Post by goldenfist on Sept 18, 2008 19:23:00 GMT -5
Read what Ign.com has on there Avengers Movie Wishlist.
Since launching their independent filmmaking efforts in 2005, Marvel Studios has wasted no time getting their superhero movie slate on track. They had a huge hit with this summer's Iron Man, and redeemed The Incredible Hulk with a more fitting screen adaptation. And they're not showing any signs of slowing.
The studio's ambitious movie schedule for the next few years includes an Iron Man sequel, the first live-action motion picture based on the classic Thor comics, and the long-awaited Captain America movie, just to name a few.
Marvel's plans are no secret. If you caught the post-credits scene in Iron Man, featuring Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D. head Nick Fury, it immediately became obvious what they've got up their sleeve. And Tony Stark's scene at the end of The Incredible Hulk seemed to further seal the deal for a team-up. The Avengers are coming.
In fact, Marvel has already hired screenwriter Zak Penn (X2, X-Men: The Last Stand) attached to write The Avengers, and is looking at a July 2, 2011 release date for the film. Technically, however, the first Avenger movie will be 2011's Captain America movie, tentatively (and somewhat clunkily) titled The First Avenger: Captain America.
Details are pretty much non-existent right now, but we'll be tracking the flick's development closely. In the meantime, here's how we're hoping The Avengers movie shapes up...
The Cast & Characters
We don't expect it to be a straight-up adaptation, but we do think The Avengers will some inspiration from the Ultimates storyline which sees Nick Fury as the General of S.H.I.E.L.D, leading a team of superheroes formed under the government-sponsored "Avenger Initiative" that he's shown speaking to Tony Stark about in Iron Man.
The initial Avengers team could look a little something like this:
Nick Fury -- Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, would run the show, and of course he'd maintain that super-cool persona that Jackson can play so well.
Iron Man -- Tony Stark will be a part of the team, no doubt. We're not sure exactly what will transpire with Stark in Iron Man 2, but we wouldn't be surprised if at some point he's going to have to deal with his personal demons.
Captain America - Matthew McConaughey says he hasn't heard a thing about playing Cap, but rumors persist that he's in the running to play Steve Rogers in the movie. We like him. We also like Matthew Fox. Will Smith? It's been rumored. We'd prefer our Cap not be done Big Willy Style, thank you very much. There was even a rumor that DiCaprio had been talked about for the role. He may be king of the world, but he's not king of our Avengers cast. We'll pass.
The Hulk - There's so much talk lately about Ed Norton not knowing what's up with any future appearances of the Hulk on the big screen. His work in the recent movie was stellar, but there were rumors that Norton didn't exactly get on great with the studio, fighting for creative changes to the story. Could Marvel be considering making an Avengers movie without Bruce Banner even appearing? In other words, he'd be totally Hulked out the entire time. It's a real possibility. And it'd save them some money, too, as they wouldn't have to pay a big-name actor for the role. Hmmm...
Thor - It's going to be really interesting to see what Marvel does with Thor on the big screen. We're of the mind that his introductory film will have to be a totally Asgardian fantasy to make it feel legit. But when it comes to The Avengers, he's going to have to make the transition to our world by way of the body of partially disabled human medical student, Donald Blake. And what about casting? Brad Pitt's name keeps coming up. We can't really see that happening, but it's not a terrible idea. Our persona pick is Karl Urban. He may have done the Viking thing before in Pathfinder, but nobody really saw that anyway, so it doesn't so much matter.
Giant-Man/Ant-Man - In the comics Hank Pym does some scientificky stuff and makes himself really small, and learns how to communicate with ants. That's not exactly the kind approach that seems to fit into this big-screen universe Marvel is creating. However, there is an Ant-Man movie, a comedy, in development. It's not currently set to come out until after Avengers, however. Pym is a founding member of the Avengers in the comics, he transforms Janet Van Dyne into the Wasp (see below), and eventually becomes Giant-Man man. We think he's an essential part of this story, but we're just not sure how it could play out without the whole ant or giant thing seeming a little cheesy. There are dark nuances to the character, however, that would play well. Pym is mentally unstable, has abused his wife, and has been kicked off the team.
The Wasp - Janet Van Dyne is a rich girl-turned-superhero with the ability to make herself the size of an insect and fly. She can also sting through her hands -- it's deadly when she's at full size. She's hot, and prone to frequent costume changes. That's the fun stuff. But there's a dark side... Early comics have her seemingly happily married to Hank Pym, but their relationship deteriorates over time, culminating in a violent split. Very recent reports have linked absurdly hot Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria to the role. We've got no problem with that.
The Conflict & Villains
Any good comic book movie needs a great villain. And The Avengers will probably need more than one. So, who will the bad guys be?
In Ultimates 2, our heroes battle a group of superhumans called the Liberators, hellbent on the destruction of the United States. In today's volatile global political climate, however, it's hard to imagine Marvel having to balls to do what they did in the comic, and have the Avengers take on multi-national group of supervillains representing a coalition of America's enemies. There's a Muslim bad guy from Iran, which would certainly be seen as inflammatory, as well as villains from China, Russia, North Korea, and Syria. That wouldn't exactly do wonders for the worldwide box office numbers.
We suggest a more globally palatable, less ripped-from-the-headlines superhuman threat, or perhaps the group could battle extraterrestrial baddies like in the first Ultimates series where they take on alien shapeshifters.
Stuff You Probably Won't See
We think it'd be nice if Wolverine or Spider-Man made an appearance in the movie, but that's not likely to happen as the rights to both Spidey and X-Men characters are tied up at Sony and Fox respectively. The Avengers movie is being developed independently of those deals. But who knows, maybe they'll work something out and surprise us!
Since launching their independent filmmaking efforts in 2005, Marvel Studios has wasted no time getting their superhero movie slate on track. They had a huge hit with this summer's Iron Man, and redeemed The Incredible Hulk with a more fitting screen adaptation. And they're not showing any signs of slowing.
The studio's ambitious movie schedule for the next few years includes an Iron Man sequel, the first live-action motion picture based on the classic Thor comics, and the long-awaited Captain America movie, just to name a few.
Marvel's plans are no secret. If you caught the post-credits scene in Iron Man, featuring Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D. head Nick Fury, it immediately became obvious what they've got up their sleeve. And Tony Stark's scene at the end of The Incredible Hulk seemed to further seal the deal for a team-up. The Avengers are coming.
In fact, Marvel has already hired screenwriter Zak Penn (X2, X-Men: The Last Stand) attached to write The Avengers, and is looking at a July 2, 2011 release date for the film. Technically, however, the first Avenger movie will be 2011's Captain America movie, tentatively (and somewhat clunkily) titled The First Avenger: Captain America.
Details are pretty much non-existent right now, but we'll be tracking the flick's development closely. In the meantime, here's how we're hoping The Avengers movie shapes up...
The Cast & Characters
We don't expect it to be a straight-up adaptation, but we do think The Avengers will some inspiration from the Ultimates storyline which sees Nick Fury as the General of S.H.I.E.L.D, leading a team of superheroes formed under the government-sponsored "Avenger Initiative" that he's shown speaking to Tony Stark about in Iron Man.
The initial Avengers team could look a little something like this:
Nick Fury -- Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, would run the show, and of course he'd maintain that super-cool persona that Jackson can play so well.
Iron Man -- Tony Stark will be a part of the team, no doubt. We're not sure exactly what will transpire with Stark in Iron Man 2, but we wouldn't be surprised if at some point he's going to have to deal with his personal demons.
Captain America - Matthew McConaughey says he hasn't heard a thing about playing Cap, but rumors persist that he's in the running to play Steve Rogers in the movie. We like him. We also like Matthew Fox. Will Smith? It's been rumored. We'd prefer our Cap not be done Big Willy Style, thank you very much. There was even a rumor that DiCaprio had been talked about for the role. He may be king of the world, but he's not king of our Avengers cast. We'll pass.
The Hulk - There's so much talk lately about Ed Norton not knowing what's up with any future appearances of the Hulk on the big screen. His work in the recent movie was stellar, but there were rumors that Norton didn't exactly get on great with the studio, fighting for creative changes to the story. Could Marvel be considering making an Avengers movie without Bruce Banner even appearing? In other words, he'd be totally Hulked out the entire time. It's a real possibility. And it'd save them some money, too, as they wouldn't have to pay a big-name actor for the role. Hmmm...
Thor - It's going to be really interesting to see what Marvel does with Thor on the big screen. We're of the mind that his introductory film will have to be a totally Asgardian fantasy to make it feel legit. But when it comes to The Avengers, he's going to have to make the transition to our world by way of the body of partially disabled human medical student, Donald Blake. And what about casting? Brad Pitt's name keeps coming up. We can't really see that happening, but it's not a terrible idea. Our persona pick is Karl Urban. He may have done the Viking thing before in Pathfinder, but nobody really saw that anyway, so it doesn't so much matter.
Giant-Man/Ant-Man - In the comics Hank Pym does some scientificky stuff and makes himself really small, and learns how to communicate with ants. That's not exactly the kind approach that seems to fit into this big-screen universe Marvel is creating. However, there is an Ant-Man movie, a comedy, in development. It's not currently set to come out until after Avengers, however. Pym is a founding member of the Avengers in the comics, he transforms Janet Van Dyne into the Wasp (see below), and eventually becomes Giant-Man man. We think he's an essential part of this story, but we're just not sure how it could play out without the whole ant or giant thing seeming a little cheesy. There are dark nuances to the character, however, that would play well. Pym is mentally unstable, has abused his wife, and has been kicked off the team.
The Wasp - Janet Van Dyne is a rich girl-turned-superhero with the ability to make herself the size of an insect and fly. She can also sting through her hands -- it's deadly when she's at full size. She's hot, and prone to frequent costume changes. That's the fun stuff. But there's a dark side... Early comics have her seemingly happily married to Hank Pym, but their relationship deteriorates over time, culminating in a violent split. Very recent reports have linked absurdly hot Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria to the role. We've got no problem with that.
The Conflict & Villains
Any good comic book movie needs a great villain. And The Avengers will probably need more than one. So, who will the bad guys be?
In Ultimates 2, our heroes battle a group of superhumans called the Liberators, hellbent on the destruction of the United States. In today's volatile global political climate, however, it's hard to imagine Marvel having to balls to do what they did in the comic, and have the Avengers take on multi-national group of supervillains representing a coalition of America's enemies. There's a Muslim bad guy from Iran, which would certainly be seen as inflammatory, as well as villains from China, Russia, North Korea, and Syria. That wouldn't exactly do wonders for the worldwide box office numbers.
We suggest a more globally palatable, less ripped-from-the-headlines superhuman threat, or perhaps the group could battle extraterrestrial baddies like in the first Ultimates series where they take on alien shapeshifters.
Stuff You Probably Won't See
We think it'd be nice if Wolverine or Spider-Man made an appearance in the movie, but that's not likely to happen as the rights to both Spidey and X-Men characters are tied up at Sony and Fox respectively. The Avengers movie is being developed independently of those deals. But who knows, maybe they'll work something out and surprise us!
