BIFROSTING MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS: TIES, SECRETS, OUTLOOK (editorial)

Chris Myers, Your article is...Awesome!  I would not be surprised if...Avengers 2, gets announced around October 2012, if the...Earth's Mightiest Heroes...Clobber their box office bretheren next year!  I would...Love a, S.H.I.E.L.D. film!  Don't Yield, back S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Good work, Chris. I'm not the biggest fan of the Marvel lot or Joss Whedon, but it'll be fun to see how this whole thing works out. Good to see Black on board as well, RDJ always does great with his dialogue. I'm also interested to see what Ruffallo does with Banner, being not a huge fan of Leterrier's movie (although a big fan of Ang Lee's).

Great summation Chris, though I seriously doubt there'll be ANOTHER Punisher reboot. Studio heads would have to be mentally retarded to go for that.

 

Letterier's Hulk is very middle-of-the-road, but damn if it didn't have the best action scene in any Marvel movie to date. I just wish it wasn't always a choice between good action or good story (for what it's worth, I thought Thor did the best job in combining the two).

Good stuff, but I have to disagree with you on the BO numbers. I think odds are in favor of Cap making more money than Thor.

Evi, Well, Marvel now has the rights to make a...Punisher Film.  I am hoping for a...Punisher Begins.  Hopefully, Marvel realizes that...The Punisher needs more than a...$20 mil budget.  What were the budgets for the...Lethal Weapon films?  There should be colatteral damage, numerous kills, car chases and what not.  I think Marvel will make a...Successful Punisher film, as they are...Finally making one, in house!

Another Punisher film would be great Duke, but the other films have proven that there aren't enough people interested in the character to make it a success. If anything, they could maybe team him up with another more successful Marvel character to get people invested.

Evi, Did...New World's Punisher even get a theatrical release?  I think they were a subsiderary of Marvel, and they didn't even use his skull costume!  All three Punisher films were low budget affairs.  The first with Dolph was...Awesome, and they got the tone right.  Punisher the 2nd film had a game Tom Jane, but he wasn't physically imposing as both Dolph Lundgren and Ray Stevenson as Castle.  Another flaw with the 3rd Punisher film was when it was released.  I am guessing that not too many people wanted to see a film about a...Scum Murdering, Vigilante Superhero within 2 weeks of Christmas.  I did, and I saw Punisher War Zone, Twice in theaters!  As far as I am concerned, there were 2...Awesome, Ultraviolent Punisher films!  I would not mind a...PG 13 Punisher, if that is what it takes to make a franchise about Frank Castle!  There have been plenty of Awesomely Violent PG 13 films, recently!

I think the best possible cinematic use of the Punisher would be as the villain in a Spider-Man film. The different studios might make that impossible though.

 

After Thor, I'm also starting to suspect that they're going to have a "Captain America is worthy to lift Thor's hammer" sequence, probably after the Hulk is shown not to be able to.

The Punisher will only work as a vigilante procedural series on one of the cable channels. The character should never be in a movie again. I love all three but they're retarded.

Pretty airtight summation of what's to come. Though, shame on me, I haven't seen Thor, and shame on you, you totally spoiled bits of Thor. Not that you can write this article without spoiling Thor. I'll live.

 

I think you alluded to Marvel doing another Fantastic Four, although "Fantastic Four Reborn" is being developed at Fox. Though the next unaffiliated Marvel movie appears to be Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance.

 

Captain America 2 seems like a pretty strong possibility at this point, considering the seeds for Winter Soldier have been planted. I would expect that before another Hulk or Thor, since there's a more interesting story direction, and because the film seems poised for big success ($70 mil.+ opening, I'll bet). Also, the Punisher should probably be relegated to cameos, given how his audience seems wholly disinterested in him. In that case, him as a side-character loosely working with Cap to bring down Crossbones (Holt McCallany?) would be pretty awesome.

 

I can't imagine Kevin Feige really wants to do a Black Widow or Hawkeye movie, especially considering the always-tenuous availability of the very-busy Renner and Johansson. Though if they led a badass SHIELD movie with Sam Jackson, Colbie Smulders, Clark Gregg and some other interesting character actor (maybe a Skrull turncoat?) that would be interesting.

 

 

I fancasted and fan-fictioned in this post. I am so sorry.

Yup. Calling Shawn Ryan!

So is the cast confirmed as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow (with Nick Fury along for the ride)? I assumed for the longest time that another woman would be thrown in (Wasp, Scarlett Witch?), but I suppose it's iffy on adding whole new superheroes to a movie predicated on being a team-up of already established cinematic superheroes.

 

I wonder how many side characters will make it into The Avengers. I could see Rhodey, General Ross, and Selvig showing up in bit roles.

 

Speaking of, are Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver even options or are they relegated to the X-Men franchise?

Last I've seen, only Selvig is returning for The Avengers, as Cheadle and William Hurt were not cast in the film.

 

As for another female, I guess Colbie Smulders' Maria Hill seems like a big deal.
 

I don't know about Scarlet Witch, but apparently Quicksilver was in a few early drafts of X-Men: First Class, and Bryan Singer wants to put him in a sequel, so I guess that means he belongs to Fox.

I had missed the Mandarin details in Iron Man 2.  Shows how much attention I paid, I guess; I thought the "Ten Rings" angle had been dropped entirely.

 

Besides Hawkeye and Black Widow, is there much point to adding additional heroes to the Avengers cast if the A-list heroes are all going to branch back out to their own solo sequels from there?  Or would shooting an Avengers series of movies with an ensemble of lesser-known heroes be a good way to field test other characters before branching them off, the way Fox did with Wolverine?

Funny you mention that because I think Kurt Sutter tried to take a stab at writing the screenplay for Punisher: War Zone.

 

Great idea for an article, ChrIs. I hadn't caught all those connections, thanks for pointing them out.

Apparently the Eye of Agamotto isn't in Thor - the eye thingy in the vault is something called The Warlock's Eye, and was in old issues of Tales of Asgard or something, per an interview with Kevin Feige.

I mourn the loss of an Incredible Hulk sequel where Doc Samson is played by Modern Family's Ty Burrell, aka Phil.

Great write up. I'm looking forward to more like this.

Tim Blake Nelson needs to return as The Leader. Here's hoping that I will be surprised seeing him in The Avengers.

 

Doubt it, though.

 

Great write up, Chris, and it was really cool reading about all the references, cameos and smaller details being used to tie the films together.

 

I'm also in disagreement about CAPTAIN AMERICA's BO performance, especially versus THOR. I think it'll do better. I think it's perceived as less geeky and niche-y than THOR, and has wider domestic appeal. And as much attention as Hemsworth's super abs are getting in THOR, Chris Evans already has a strong female base of fans.

 

 

Yeah, I also disagree about Cap's BO potential.

 

I'm hoping that the element Stark "creates" in IM2 is revealed to be tied in with the cosmic cube or some other alien tech. It was just too conveniently easy otherwise.

And wasn't the 10 Rings stuff trimmed out of IM2? Or did I just miss the references?

If the Skrull rumor is true (first I heard about it), I'm even more excited for THE AVENGERS.

 

Nice summary.

The Ten Rings stuff was rather toned down in the movie compared to say, the novelization.  The guys that take Whiplash from jail and that gave him the ticket to the race were apparently Ten Rings agents, one of which is credited as being from the Ten Rings from what I remember.  Even Hammer was supposed to be related to the Ten Rings.

 

They were just never really called out as such.

 

As for Skrulls, can Marvel use them or are they linked to the Fantastic Four?  I guess they're not if people keep guessing that they could show up.  Of course, it could always just have them be the Chitauri from the Ultimates who are the stand-in for the Skrulls.

I think in the novelization they flat-out name it as being Vibranium, which ties into Captain America's shield.  I could be wrong though as I've only heard that secondhand.

 

In the film itself, there are a couple easter eggs that the really hardcore comic-geeks (like myself) can pick up on to point in that direction, as well, though it isn't named. (Specifically the map of Antarctica in the chest of goodies that Howard Stark leaves Tony...Antarctica being one of only two places where Vibranium is found in the comic-book universe).

Make it an FX conference call with Holt McCallany (as anyone who watched the cancelled Lights Out knows, he's one actor who really deserves a second chance)

 

No cheesiness, no campiness, no gigantic flaming skull logos, no fire hydrant bullshit, no trying to turn the character into another Marvel superhero. Maybe allow for some subtle Breaking Bad style dark humor to go along with the violence, but otherwise just do it as a hard edged cable crime show featuring a scary psycho with some insane ordnance who likes to murder criminals. Fucking must see TV right there!

 

Eh, I loved the piss out of War Zone's crazy ass, but am I alone in thinking that 88 minutes is about the perfect length for this type of thing? Gleeful carnage can be a ton of fun, but it's not something that would be improved by the decompression of storytelling that goes along with a full cable season, I wouldn't think.

I'm a fan of those early Mike Zeck/Jim Lee Punisher's & those are pretty FX budget ready Richard Stark-like crime stories.

I can vouch for Stark "inventing" Vibranium in the novelization. Which is RACIST!

I too would have guessed a higher gross for Cap, and I think the "Yay America" angle is a little overblown, but who knows.

Chris could be right though, my buddies don't know dick about super-heros (but are always down to see the movies) and they have not been enthusiastic about the Captain America trailers at all. The most commen statement "his costume looks stoopid".....while I think it looks pretty damn great.

You are not alone. Gleeful carnage is like a rollercoaster - superfun and adrenalizing in limited doses, nauseating and empty in larger doses.
 

 

Disciple_72, The Punisher...IS, a Superhero.  He even has his own costume.

 

A Punisher...Series, is something that I would love to see.  I would...Love to see Frank Castle interacting with some lesser known vigilante heroes and heroines like, Silver Sable, Shang Chi, etc.  He should definitely have his...Battle Van as well as a...TON, of Big Guns, and...Awesome Firepower!  I would also...Love a, 2 1/2 hour Punisher Film.  I never get tired of watching criminals get killed!