** Huck is also on the idealistic side.

-->'''[[LawyerFriendlyCameo Legally-distinct-parody]]-of [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]]:''' Comics are for retards.

** One of the supporting characters in ''Marvel 1985'' is an obnoxious {{Hipster}} who keeps talking about how stupid people who like superhero comics are, and how the only ''good'' comics are indie fare like ''ComicBook/{{Cerebus|TheAardvark}}'' and ''ComicBok/LoveAndRockets''. Accordingly, you can imagine how humiliated he is when Comicbook/IronMan saves his ass near the end of the book.

** The "girlfriend sends a picture of herself having sex with another guy" myth in Comicbook/KickAss

* ''ComicBook/CivilWar''