The Avengers (2012) *spoilers from post 1181*

jaykhunter

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios are scheduled to release the live-action film The Avengers on May 4, 2012. Joss Whedon will direct the film and Iron Man director Jon Favreau is executive producing.

Robert Downey, Jr. = Iron Man
Don Cheadle = War Machine
Chris Hemsworth = Thor
Tom Hiddleston = Loki
Scarlett Johansson = Black Widow (as seen in Iron Man 2)
Chris Evans = Captain America.
Samuel L. Jackson signed on to play Nick Fury as part of an unprecedented deal with Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures for nine pictures, including The Avengers and its respective sequels.

Possibly...
Edward Norton stated in an interview with MTV that he would like to appear in The Avengers and that he would be happy to see The Hulk as the villain.
Lou Ferrigno, who voiced Hulk in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, stated that he would be involved in the film.

In October 2009 Favreau confirmed to MTV that he will not be directing The Avengers. He also commented on the difficulty of directing such a film stating; "It's going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man 2 is very much a tech-based hero, and then with Avengers you're going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor... How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it's going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we've created."

In a January 26, 2010 interview with SFX, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was asked will it be difficult to meld the fantasy of Thor with the high-tech science fiction of Iron Man in The Avengers. He answered; "No, because we're doing the Jack Kirby/Stan Lee/Walt Simonson/J. Michael Straczynski 'Thor.' We're not doing the blow-the-dust-off-of-the-old-Norse-book-in-your-library 'Thor.' And in the 'Thor' of the Marvel Universe, there's a race called the Asgardians. And we're linked through this Tree of Life that we're unaware of. It's real science, but we don't know about it yet. The 'Thor' movie is about teaching people that". Feige also confirmed that the Hulk would appear in the film. In April 2010 Stan Lee and Avi Arad confirmed that Joss Whedon will direct the film.

Thanks Wikipedia!

Any chance of someone writing a quick synopsis for each character as mentioned above? i.e. their superpower, background etc?

johnny_ultimate

The logical side of my brain tells me to be cautious, because going on past experience, adding too many characters to a supehero movie tends to create unfocused rubbish. The other side of my brain just keeps shouting "Joss Whedon! Woo!" repeatedly. For now, I'm going with 'woo!'.

ztoical

I'll believe Whedon is directing when the film is actually in full production cus he got very far into developing Wonder Woman and that fell apart.

jaykhunter wrote: »

Any chance of someone writing a quick synopsis for each character as mentioned above? i.e. their superpower, background etc?

Is wikipedia broken? surely you can look up the characters yourself?

jaykhunter

ztoical wrote: »

Is wikipedia broken? surely you can look up the characters yourself?

Thanks. Besides their synopses being pretty long (multiply that by 8; for every character); I'd rather hear it from a comic book fan rather than the bland facts of wikipedia. It also promotes talk between comic book fans which I enjoy reading. Is that such a crime?

Antar Bolaeisk

Like johnny_ultimate I too am torn between yay because Joss Whedon is involved and worry because of all the characters (and actor egos) that will have to be dealt with.

Still though, it'll be nice to see it on the big screen considering they've been talking about the damn thing for the past few years.

Fysh

jaykhunter wrote: »

Thanks. Besides their synopses being pretty long (multiply that by 8; for every character); I'd rather hear it from a comic book fan rather than the bland facts of wikipedia. It also promotes talk between comic book fans which I enjoy reading. Is that such a crime?

The bland facts of wikipedia regarding comics and comic characters are generally contributed and edited by comic fans. Not to mention that with Avengers comics having been in publication since, oh, sometime in the late 60s, there's rather a lot of material to choose from and usually multiple interpretations of the various characters involved.

Whedon would be a very interesting director for this, but I'll believe it's happening once it's actually being filmed. Apart from anything else, the Avengers film will still be dependent on both Thor and Captain America doing well as standalone films, which we won't know for a while...

Kess73

You forgot Olivia Munn as the Wasp/Janet van Dyne

Skerries

Hulk: David Bruce Banner is a scientist who becomes irradiated with Gamma radiation and when he gets angry turns into the green behemoth that is The Hulk
Powers: Incredible strength that grows exponentially with his anger, also great invulnerability

Thor: Odin sends his son into the body of Dr. Donald Blake and is the ancient god of myth
Powers: Great strength, endurability and wields the mighty hammer Mjolnir which allows him to fly and controls storms

Loki:The half brother of Thor also known as the trickster
Powers: Shapeshifter, great strength and endurability, expert in the arcane arts

Giant-Man/Wasp: married couple Janet and Henry Pym who have the ability to change their size due to a formula Henry invented
Powers: ability to change size, Janet also grows wings when she shrinks
Henry was also able to control ants through a helmet when he was Ant-man

Captain America: Mild mannered Steve Rogers signs up for the Super Soldier experiment and becomes a national symbol during WW2 but later becomes frozen in the Antarctic. Thawed out decades later he takes up the mantle of the hero of the people again
Powers: His body has been brought to the peak of human ability and so has greater strength, endurance, agility, speed, reflexes, durability and healing than the average person
Also wields a shield which he can use like a frisbee to take down his enemies, it is incredibly strong due to being made up of Adamantium, Vibranium and unknown element that got in during the manufacturing process

Iron Man: Inventor and Billionaire Tony Stark invents shiny suit that has loads of toys, go see the film

War Machine: watch Iron Man 2

Nick Fury: Leader of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency and war hero
Powers: Expert in combat, his aging has been slowed due to a formula

Black Widow: Natasha Romanoff is a former Russian spy and now a freelance S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
Powers: expert in martial arts and espionage, uses wrist mounted blasters

JP Liz V1

Joss Whedon directing

Dont be at yourself

I'd like them to basically condense the first arc of The Ultimates comic. Bruce Banner is working for the Avenger programme, but then goes loose and causes mayhem across Manhattan.

I liked how they handled Thor too - he was either a mental patient with a high-tech alien hammer, or a Norse God.

ztoical

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Joss Whedon directing

Joss Whedon has signed on to direct like he did with Wonder Woman...like I said earlier I'm not getting excited about Whedon until he's actually sitting behind a camera shooting footage.

Klingon Hamlet

I read somewhere that Joss is not only rewriting the treatment for The Avengers but also working on the Captain America material too. I have a good feeling about this.

nix

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

I read somewhere that Joss is not only rewriting the treatment for The Avengers but also working on the Captain America material too. I have a good feeling about this.

Yeah i heard part of his agreement to do the Avengers was if he could dabble in the Captain America story, Looking forward to this now

Joss is a legend

Handsome Bob

Fysh wrote: »

Whedon would be a very interesting director for this, but I'll believe it's happening once it's actually being filmed. Apart from anything else, the Avengers film will still be dependent on both Thor and Captain America doing well as standalone films, which we won't know for a while...

You think they would hold fire until they see how Thor and Captain America fair among the general audience, but Chris Hemsworth (Thor) said that filming is earmarked for January or February 2011. Before Cap and Thor even come out.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=64674

Risky move in my humble opinion.

Kess73

LZ5by5 wrote: »

You think they would hold fire until they see how Thor and Captain America fair among the general audience, but Chris Hemsworth (Thor) said that filming is earmarked for January or February 2011. Before Cap and Thor even come out.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=64674

Risky move in my humble opinion.

Or it could be that they are that confident of one or both of Thor/Cap being massive.

Plus it makes sense to have it shot beforehand, that way if Thor or Cap turns any of the leads into bigger names, then Marvel will have them already on film for the Avengers before their price per film jumps.

Also means less of a gap between films, so the hype machine for the Avengers can kick into gear big timestraight after those films.

Comic Book Guy

Cant wait to see this on the big screen but my only major concern is too many big name characters in the one film and the effect this could have on character development and story.

On the other hand you could say that this has been dealt with in the sole character films to date and still to come.

Anyone care to speculate on potential story line??

ztoical

Kess73 wrote: »

Or it could be that they are that confident of one or both of Thor/Cap being massive.

Plus it makes sense to have it shot beforehand, that way if Thor or Cap turns any of the leads into bigger names, then Marvel will have them already on film for the Avengers before their price per film jumps.

Also means less of a gap between films, so the hype machine for the Avengers can kick into gear big timestraight after those films.

Not sure if it's a case of being confident and more a case of contracts being in place and the recent sale of Marvel to Disney means there's a risk they won't have the same control of the project they have now. Disney has to honor all deals in place as part of the buy out but the production companies involved prob want to make sure they get the films through before their contracts run out as they don't know if Disney will want to go in the same direction if Thor and/or Captain America bomb.

Kess73

ztoical wrote: »

Not sure if it's a case of being confident and more a case of contracts being in place and the recent sale of Marvel to Disney means there's a risk they won't have the same control of the project they have now. Disney has to honor all deals in place as part of the buy out but the production companies involved prob want to make sure they get the films through before their contracts run out as they don't know if Disney will want to go in the same direction if Thor and/or Captain America bomb.

Good point. Had not even considered the Disney side of things until you said it.

Handsome Bob

Kess73 wrote: »

Or it could be that they are that confident of one or both of Thor/Cap being massive.

Plus it makes sense to have it shot beforehand, that way if Thor or Cap turns any of the leads into bigger names, then Marvel will have them already on film for the Avengers before their price per film jumps.

Also means less of a gap between films, so the hype machine for the Avengers can kick into gear big timestraight after those films.

I'm not sure that would be an issue because Marvel has tended to get their actors to sign multi-film deals. Evans and Jackson for example signed a 9 movie picture deal, so even if the films they are in are huge financial successes I don't think they can demand more money because of the long term contract they signed.

jaykhunter

LZ5by5 wrote: »

I'm not sure that would be an issue because Marvel has tended to get their actors to sign multi-film deals. Evans and Jackson for example signed a 9 movie picture deal, so even if the films they are in are huge financial successes I don't think they can demand more money because of the long term contract they signed.

Surely they'll only get 3 films max out of it? Best case scenario is the X-Men deal; where after three, one or two might get a spin-off movie and that's it. Probably the film company just covering their asses; 9 films tho? Easy money for the actors tho...

I can see Thor getting his own movie; not Captain A though. Hopefully he's awesome but I can't see it performing well as a draw by himself...

Handsome Bob

jaykhunter wrote: »

Surely they'll only get 3 films max out of it? Best case scenario is the X-Men deal; where after three, one or two might get a spin-off movie and that's it. Probably the film company just covering their asses; 9 films tho? Easy money for the actors tho...

I can see Thor getting his own movie; not Captain A though. Hopefully he's awesome but I can't see it performing well as a draw by himself...

Well you have to assume they will get a standalone franchise out of Cap, just like they are doing with Iron Man. Chris Evans is a popular actor among the younger general audience so I would be confident of the film performing well. So, let's assume there are 3 films in the Cap franchise. Then films in the Avenger franchise. That's 6 off the bat, then you have possible cameos in future Thor, Iron Man films etc etc.

I'm not saying that it will work out for Marvel, but either way if they do end up having 9 films that they want Evans to be in then I assume Evans has to do them for the money he's already agreed to.

TonyD79

jaykhunter wrote: »

Surely they'll only get 3 films max out of it? Best case scenario is the X-Men deal; where after three, one or two might get a spin-off movie and that's it. Probably the film company just covering their asses; 9 films tho? Easy money for the actors tho...

I can see Thor getting his own movie; not Captain A though. Hopefully he's awesome but I can't see it performing well as a draw by himself...

He would be a much bigger draw in the States than Thor thats for sure!

Mr. K

jaykhunter wrote: »

I can see Thor getting his own movie; not Captain A though. Hopefully he's awesome but I can't see it performing well as a draw by himself...

Cap's comics in recent years have been excellent, mostly as a result of Ed Brubaker's writing. If they use a similar tone in the movie, it'll be class. The whole espionage thing usually goes down well with moviegoers anyway, even if it's a guy in a blue costume.

I think Thor's actually a slightly tougher sell than Cap; a surprising number of people don't like supernatural elements in fiction. Hopefully, word will spread of his awesomeness when the movie is released!

spank_inferno

Anyone else notice that this movie (in an animated version) has been playing on Sky movies lately?

Its quite good I have to say

Kess73

spank_inferno wrote: »

Anyone else notice that this movie (in an animated version) has been playing on Sky movies lately?

Its quite good I have to say

Yeah that is based on the Ultimate version of the Avengers rather than the standard Marvel universe (Earth 616)


My money is on the Avengers movie staying more in line with the storylines from the Ultimates graphic novels.

I reckon it is one of three, with the first being the most likely.

Hulk

as the main opposition to the Avengers.


or

Hulk

being the intial opposition to the Avengers for the first third of the film, then the

Chitauri

arrive to take over the Earth and

Hulk

fights with the Avengers against them.


Or


It decides to jump forward a bit in the Ultimates arc, and goes straight for the team kicking the snot out of

Thor

after Loki sets him up. This leads into the Grand Theft America storyline where superpowered beings from

Russia, China, and the Middle East

come together with their governments blessing and financial backing to neutralize the perceived threat of an American super team. This leads to a massive smackdown and just when the Avengers/Ultimates seem to have won,

Loki brings in the Frost Giants, Giant Wolves, Trolls etc

to kick some hero ass. But then

Thor comes back and brings the Asgardian gods into the fray

and and even bigger scrap follows.



Now option three I would like to see myself, but it will never happen. Option two would be very possible in my eyes, but I have a feeling they will go for option one.

JP Liz V1

http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2010-7-11-exclusive-edward-norton-s-agent-responds-to-marvel-ceo-s-statement

Edward Norton out as Bruce Banner aka Hulk

But in other news

http://www.hitfix.com/galleries/2010-6-5-10-stories-you-may-have-missed-jeremy-renner-on-target-for-the-avengers?m=j

It's been long speculated and rumored that Jeremy Renner ("The Hurt Locker") would join the cast of Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" (assuming Whedon is really directing it) as the expert marksman Hawkeye, but that talk died down when it appeared he'd be joining the Universal tentpole "Battleship." Instead, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Renner is trying to work "The Avengers" around Paul Thomas Anderson's continually delayed untitled Scientology drama.
"The Avengers" would find Renner as Clint Barton, a non-powered hero who initially started out as a misguided villain when he debuted in Marvel Comics over 40 years ago. Hawkeye would join Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) in the ensemble hero flick. It appears Marvel is keen on including The Hulk, but they have still not agreed to a deal that would bring Ed Norton into the mix.
"The Avengers" currently has a May 4, 2012 release date.

Jeremy Renner would be a good addition to the cast imo

humanji

That sucks about Norton. Hopefully they'll all hug it out and he'll climb back on board.

JP Liz V1

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/07/14/mark-ruffalo-as-the-hulk/

It’s certainly one of the more left-field choices from Marvel’s casting department. But there does seem to be some truth to the idea that Mark Ruffalo, who can be seen right now in the critically-acclaimed The Kids Are All Right, could be the next Incredible Hulk in Marvel’s The Avengers movie, which Joss Whedon is on board to direct. The news that Ruffalo was in talks to take over the role most recently played by Edward Norton was first reported by Deadline.
Sources confirm that there is interest in the 42-year old actor for the role, but negotiations have yet to take place. Marvel and Ruffalo’s reps declined to comment. Marvel does have a penchant for casting serious actors as superheroes and, admittedly, it would be nice to see Ruffalo break out from his indie corner.

qwertplaywert

Can't really fault the casting of Ruffalo, if your going to replace Norton, replace him with an actor in the same tier, and they have done exactly that.

hightower1

There are alos talks of Joaquin Phoenix being cast as the Hulk?
Not a bad choice I think.

http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=18273&count=33

Joaquin Phoenix is The Hulk in "The Avengers"?

Posted: July 12th, 2010 by WorstPreviews.com Staff

A lot has been going on with "The Avengers" recently. Edward Norton was all set to reprise the role of Bruce Banner/The Hulk, until Marvel fired him. But with Comic-Con almost here, who will the studio hire?

Many have suggested for Eric Bana (The Hulk) to be brought back, but Marvel is heading in a slightly different direction. Chud has learned that an offer has gone out to Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line, The Village), who has yet to accept.

Phoenix hasn't done much in Hollywood lately, having been busy with his mockumentary which apparently involves someone defecating on him. Becoming the new Hulk will be a big way for him to return to acting and give Marvel a reason to make "The Incredible Hulk" sequel.

Mr. K

I really liked Norton's Banner, this sucks! Phoenix is great actor, but it'd be nice if the role had a consistent face.

Jeremy Renner would be an excellent Hawkeye, he'd be able to give the character the intensity and levity that Clint so often exhibits.

opr

Just making it official that Whedon will direct.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/22/joss-whedon-officially-directing-the-avengers/

Opr

JP Liz V1

Zero-Cool

Can't believe RDJ didn't grow his smig thing for this! Ya raging bout Norton but Ruffalo is a decent actor so we will just have to see. Still can't believe this movie is happening. I hope they put the new Spiderman in their 2nd film (if the 1st doesn't bomb!!)

paddyismaddy

i hope wheddon can deliver on this

JP Liz V1

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a284802/mark-ruffalo-reveals-hulk-approach.html

Mark Ruffalo talks about his role as Hulk in The Avengers

constitutionus

little bit on the vague side in how he see's the character but then again i suppose the hulk in the cinema has generally been an isolated character.

one of the interesting aspects of the avengers is the chance to get a look at how tony stark would regard bruce banner and what kind of relationship they'd have .

after all theyre both scientists so they have that incommon, tony could see what he couldve been if things hadnt worked out for him and relate to the guy.

theres alot of fun that could be had here.

Phony Scott

Avengers Done For Cheap?

If there's any film headed into production that you would think demanded a big budget, it would be Marvel's superhero ensemble "The Avengers".
Now, an interesting rumour over at Bleeding Cool says the studio is demanding the film be completed on a budget just under $140 million.
To give you a comparison that's almost the same budget as the first "Iron Man" but notably short of such other recent superhero films like "The Dark Knight" ($185 million), "Iron Man 2" ($200 million) and "Spider-Man 3" ($258 million).


As a result, the site's unnamed sources claim some people have walked off the set, while others hope that once the production runs out of money then extra cash will be added to finish the project. In any case the staff changes have apparently delayed the pre-production process by weeks, possibly months.


No word on how or if this will affect the shooting schedule or release date as yet, and no official comment as yet by either Marvel or 'Avengers' distributor Disney.

Duggy747

If anything, the production behind this film is going to be very interesting. I can see loads of conflicts in terms of re-writing the script, re-shooting, editing, studio interference, cast & crew problems.

Joss Whedon has got a fùck load on his plate and will have his career set for life if he gets this film on the right side of the fence.

mikhail

Whedon's also primarily a TV writer/director/producer who has years of experience of getting stuff done on a budget. Hell, he made Serenity for $40M; I'm quite curious to see what an extra $100 (less the extra actor costs) buys him.

Nervous Wreck

mikhail wrote: »

Whedon's also primarily a TV writer/director/producer who has years of experience of getting stuff done on a budget. Hell, he made Serenity for $40M; I'm quite curious to see what an extra $100 (less the extra actor costs) buys him.

Agreed. It'd be nice for The Avengers to have a big-ass budget but I'd prefer it to have a kick-ass script. Serenity looked and felt great. If Whedon only gets a budget of €140m, he'll probably do a much better job with it than a lot of other directors.

JP Liz V1

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a311290/cobie-smulders-teases-the-avengers-costume.html

Cobie Smulders has teased the first details about her role as Deputy S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill in Joss Whedon's upcoming all-star superhero film The Avengers.

The How I Met Your Mother star admitted during the show's current season wrap party that she was about to head off to begin filming next week.

"We start in April, which is like tomorrow," Smulders revealed to Zap2It. "I literally leave here and I go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to shoot some scenes in a catsuit.

"I've tried on portions of the catsuit. I feel like wardrobe becomes very creative on these types of movies, because they literally spend weeks designing just the pants and the emblem."

Smulders was revealed to have been cast in the film in February, and joins the likes of Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth and Samuel L. Jackson on the project.

"It's such an all-consuming process, so I'm excited to see how it all turns out," the actress added.

The Avengers is due to be released on May 4, 2012</EM>.

JP Liz V1

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/04/26/the-avengers-first-set-photo/

humanji

The Hulk will never fit on that chair.

mikhail

humanji wrote: »

The Hulk will never fit on that chair.

This scale model argues otherwise:

everdead.ie

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/04/26/the-avengers-first-set-photo/

I can see them all sitting there with their Big Gulps watching the action the whole 300 movie was done on a budget of ~60m so I think it can be done no problem on 140m the main issues I expect to see from this movie is because it's the first of what we expect to be a number of movies it has to introduce a lot of characters wasting a lot of time at the beginning of the movie. Unless they assume everyone has seen Captain America/Iron man/Thor etc?

Skerries

well isn't that the whole point of the other movies that they don't have to do back stories as they are already done
so it should be a case of straight into the action as if it was the second film in a series

mikhail

everdead.ie wrote: »

...the main issues I expect to see from this movie is because it's the first of what we expect to be a number of movies it has to introduce a lot of characters wasting a lot of time at the beginning of the movie. Unless they assume everyone has seen Captain America/Iron man/Thor etc?

Whedon is a very experienced show-runner. He's had to introduce characters every episode for the first half dozen episodes a number of times. Just as an example, watch four early minutes of this episode of his Firefly show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohUR-ltpJlE&#t=4m16s
At the end of those four minutes, tell me:

• Who's the captain?
• Which character is a doctor?
• Who is or was a monk?
• Who is the mechanic?
• Which character is the pilot?
• Which two are married?
• Which one is a bit odd, maybe crazy?
• Which character is a prostitute?
• Where are they?
• Describe in one or two words something of Adam Baldwin's character's character.

And so on. There's a lot of exposition packed into four minutes which end with an explosion and suddenly we're into plot.

So, no, I'm not worried about the number of characters anyway.

Blured

http://www.twitvid.com/ALHS6

Leaked trailer - bad cam version but the little you see looks brilliant!

Otacon

Trying to watch that, on my phone cos I'm at work, is nigh on impossible! Please say there will be a better copy out soon? Will it be attached to Captain America?

constitutionus

its bloody awfull quality man.

i could bearly make out whats going with in my PC.

still great to see anything. dont know if itll be connected to cap but i will say it'd make an awesome after credits scene.