4/30/15 Marvel News Mash-Up (Avengers, Guardians 2, Spider-Man, Muppets, ETC.)
“Avengers: Age Of Ultron” Opens This Friday, May 1st! New High Resolution Photos
To celebrate the opening of “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” Marvel and Disney Studios have released a ton of high resolution stills from the movie:
“Avengers: Age Of Ultron” opens this Friday, May 1st!
After “Avengers: Age Of Ultron”, What Is Next For Joss Whedon?
This is complete speculation on my part, but I am calling it right now, Joss Whedon is going to leave Marvel for either Warner Brothers or Sony.
Over the last few weeks I have been watching and reading interviews with Joss Whedon promoting “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” and he just doesn’t seem very enthusiastic in most of his interviews. In fact he seems to be kind of negative towards Marvel at times. Whedon is contractually obligated to promote the film, but once “Ultron” is released, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear an announcement that he will be doing another superhero movie, just not with Disney and Marvel.
Here are my clues:
- He’s not coming back to direct “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and 2.” I really was expecting to hear that Joss Whedon would be directing “Infinity War,” or at least one of them, but it was recently announced that The Russo Brothers (“Winter Soldier”, “Civil War”) would be directing probably the biggest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s going to be big because not only will the Avengers be in it, but also The Guardians Of The Galaxy and Spider-Man and even more superheroes. Either Disney/Marvel think the Russo Brothers are really that good or they asked Whedon and he said no. It’s more likely the later because although I really enjoyed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” I wouldn’t bet the farm just on the results of one movie.
- Whedon recently came out and said that Edgar Wright’s “Ant-Man” script was the best script that was ever written for a Marvel movie. For those that dont know, Edgar Wright has been attached to Marvel’s “Ant-Man for years. He pushed hard to get this movie made and more than likely we have him to thank that it is coming out. But something happened where Wright and Disney/Marvel disagreed about the direction and future of Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Wright and Disney/Marvel parted ways. Wright has a huge following of comic book fans and most were very upset to hear that he was no longer attached to the project. Whedon said the following, “I thought the script was not only the best script that Marvel had ever had, but the most Marvel script I’d read. 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.” For Whedon to come out and say that Wright’s “Ant-Man” script was the best Marvel script he has ever written, to me, was the start of burning his bridges with Marvel.
- He recently saw the “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” and gushed like a little girl about it. The trailer was good, but it aint that good. Whedon said,“People with power, who are good, do not always agree and it makes perfect sense for me that (Batman and Superman) would fight. And besides… Batman and Superman are gonna fight! I’m so excited! I’m so excited!” He also said that Superman would destroy all of the Avengers. I’m not going to deny that if I had to choose who would win, I would pick Superman, but I wouldn’t say that while promoting a Marvel property.
- He recently said that “Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD” is basically all a dream because Agent Coulson is dead. Whedon said, “Yeah he’s dead. The entire television series is just a fever dream. It’s a Jacob’s Ladder moment he’s having at the point of death, but we don’t give that away until after season seven. And there’s a snow globe. Now I’ve given it away. Bollocks!” I’m sure Marvel and Disney are not happy that he is telling fans that this show is just basically one big waste of time.
- He came out and said that he was disappointed that he never got to work with Spider-Man in the Avengers. Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular character and to many, including me, he is Marvel’s best character. Whedon is a comic book fan and it’s obvious that if he had a choice, this would be his next Marvel movie. Whedon said,“Yeah I’d like to have worked on Spider-Man, he’s the poster child. He’s the first book I read, and I think that’s true for a lot of people. There are so many things I would want to do, even with these characters The Avengers, even with just one of these characters. But the fact of the matter is: they’re doing fine, and I’ve probably got to move on.” He said it right there, he’s moving on. Whedon would be an excellent choice because he is a big Spider-Man fan and I think he would bring back the magic of Peter interacting with J Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle.
In all honesty as a comic book fan, I think it would be great if Whedon directed a non Marvel superhero movie. The perfect movie for him to direct would be “Justice League”, but Zack Snyder is directing that one. Whedon gets the team dynamic really well and feel he is best suited for a superhero movie. Whedon also did Firefly and you can tell he works really well with an ensable. If I had to guess, I would say that the one movie that he wants to do is “Spider-Man”, but Sony is still being run by poor management and probably will go with someone less experienced. The other property that he has said that he wants to do is “Batman” but have a feeling that WB will go with either Ben Affleck as director or maybe even Snyder. Which leaves “Superman” and I would love for him to do a “Superman” movie. Whedon could bring back some of the light heartedness that “Man Of Steel” was lacking and some nice colors that are not hidden behind a dark camera filter. Again, this is all speculation on my part but I doubt we will ever see Joss Whedon ever do another Marvel movie again, but he’ll be back again and I’m sure whatever superhero story he tackles, he will do a great job.
“Guardians Of The Galaxy 2” To Introduce Starlord’s Father
In the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie, there was a bit of mystery surrounding Peter Quill’s (Starlord) father. We do see his mother in the beginning and she does mention Peter’s father briefly. Soon after we hear that Yondu was hired by Quill’s father to retrieve Peter from Earth shortly after his mother death. And that’s it.
While being interviewed about the “Guardians Of The Galaxy 2,” James Gunn, director of the first film and the sequel, made the following comments to Vulture.com:
“There’s a lot of stuff I’m excited about in the new movie,” he said. “Listen, I’m still excited about Star-Lord’s character and where he goes. At its heart, Guardians is a story about families, and if the first film was about him and his mother, this is a story about fathers. So it’s exciting to go there.”
So who is Peter Quill’s (Starlord) father?
In the comics, Starlord meets Emperor Jason of the planet Sparta and he reveals that he is Peter’s father. Jason explains that he had crashed on Earth decades earlier and been rescued by Meredith Quill. During the year that he had spent repairing his ship, Jason and Meredith fell in love. When it came time to leave, Jason, for Meredith’s safety, had placed a mindlock on her memories of him, causing her to remember their year together as only a dream.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure they aren’t going with that father story. From the rumors that I have heard, again rumors, more than likely, Starlord’s father will be Adam Warlock.
Adam Warlock is an artificially created human who was born in a cocoon at a scientific complex called The Beehive. The goal of his creators, the Enclave, was to create and subsequently exploit the perfect human. While in the cocoon, he became aware of his creators’ plans for him. He awoke from the cocoon and rebelled. Adam Warlock definitely has a long and unusual history that I am not going to get into but he is also a very prominent character in “The Infinity Gauntlet.” “Guardians Of The Galaxy 2” would be the perfect way to introduce Adam Warlock into the Marvel Cinematic Universe before he is seen in “Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet.” No guarantees, but it seems like the it would all fit perfectly.
Source: Vulture.com
“Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 And 2” To Begin Filming Back To Back For 9 Months In Late 2016
Chris Evans recently revealed that the prospective back-to-back shoot for Avengers: Infinity War will take nine months, with production due to start sometime in the “fall or winter of 2016.”
The two-part “Infinity War” will be directed by The Russo Brothers. Marvel has slated part one of “Infinity War” for release on May 4, 2018, with the second installment hitting theaters on May 3, 2019.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Sony To Release A Theatrical Animated “Spider-Man” Movie In 2018
Sony announced recently that there will be an animated “Spider-Man” movie that will hit theaters on July 20, 2018. The movie will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who directed the highly successful “The Lego Movie.”
Sounds good, right? The only issue that concerns me is that Marvel will not be involved with this and the people behind “Amazing Spider-Man 2,” Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal will be producing the movie.
Source: Variety
Sesame Street And The Cookie Monster Spoof “The Avengers”
Just in time for the release of “Avengers: Age Of Ultron,” Sesame Street put together a little Avengers spoof featuring the Cookie Monster as The Hulk and a bunch of vegetable loving Muppets as the rest of the Avengers.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHPn5d7wRtk]
Source: Sesame Street
Sideshow Collectible Corner
“War Machine Mark II”
I was glad to hear that Don Cheadle was reprising his role as James Rhodes/ War Machine in “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.” Now thanks to Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles, we finally get a good look at the new Mark II armor for War Machine.
Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys are excited to present the new War Machine Mark II Sixth Scale Collectible Figure as a Hot Toys Exclusive item! The newest addition to the MMS Diecast series is made of diecast material and is realistically designed to look even more like the armor as it appears in the film!
The movie-accurate War Machine Mark II Collectible Figure is crafted with great detail and is based on the image of Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It features a highly detailed head sculpt, metallic black and dark silvered colored armor with decals, LED light-up functions, rotatable machine gun, and a specially designed Avengers: Age of Ultron figure stand.
War Machine Mark II is now available exclusively through Sideshow Collectibles for preorder at a price of $339.99 and will ship in the third quarter of 2015.
Source: Sideshow Collectibles
That’s it for this time!
