What does the world do if it is danger of both Alien and Predatorial attack, call the Avengers! But don’t hold your breath for that film as it is only a trailer! It’s not the only trailer for this Fan Stuff Sunday as I have a Captain Marvel one too plus a bunch of fan-art from Boss Logic, Lord Mesa, CAMW1N, Will Brooks, and Sandara.
UPDATE: There’s Captain America as Amber Heard, Iron Man as Kate Beckinsale, Bruce Banner as Mila Kunis, Thor as Jennifer Lawrence, Hawkeye as Shailene Woodley, Loki as Kristen Stewart, and…Chris Pine as Black Widow! Despite being a little rough around the edges, these are very creative and have really gotten people talking on social media. The manips are the work of 18 year old Tumblr user Agnes.
Mark Ruffalo, who stars as The Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner in Avengers: Age of Ultron, participated in a Reddit AMA and was asked who his top choice would be for Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters, also known as She-Hulk.
“Oh wow, that’s pretty crazy. Well I think Zoe Saldana would be a great She Hulk,” Ruffalo replied. “It’d be nice to see someone like her join the Avengers. Or someone quiet and demure like Emma Stone would be nice. But it would be up to the powers that be.”
It is virtually impossible for his Infinitely Polar Bear co-star to play She-Hulk since Saldana already plays the green-skinned Gamora (Guardians of the Galaxy) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Keep in mind, Ruffalo is just thinking about who he thinks is the best choice – regardless of logic.
Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man) is a fun choice. Yes, she too has already been in two Marvel films but that was pre-Sony-Marvel deal. So her Gwen Stacy was never a part of the MCU. She’s fair game to be She-Hulk.
She-Hulk was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema and first appeared in She-Hulk #1 (February 1980). When Jennifer Walters was seriously injured in an accident her cousin Bruce gave her a blood transfusion that ended up infusing her with a milder version of his Hulk-like powers. She got his strength, but kept her wits.
Ruffalo recently worked with Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson on the film Brothers Bloom. When asked during the same Reddit AMA what it was like working with Johnson, Ruffalo dropped a little hint that he’d like a place in Johnson’s Star Wars:
Loved working with Rian. He is an incredibly gifted film maker and a really fine man. I hope he has a place for me in the new StarWars. Knock knock, Rian.
The comment comes off as a good nature ribbing, so fans probably shoudn’t take it as anything more that. Then again, if it came to pass, Ruffalo in Star Wars may be the closest thing we ever get to a Planet Hulk movie.
Mark Ruffalo, the actor who plays Banner in the film, has already praised Whedon’s work and expressed a different view of Bruce and Natasha’s relationship. During yet again the same AMA on Reddit, Ruffalo went into a much more detailed defense of the Age of Ultron director:
I think it’s sad. Because I know how Joss feels about women, and I know that he’s made it a point to create strong female characters. I think part of the problem is that people are frustrated that they want to see more women, doing more things, in superhero movies, and because we don’t have as many women as we should yet, they’re very, very sensitive to every single storyline that comes up right now. But I think what’s beautiful about what Joss did with Black Widow – I don’t think he makes her any weaker, he just brings this idea of love to a superhero, and I think that’s beautiful. If anything, Black Widow is much stronger than Banner. She protects him. She does her job, and basically they begin to have a relationship as friends, and I think it’s a misplaced anger. I think that what people might really be upset about is the fact that we need more superhuman women. The guys can do anything, they can have love affairs, they can be weak or strong and nobody raises an eyebrow. But when we do that with a woman, because there are so few storylines for women, we become hyper-critical of every single move that we make because there’s not much else to compare it to. So I know Joss really well. I know what his values are. And I think it’s sad, because in a lot of ways, there haven’t been as many champions in this universe as Joss isand will continue to be. And I know it hurts him. I know it’s heavy on him. And the guy’s one of the sweetest, best guys, and I know him – as far as any man can be a champion for women, he is that. So it’s been a little disheartening. But I also see how much people love that aspect of it. There’s an equal amount of people who find the love interest between Banner and Black Widow to be a big standout. And it’s very satisfying to people. So it’s a movie. People are going to have their opinions. And that’s actually a great thing. The fact that this is a debate that’s coming out of this movie is probably a positive thing. I just don’t think that people should get personal with Joss, because he really is – of anyone – an advocate for women. He’s a deeply committed feminist.
Whedon left Twitter amidst a the barrage of criticism, though he clarified that he was by no means driven away by any group of people with any particular point of view, but left to better focus on his next writing project. It’s also worth noting that the Banner relationship is only one of the sticking points fans have had with Black Widow’s characterization in Age of Ultron, and not the entirety of it.
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!
Well it’s Wednesday and do you know what that means? It’s another issue of Marvel Madness! This week we got the renewal of Daredevil, Black Widow in CIVIL WAR, the Hulk’s future, Adam McKay being a possible director for a phase 3 movie, and MORE!
Marvel and Netflix are proud to announce that “Marvel’s Daredevil” will receive a second season, available only on the streaming service in 2016!
With the first season of “Marvel’s Daredevil” proving a smash success with both audiences and critics, Netflix and Marvel will continue to create further adventures of the Man Without Fear! Doug Petrie (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “American Horror Story”) and Marco Ramirez (“Sons of Anarchy”), who worked closely with Executive Producers Steven S. DeKnight and Drew Goddard during the first season, will serve as showrunners for Season 2. Petrie, Ramirez, Goddard (“Cabin in the Woods”), and Jeph Loeb (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) will serve as Executive Producers of Season 2.
“While previous commitments unfortunately prevent me from continuing on with Daredevil into its second season,” DeKnight explains, “I could not be happier that Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez are carrying the torch. They were invaluable collaborators during our first season, and I for one can’t wait to see what they do with the show moving forward.”
“Marvel’s Daredevil” is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.
Thanks to HeyUGuys, you can watch the full UK press conference for Avengers: Age of Ultron for you to watch below. It’s pretty much just 25 minutes of the kind of questions which will make you facepalm as a comic book fan – be on the lookout for the guy who tells a befuddled Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans that the movie was “Not bad, could have been better!” – but there are also some very interesting tidbits. For example, there’s talk of both a solo movie for Black Widow and a hint at what’s next to come for The Hulk. Head to the 20 minute mark for that, but be warned of spoilers.
Amid promotion for Avengers: Age of Ultron, which opens internationally today, Scarlett Johansson talked a bit about her return as Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, inthe much-anticipated Captain America: Civil War. IGN asked the actress if she’d like to see Widow’s past explored more, or would she rather the character move forward and become sort of a mentor to the new Avengers.
“I think that the Widow’s past will always haunt her,” she replied. “She’s trying to move forward, she’s trying to pick up the pieces of her life. I think we’ll see parts of that in Cap 3 when we find her. And certainly she has a greater purpose, and I think that greater is charged by this need [for her] to escape her past. So, it’s always kind of right there, kind of looming over her shoulders.”
In a separate interview with Reuters at yesterday’s European premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Scarlett Johansson had teased a darker tone in Captain America: Civil War. “I can’t elaborate too much on it,” she said. “But as the scope of these movies is larger and larger and the danger kind of looms larger and larger, I don’t want to say that the film has a darker tone, but the film has a darker tone and I think it’s maturing along with the fans.” Meanwhile, Digital Spy recently asked Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner about their respective return as Captain America and Hawkeye in Civil War. Watch that interview below as well as Scarlett Johansson’s.
Could we see Adam McKay direct Marvel’s Inhumans movie? It’s definitely a distinct possibility… but then according to Kevin Feige, he could also wind up helming any of the future films in the pipeline. The Marvel head honcho sat down with Collider while doing press for Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and confirmed that the studio was still interested in working with McKay, who was in line to direct At-Man at one point and worked on a script draft with actor Paul Rudd.
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“Adam McKay is in the running for everything. Adam McKay is a great, great writer and director. He did an amazing pass on the Ant-Man draft with Paul Rudd for us, and I didn’t know him before then. And we got to know him through that and liked him very much, and have met with him a number of times trying to find something else, so we’ve talked about a lot of characters with him.”
So it sounds like it’ll only be a matter of time before McKay officially comes on board a Marvel project; the only question is, which one? Inhumans needs a director of course but then so does Black Panther and Captain Marvel — though word is Marvel is hoping to set a female film-maker to that one. Feige was also asked to clarify if a rumored Inhumans logline (“a group of people that are given powers only to discover they might be part of an alien race”) was true or not, to which he responded: “Well I’d say that’s relatively fair, but that’s not official. I’ve never seen that as an official logline.”
Here’s what the Avengers: Age of Ultron director had to say when he was asked by Buzzfeed if he had any thoughts on Wright’s departure from Ant-Man. “No…Only that I don’t get it,” he said. “I thought the script was not only the best script that Marvel had ever had, but the most Marvel script I’d read. I had no interest in Ant-Man. [Then] I read the script, and was like, Of course! This is so good! It reminded me of the books when I read them. Irreverent and funny and could make what was small large, and vice versa. I don’t know where things went wrong. But I was very sad. Because I thought, This is a no-brainer. This is Marvel getting it exactly right. Whatever dissonance that came, whatever it was, I don’t understand why it was bigger than a marriage that seemed so right. But I’m not going to say it was definitely all Marvel, or Edgar’s gone mad! I felt like they would complement each other by the ways that they were different. And, uh, somethin’ happened.” Well that wraps up Marvel Madness for another week! Check back next week for the third issue!
When Marvel Studios unveiled its lineup of Phase Three films through the year 2019 last fall, a Black Widow movie was not on the schedule. Collider recently spoke with Johansson at the press day for Avengers: Age of Ultron and asked the actress if a Black Widow movie remains on the table:
“I think that there’s room for a standalone movie. The character has a really rich origin story and I’ve been really fortunate to kind of place all these layers on top of one another and kind of build up this character to this point where I think I can now start to peel them away and reveal different sides of her and really focus on—I think I’ve been able to grow with the character, the character’s been able to grow with me.
Her dilemma that she faces it’s a deeply personal one, she has this great, huge, epic kind of calling and now is suddenly going, ‘Wait a minute. I have this epic calling, but I wanna make a choice for myself. I feel like I’ve put in the hours, I should be able to make active choices’ and she inevitably chooses the heroic path and kind of puts her own personal desires and needs aside. Those are things that kind of butt up against each other and interesting things happen when you have a character that’s pulled in many different directions and in my mind there’s room for plenty more Black Widow and certainly more—I think I could see her in a standalone film.”
While it doesn’t appear that a Black Widow film is coming in the near future, Johansson revealed that she’s spoken with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige about a series of standalone features:
“I’ve spoken to Kevin about it. I mean, of course, of course we’ve had that conversation before, and I think Kevin would also like to see a standalone film. I think I can speak for him and say that. That’s all, really. Right now I think this character is used well in this part of the universe, but I think that Kevin—I mean, we’ve talked about it and we both share similar vision for what could be a standalone series.”
The actress went on to say that, initially, Marvel wasn’t sure how audiences were going to respond to the character, and the decision to make Johansson a co-star of Captain America: The Winter Soldier came as a result of seeing Widow’s relationship with Cap in The Avengers:
“My contract has changed. Marvel and myself didn’t really know how the fans were gonna react to Black Widow the first time and how she was gonna be—they couldn’t anticipate how they would want to use her or if they would want to use her. I mean we invested in that character, but the audience had a great reaction to the character, which has been so awesome. For instance, I wasn’t contracted into doing Cap movies, but that storyline worked out so well I kind of branched off and I found myself in that standalone movie. My contract is kind of mutating, I guess [laughs] or morphed to fit the demand of the character.”
Johansson stressed that though Marvel contracts can be extensive, she’s happy to stick around for a while longer:
“It’s been a very good relationship back and forth and I think Marvel—the one thing about working with them is they don’t want anybody to work on the movie that doesn’t want to be there, obviously. So whatever you’re contracted to should not feel like golden handcuffs, and they don’t want that either… I will certainly be around and that’s because it’s been such a great response. I mean, I’m always happy to put the cat suit back on, for sure.”
So fear not, Black Widow fans. It doesn’t sound like Johansson’s leaving Marvel anytime soon.
It’s not long now until the release of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, the sequel to 2012’s The Avengers. Total Film have just unveiled two new collector covers featuring Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) on one and Nicky Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) on another. But where’s the Hulk, you ask? According to Total Film, the Jade Gian’t will get his own solo cover, which is only available to Total Film subscribers.
Marvel Studios presents Avengers: Age of Ultron, the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to the Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure. Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, the team must reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and meet an old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision. Written and directed by Joss Whedon and produced by Kevin Feige, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” published in 1963. Get set for an action-packed thrill ride when The Avengers return in Avengers: Age of Ultron May 1, 2015.
Scarlett Johansson talked to W Magazine about signing up to play Black Widow in Iron Man 2. “People were surprised that I wanted to play a comic book heroine. But I loved Iron Man, and I met with Marvel to see what was possible. I had done my research, and the Black Widow character resonated with me. She is dark and has faced death so many times that she has a deep perspective on the value of life. In the sequel, you learn more about the sadness in her past.”
As for what appeals to her about the character, the Avengers: Age of Ultron star added: “I think of her that way. Black Widow is a superhero, but she’s also human. She’s small, but she’s strong. It’s hard not to admire her.” Probably NSFW but here’s a gallery of her photo-shoot with W Magazine:
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