On the heels of the colossal domestic opening of Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel, the Russo brothers and IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX) today announced that Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – Parts 1 & 2, the two-part installment to the global blockbuster franchise, will be shot in their entirety using IMAX® and ARRI’s next generation revolutionary 2D digital camera – a joint customized digital version of ARRI’s new large format Alexa 65. The two-part Avengers saga marks the first time a Hollywood feature film will have been shot completely using IMAX® cameras and will feature IMAX’s exclusive aspect ratio, providing moviegoers a uniquely immersive experience.
Prior to filming Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – Parts 1 & 2, Joe and Anthony Russo, who also directed Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” will use the IMAX/ARRI 2D digital camera for select action sequences on the forthcoming Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War,” which will release in IMAX® theatres in May of 2016.
Joe and Anthony Russo stated, “The intent with the Infinity War films is to bring 10years of accumulative storytelling to an incredible climax. We felt that the best way to exploit the scale and scope required to close out the final chapter of these three phases, was to be the first films shot entirely on the IMAX/Arri Digital camera.”
“Over the years, IMAX has had the incredible good fortune to work with some of the world’s finest, most talented filmmakers, who continue to push the envelope both technically and creatively,” said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. and CEO of IMAX Entertainment. “We could not be more excited to deepen our partnership with Joe and Anthony Russo, a pair of filmmakers we believe are next-generation trailblazers. Marvel’s Avengers franchise has become a global phenomenon and to have it pay off in this epic way using the IMAX/ARRI digital camera is the very definition of event movie-going.”
The next-generation 2D digital camera – co-developed by IMAX and ARRI – is meant for use by today’s leading filmmakers working in the IMAX® format. The joint solution is designed as a complementary tool to IMAX’s high-resolution capture technologies – including its 3D digital and 15perf / 65mm film cameras. Moreover, IMAX worked with ARRI to achieve the highest level of digital image capture for playback on IMAX’s xenon and new laser projection systems.
IMAX recently began rolling out its next-generation laser projection system, with more than 71 laser system deals signed globally to date. Such iconic venues to feature the new system include the newly retro-fitted Airbus IMAX Smithsonian Theatre at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA ., and Seattle’s Boeing IMAX Theatre at Pacific Science Center, both of which re-opened in time for the release of Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” – the first film to be re-mixed for IMAX’s new 12 channel sound system at these IMAX with laser locations.
Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1” is slated for release in IMAX theatres on May 4, 2018; “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2” will open on May 3, 2019.
The IMAX® 3D release of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – Parts 1 & 2 will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.
Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely will follow Captain America as they head to Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1” and “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2”!
The duo behind the screenplays for Marvel’s “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” and “Captain America: Civil War” will once again team with directors Joe and Anthony Russo for the two-part climax to Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1” will hit theaters May 4, 2018, with the second part following on May 3, 2019.
“Chris and Steve have been an integral part of the Marvel family since the early days of Phase 1, and their work speaks for itself,” said Producer Kevin Feige. “We couldn’t be more excited to have them with us to help guide the Avengers through their biggest story yet.”
In addition to writing all three films in Marvel’s Captain America franchise, Markus & McFeely also created “Marvel’s Agent Carter,” which premiered earlier this year on ABC, and co-wrote Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World.” Beyond their work for Marvel, Markus and McFeely also wrote “Pain & Gain,” “You Kill Me,” and “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.”
Well will you look at that it is another Wednesday which means another Marvel Madness! This week’s edition we have an Ant-Man poster, Civil War promo art, Joss revealing all, Ruffalo talking HULK, Spider-Man directors?, and much much more!
By way of a thank you for making Avengers: Age Of Ultron a “global event”, Marvel has released a new theatrical poster for their next movie, Ant-Man. This international one-sheet features Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) surrounded by friend and foe alike.
In “Ant-Man,” Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) approaches master thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) with a suit that grants him the ability to shrink in size but increases his strength! Scott must embrace his inner hero and put the suit to good use and save the world under Pym’s leadership.
Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly, David Dastmalchian, Michael Pena, Bobby Cannavale, Abby Ryder Fortson, Judy Greer, Wood Harris John Slattery and Gregg Turkington. The film opens July 17, 2015
Umberto Gonzales has given us our first promo art for the upcoming Marvel movie, Captain America: Civil War, and as you can see, Steve’s suit hasn’t been changed all that much from Avengers: Age of Ultron, but it does have quite a bit more red and maybe a slightly more armoured look. He’s going to need that extra protection too, especially as Iron Man appears to be in a version of the “Bleeding Edge” armour from the comic books. The circular arc reactor Joss Whedon was so fond of also appears to be gone, while the helmet gives off something of an Ultimate vibe
Also speaking to MTV, Chris Evans stopped short of calling Captain America: Civil War an Avengers film. Instead, he revealed that Civil War is more of a “setup man” for Avengers: Infinity War. Said Evans, “Captain America: Civil War is the jumpoff into Avengers: The Infinity War. Civil War is going to be the setup for the real battle. So yeah, there are a lot of people – a lot of people in Cap 3.”
Watch the video above to see the rest of the Age of Ultron cast discuss appearing in Civil War and coyly tease where their allegiances may lie between Captain America and Iron Man.
Captain America: Civil War is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, and confirmed cast members include: Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, Daniel Brühl as Baron Zemo, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow / Crossbones, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon, and Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther. The film is set for release on May 6, 2016.
Age of Ultron Spoilers Incoming*
CinemaBlend asked him if Aaron Taylor-Johnson took the role of Quicksilver because he knew that it would be a one-and-done part, that he wouldn’t be locked into a lengthy Marvel contract, like other actors. And according to Aaron Taylor-Johnson, that wasn’t the case, at all. The actor told me during our exclusive interview:
No, because… I still feel like, you know, they were the best. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed working on [this movie], and would love to do, I would love to being doing more movies with the guys at Marvel. Maybe there will be some case where that might happen. Again, I’m not sure, but…”
At that point, I pointed out that no one really dies in the MCU. Nick Fury and Special Agent Phil Coulson both “died” on screen, but found ways to return. Elaborating on that, Aaron Taylor-Johnson admitted to me:
I’d love to find what that loophole is, because I think they’re the best guys I’ve worked with in a long time, and yeah, you know, it’s cool.”
While talking with Empire Magazine, Avengers: Age of Ultron writer/director Joss Whedon talked about the shocking death in the movie, the new line-up at the end, what part Loki would have played in the film, his hopes of having Captain Marvel and Spider-Man in the film, and the Hulk in space rumors.
Here’s some of the things he talked about but check out the podcast down below!
Whedon revealed that there were never any real plans to send the Hulk to space, and that there are still no plans for a Planet Hulk movie, at least not that he knows of.
“You know, I never intended to shoot him into space. What I wanted to do was indicate that he might. I wanted the sky above him to be slightly thinner. A few stars. Because, you know, I put in, very specifically, the line, ‘Where in the world am I not a threat?’ And I wanted to leave people with the idea that, if this is the last movie, that he may have left the world behind, because I think there is something enormously poetic about that. There is also something enormously misleading about that, because they don’t plan to make Planet Hulk, as far as I know, so they were like, ‘No, just sky, no stars,’ which was less poetic, but still very beautiful.”
One of the weirder digressions in Avengers: Age of Ultron has Thor seeking answers to questions that crop up in a nightmare sequence. It feels tacked on, almost as if it were part of a much longer storyline that was whittled down into near-incoherence. As it turns out, that’s exactly what it is.
Director Joss Whedon reveals what we’re missing in the final cut of the movie, and with that added context, it makes much more sense.
Whedon explains what was supposed to happen.
There was a 195-minute cut of this movie. The original scene was that Thor went to speak to the Norn and how it would work was that he’d go in the pool and the Norn possess him, basically, and Erik Selvig asks all the questions, and the Norn, speaking through Thor, give the answers. So Chris [Hemsworth] got to do something different, and he really threw himself into it, and he did a beautiful job, but it wasn’t well regarded by the test audiences and I feel it’s probably largely because it was a rough cut with no effects, but also because it’s something that in a Thor movie would work brilliantly, but in this movie is just a little too left of centre.
The Norn are, essentially, goddesses of destiny within the Marvel universe. I’m betting one of them is the mystery woman in the cave who was spotted in early trailers for Avengers: Age of Ultron, but got cut before the film hit theaters.
Whedon admitted that integrating Thor into Avengers: Age of Ultron was a challenge, but thought the subplot he finally came up with was “a huge win.” Unfortunately, the execs didn’t seem to agree:
The dreams were not an executive favorite. The dreams, the farmhouse, these were things I fought [for]. With the cave, they pointed a gun at the farm’s head and ‘Give us the cave’. They got the farm. In a civilized way – I respect these guys, but that’s when it got really unpleasant. There was a point when there was going to be no cave, and Thor was going to leave and come back and say, ‘I figured some stuff out.’ And at that point I was so beaten down, I was like, ‘Sure, okay… what movie is this?’ The editors were like, ‘No no, you have to show the thing, you just can’t say it.’ I was like, ‘Okay, thank you, we can figure this out!’ You can tell it was beaten down, but it was hard won.
In his latest round of Avengers: Age of Ultron post-premiere interviews, director Joss Whedon has revealed that he filmed an ending with a very different outcome. And for anyone who’s seen the film can probably guess, that outcome involves a living and breathing Quicksilver, who perished in the film’s final act.
Whedon revealed to the Empire Film Podcast that he fully intends for Quicksilver to stay dead:
It felt very disingenuous for me, especially the second time around, to make what I refer to as ‘a war movie’ and say that there is no price and everybody walks away. In this movie, we’re saying, ‘Prove to me that you guys are heroes.’ And he’s the guy that does it. I knew it would be resonant, and make everything else work better and matter more. The city in the air, that’s just an explosion – Wanda’s grief, that’s extraordinary.
It’s not ultimately up to Whedon, though, and he’s well aware of that fact. In fact, he planned for the possibility that he would be overruled.
I said to Aaron, ‘The only way you’ll stay alive is if the Disney executives say, “Hey idiot, this is a franchise, and we need all these people and you’re not allowed to kill them off!” We did actually shoot him in the last scene, in an outfit, with his sister. We also shot him, waking up, saying, ‘Ah, I didn’t really die from these 47 bullet wounds!’
*End of Spoilers
Whedon addressed the Avengers Age of Ultron Spider-Man rumors. Speaking about the Avengers lineup at the end of the movie, he revealed:
I wanted all those people. I said, it would be great if we could just add a few more, if we could have a Captain Marvel there, that you’ve made a deal for. And they talked about it. I was like, ‘And Spider-Man, we could do that too, cause Sony had approached us during the first movie about a little integration. So I would have put both of them in, but neither of the deals were made. And then they were like, ‘We’re making a Captain Marvel movie and we’ve got Spider-Man as a property,’ and I’m like, ‘I’ve already locked my film, you fuckers! Thanks for nothing.’
Here’s the podcast to listen to your heart’s content:
Collider had a chat with the HULK himself, Mark Ruffalo, they talked about Avengers: Age of Ultron, his movie contract with Marvel, Hulk’s involvement in Captain America: Civil War, and more!
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Mark Ruffalo:
Discusses worst job before acting and his old boss. [01:31–5:00]: Talks about most memorable moment on the set of Avengers: Age of Ultron, his movie contract with Marvel, Hulk’s involvement in Captain America: Civil War, and why we haven’t seen a new standalone Hulk film. [5:01–9:10]: Discusses the future of Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in regards to the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron and beyond, his discussions with Joss Whedon, and twists in the film. [9:11–11:00]: Talks about deleted scenes in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and teases Now You See Me 2.
If you saw AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, and the box office returns indicate you probably did, you likely noticed multiple scenes in the film that address the potential casualties as a result of Ultron’s actions as well as those of the Avengers themselves. This is a stark contrast to the events in both MAN OF STEEL and THE AVENGERS, two films criticized in different ways for the way they tackled the civilian body count in their respective scenes of city-wide destruction.
In an interview with Vulture, director Joss Whedon responded to why they felt it was necessary to represent the carnage responsibly.
“Absolutely, yes. Something that Kevin and I talked about from the start was that we’d seen a little bit of a trend in movies where the city gets destroyed and the heroes say, ‘We won!’ And I’m thinking, Define ‘win.’ [AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON] gets back to what’s important, which is that the people you’re trying to protect are people. We knew that we wanted to play with a lot of big, fun destruction, but at the same time, we wanted to say, ‘There’s a price for this.’ So we got very specific about it, because whether the Avengers are heroes or not is called into question in this movie, or whether the hero as a concept is still useful for society. It sort of becomes the central issue in the final battle, and it’s also a good way for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to be put at a disadvantage.”
During an appearance on the Conan show on Monday night, Jeremy Renner opened up about the trouble that he got into for calling Black Widow a slut.
“It was a joke, off-colored, whatever, but yeah, I’m unapologetic about a lot of things,” said Renner. “But yeah, I got in a lot of Internet trouble. I guess that’s a thing now.”
Renner added, “I was asked the question like, so Black Widow’s been linked to Hawkeye, Iron Man, Bruce Banner, and Captain America, so what do you think about that. Well, I said, ‘It sounds like she’s a slut.’ Now, mind you, I was talking about a fictional character and fictional behavior, but Conan if you slept with four of the six Avengers, no matter how much fun you had, you’d be a slut.”
Collider recently spoke with Hardy, and touched on superhero movies with the actor. Hardy was set to star in the supervillain team-up film Suicide Squad, but had to drop out. Nevertheless, he still wants to do a comic book movie, and at the top of his list is The Punisher:
Collider: I heard Warner Bros. has a few more superhero movies, maybe one or two that they’re developing [Laughs].
HARDY: I want The Punisher… I want The Punisher, or Splinter Cell, I want something…I don’t know what I want.
You as Punisher could be very interesting.
HARDY: I’m not big enough to be The Punisher, I’m 5’9” [Laughs].
But I actually think that adds to the character.
HARDY: Frank Castle, I would love it. Is that him, isn’t it?
Yeah. It’s Frank Castle.
In the following interview with MTV News, Daredevil star Charlie Cox reveals which specific comic book storyline featuring a team-up between the Man Without Fear and Spider-Man he’s particularly fond of, as well as his desire to make that a reality on the big or small screen.
The British actor also comments on his character’s role in the likes of Civil War and the New Avengers, and seems hopeful that he will end up becoming part of one of those in Marvel’s Phase 3 slate. Cox also expresses disappointment that real-life friend Andrew Garfield is no longer Spidey.
Deadline are reporting that Marvel Studios have narrowed their search for the director of the Untitled MCU Spider-Man. They sat that these are in contention for the director’s chair: 50/50 and Warm Bodies writer/helmer Jonathan Levine; Ted Melfi, writer/director of Golden Globe-nommed St. Vincent; Pitch Perfect helmer Jason Moore; John Francis Daley & Jonathan M. Goldstein, the directors/writers of the updated version of John Hughes’ Vacation; and Napoleon Dynamite and Don Verdean writer/director Jared Hess.
Deadline also gives us a possible plot-line for the movie itself saying that Kevin Feige and his producing accomplice Amy Pascal are planning an arc that will tell the Spidey story over three to four movies, each covering a year of high school for Peter Parker, who’ll already have been bitten by the radioactive spider so we don’t have to see that all over again.
Slight AoU Spoilers
As we know, Thanos will try and assemble all of the Infinity Gems before we get to Avengers: Infinity War part one and two. Even though we have a pretty long way to go before we lay eyes on this film, you can keep your knowledge of the MCU fresh. How so? You can check out a handy new infographic constructed by IGN, which tells you everything you’d want to know about the infinity stones we’ve seen so far.
Ant-Man will be in theaters July 17, 2015; Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016; Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man reboot – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Black Panther – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019.
Phew! That’s a wrap for me for this week’s Marvel Madness, click here for other things and don’t forget to come back next week for more Marvelous news!
As we look forward into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we see Captain America: Civil War, Ant-Man, and…Spider-Man! In a new interview with Crave Online, Marvel CEO Kevin Feige reveals that they’ve had plans for that character (Spider-Man) for a long time and says how he will web his way into the MCU. “Spider-Man we knew about when we were doing that announcement in October. We’ve been thinking about it as long as we’ve been thinking about Phase Three.” He then continues, “In Spider-Man’s very specific case, where there have been two retellings of that origin in the last whatever it’s been – [thirteen] years – for us we are going to take it for granted that people know that, and the specifics. It will not be an origin story. But, with great power comes great responsibility. It is inherent to who his character is. But we want to reveal it in different ways and spend much more time focusing on this young high school kid in the MCU dealing with his powers.”
Besides the Wall-Crawler, he also talked about one of the other heroes that just recently entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Daredevil! Feige reveals that he hasn’t yet watched the full series, but he’s very excited about adding him into the MCU. “I don’t know. I think once something is back in the universe, as certainly Daredevil is, it’s all fair game. It’s just adding more toys outside the sandbox that we can grab to pull in the sandbox. I hear D’Onofrio’s awesome in that. I haven’t seen the whole show.”
Even though Daredevil isn’t a super-powered hero, Feige does talk about a group of super-powered heroes who we will be seeing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s future very soon (The Inhumans)! “I think they’re beginning to seed a lot of that in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show, but the notion from the comics that I think is interesting, is the notion of needing to have this DNA that could be activated by the [Terrigen] Mists, which is what’s so cool about Inhumans to me.” As you know, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted Marvel’s first Inhumans! Will the show carry over into the big screen film? Kevin Feige certainly thinks so! “I think they’re beginning to seed a lot of that in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. show, but the notion from the comics that I think is interesting, is the notion of needing to have this DNA that could be activated by the [Terrigen] Mists, which is what’s so cool about Inhumans to me.”
When asked if he would want to reacquire the X-Men franchise from Fox, just as he did with Spider-Man and Sony Pictures, Feige answered in the positive, saying “Well, the answer would always be “yes,” I think, to getting them back. But I think they have a solid plan over that at Fox for a while.”
For those of you who have not seen Avengers: Age of Ultron yet, it’ll be best that you DO NOT read the rest of this interview and more, for it contains SPOILERS!
For those of you who HAVE seen the film (or those of you who do not care about spoilers), let’s get started shall we? Captain America: Civil War, as most of you saw, was set up in Avengers: Age of Ultron, mainly in that awesome scene where The Vision was born! When asked about whether or not Iron Man will have an “Iron Army” fighting against Captain America, Feige responded, “They’re not fighting a lot of Iron People, I’ll tell you that. There’s a lot of people in the movie.” He then elaborated, “Well, there’s a lot of references I think are great. Some of it is just the tension bubbling up between friends, which is why I showed that log-chopping scene at the event last October, if you remember. Some of it is, Thor finally realizing something’s going on here, in a galactic sense. Somebody’s screwing with us. He’s going to go off and investigate that, and the Tesseract, and the orb in Guardians [of the Galaxy], the sceptre in this movie”
Infinity Stones huh? Feige reveals that we’ve already seen the Mind Stone in the Vision, the Space Stone (the Tesseract), The Aether, and The Orb, but there are two that are still missing. “It’s definitely the Mind Stone that is now in the Vision. Space, you’re right. Time and Soul are the two that are not accounted for. Basically there are two we haven’t introduced yet, but the others are more or less accounted for.”
Time has put together an infographic that maps out the connections between Marvel’s movies and television series, including the Netflix Defenders shows, ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.and Agent Carter, current films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, and Phase 3 movies like Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, and Captain Marvel.
The Age of Ultron’s mid-credits stinger revealed that, Thanos has officially seized an Infinity Gauntlet and declared that he’ll collect the Infinity Stones himself. Of course, the Gauntlet—which holds all six of the Marvel Universe’s Infinity Stones—was last seen in Odin’s trophy room in Thor. This lead some viewers to wonder how Thanos broke into Asgard’s vaults and took the gauntlet so easily.
But, Marvel Studios Head Kevin Feige recently clarified that Thanos’ gauntlet is not the same one on Asgard. Meaning: the Marvel Cinematic Universe has two Infinity Gauntlets. As Feige put it:
“There are two different gloves,” he told CinemaBlend. “That was not Odin’s vault that you see at the end.”
Ant-Man will be in theaters July 17, 2015; Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016; Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man reboot – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Black Panther – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019.
Now that Anthony & Joe Russo are set to helm both Avengers: Infinity War – Part I and Part II, Robert Downey Jr. recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about Avengers: Age of Ultron writer/direct Joss Whedon leaving the blockbuster franchise.“I wasn’t surprised because there was so much onus on can Ultron be as good as Avengers Assemble?” said Downey. “I just think it takes so much out of the men and women who are behind the major workload that occurs over a 24-month period, at best, to get one of these movies done. It’s backbreaking.”
With Joe and Anthony Russo set to take over for the two Avengers: Infinity War films (and also direct Downey in next year’s Captain America: Civil War), we asked the star what it is like to have his character now be directed by so many different people (Whedon, Jon Favreau, Shane Black, and now the Russos): “Its different every time,” replied Downey. “I’m also a very kind of loyal person so sometimes there’s a new face and I’m like ‘Wait a minute.’ But the interesting thing is I’ve worked with Jon twice, I’ve worked with Joss twice, and I worked with Shane Black once—and I’d happily do it with any of those three folks again.”
As for the future, Downey has confidence the franchise will keep humming along with the Russos. “I really think the Russo Brothers are super sharp and I think they are worthy stewards of carrying it forward.” There you have it: Iron Man approved!
Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. With an all-star cast that includes Chris Evans (Captain America), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Frank Grillo (Crossbones), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), and Daniel Brühl (Baron Zemo), along with unconfirmed appearances by Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Paul Bettany (Vision), and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), the highly-anticipated film is scheduled to open in theaters on May 6, 2016.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be in theaters May 1, 2015; Ant-Man on July 17, 2015; Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016; Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man reboot – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Black Panther – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019.
Chris Evans is out promoting Avengers: Age of Ultron, and very soon he’ll be suiting up again to start filming on Captain America: Civil War. Evans spoke to Esquire about his upcoming shooting schedule and says that filming on Civil War will go until about “August or September”, which is the usual shoot time for a major blockbuster film.
However, because he’s on a Marvel contract and Marvel has release dates for all of its Phase Three movies, Evans also knows that he’ll be needed for Avengers: Infinity War, which will be two films shot back to back. Evans tells Esquire that he thinks filming begins in either fall or winter 2016 and, “That’s going to be like nine months to shoot both movies back to back.”
The lengthy production schedule isn’t too much of a surprise, and I’m curious to see how many other MCU actors will have to adhere to it. So many actors are getting sucked into the MCU, so how many of them will be spending the larger part of a year working on these two movies? Evans doesn’t sound bummed by the prospect, and just accepts it as part of his working schedule. “”You know, you plan around the Marvel responsibilities,” says Evans. “You have to.”
Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 will be released on May 4, 2018, and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 will open on May 3, 2019. Captain America: The Winter Soldier screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely will pen the script and Joe and Anthony Russo will direct.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be in theaters May 1, 2015; Ant-Man on July 17, 2015; Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016; Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man reboot – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Black Panther – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019.
An exhausted Joss Whedon was putting the finishing touches on Avengers: Age of Ultron just a few weeks ago when he spoke with Entertainment Weekly for their current magazine issue. And among things they discussed was the fact that he will not be directing nor writing the third and fourth installments, Avengers: Infinity War – Part I and Part II.
In late March, he shuffles into a black-box editing suite on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank and slips into the corner of a couch looking like a pair of discarded pajamas. “Two days from now, I will finish this,” he says, like someone who thinks it may finish him first. “I moved next door [to temporary quarters on the studio lot], said goodbye to my kids…. I wake up, come here, and then I do this, and then I go to sleep. That’s it.”
Age of Ultron pits Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye against Ultron, a genocidal artificial intelligence designed to protect the world, and Whedon says this is the end of the line for him. He’s wrapping up a three-year deal with Marvel Studios that included laying the foundation of this interlocked universe with 2012’s The Avengers, creating the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and consulting on all manner of Marvel movies, from features to shorts. In other words, he’s about to be shot out of a canon, too. No wonder he’s beat.
But there’s no need to shed tears for him just yet. “Joss will be okay,” a crew member says in the elevator later, when I express my concern. “He’s about to make $2 billion.”
That’s probably a little low. Age of Ultron is likely to outgross the previous Avengers’ $1.56 billion global haul, and while Whedon won’t personally be pocketing all that cash, it’s fair to say that the stakes, and fan expectations, are high. “The first rule of making a sequel is: Take the best moments and do something else,” he says. “Don’t do the Indiana Jones gun trick again differently. Just go somewhere else.”
So where else did he go this time?
Love. Control. Creation. What we have with Avengers: Age of Ultron is not just a superhero movie, but a story about parenthood in which the battles take place on the world stage instead of in a living room. Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is the ultimate father figure, struggling to hold together the superhero team he assembled as they face Ultron (Spader) and a set of evildoing twins: Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver.
These new characters are the products of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), a fresh villain from the dastardly HYDRA organization. He’s been using Loki’s scepter for human experimentation, which bestowed the siblings with powers of magic (Scarlet Witch) and speed (Quicksilver).
But the bad baron piques Tony Stark’s interest for other reasons. “Von Strucker was working on a lot of stuff, including robotics,” says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. “Tony realizes, ‘[Those robotics] might be able to help me get over the hump of some of the AI stuff I’ve been working on.’” Stark’s invention, Ultron, is born from the marriage of both men’s technologies. Alas, adolescence is a bitch, and Ultron goes rogue, shreds Stark’s other artificial-intelligence program, J.A.R.V.I.S., and gives rise to his own awesome creation: the synthezoid known as the Vision (played by Paul Bettany, who previously voiced J.A.R.V.I.S.).
Meanwhile, there’s some serious interpersonal drama brewing between the superheroes themselves. For starters, that romance hinted at in the trailer between Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk alter-ego, Bruce Banner, is real. Though this isn’t completely new territory for Marvel movies—see: Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, Thor and Jane Foster, Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter—this is the first time any of the actual Avengers have been tempted to fish off the company pier. Why match up Black Widow with the big green guy? Whedon answers in song, crooning, “‘Tale as old as time…’” from Beauty and the Beast. “It made perfect sense to me,” he says.
If Black Widow has felt like the Avengers’ big sister—cleaning up the messes and keeping the boys in line—that’s precisely why she’s drawn to the Hulk. Whedon says he wanted to pair “the person who’s the most in control with the person who has to be in control, because he’s the least in control.”
Audiences can also expect a few superpowered cameos, including Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and two top secret new female characters played by Julie Delpy (Before Midnight) and Linda Cardellini (Bloodline). Feige won’t say whom they play, but vowed that Captain Marvel wouldn’t be turning up this time. Sorry, fanboys and fangirls.
Regardless of Age of Ultron’s critical and box office outcome, the next time the Avengers come together—for the two-part Infinity War, planned for 2018 and 2019—Whedon will be nowhere in sight. Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and are now in preproduction on next year’s Captain America: Civil War, will be at the helm.
Marvel characters always seem to be creating their own worst enemies, which may explain why Whedon is ready to hang it up: He’s created his own too. “Every movie I have ever made has been an ensemble piece of increasingly enormous proportions,” he says, sitting next to Feige in the editing suite. “That many balls in the air, it’s only going to get bigger with Infinity War. I’m not going to be able to give it what I would need to.” He rasps in a geezer voice: “It’s a young man’s game.”
Maybe. But he still sounds like someone who’s been grandfathered in. Or maybe, uh, Godfathered.
“Just when you think you’re out,” Feige says, doing his best Al Pacino impression, “you get pulled back in.” Whedon points a finger at his soon-to-be-former boss: “That’s the other reason I’m not making a third one.” Source: EW
During a press conference today in support of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige and Avengers director Joss Whedon addressed the connective tissue betweeen the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy corners of the universe.
When a reporter asked about the connections between films and which characters or concepts may have been back-burnered a bit in Phase Two to make sure they were where they needed to be for the second Avengers film, Feige and Whedon had a few examples.”
“As we were putting the other Phase 2 movies together, Joss very much liked the idea and we honed in on that for him that Hulk and Hawkeye would be two characters that hadn’t gotten very much exposure between the movies because he said he had very big plans for the two of them in this one,” Feige said. “The only thing I can think of is pulling Thanos out of Guardians of the Galaxy,” added Whedon. “That’s true,” admitted Feige. “There was going to be more Thanos, yeah.” “They needed to thread him in more gently,” Whedon concluded.
Of course, it’s no secret that Guardians director James Gunn felt the Thanos scene in the film was the hardest thing to shoot, so it’s likely there wasn’t a ton of resistance in playing him down a bit.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be in theaters May 1, 2015; Ant-Man on July 17, 2015; Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016; Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man reboot – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Black Panther – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019.
Before Marvel officially announced that Joe and Anthony Russo would replace Joss Whedon on the next two Avengers movies, Badass Digest got the jump on the news by a good week or so. Well now they’re at it again, confirming that the brothers will re-team with Captain America: The Winter Soldier scribes Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely on the Infinity War flicks. These guys are veterans of the MCU writing game at this stage (having also worked on Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor: The Dark World and Agent Carter) and have proven that with the Russo Bros. they are a force to be reckoned with.
They’ll first re-team for Captain America: Civil War on May 6, 2016, and then Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 on May 4, 2018, followed by Part 2 on May 3, 2019.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be in theaters May 1, 2015; Ant-Man on July 17, 2015; Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016; Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man reboot – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Black Panther – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019.
Marvel have now confirmed the reports that the Russo Brothers will indeed in fact direct the “Avengers: Infinity War” Event!
As anticipation and excitement build to a fever pitch for Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the blockbuster sequel to the third-largest movie of all time, Marvel is proud to announce Joe and Anthony Russo will join the franchise as the directors of Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1” and “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2.”
The Russo brothers first entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” one of the top-grossing film’s from 2014, and are currently preparing to shoot Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War.” The third film in the Captain America franchise will bring the classic storyline from the comics to life pitting Cap (Chris Evans) against Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), as well as introducing Black Panther to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with actor Chadwick Boseman ahead of his own film later in Phase 3.
Before stepping behind the camera for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Captain America: Civil War,” the Russo brothers served as Executive Producers and directors for many TV series, including “Community” and “Happy Endings.” Joe and Anthony earned a Primetime Emmy award for their work directing the pilot episode of the cult-hit “Arrested Development” series. Their film debut was “Welcome to Collinwood”, produced by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be in theaters May 1, 2015; Ant-Man on July 17, 2015; Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016; Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man reboot – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Black Panther – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019.
NOTE: THIS IS STILL NOT BEEN CONFIRMED BY MARVEL STUDIOS
According to Badass Digest Joe and Anthony Russo will follow up Captain America: Civil War by graduating to Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and 2. The movies should shoot back-to-back in 2016 and 2017.
There are no writers on it yet, but it’s been speculated that Marvel is in talks with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the guys who wrote the three Captain America movies as well as did work on Thor: The Dark World and helped create Agent Carter. Basically it’s about keeping the band together moving forward, with the Russos and Markus and McFeely all being really on the same page and working together well. This will more than likely become official shortly.
The Russos stepping up to be the backbone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the rest of the decade is amazing news. Even if you don’t think Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the best Marvel movie to date you have to acknowledge that it’s in the conversation. And that was their first time with big action – they’ve been comedy directors in the past, and those two different sets of chops will help them as they take over this big, bustling team from Joss Whedon. What’s more, it’s also been theorised that Civil War is instrumental in setting up infinity War, so it’s great that the Russos will be able to bring their story all the way through to the end.
What’s exciting about these guys doing Infinity War is that we know they can do character, we know they can do action, and now we’re going to get a look at how they do cosmos-spanning epic storytelling. From Arrested Development to the Infinity Gauntlet – good lord, what a range.
Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 will arrive in theaters May 4th 2018 and then Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 will arrive May 3rd 2019.
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