Entertainment optioned both Supercrooks and American Jesus (which had previously been optioned by Matthew Vaughn's Marv Films in 2009), while Lorenzo di Bonaventura began development on Jupiter's Legacy. That same year, Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum signed on to produce Empress with XXX: Return of Xander Cage writer F. Scott Frazier set to pen the screenplay. In August 2017, it was announced that Millarworld has been purchased for an undisclosed sum by Netflix. Millar noted it was the third time in history a comic book company had been purchased by a production studio, comparing the buyout to the 1967 purchase of DC Comics by Kinney National Company (subsequently renamed to Warner Communications) and the 2009 acquisition of Marvel Comics by The Walt Disney Company. As part of the deal, Millar and his wife Lucy continued to run Millarworld as President and CEO, respectively, developing new properties to be produced by Netflix. Comics adapted to film before the deal, such as Kick-Ass and Kingsman, were not included in the package. The first of Millarworld properties to be adapted at Netfilx was Jupiter's Legacy, which premiered in May 2021 with an eight-episode first season. It was followed by Super Crooks, an animated spin-off series released in November 2021. Public image Over the years, Millar has earned a reputation as a controversial and outspoken writer. In interviews, he openly criticized the business practices of the American comics industry in the 90s, the comic book writing trend of decompression popularized in the early 00s, the tendency of Big Two publishers to oversaturate the market with tie-ins and spin-offs in the mid-00s as well as the DC Comics' management of The Authority during his tenure as the title's writer. In his writing, Millar has incorporated the themes of domestic abuse (The Ultimates), teenage pregnancy (Trouble), child molestation (The Unfunnies) and rape, the latter sometimes for comedic effect. In August 2013, when asked by Abraham Riesman of The New Republic about the use of rape as a plot device in more than one of his comics, Millar responded, "The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know. I don't really think it matters. It's the same as, like, a decapitation. It's just a horrible act to show that somebody's a bad guy." The comment drew criticism from industry peers and comic book