Tilda Swinton In Talks To Play The Ancient One For DOCTOR STRANGE

Tilda Swinton is on her way to the Marvel Universe. The actress is in negotiations to join Benedict Cumberbatch in Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange, being directed by Scott Derrickson.

Strange is Marvel’s supernatural hero, a formerly cocky surgeon who loses the use of his hands, and while on a last ditch attempt to heal himself, discovers magic. Strange’s mentor is a Tibetan mystic known as the Ancient One, who is training pupils to be the next sorcerer supreme. In the comics, the character has been a male, and Marvel Studios initially was searching for a male actor.

But the studio rethought the role and has now made it female. If a deal makes, Swinton will play the Ancient One. Strange has a release date of Nov. 4, 2016. The movie is due to begin shooting November in the U.K. Kevin Feige is producing.

Joining a Marvel movie is the latest move for Swinton, whose film résumé reveals an actress that refuses to be pigeonholed in any way.

The actress will be seen with Amy Schumer in Judd Apatow’s new comedy, Trainwreck, and has appeared in the last two Wes Anderson movies, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom. In between, she gave a show stopping performance as a brutally poised but unbalanced villainess in Snowpiercer, Joon-ho Bong’s sci-fi movie that starred Chris Evans.

She won an Oscar for best supporting actress for 2007’s Michael Clayton and played the angel Gabriel in the 2005 adaptation of DC Entertainment’s comic Constantine.

Source: THR

Kevin Feige Talks Actors’ Contract Renewal, Marvel One-Shots, MCU Deaths And More

One of the moderators of /r/marvelstudios, had a chance to participate in a Q&A after a pre-screening of Avengers: Age of Ultron. He mentions in the comments that the notes currently posted are his condensed version, so his post isn’t a word for word transcription, but even taking that into account there are quite a few interesting pieces of information worth noting. Both Kevin Feige and Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon were present at the Q&A, but a good portion of it was Feige, and it’s his quotes that are the most interesting.

Age of Ultron spoilers below.

JonLuca, the moderator over at /r/marvelstudios who was both involved in the Q&A and did a bulk of the transcription, posted an update in regards to Kevin Feige’s contract. You can read his quote below

I’ve received some questions about the contract renewal comment – he said that some of the actor’s contract have been renewd, not Kevin Feige’s. This information is spreading and I do not want to spread wrong information, so please correct this. Thanks
Jonluca

Feige also commented on Marvel Studios’ tone and his response to fans when they inquire about the studio taking a “dark” turn. It’s also important to note that he only mentions the movies here, as Daredevil could definitely be considered “dark” in a lot of senses. Here’s what had to say:

There is no dark turn in the MCU. He says every year fans come up to him and ask him if this movie is when the MCU goes “dark” or takes a “dark” turn. He said while the trailers may seem ominous or have a sense of impending doom, the movies do not have that feel, and will not. He said he “Hoped people would catch on by now” – there will be no giant dark turns in the MCU where it then continues to head in that direction. The humor is in the DNA of the movies, there are no plans to change that.

Speaking of darkness in the MCU, he mentions that Quicksilver is dead. 100% dead.

Quiksilver is DEAD. 100%, he’s not coming back any time soon, there are no plans. No LMD, no escaping bullets, no retcon. Kevin said he is dead and wanted to make sure people understood that.

He also went on to say that the idea of having Loki’s Sceptre as the Mind Stone was planned out since The Avengers. So for those like myself who may want to feel a little justified in their earlier stance, you’ll get no satisfaction here; it’s not a retcon.

During filming of original Avengers they were already planning AoU – they knew Quiksilver would die, Vision and Scarlet Witch would have a “moment,” and that the gem was in the scepter

There is also no current plans to bring back the One-Shots.

There are no active plans for the One-shots to return, unfortunately. If something good comes up, they’ll do it, but for now, no.

There were plenty of other interesting details revealed, so head on over to this reddit thread for more.

Feige & Whedon Talk Being Accused Of ‘Ruining Hollywood’

Despite combining to create one of the most beloved franchises in movie history, Marvel’s Joss Whedon and Kevin Feige have recently found themselves at the receiving end of a bit of criticism regarding Hollywood’s so-called ‘superhero fatigue’ problem. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone to promote Age Of Ultron, the pair sat down and addressed some of their critics’ concerns…

Kevin Feige, upon being asked about whether superhero films are “ruining hollywood”:

“Well, I will say we’re in good company. If you look through the decades of people who’ve been accused of that. Star Wars ruined Hollywood, Steven Spielberg ruined Hollywood — I’ll be in that company any day of the week.
“But the truth is, we don’t spend a lot of time looking at that stuff because we’re too busy trying to make the movies. I haven’t been involved in a project that’s been nominated for an Independent Spirit award, but I imagine those people put all their blood, sweat, and tears into it to try to get it done. That’s exactly what we do over here every single day.”

Whedon seemed to take the criticism in good humor, while building on Feige’s earlier comments:

“They don’t have the Hulk. The Hulk wants to do more independent stuff. It’s just his agent… The Marvel paradigm is new and is being copied by a lot of people, because it worked. But they’re being blamed for something that happened long before comic books became the basis for a lot of these blockbusters.”
“As for whether the paradigm will sustain itself or whether or not people will get sick of superheroes, who knows? Sure, I could stand to make a movie where guys don’t have to be sewn into their outfits. That would be fun. But a lot of vitriol has come Kevin’s way and Marvel’s way. I think perhaps that is misguided.”

Feige concluded the interview by responding to a question many people have been wondering about – when he thinks the superhero bubble will pop:

“As soon as there are a bunch of them that are terrible, that’s when it will end. I don’t believe in the superhero-movie genre. With Guardians of the Galaxy, we wanted to do a big space movie; with Ant-Man, we wanted to do a heist movie; Winter Solider, we wanted to do a political thriller.”
“I’m more entertained by all of those kind of movies when there’s superheroes in the middle of them, so that works out for me. But, I do believe and hope that that’s what we’ll continue to sustain, at least the ones we’re responsible for. The other ones we have nothing to do with – and we go see them when they come out on opening weekend.”

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.

Source: Rolling Stones 

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PI & PII To Be In IMAX And Written By Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

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.”

Martin Freeman Joins CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” has added another name to its growing cast with Martin Freeman, who will make his debut in the film.

“From his roles as Bilbo Baggins and Doctor Watson to Tim in ‘The Office,’ Martin’s range from the dramatic to the comedic has consistently impressed us,” said “Captain America: Civil War” Producer Kevin Feige. “We couldn’t be more honored or excited to have such a talented actor join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

Celebrated for his roles in “Sherlock,” “Fargo,” the “Hobbit” trilogy, and much more, Freeman has earned one Primetime Emmy® Award and one BAFTA Award, both for his portrayal of Doctor John Watson in “Sherlock.” Martin has also been nominated for a Golden Globe® for his role of Lester Nygaard in “Fargo”, and nominated for a further two Emmy Awards and two BAFTA Awards. Most recently Martin has been seen hosting SNL and has filmed Tina Fey’s untitled wartime black comedy.

“Captain America: Civil War” hits theaters May 6, 2016.

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.

Source: Marvel.com

MARVEL’S Kevin Feige Talks SPIDER-MAN, X-MEN, INFINITY WAR, And MORE!!!

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.

Source: Crave Online

Kevin Feige Confirms MARVEL’S Interest In Director Adam McKay

Kevin Feige confirms that Marvel is very interested in working again with director/screenwriter Adam McKay (Anchorman, Step Brothers).

“Adam McKay is in the running for everything,” Feige told Collider. “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.”

Currently, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Inhumans don’t have directors attached, so McKay could be up for any of the three. Though, speculation has matched up McKay with Inhumans.

When Collider mentioned to Feige the rumored Inhumans logline: “About a group of people that are given powers only to discover they might be part of an alien race.” Feige replied, “Well I’d say that’s relatively fair, but that’s not official. I’ve never seen that as an official logline.”

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.

Source: Collider

Kevin Feige’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Comments Show How Much He Loves Spidey!

WikiLeaks have published all of the “Sony Hack” emails, and one particularly interesting exchange contains Marvel Studios notes on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from late 2013. “Andrew’s performance is all over the place…a lot of crying and then a lot of mania.” Read on for details.

The following notes come from an email dated November 19th, 2013 (you can see it here) and reveal some of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s insights into what was wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. They’re fairly tame recommendation/observations as Marvel obviously had no creative control over the movie at this time, and Sony clearly didn’t pay a great deal of attention – their loss – based on the final product anyway. There are some interesting reveals about some of the directions the sequel would have gone in too, including Aunt May finding out that Peter is Spidey in the same way as JMS’ comic book run. It’s a shame they cut that for whatever reason.

What’s abundantly clear here is that Feige just gets Spider-Man. Like every other Marvel character he’s brought to the big screen, the man just understands what makes them tick and the right way to bring them to life. Something else which was interesting is just how well Feige seems to get on with Amy Pascal. She clearly respects his opinions and was keen to hear more from him, so there really isn’t any need to be worried about her involement in Marvel’s Spider-Man. The new Spidey is going to be Feige’s baby 100%…if you’re not excited about the 2017 movie after this, you’re nuts!

There are too many story lines and we need to choose which ones we are focusing on and lift out the other ones, ie; could reduce father arc to just Roosevelt?

Could cut out plane crash and Richard destroying spiders and start on armored car – don’t start with Spider-Man….let the danger/stakes to NYC build first and then have Spider-Man enter the scene heroically.

Tone down Paul Giamatti performance, so he seems a bit more menacing and less cartoonish.

If you cut Richard from the opening and the plane crash maybe you could instead do Harry coming home and seeing Norman at the top of the movie as a cold open.

Really love Electro – feels like you may not need the scene in his apartment, which makes him seems completely crazy and hard to relate too.

Like the idea that eel goes in his mouth and instead of burrowing, you see it glow within him…

Need to set up the Power Plant earlier, visually.

Seems like the movie switches pov’s a lot…why are we in Max’s pov during the car chase, worth looking at this playing out from Spidey’s pov.

There could be a better way to reveal that Peter is missing graduation – maybe when you cut Gwen you cut to the wide shot?

Tiny note – don’t think Peter would lie to Gwen about sirens — maybe he just downplays it…

Stan Lee Cameo – maybe need a little more emphasis on Peter here trying to get out of his costume and not be in seen…set up a little more the pressure of the principal getting closer and closer to calling his name.

Instead of seeing the ghost of Captain Stacy, can just here the voice in Peter’s head and maybe flash back to the last movie?  Don’t think we should add Cap Stacy back into car chase.

There is too much back and forth with Peter and Gwen – can we recut the Dim Sum scene so that it doesn’t feel so repetitive of their break-up in the last movie – Can Peter be more honorable and definitive and less wishy-washy?

Why do we need a year to pass…

Harry story feels like the main plot of the movie – Peter should look into the past b/c of Harry – maybe find some photos of them together as kids…use obsession wall more to set up this part of his past not just what happened to parents.

Not sure what Peter learns at Roosevelt is entirely correct. We’re distracted by the idea that Peter became Spider-Man b/c of his father’s blood — all this special back story with his super-scientist dad fights with the idea that Peter is normal kid from Queens who becomes the greatest super-hero in the world…

Andrew’s performance is all over the place…a lot of crying and then a lot of mania. Hard to track him emotionally sometimes. It undermines his reaction to Gwen’s death b/c he gets upset and emotional a lot.

Don’t like the idea that May tells Peter his parents were spies b/c two seconds later he finds out they are not and it again fights with the idea that he’s an ordinary kid.

Like the idea that May finds out he’s Spider-Man – finds his costume instead of just the rosemary harris wink-wink all the time.

Kind of like the morgue, but hate the dancing mortician – cliché.

Are you using VFX to show how Electro is travelling from one point to another (bursts of electricity).

Need to underscore capture of goblin…more sirens as you linger on the clock 1;21, 1:22 am (nice touch).

Surveillance scene should be about following Harry not Peter…no one should be following Peter.

Can Electro hum Itsy-Bitsy Spider before he plays it electronically…maybe we can use this again.

Maybe intercut the ending montage and hearing Gwen’s speech with someone going into special projects and revealing more easter eggs and see that the rhino case has been broke into and the suit is missing…great way to transition to rhino ending.

Don’t need Aunt May in the kitchen.

Spider-man needs to feel more directly responsible for preventing the planes from crashing.

Don’t show New Yorkers looting.

New AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Covers F*** Movie Magazine Plus New Set Of Interviews

A whole new set of cast interviews from the Avengers: Age Of Ultron press tour have surfaced featuring the cast chatting about their characters and more! Plus take a look at the brand new Age Of Ultron cover for F*** Movie Magazine!

 

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 MADNESS #1: Hemsworth’s Contract, Whedon’s Final Cut, And More!

Welcome to the first edition of Marvel Madness where I give the most recent Marvel news that you may have missed during the week! This edition we have Hemsworth’s contract, Whedon’s Final Cut, and much much more!

Vulture recently got the opportunity to sit down with the movie’s director, Joss Whedon, and it was during this chat that the actor revealed the length of the sequel’s very first cut. Of course, this behemoth needed to be cut down, and ultimately Joss Whedon had a very specific goal for the film’s runtime. He explained,

There’s one or two things that I’m unhappy about not having in there, but they’re small. I said to [Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige] before we started, ‘My secret fantasy that’ll never come true is that the second one is shorter than the first.’ And we’re shorter by a minute.

When asked if he would regret not getting to write an Avengers: Infinity War scene in which the likes of Iron Man and Star-Lord cross paths, Joss Whedon asked,

“Oh, buddy, are you kidding? I’m angry about scenes between people in my movies that I didn’t get to write! No, there’s a huge part of me that would love to do Infinity War. I mean, come on, it would just be so glorious. But that would be four years of my life… after which, I would be 20 years older.”

However, the filmmaker admits that he does not rule out some sort of writing contribution to the Phase 3 event.

“I love this place and these guys, and I can’t imagine not sitting down and talking about the movies with them, but whether or not that’s an official thing, I don’t know.” 

CinemaBlend chat with Kevin Feige about the very same subject during this weekend’s press event, and while he downplayed the runtime mentioned by Whedon by about 45 minutes, he reiterated the Avengers: Age of Ultron director’s sentiment about the longer cuts not being anything that fans actually want to watch. Said Feige,

Most films you can put an assembly together and it can be two hours and 45 minutes to three hours. I think the longest version of this was two hours and 45 minutes, thereabout. The longest version of Ant-Man was three hours, but nobody wants to see those versions of the movie.

The woman seen disrobing in a cave in the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer had fans guessing about her identity. Is it Shuri? Jocasta? Then early reports from journalists who had seen the film said that the character didn’t appear at all in the final cut, confusing matters even more

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige tells Cinema Blend that it was all a dream:

That was just the imagery. That was just interesting imagery as part of a dream sequence… It was part of when Thor was looking around at the oddity and the strangeness happening and it was just an image marketing grabbed.

Feige admits that sometimes the studio likes to mess with its fans, but that it wasn’t the case in this instance.

Sometimes, not in that case. In that case it was just an arresting image which seemed interesting and when marketing presented it to us, we said, ‘Oh yeah, cool! This is great! Amazing, great work.’ And then it started to go out and I thought, ‘People are going to read into all this stuff.’

When Entertainment Tonight spoke James Gunn at Avengers: Age of Ultron red carpet premiere, the filmmaker admitted to feeling pressure about the Guardians 2 soundtrack.

“Originally, people kept asking me ‘Don’t you feel a lot of pressure to do the second movie,’ and I didn’t in general because we had our hands tied behind our back on the first one. But I had to introduce all those characters so it seems like doing the sequel is actually easier in that respect. But I did feel a little pressure with the soundtrack because so many people loved and we went platinum and all that other stuff. But I feel like the soundtrack on the second is better, so I’m excited about it.”

Furthermore, James Gunn says he will soon be going into hibernation to begin the scripting process on Guardians of the Galaxy 2, which starts filming in Atlanta, in February.

“I’m just about to start the screenplay so it’s a heavy time. “I’m going to lock myself away. I’m not going to see anybody. Going to become very very stinky. Going to eat a lot of crap food and not have much of a life for a little while, while I am working on the screenplay. But I am really excited about it and I feel really good about the story. It really is something unique, so I feel good about it.” 

Badass Digest talks Captain Marvel in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Joss Whedon actually shot visual FX plates to have Captain Marvel fly into Avengers HQ at the end of the movie, only to replace her with another character at the last minute.

Here’s Kevin Feige talking about it. There are minor, minor spoilers regarding a character who joins the team at the end of the film (who has already been referred to as an Avenger by all the marketing). He starts off by scolding me for writing about early drafts of the script.

There were drafts that maybe people somehow got their hands on and read early on that included some characters – maybe others, but certainly one, which is why it’s dangerous to read scripts early on, and talk about them early on…
[Captain Marvel] was in a draft. But to me, it would have done that character a disservice, to meet her fully formed, in a costume and part of the Avengers already when 99% of the audience would go, ‘Who is that?’ It’s just not the way we’ve done it before.
Thanos is the good ‘Who’s that,’ because he’s clearly a bad guy, for comic fans he represents a specific storyline, you can get the buzz started from fans to non-fans with that cameo – as opposed to a title character, who deserves their own story. Even Black Widow you don’t meet in the last two seconds of Iron Man 2 wearing her costume – you evolve that going forward.
The way we reveal Scarlet Witch [in costume] at the end of the movie? Those were Captain Marvel plate shots. Joss said, ‘We’ll cast her later!’ And I said, ‘Yeah Joss, we’ll cast her later.’ [Whispers to an invisible associate who isn’t Joss] ‘We’re not putting her in there!’
Finally Joss was like ‘Let’s use those plates to let Scarlet Witch fly into frame, give her a big entrance?’ And that makes sense – she’s come to their side, and she deserves the cool intro, which will feed into another movie we start shooting in a few weeks.

That last bit sounds like confirmation of Scarlet Witch in Captain America: Civil War, by the way.

Collider recently sat down with Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans at the Avengers: Age of Ultron junket, and he asked the actors how many movies they have left on their contracts. Hemsworth’s answer brought up a curious piece of info:

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The Aussie actor seemingly seem’s to confirm that he will indeed appear in both  Avengers: Infinity War movies, contrary to rumors that had him solely in Part II. Of course, Marvel’s plans could always change in the future but right now it looks like Hemsworth will also be in Infinity War: Part I, as said by himself in the interview above. It also looks like Chris Evans may have upped his contract as well.

Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

During her red carpet interview tonight at the Avengers: Age of Ultron premiere, actress Julie Delpy revealed — unintentionally, apparently — the nature of her character in the film.

Delpy was a last-minute addition to the (known) cast list, and speculation has swirled around who she might play. The Before Midnight actress hadn’t made a public appearance in support of Age of Ultron before now, and when she did, she apparently immediately spilled the beans…

…and then did so again, in communicating to the hosts at the red carpet that she’d done so.

Delpy will apparently play one of the trainers from the Black Widow project, who made Natasha Romanova into the character that she was when we met her in Iron Man 2.

Despite the fact that he starts out on Iron Man’s side in the Civil War comic book, Peter Parker later defects and joins Captain America. It’s not clear whether that is going to happen in Captain America: Civil War next year or just how large of a role he’ll even have, but Chris Evans talks with IGN in the video below about how he would feel about taking the young Spider-Man under his wing as Steve Rogers. Chris Hemsworth meanwhile reveals that Thor would probably choose to side with Captain America because of how things are left between the God of Thunder and Tony Stark in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

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Iron Man and Captain America will be forming a united front in their battle against Ultron when Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in May. As Marvel fans know, they will be faced with significant differences in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, however.

IGN had the opportunity to speak with Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Chris Evans (Captain America), as well as President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige during the press rounds for Avengers 2!

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And that will wrap things up for the first edition of Marvel Madness, thank you if stick to the end of this. This I am hoping will become a weekly thing for the benefit of not just myself(cuts down on the work) but also you, the reader!

To Peace!