Here come Marvel's 'Avengers,' and Stan Lee, Joe Simon weigh in By William Keck, USA TODAY "What if I told you we were putting together a team?" That's what Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) teases in the closing minutes of The Incredible Hulk. But Stark's plans come as no surprise to comic-book fans. They have been salivating ever since Marvel Studios announced plans to develop a team of superheroes to appear first in solo films, then unite as an on-screen team. Iron Man director Jon Favreau, who is developing a sequel to be released in April 2010, says Marvel's plan is "to team up the heroes for The Avengers, which is made up of all of the Marvel heroes they have the rights to." Favreau says the team's lineup has changed throughout the years, "but the ones Marvel is talking about now are Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and Iron Man. I would love to see that." A scene following the closing credits of Iron Man introduced Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, who will be instrumental in bringing the heroes together. Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios' president of production, confirms that he's working toward the day when "heroes can cross into each other's adventures and occasionally team up if there's a foe too great for any one of them to handle." He and screenwriter Zak Penn (X2: X-Men United, Elektra, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Incredible Hulk) are uniting to get Avengers in theaters by summer 2011. Here's what Stan Lee, 85, who created the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man and Nick Fury characters, and Joe Simon, 94, creator of Captain America, had to say about the origins of the next wave of comic-book characters headed for the big screen. Thor Release date: Solo film to be released June 4, 2010 Screenwriter: Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend) Origin: Disabled medical student Donald Blake discovers a mighty hammer that transforms him into his alter ego, the Norse warrior Thor. Lee recalls meeting years ago with Fabio, the romance-novel cover boy, about playing the part. "Someone brought him up to my office to see if he could play Thor," Lee says. "Visually, he would have been good, but in those days we weren't even in a position to do a movie." Lee says Thor "will have to be someone big and strong and kind of blondish. And there should be a nobility." Ant-Man Release date: Solo film, but timing not yet available Director: Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) Screenwriters: Wright and Joe Cornish Origin: Biochemist Hank Pym can alter his size as well as communicate with and control insects. Ant-Man creator Stan Lee recently had lunch with Wright to discuss the direction of the film. "There's never been a hero like this in the movies," Lee says. "I did one comic book called The Man in the Ant Hill about a guy who shrunk down and there were ants or bees chasing him. That sold so well that I thought making him into a superhero might be fun." The First Avenger: Captain America Release date: Solo film to be released May 6, 2011 Origin: Captain America made his debut in 1941 as lowly U.S. Army Pvt. Steve Rogers. "We had him peeling spuds," creator Joe Simon recalls. "The government shot him up with a super-serum, which made him the first of what was to be an army of superheroes." Simon and comic-book artist Jack Kirby, who died in 1994, created the character during World War II as an all-American adversary to Adolf Hitler. "We were a war-consumed nation, just like today," he says. "Hitler was a comic foil for our character, and every comic sold out that first year." Simon now suggests that Osama bin Laden might be an appropriate foe for Captain America to pursue. But Captain America more likely will take on his most famous adversary, the Red Skull — a Nazi (later turned Communist) introduced by Simon in Captain America Comics #1. Nick Fury Release date: Not intended as a solo film, but character will appear in The Avengers universe in summer 2011 Origin: Lee introduced the character in 1963 in the war magazine Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. "It did very well," Lee says. "But after a couple of years, I got bored with it and wanted to kill it. Years later, I got a lot of fan mail asking, 'What happened to Sgt. Fury?' In those days, there was a popular show called The Man From U.N.C.L.E., so I brought Nick back as a colonel for S.H.I.E.L.D.: Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division."
Sounds like a great line-up of movies..What about wonder women...I thought there was a thread a while back that had her cast...
I know I will get flamed for saying this but I think this film will be the sum of its parts. Sorry but too many characters crammed up in one 2 hour movie. Yes, I know each superhero is getting their own special treatment with a solo release prior to the Avengers but still I don't see it will work. Look I am not hating on this film cause I love what I've seen so far from Marvel especially Ironman and Hulk. The problem is not the movie but the medium in the studio is trying put all these different characters onscreen at the same time. That is the reason why F4 looked mediocre to me. I hope I am wrong and it all works out to be an awesome movie but for I won't get my hopes so high.
I agree and disagree. That's gotta be why they are doing the individual movies, to get the origin stories out of the way. They pulled off X-men, so they should be able to do this.
Those are nice points. With each getting their own solo films you get the origin of their beings out of the way as well as things like character development. Then X-Man did do a nice job of bringing together multiple superheroes.
He was a vampire in Blade 2 or 3... and he also plays a guy named Triple H on this soap opera for men called the WWE. So, ya, he can act.
Granted I never read it so I'm probably making a snap judgement, but AntMan sounds like some X-Men reject. What on earth makes him so compelling and who are his enemies?
LOL! I thought the same thing and I went to Wikipedia to find something on him. They didn't really make it look much more impressive. There are too many man superheroes anyway. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc.
I gotta disagree. X-Men worked (the first two, anyway), so there's no reason this can't also work. The Fantastic Four was another thing altogether: Marvel didn't have nearly the control they have over the Avenger's and the characters making up the team. I imagine if Marvel had complete control, F4 wouldn't have been the crap that it was.
Edgar Wright is directing so I expect his solo film to be comedic and his role within the Avengers to be some form of comic relief
The X-Men movies were criticized for being Wolverine movies with cameos by the other X-Men. I could see the same thing happening with Iron Man in the Avengers.
Why not do the Wasp instead of Ant Man...that gives us our female character..and Janet Van Dyne was kind of hot anyway.... Or the Scarlet Witch
I suspect in the end . . Ant Man will be replaced by The Wasp Basically to add a Female person Maybe they will dro pin the Black Widow [The Russian Chick] [In fact Ant Man becomes Giant Man . . . .Married to The Wasp] I just cannot see them going without a Female Hero Rocket River