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The first movie cannot have ANY of the xenos factions in it. All of them are said to challenge the Space Marines and become real threats to the galaxy. That's too early for the story. The 1st film would have to be a standard Rise of the Imperium tale telling about humanity on the brink of extinction and the Emperor's plan to save the universe. Space Marines would hit the table like yet another Iron Man sequel and give folks shots of them murdering the crap out of weird aliens that no longer exist because they've been exterminated. The film could easily bank on the mantra of Transformers, GIJoe, Xmen, or any of the Marvel movies by keeping a continual build of momentum, showing off power suits, bolters, psychic powers, and more as the story progresses and each new jaw-dropper appears on set. By the end of the movie when the climactic battle is underway with Rhinos and Predators skirting between Assault marines, you get the Terminators to deep strike in and set up the final stage where a Captain or the Emperor go for their epic duel against the big bad boss.

Only after this movie has firmly established the Space Marines as the living incarnation of Badass can other possible movies come along that feature the xenos wars or the Horus Heresy.

They already made a 40k movie. I think it was best for all concerned that it wasn't shown at cinemas.

Faith & Fire would make a great first Warhammer 40,000 movie. In particular...

- The very first scene in the novel is a Sister of Battle praying to the Emperor on board a starship. Who the Emperor is explains both the antagonists and the protagonists are: the mutants who left unfettered nearly destroyed humanity; and a religious order who worships the man who lead humanity back from the brink of destruction.

- The scene with the play could be used to get the audience used to the idea of aliens in this setting, which would make things easier for the next movie. It wouldn't work for Tyranids or Daemons, but you could easily swap the Imperial vs. Eldar play for a scene out of the Horus Heresy for instance, if that's where you wanted to take the franchise next.