The Massive Marvel Update

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 8, 2009

Hey unusually loyal readers! While Neil was off in upper Saskatchewan this weekend, and I was trying to clean up the mess I made in the office on Friday (who knew that a kiddie pool full of Margarita mix would be a bad thing?), our dear, dear, dear friend Alex Billington from Firstshowing.net was at the Produced By Conference where Marvel Studios gave a giant update about their comic properties – Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and Antman. Through the magic of the internet, and a little help from some old margarita I licked off the rug that ties the office together, I’ve condensed the information down into the important stuff.

SPOILERS are afoot.

Iron Man 2

• The production is focused on delivering the same sense of humor and tone from the last film while expanding the character-base.
• The President of Production is supportive of Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell in their roles (because, you know, he wants the film to make money)
• There’s a hint that The Black Widow will have a similar role in the film to that of the comic book – playing Stark’s assistant, then betraying him.

Thor

• The character of Loki was chosen specifically to give Thor a challenging counterpart that could sustain through several films.
• The film takes place in our world and in others (Asgard).
• There’s no Shakespearean dialog, apparently.
• Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, has signed contracts to appear in multiple movies and multiple franchises, meaning there’s a chance he’ll show up at Tony Stark’s mansion. Marvel wants audiences to have a comic-style experience of characters weaving in and out of the storylines and properties.

The First Avenger: Captain America

• Definitely a WWII period piece, but Marvel wants it to feel like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Regarding director Joe Johnston’s aesthetic, the movies The Rocketeer, October Sky, and Star Wars were thrown out.
• Bucky, Captain America’s sidekick, will definitely be in the production.
• Captain America will be involved in The Avengers from its inception. Meaning he’ll also be in The Avengers from the beginning.

Ant Man

• It totally still exists.
• Edgar Wright is working on a new draft of the script while shooting Scott Pilgrim.

Marvel is also announcing another movie for 2012 very soon. So it’s time to play the guessing game on that one. Fingers crossed for Black Panther.

So there you have it. What does it all mean? Probably a lot of what we already knew, although the character direction of Loki and the involvement of Bucky in Captain America is a bit fresh.

I think the thing I’m most excited about is having a character like Loki that can endure multiple films. He has the potential to be a destructive force along the same lines as The Joker, although it’s probably impossible for Marvel to go that dark with the character. He’s essentially a giant prankster with God-powers, so he could easily tear through stories causing havoc and changing the game for the heroes.

What say you?!

Read more articles by Dr. Cole Abaius