ASTRO BOY: GENESIS

ACT ONE – ORDINARY MAN

EXT. AUSTIN, TEXAS – DAY

The sun blazes over Austin’s skyline. Life moves as usual—music, food trucks, and honking cars.

JOHN SMITH (28) walks briskly through the downtown crowd, lab coat tucked under his arm. He’s an engineer-physicist, brilliant but quiet, working at the Texas Institute for Advanced Energy.

At the lab, John’s coworkers laugh about his nickname: Astro Boy, because he’s obsessed with stars and nuclear fusion.

COLLEAGUE

(chuckling)

Careful, “Astro Boy.” One of these days, you’re gonna glow in the dark.

John smiles politely but doesn’t answer. Deep down, he dreams of changing the world, not being its joke.

ACT TWO – THE ACCIDENT

INT. ENERGY LAB – NIGHT

John works late, studying atomic energy stabilizers. In the corner: a prototype fusion reactor, meant to solve the world’s energy crisis.

But his supervisor cuts corners. Safety shields are disabled. Warnings blink red.

JOHN

(mutters)

This isn’t stable. If we push this too fast—

Before he can finish, the core begins to overload. John races to stabilize it, frantically adjusting controls. The alarms scream.

BOOM! The reactor explodes in a blinding flash. John is engulfed in pure atomic energy.

ACT THREE – REBIRTH

EXT. RIVERBANK – MORNING

John wakes up in the rubble, body glowing faintly. His skin flickers with blue light, like starlight trapped inside. Amazingly, he’s alive—but not human anymore.

He lifts his hand and instinctively focuses. Energy radiates outward, bending air molecules. He vaporizes a boulder without touching it.

JOHN

(whispers)

What… what did I become?

TRAINING MONTAGE

Over weeks, John hides from the public, experimenting with his new powers.

He can manipulate atoms: heat, cold, matter restructuring.

He learns to fly, propelling himself with bursts of atomic energy.

He can emit blasts powerful enough to carve through steel.

His body heals at rapid speed, sustained by atomic fusion within him.

But with power comes fear. He accidentally destroys half his garage when he sneezes energy out of his lungs. His neighbors whisper.

NEIGHBOR

(nervous)

There’s something wrong with that Smith boy…

ACT FOUR – FIRST TEST

EXT. AUSTIN – DOWNTOWN – DAY

One summer afternoon, an experimental drone convoy malfunctions on the highway. Trucks collide. Gas lines rupture. A firestorm erupts, threatening hundreds.

John watches in horror as chaos unfolds. For a moment, he hesitates—scared of revealing himself.

Then he remembers the blast that gave him these powers, and the people who might die if he does nothing.

He tears off his jacket, eyes glowing.

JOHN

(whispers)

Not John Smith anymore… Astro Boy.

HEROIC DEBUT

He blasts into the air, flying above the flames. His glowing form shocks the crowd.

He redirects explosions by manipulating oxygen away from fire.

He catches a collapsing truck with atomic force-fields.

He saves trapped civilians by phasing through wreckage, destabilizing molecules and reforming them once clear.

Finally, a fuel tanker explodes toward a family. John throws himself forward, absorbing the atomic blast into his body. He glows brighter than the sun—then redirects the energy harmlessly skyward.

The city stares in awe.

CHILD

(pointing)

Look, Mama! It’s Astro Boy!

The name spreads instantly.

ACT FIVE – CONSEQUENCES

Later that night, John sits on a rooftop, staring at the city lights. The people cheer his name—but he feels the weight of what he’s become.

JOHN (V.O.)

I wanted to change the world with science. Instead… science changed me.

He clutches his glowing hands, unsure if he’s savior or accident.

Suddenly, Hari Prasad Shrestha appears from the shadows, robes fluttering in the wind.

HARI