avengers Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Not long ago, writer-director Jon Favreau dropped a little clue on his Myspace page by capitalizing the word 'Swank' while speaking about accommodations in Las Vegas; the final filming location for Iron Man. At a later date, while discussing Iron Man's ComicCon plans, Favreau told fans (regarding rumors that Hilary Swank, Samuel L. Jackson and Favreau himself had cameos), that none of it was true ... except for one. Well, we now know that more than one of those cameos is true, as producer Avi Arad told MTV that Hilary Swank does indeed make a cameo in the flick. Although he refused to say who she'd be playing, rumors suggest she'll most likely play a fellow SHIELD agent; a role that could possibly be setting up something larger -- like a separate film, or an appearance as this character in the much talked-about Avengers movie.

While most of the talk as of late has surrounded a Justice League flick, Marvel seems to be the ones taking the first steps toward setting up a film that would feature an array of superhero characters -- from Iron Man to Captain America. When asked about the Sam Jackson cameo (he's said to be playing fellow Marvel character Nick Fury), Arad seemed to have been caught off guard. His reply: "The Sam thing was supposed to be the biggest secret of them all. It's amazing how it got out." Hmm, I'm actually shocked that word hadn't reached Arad yet -- after all, the Sam news is fairly old by now. Arad was equally shocked when MTV threw Swank's name at him. He asks: "How did you know [about that]?" Then, after a few seconds of silence ... "It's a cameo." So there you have it folks -- official word from the top. Since we pretty much know who Jackson is playing, now it's your turn to take a stab at Swank's role. Who is she? Or, more importantly, who do you want her to be? Iron Man is set to arrive in theaters on May 9, 2008.

Although Zak Penn has said that he won't start writing an Avengers script anytime soon, that might be changing. According to AICN, Marvel is taking the first step toward integrating the superhero universe on the big screen by potentially laying down the foundation for an Avengers movie during next summer's Iron Man. That's right, apparently Nick Fury will be introduced as a character in the film, and he'll be played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Are you drooling yet? While it's still in the rumor stages, all signs point to this being a reality -- in fact, on Fury's Wikipedia page, it already mentions the fact that Sam Jackson is playing the character in the upcoming Iron Man film. So there's two sources, both with the same information -- and AICN claims Jackson is shooting his scenes this week.

Also on the Wikipedia page (and this is something I did not know), it says that the Ultimate Nick Fury was modeled after Samuel L. Jackson, with the actor's permission. So it would totally make sense for Jackson to be interested in the role. Additionally, Iron Man is one of the Marvel-related films that is being developed from scratch by Marvel Enterprises (and not some random studio), which means it's more likely that they'll not only take chances, but also give the die hard fans want they want. We're not sure if Fury's involvement here means there won't be an entire Nick Fury movie at some point, or if the character will only appear once before showing up in an Avengers movie. Jackson is cool and all, but the dude is not getting any younger -- so I imagine an Avengers flick would have to happen within the next five years.

Seeing as it looks like they're going with the Ultimate version of Fury, they'll most likely use the storyline of him being a Gulf War veteran and spy. I'm not sure how they'll work in a meeting between Fury and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), but at some point Fury becomes the General of S.H.I.E.L.D. and leader of The Ultimates, or Avengers. Will all that be set up in Iron Man? Will they officially announce Jackson's participation at the upcoming San Diego ComicCon? Guess we'll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, what do you think about all this?

According to the LA Times today, 20th Century Fox is already prepping a solo spin-off for the Silver Surfer. The Marvel character features in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, opening this weekend, and Fox is apparently hoping that pic performs well enough to give the Surfer his own movie, because the studio has hired comic book writer/screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski to pen the thing. Straczynski has written for a number of Marvel titles, including the new series Silver Surfer: Requiem, he created the sci-fi series Babylon 5 and he recently delivered scripts for The Changeling, to be directed by Clint Eastwood, and the zombie adaptation World War Z. The LA Times article claims the Silver Surfer movie would be darker in tone than the new Fantastic Four sequel, possibly in response to fan criticisms of the sequel's PG rating. I've never actually read the Silver Surfer comics, so I'm not sure how dark is appropriate for the character, but I'll always take a more grown-up comic adaptation than something geared toward young children.

More exciting for me is the news, also mentioned in the LA Times piece, that Thor may soon have a director. Unlike the Surfer comics, The Mighty Thor was a title I followed for years, and so far the closest thing I've had to seeing the hero/god on the big screen is his 'cameo' in Adventures in Babysitting (and I doubt he'll be in the remake). Supposedly Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn is in negotiations to helm the comic adaptation, which was greenlit last summer and which has a script by Mark Protosevich (Poseidon). I'm not a huge fan of Vaughn's directorial style and I was happy when he dropped out of X-Men: The Last Stand (though now I think he'd have done better), but I'm willing to give him a chance with Thor. I think his style may actually be appropriate for the god of thunder. Besides, we've so far only seen one film from him; his next, Stardust, arrives in August.

[via JoBlo and Moviehole]

Top Thought of the Week -- The Ghost Rider team amuses me. I'm probably one of the five or so people on earth who really, really want to like this movie, and even I can't help but chuckle at them. Here's the deal. You're talking about a guy who admits to loving the Punisher flick. I'm willing to accept some high levels of cheese in my Marvel movies because -- let's all be honest here -- Marvel comic books are full of cheese. A level of goofiness is to be expected in nearly every Marvel story, and that's just how it is. The trick for movie directors is exactly the same as it is for comic book writers: Find a happy balance between action, drama, and yes, humor, and you'll be a success with the fans. The Spider-Man franchise is probably the best example of this balance ... possibly in both the books and the movies. If you want to be optimistic about the Ghost Rider flick, hold out hope for a strong script (yeah, I'm having trouble holding down the laughter, too) and solid acting performances.

The other rule you generally need to follow in creating Marvel comics is don't be Rob Liefeld. In other words -- make it pretty. You don't have to be the champion of all digital effects, but for goodness sake, don't look like an early 2000s video game. This has been a strong negative for the Ghost Rider camp lately, and their attempts to fight back against internet geeks vocally roasting their look is what has given me such amusement this past week. Nonetheless, hope springs eternal in this geek heart of mine.

Other stray thoughts, in no particular order:

Marvel Comics has been making grand plans for their $700 million war chest, and news of new Marvel properties headed to the silver screen continues to grow. When rumors started becoming fact about movies such as Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, Thor, a revamp of The Incredible Hulk, and possibly even a Black Panther movie, everyone familiar with the comics world said "hey, somebody is gearing up for a big ol' Avengers movie." And surprise, surprise, when Marvel announced their future slate, The Avengers was included in the plans.

In a brief presentation to Wall Street analysts, Marvel confirmed their crossover plans. Essentially, what Marvel said boiled down to releasing several individual movies first to establish firm characters (and presumably get intro stories out of the way for everyone) and create familiarity with the non-Marvel crowd, and then following up with a big Avengers movie. All of the above mentioned heroes were Avengers at one point -- many of them originals. This sounds like a great way for Marvel to utilize one of their final tent-pole properties. What do you think?

In the flurry of announcements coming from Comic-Con, there were a lot of movie announcements. Pretty impressive, for what started as a little old comic book convention. During their time at the Con, Marvel certainly had many fun announcements for us, including the confirmation/official announcements for three long rumored Marvel comic movie projects:

1. Captain America will finally be returning for a feature length movie after a long hiatus. I was going to write something about hoping this one would be better than the last go around, but really, there is almost no way it could be worse. They could just film a slide show of a few Captain America comic books with somebody reading us the dialog and it'd be a major improvement.
2. Nick Fury will be showcased in a S.H.I.E.L.D. flick. No word on whether it'll be traditional Nick Fury or Ultimate Nick Fury, but both are awesome and both would make for a fantastic movie. Fury's character should allow for a film outside the traditional cape and tights superhero flicks. Andrew Marlowe will be doing the script writing.
3. Finally, Thor of the mighty Viking pantheon will be hitting the silver screen. No details on this one yet, but it is clear to see Marvel is gearing up for an enormous Avengers picture, with Iron Man and Ant-Man movies already announced and Captain America and Thor on the way as well. This all sounds fantastic to me.
   

Hollywood bloggers generally fall into one of two categories: those who have some sort of token presence on the internet to please the studio marketing executives, and those who genuinely enjoy the quick communication it gives them with the fanbase. Jon Favreau seems to be doing his best to be one of the latter -- and I think that's admirable. If done well, such fan connection can certainly be a boon to any production, especially a geek culture flick like Iron Man. The latest news he offered on his MySpace blog concerns San Diego's Comic Con. Fav says he will be there to join a Marvel panel on Saturday -- but we shouldn't expect too much because hey, we've still got two years to go on this puppy. There will be "Ironworks" t-shirts, recently approved for distribution at the Paramount booth. Hit it quick if you are interested, because the numbers will be limited for each day. His closing thought: "all in all, I want to get my feet wet. Next year will be the big one for Iron Man. Personally, I'm excited for next year; Superman was fun and all, but I'd much rather be blogging Iron Man rumors.

Flying largely under the radar thanks to its direct-to-dvd plans, Ultimate Avengers still promises to be an enjoyable film for the Marvel fan community. While it doesn't have the big budget or live action of its fellow Marvel films, it certainly does not lack appeal. If you need proof, I suggest you surf on over to the recently launched webpage and check out there trailer. Which, honestly, is about the only thing the webpage is currently good for. For further proof, you can dig Hero Realm's interview with Bryan Hitch about his work on the project. He's very excited about it, and was genuinely pleased with the attention to style and detail.

I think this DVD flick looks entertaining. It's obviously not cinematic gold- but it was never intended to be. It also probably won't have a broad appeal outside of the usual comic book fans and kids who like action cartoons-but again, I think they were aware of that when putting it together. This movie very much feels like Marvel taking advantage of their recent upswing in popularity to provide the fans with a little something extra. Thoughts?