Jul 26 2009
The Avengers Line-Up?
It looks like the news keeps on coming. After yesterday’s updates on Batman 3 and Iron Man 2, it’s only fair for something about the Avengers to pop up. Marvel producer Kevin Feige, the man who runs the Marvel Movieverse, talked a bit about the team line-up. He says the team will consist of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Nick Fury. Also joining the team will be members of the Hulk’s universe, and some other “additional” members. The impression I got was that those four characters are the heart of the team, and members like the Black Widow will be showing up as support. This means we still might get Hank Pym, but the chances of him having a main role are looking pretty slim.
Having the big three on the team is no surprise. You can’t have the Avengers without them, and they’re gettting their own movies. Nick Fury being a full member is a bit interesting. Fury has never really been an Avenger, but was a big part of the team in the Ultimate Universe. Feige also cited the relationship between Steve and Tony as a big part of the movie. I always thought those two made a great pair, and its good to see that carry over to the movie. Throw in Thor and we’ve got a good old fashioned bro-mance. And who could this character from the Hulk’s world be? The obvious candidate is General Ross. In the Incredible Hulk, Stark told Ross that they were putting a team together, so the old general knows about the Avengers. William Hurt put in a great performance and I really hope he reprises the role. Who else might join? Betty Ross is a decent guess and the only other character who has a decent shot. Leonard Sampson just wouldn’t fit. The team doesn’t need a shrink. Tony probably does, even if he won’t admit it though.
But wait, what about the green guy himself!?!?! How can the Hulk not be part of the team? Feige’s response was that Zak Penn was still writing the script, so we’ll see. Whatever role the Hulk has on the team is going to mercurial at best. You just can’t control the big guy. Still, I just can’t imagine the movie without him. Even if he isn’t a full member, expect to see him work with the team. Maybe the team’s first mission is to bring in the Hulk? Who knowns. This also explains why Marvel hasn’t signed Edward Norton up straight away. They just don’t know what they’re doing with the character.
And what about the rest of the Avengers crew? Alot of fans have been clamoring about seeing Hawkeye, the Vision, the Wasp, etc. etc. Feige said that having all these characters would be cool, but just too hard. Having more than four characters is hard enough; 10 or 15 would be a nightmare. As much as you might want to see some of the Avengers classics, I agree that it would be too hard to pull off. Then again, they really need Hawkeye in this thing. At the very least make him an agent of SHIELD like in the Ultimates. He could be one of the few “additional” members.
We also got some news on Captain America. The movie is going to be very “international”, which makes sense considering it’s a WWII movie. The movie will also include a team that Cap works with that will have alot of foreign actors. The first group that comes to mind is the Invaders, although they arn’t really an international team. They have two Americans, an android and an Atlantean. I guess I’m not too sure exactly what group it will be then. For the villain, it looks like they want to lay the foundation for the Marvel U. Hydra and the Red Skull were both mentioned, which is just fun.
Even though we won’t see any big announcements until October, it looks like they know what they’re doing. The script is half way done. The movie will be about Captain America finding a way to live up to his own ideals, which sounds perfect. All this stuff is coming together, and looks like it’s well on track. All we have to do is wait 3 more years for the movie to come out!
