The Marvel plan

Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man 2"  Photo by Merrick Morton 2009 Marvel

Note: The following article is based upon an exclusive interview with Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, which took place prior to the announcement that Marvel Studios was going to be acquired by Disney for the sum of four billion dollars.

Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, wouldn’t say the studio has a plan for global domination. But he’s very well aware that Marvel is in a unique position to bring its long-time comic book characters to the big screen as part of a comprehensive vision that is virtually unprecedented.

Feige told Examiner that with the creation of its own studio, Marvel has been able to do something that hasn’t been possible before. Readers of Marvel comic books have long been used to characters crossing over into each other’s books. Legal problems previously got in the way developing interlinked superhero movies. But the experience that Marvel’s readers have had of characters from different comic books interacting, sometimes in conflict, is now being brought to the screen.

There have certainly been challenges combining the creative visions of different directors and writers, and even studios. Marvel Studios, which currently has a single distributor, Paramount, is concentrating on the characters that make up The Avengers, a group of superheroes, and one of the bestselling comic books on the planet. An Avengers movie is in development, expected to be released in 2012. However, other studios have distributed earlier Marvel adaptations. For the time being, Spider-Man will remain at Sony and The X-Men and The Fantastic Four will remain at 20th Century Fox. Crossovers between those characters and the franchises already at other studios are unlikely.
 

Mickey Rourke in "Iron Man 2"  Photo by Francois Duhamel Marvel 2009

First up is Iron Man 2, the sequel to last year’s wildly successful movie starring Robert Downey, Jr. as billionaire industrialist Tony Stark. Jon Favreau returns as director, and is “in week three of his director’s cut of Iron Man 2.”

The movie maintains all the elements that made the first one so successful, but with the addition of interesting new characters, particularly Mickey Rourke’s villain and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. Don Cheadle has taken over the role of Jim Rhodes played in the first film by Terrance Howard. Footage confirming that there is action in Iron Man 2 involving War Machine was unveiled at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego. The film is due to be released in May. Johansson can be expected to appear as Black Widow in other Marvel projects (read The Avengers).

Two major projects are scheduled to go before the cameras next year for projected 2011 releases, both in anticipation of The Avengers. Feige is openly enthusiastic about the signing of Joe Johnston to direct The First Avenger: Captain America. Johnston has directed Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer, Hidalgo and Jurassic Park III and the upcoming remake of The Wolfman. But Johnston also showed he could direct a smaller, more intimate story with October Sky, a film Feige much admires. Johnston started his movie career as an effects illustrator and designer, and eventually a visual effects art director, for Industrial Light and Magic, working on the original Star Wars movies and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

As to rumors that The First Avenger: Captain America will have a World War II setting, Feige confirms that the movie will be set in “the Marvel version of that time period.” As to whether or not the Red Skull will be featured, the answer is an emphatic “maybe.” Feige acknowledges there are certain characters that readers would expect to see, and they’ll most likely be in the film.

The character of Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson in a scene in Iron Man after the end credits, is the “glue” holding a number of Marvel elements together. Screenwriters on earlier Marvel projects asked to bring in Nick Fury and SHIELD, and were unable to due to problems with rights to the character. That problem was solved with the creation of Marvel Studios, and Samuel L. Jackson has been signed to a multi-picture deal to play the character. However, as to whether or not the Nick Fury character would appear in The First Avenger: Captain America, either played by Jackson or a younger actor, viewers will have to wait and see.

The First Avenger: Captain America will go into active preproduction in October of this year, and will probably start filming around June of 2010.

Also going into production in 2010 is Thor, based on Marvel’s comic book featuring the mythological Norse god of thunder as a superhero. Chris Hemsworth, recently seen in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reboot as George Kirk stars. Acclaimed actor and director Kenneth Branagh is signed to direct, and is “deep in preproduction.” Branagh’s involvement came after a “lot of meetings and a lot of phone calls.” According to Feige, the well-known Shakespearean (and Prof. Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) was “intrigued by the material and really connected to it.” Feige had been initially impressed with Branagh’s ability to make the classics accessible to the masses, as with Much Ado About Nothing and Henry V, which he will also bring toThor.

“People who expect Thor to be speaking in ‘thees’ and ‘thous’ will be surprised,” Feige says.

Ant-Man is being developed by Edgar Wright, director and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Feige says the script is very funny and very much in keeping with what fans of the original comic book character would expect. The movie is not expected out before The Avengers.

The character of the Hulk is considered one of the jewels in the Marvel crown, and a theatrical sequel to last year’s The Incredible Hulk is a possibility, but would not come out before The Avengers.

As to rumors that the seventies title, The Hands of Shang Chi, rumored to be in development at Dreamworks, produced by Ang Lee and directed by Yuen Wo Ping, previously the martial arts coordinator of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Tiger and The Matrix, Feige says is “something we’d love to explore.” It is not, however, currently in development.

What about the Marvel comic The Tomb of Dracula, which was published throughout the seventies, and introduced the character of Blade, who has already been featured in three popular features? Feige says that it isn’t being developed at the moment, although “it might be an idea.” Feige credits the Blade movies for laying the groundwork for the current popularity of vampire movies and TV shows.

Marvel possesses an “embarrassment of riches” of material that crosses genre lines, Feige says, and there are many titles and characters that haven’t been developed yet. The key word is “yet.”