The Big Three to the Big Screen!

[Van Plexico]

As just reported on the main page of

While we knew things were in the works, it's now official-- Marvel is producing (in-house!) movies featuring Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. And ol' Shellhead himself is the "main priority." ;D

From what I've read previously, this week, Cap would have been first, but they've been unhappy with prelim work on that script.

There will also be movies featuring Ant-Man and Nick Fury (separately, of course), as well as a "leaner, meaner" Hulk sequel.

This is all possible because Marvel has taken back rights to these characters from the various studios they sold them to, over the years, and borrowed about a half-billion dollars from Merrill Lynch to finance them, with distribution through Paramount.

Will they get it right? With Marvel in control and Avi Arad (fierce defender of what makes Marvel characters "tick") at the helm, I have about as high a degree of confidence as I possibly could have.

The link to the Variety article is on the AA main page.

Thoughts? Talkback!

[Shiryu]

Just read the article.
The news sounds pretty good, and I'm looking forward to all the upcoming movies, even though a lot of it will, of course, depend on the quality of the script and on the director.
Iron Man sounds to me like something requiring an high budget, because his armor is so important that it needs to be good. If that doesn't look proper, the movie may have a tough start.
I wonder who will be called to be Tony. Tom Cruise has often said he would like to, even though most Marvel movies so far have had slightly less famous actors for the starring roles.

Cap's movies sounds like the one requiring the best script. Special effects won't be so indispensable there, so a strong script and a very good acting are probably going to be vital for its success.

Thor is the movie I'm really looking forward to see. I would love something in the Lord of the Rings style, with Asgard and all of its creatures, but i would be happy with a New York scenario as well. Just hope they don't change his origins...
This is another movie requiring a very high budget, at least due to all of Mjolnir's powers.

The Hulk 2... well, I really really didn't like the Hulk 1 one bit, so I don't know what to think. I hope there is less psychology and a bit more action in the sequel (this doesn't mean I only want to hear "Hulk smash", but to me the 1st movie looked like the analysis of a schizophrenic).

Ant-Man kind of reminds me of "honey, I shrunk the kids" (or whatever the american title is), but could be funny. Nick Fury I'm not really interested in.

Well, we'll see. For now, I'm waiting to see X-Men 3, which should come out soon, and Spider-Man 3. I found Fantastic Four funny but disappointing, hope the Big Three do better.

[dlw66]

From Dynamic Forces' website 5/24/06:

Dynamic Forces News for May 24, 2006
Jon Favreau on Iron Man

MTV talked to Iron Man director Jon Favreau, who gave some interesting quotes. Here are a few of them about the movie:

"It's the first movie Marvel is self-financing," he said of a new deal that frees the makers of the "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" movies from studio control. "We're set to come out in the summer of '08, and we'll start shooting in January."

"We're gonna have it take place in the present day, but there will be an origin story that has the old, gray Iron Man suit; eventually it will progress into more of the modern look," Favreau said. "That's the fun of doing the first one."

"The alcoholism doesn't come into play until later on in the story of Iron Man," he said. "[The comic] started off in the '60s, where it was about him as a successful manufacturer who developed this suit. Then, later, it spins off into that story about him fighting against himself. I think we're going to lay the groundwork for it, but the first one's going to explore him taking on this alter ego of Iron Man, and developing the suit, and what happens politically within the Stark Corporation."

Mentioning an eventual "Iron Man 2," Favreau said that actor playing Tony Stark for his franchise is unlikely to be a major star (Tom Cruise was briefly attached to the role years ago). Instead, the director hopes to announce his discovery of a relative unknown from the Brandon Routh ("Superman Returns") mold later this year.

[Van Plexico]

Sounds wonderful, so far.

I'd love to see Tony occasionally taking a drink, and maybe sort of looking pensive and worried about it after he does it, but no more than that in the first film. Let it build more slowly.

The thought of Hollywood finally doing a movie of my favorite comics character is at once both exhilirating and terrifying...

[Shiryu]

Interesting news.
I agree that they shouldn't start with alcoholism straight away, it would make Tony look as if he has been an alcoholic forever. I'm also happy we'll see the early gray armor as well as something more recent afterwards.
There is potential for a very nice movie, let's hope it's kept