Jon Favreau sees Iron Man 3 and The Avengers in 3D

"I really love the 3-D," director Jon Favreau told MTV at the San Diego Comic-Con. "I think 'Up' was probably my favorite movie I've seen this year."

Marvel has plans to make at least one more "Iron Man" film, as well as an "Avengers" film in 2012 that will feature Tony Stark. If Favreau has his way, he'd like at least one of those films to be three-dimensional.

"I like all the new technologies, 3-D being one of them. James Cameron had brought me around a few months back to see what he was doing with 'Avatar'; that's what's been seen now by many of the fans," he said of the 3-D footage shown last week. "It was exciting to go in there and see what he's doing with cutting-edge technology. He's just a great storyteller as well, and to see a great filmmaker working with the cutting-edge of this technology is amazing."

"I talked to Marvel after I'd seen [Cameron's footage] about doing 'Iron Man 2' in 3-D," he said. "I was hoping to get a shot at doing it this time around, but it didn't work out that way. ... There are a few drawbacks to it at this point — there's more cost involved, and it also forces you to shoot digitally. My cinematographer [Matthew Libatique] really likes film, and 'Iron Man' had a certain look because it was film."

As of right now, Favreau isn't certain he'll direct "Iron Man 3" or "The Avengers." But Feige is on record as saying that he'd like to see Marvel films jumping off the screen soon, and Favreau is convinced that the technology will be there for whichever film he makes next.

"We haven't had any talks about [me directing 'Avengers'], although we do have talks about what the content of 'Avengers' will be," Favreau said of the film expected to feature Iron Man, Nick Fury, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow and others. "I'm going to be involved in some capacity with it, but as far as directing goes, we're still working on this one. ... I'm happy they brought me back to do 'Iron Man 2.'

"But I think that, as the digital technology gets better, 3-D is going to be a lot easier," the filmmaker continued. "Certainly for 'Iron Man,' I think it would work out well."

Would you like to see the Marvel superheroes go 3D?

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Captain Jack as Captain America

The Avengers film draws ever closer and we have our Iron Man, Thor, Nick Fury, and a few others. However, there is still no news on who will play Captain America.

Worryingly Will Smith's name keeps getting bandied about. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of Big Willy stylee (hmm a dodgy sentence if ever there was one!) but they should stick with the Steve Rogers set out in the comic. However, another actor, who would agree with the sentiments of my previous sentence but in a whole different way, has said they'd like to give it a go.

During the BBC "Torchwood: Children of Earth" mini-series panel at Comic-Con last weekend, actor John Barrowman revealed that he would like the chance play Captain America in The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers films.

"You know what I want to play? Captain America," he said to the wildly receptive crowd, before adding that it "so won't happen."

Barrowman plays the fixed point in time, Captain Jack Harkness and is pretty good at it.

The question is would he make a good Cap? To be honest I think he would. He's got the looks (my wife and mother love him as do many other men and women), he's a bit of an unknown for the mainstream audience (only fans of TV sci-fi, musical theatre and 1980's Saturday Morning Kids TV would know him) which would make them buy into him as the character rather than as a big name playing a part. Although Kevin Feige has said they are looking for a star with international appeal.

Of course, there would be none of the shenanigans that Captain Jack gets up to if he took on the role of Steve Rogers.

I seriously doubt that this will come to pass or that he will even make it to an audition, just one of those things that the Comic Con throws up once in a while. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are people working away on making vids and pics of Barrowman as Captain America right now.

Would Barrowman be a good Captain America?

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The Avengers and Captain America - Could the Skrulls and The Invaders feature in them?

Some interesting facts have been hinted at by Kevin Feige, over on CHUD, regarding various things that may feature in their forthcoming Marvel films.

'Will the Skrulls be the villain in The Avengers?' I asked.

Feige gave me one of those looks he's good at giving and just said, 'We do own them.'

More digging turned up the fact that Marvel Studios owns the Skrull race, while Fox own the Super Skrull.

The Skrull are a shape changing alien race who have had a hard-on for Earth for quite some time. They would make a pretty great big bad for the film for a number of reasons: first of all, there's a bunch of them, so the film wouldn't have to contain just one or two fight scenes with the main threat, and each of the team members could have their own battles at their own power level. For another, they allow Marvel Studios to do something really cool - what if it's revealed that certain characters from the previous Marvel movies have been Skrulls all along? And Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch proved in the first Ultimates series that the Skrull (called the Chitauri there) make a convincingly cinematic threat.

Of course the other possibility is that The Avengers will battle Hydra. As I mentioned in this story about The Invaders possibly appearing in The First Avenger: Captain America, Feige name-dropped Hydra as being something with which Steve Rogers had to contend. Might the truth be that Steve Rogers would just meet some of the Nazi supervillains who go on to head Hydra? And with The Avengers being a SHIELD group in the movies, it might make sense to make the villain a SHIELD villain. On top of that, like the Skrull, the sheer number of Hydra agents mean the film could contain lots of battles and that each of the Avengers could get something to do during the course of the film.

Having the Skrulls in the Avengers films throws up some interesting possibilities - the Hulk may feature but turn out to be a Skrull, other characters in Iron Man, Thor etc may turn out to have been replaced by Skrulls at some point.

What do you think of the news?
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Iron Man 2 won't end on a cliffhanger for the Avengers to resolve

At the moment we know that War Machine (check out the screenshot from the Iron Man 2 footage) will make a significant appearance, Black Widow could be good or evil, and Sam Rockwell will be reinventing the character of Justin Hammer. Director Jon Favreau weighed in as well at Comic-Con with his own details on the film, stating that the sequel won't leave an open-ended cliffhanger for Marvel's 2012 "Avengers" movie. We also know what heroes to expect in the Avengers film.

"We're working towards 'Avengers,' but by the same token we want to resolve this film and make ['Iron Man 2'] play on its own," Favreau told MTV News. "It's not a serial. It's a self-contained film."

Since Marvel Studios began planted movie crossover appearances in "The Incredible Hulk" and the first "Iron Man," continuity buffs have had a great deal to speculate about, given Marvel's ambitious calendar of releases, including "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger." Favreau stressed that while the movies would all be working off of each other, his focus remains on making his film work on its own.

"It's not building towards a cliffhanger that's the next movie," he explained. "It's about wrapping up our story and making it a complete tale."

What about Iron Man 3? "There’s an Iron Man 3. Here’s how I know. When they make the option deals, they include Iron Man 3. So I know they’re planning on 3. Whether that would be before or after Avengers, they’ve announced that Avengers is next but they pushed back The Avengers once which I thought was encouraging."

As for whether, like many sequels, there will be too many villains in Iron Man 2 Favreau had this to say, "Well, we had to walk a fine line. I think you’re good for number two. Two seems to be the charm because you got your origin story out of the way. You can add some complexity to it and you have room, because you don’t have to tell the origin story, to introduce the characters. When you get to number three, you can get hidebound. You’re like a beached whale sometimes because you have so much, you collapse under the weight of the complexity that you’ve created. We looked at the successful sequels that we liked. I’m not talking about Two Towers or films that are chapters based on novels or Harry Potter. I’m talking about true sequels. The two that we liked the most, this was me and Kevin Feige talking, were Wrath of Kahn and Empire Strikes Back. Those were the two that we said, “They did it right. Now let’s look at what they did right.” There were so many others that didn’t feel as good as the first but for those two, what we found was that it really gave room to explore the characters and the villain plotlines were very simple but the stakes were very high. The less you get bogged down in complexity, the more you could really let the audience enjoy what they really like which are the relationships. Two years later, I know I’m a pretty savvy audience member, I don’t remember the dynamics and the subtleties of it. It’s not as precious to me as it is to the filmmakers. So it’s putting yourself in the seat of the audience and saying, “What do they want to see more but you want to go bigger.” You go from Alien to Aliens and then you want to show them the characters that they’ve invested in and how they’ve changed and change those dynamics by introducing new characters. Don’t just add to the action but throw the relationship into a little bit of a curve ball."

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The Avengers - Which heroes will make the cut?

Kevin Feige,the President of Production of Marvel Studios, spoke to Collider at the San Diego Comic Con and gave a run down as to who we will be seeing in The Avengers movie.

Kevin: I think we know. It’s going to be Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Nick Fury. I think it’s safe to assume that there will be some members of the Hulk universe in the film as well. In terms of the additional, I think Black Widow for sure. SHIELD’s organization for sure. And, again, what’s exciting to me about the Avengers movie are seeing those four characters together and interact with each other. Anywhere from the first issue of the Avengers to Civil War, the dynamic between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark is awesome and fascinating. It brings out sides of the others that won’t be brought out in their own franchises. Throwing Thor into the mix is a whole other thing and I think that will be cool. So to pile in another ten or fifteen…or frankly even four…I think will be too many.

Is the Hulk in it?

Kevin: You know Zack Penn is outlining it as we speak so we’ll see.

Looks like no Wasp or Hawkeye then. What do you think of the line up?

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Thor - Natalie Portman to play Jane Foster

It was back in March that we learnt Natalie Portman had been cast in Kenneth Branagh's adaption of Thor.

There was speculation as to who she would play - The warrior Sif, a female version of Loki or as the human, Jane Foster.

Loki has since been cast and will be played by Tom Hiddleston, Thor by Chris Hemsworth and Odin by Brian Blessed. All of which makes it sound like some kind of Asgardian range of aftershave.

Now OntheFlix have the news that Portman will be playing Jane Foster. This character is a nurse who had a bit of a thing with Thor's human alter-ego, Dr. Donald Blake.

Having Portman as the romantic lead with Blake (if they play up that side of the tale) may mean we will see more Earth bound action than previously thought.

The plot for the film has Thor as a powerful but arrogant warrior who reignites an ancient war with his reckless actions. Thor is then cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans.However,after he arrives, he learns how to be a hero when the most dangerous villain of his former world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Could this mean that Jessica Biel may be playing Sif? What are your thoughts on the Portster playing Jane Foster? Do you want to see lots of Thor on Earth or do you want the first film to be heavy on Asgard?

Thor is due out on 20th May 2011 so still quite a while to go.

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Jessica Biel may be in Thor. Clifton Collins Jr won't.

Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Brian Blessed are cast as Thor, Loki and Odin, but who elso will be in Kenneth Branagh's adaption of the Marvel comic?

Clifton Collins Jr. isn't. He mentioned a while back that he was meeting with the Thor people, but he didn't mention for what role. He told The Dead Bolt this week that he's no longer a part of the project.

"That was a long time ago. I wasn't really getting into it, I was just preparing stuff. It's a fantastic director, a great piece, but I have absolutely nothing to do with it."

Meanwhile Jessica Biel is now being rumored to be playing a female character and love interest to the titular hero in the project according to Nuke the Fridge.

The site's source also says the role is likely to be that of Amora The Enchantress , however it could be theAsgardian warrior Sif. Still no word on what role Natalie Portman or Josh Hartnett may be playing.

Do you want to see Biel in Thor? What character do you think she will be playing?

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Kenneth Branagh acted out the whole Thor film

In his latest Cup O’ Joe column, Joe Quesada spoke about his time with Thor director Kenneth Branagh and head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige. He mentioned one specific meeting as “one of the highlights of my time here at Marvel”.

“It was performance art,” Quesada recalled. “Kevin would give us the establishment of the shot and the situation: ‘Here we are. We’re in (take your pick of location). And here’s Odin and he’s coming up to (pick a character.)’ And then Kenneth would come in and give you the color commentary. ‘Odin has an air of majesty to him’ and he’d act out the Odin part or the Thor part. So we sat there and literally got a three-hour one-man show from Kenneth Branagh. It was fantastic.”

Quesada said that the “very Shakespearean” Kenneth Branagh had a phenomenal grasp on the characters of Thor, Loki, Odin and the rest of the film’s cast.

“He’s definitely about character, which is the quintessential trait you have to have to understand the Marvel characters,” he said. “It’s not just big hammers and capes and things like that. It’s about what makes the character tick. There’s definitely a reason for Thor, a reason for him being and a very deep family relationship and story in the movie that I think is going to be very cool.”

“I think it’s going to be [a tougher sell] on the surface,” he said when asked if it was going to be harder to market the film compared to Iron Man. “[But we've] got plans already to get Thor’s name out within a younger group of kids. I think the upcoming ‘Super Hero Squad’ and ‘Avengers Animated’ shows are going to do wonders to get that across, and then we’re working on a couple of ancillary things here and there to boost the desire for kids in particular to know more about Thor and the general public as well.”

I would love to see some video of Branagh acting out the Thor film. It would be amazing to watch. I wonder if he will have a cameo in the film as Jon Favreau did (although it was a bit more than a cameo) in Iron Man.

The more I hear about the Thor film the more excited I get.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Lots of Marvel movie news -Iron Man 2, Bucky in Captain America, Loki in many films and more

Iron Man 2 director Jon Farveau recently tweeted some interesting news: “Mickey Rourke just did a marketing photo shoot. It’s the first time I saw him in full costume. I can’t wait for the images to be released.”

He later added “Scarlett, Rockwell and Paltrow all did their marketing shots. Downey is under the lights looking dapper as I tweet.”

FirstShowing where at theProducer Guild of America’s panel on Producing Marvel Movies. Marvel Entertainment producer Kevin Feige mentioned a few things about their upcoming films.

- Steve Roger’s sidekick Bucky is going to show up in The First Avenger: Captain Ame. As the majority of the film is set in World War 2 then this is to be expected. Who could play Bucky? It's "primarily" a period piece that takes place during WWII. He said they went and looked at Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he says he "didn't know" was a period piece when he was watching it. They want to make Captain America with the "same level of fun" as that. And in regards to director Joe Johnston, he said that this would be a little bit of The Rocketeer, lots of October Sky, and a little bit of the ship designs that Johnston did for Star Wars, alluding to how this is the perfect movie for him to direct. "It's the movie his entire career has been leading towards."

- Scarlett Johansson character in Iron Man 2 has “two sides,” entering the picture as an assistant to Tony Stark, but later revealed as Black Widow. Johnansson is signed up for multiple films.

- Iron Man 2 is up next, then Thor, then Captain America, then The Avengers in the summer of 2012. Feige said that they're "ordered this way for a reason." And confirmed that Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury) and Scarlett Johansson as well as Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) are signed on for multiple movies or "multiple franchises," further extending that hint that Loki will be a villain who shows up quite often. Feige kept saying often that he'd love for audiences to have the same experience that comic book readers have - where characters make surprise appearances in issues they pick up almost out of nowhere. More an more I feel that they are going to be riffing on The Ultimates storylines from the first two volumes with Loki manipulating everyone from behind the scenes. I wonder if Hiddleston will have blink and you miss them cameos in Iron Man 2?

- Marvel is planning on announcing another new movie for 2012 within the next few months. What could it be? Doubtful that it will be Ant-Man as Edgar Wright is bust on Scot Pilgrim. Maybe it will be a Nick Fury film or maybe a SubMariner one. Possibly a sequel to the Incredible Hulk film.

All in all it is all very exciting news for all comic book fans.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Kevin Feige talks Avengers, Captain America and Thor

There is a great interview ove on Ugo with Marvel Films President Kevin Feige about the new films coming out over the next few years. He talks about the Hulk with the Avengers, Will Smith as a possible Captain America (which I think is a big mistake although he could fit into that universe as Isaiah Bradley that I've previously mentioned), Thor on Earth, the return of Blade and more. Here are some of the highlights.

Are you planning on putting The Hulk in The Avengers?

Feige: I think it'd be cool. I'd like to see The Hulk again. It will have been a number of years, four years since he was in a movie by that point, by 2012. So I'd like to see him in it. I'm not being coy. We're just starting the story. I was on the phone with Zak Penn this morning. He's coming in next week and he's going to work on the outline this summer, but because it's so intertwined with what we're doing before - I almost wanted to get done with production on Iron Man 2 [and] the scripts to Thor and Captain America well underway before we even started Avengers.

Is there any possibility of having SHIELD show up in a Spider-Man movie? Is that something you guys would like to do and is there a possibility of bringing these disparate properties back into the fold?

Feige: If we were talking about this four years ago and you asked if there was a chance to do an Avengers movie and a Marvel Cinematic Universe under one roof, I would've said that anything was possible, but that it's a long shot and I'm not sure. Now we're doing it. I'll kind of give you the same answer to that now. Anything is possible. Right now they're certainly different. What's at Fox is at Fox. What's at Sony is what's at Sony and what's at Marvel is what's at Marvel. When I say the MCU that's a goofy internal thing, but that's [how] we're referring to it.

You've got a lot now, but what other characters would you like to see make it onscreen?

Feige: Ant-Man. I want to make Ant-Man one of these days. I think that'll be surprising and a funny thing. I love that what Edgar [Wright] likes about it is that when he says he's doing Ant-Man people go, “Ant-Man? What the hell is that?” I think that's fun. I think Dr. Strange would kick ass. I think we've done very well at the superhero genre, if you will, this street level superhero aspect of the Marvel Universe. I think with Thor you'll see us cracking into the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe in a very good way that's never been done before in our movies and I'd love to get into that supernatural element. I think that Dr. Strange could be a good way of being the lynchpin to that universe with Werewolf By Night, with Blade again someday – that side of the Marvel Universe.

Recently it's been announced that more of the Thor story will take place on Earth. Is it a contemporary earth or Viking times?

Feige: It'll be contemporary.

How are you going to deal with the fish out of water aspect of it? Are you concerned at all about Thor dealing with the wacky modern day aspects of his life, being on a cell phone or something like that?

I am concerned about that and that's why we're not going to do that. We always think about, not in terms of “Thor,” but if you talk about fish out of water; if a character is goofy at any time he'll be goofy. If you bring in an idiot from the past he's going to come into the future and go [holding a recorder up to his face] “What is this? Hello?” That stuff is not funny and it's overdone. If Indiana Jones came to the future he's going to be cool. He's not going to be an idiot bumbling with things. There might be some fun humor out of him just getting something wrong for a minute, but he's going to play it cool and just not come off like an idiot. I think that Thor…if you look at [Jack] Kirby's Asgard, if you look at Walt Simonson's Asgard; they are technologically superior to us by far. They're not going to come and be flummoxed by much on Earth. There might be cultural differences that could be amusing or endearing, but he's not going to be talking to a lamppost for five minutes.

Is Donald Blake going to be in Thor and is he still going to be handicapped?

Feige: No.

Will Thor still be recognizable as a what we understand to be a superhero movie or is it going to be closer to fantasy?

I think it's going to be very much a Marvel superhero movie, but I think to the movie audience it's going to expand that definition more and more. Again, we've got a forty four year old guy who's going to be a superhero in a movie and he puts on an armored suit. That didn't necessarily mean superhero to people. In that same way, I think, someone who's got superpowers coming to Earth and dealing with other character from his realm will come off very much as a big ass superhero movie. But it's going to expand that definition, I hope, in a way.

QCan you talk about the casting of Chris Hemsworth and what it was ultimately about this guy after looking at all these other actors?

Feige: You couldn't take your eyes off of him. When he did his auditioned he worked for it. He put himself on tape. He put himself on tape again and then did it again and then came in and sat with Branagh and then worked again with Branagh and then ultimately did a very late in the process screen test and there was no question. It was very much like going back to 1999 when Dougray Scott got injured on Mission Impossible 2 and we had to go back to the videotapes and suddenly we saw Hugh Jackman who came in and did a screen test and it was like, “There's no question that this is our guy.” In this case it was actually even cleaner with Chris because with Hugh he was like two feet taller than the character was supposed to be which was nerve racking, but Chris is six four and looks exactly Thor.

Are you going to get a big name for “Captain” or are you looking to get another unknown?

Feige: We'll see. I do think that's something that we'll take into account, international appeal. There are only a handful of stars that mean anything here much less overseas. But I do think that will be a factor in it. As long as we have the freedom to do so at Marvel….to just cast the best actor for the part whether it's an actor who's been a great actor, but hasn't starred in marquee action movies before like Downey or somebody that came out of Australia that they've never heard of.

There's been some talk of going with a Will Smith and using the “Truth” storyline of Captain America.

Feige: I love the “Truth” storyline. I think that's very cool. I wouldn't do that as a first Captain America movie though. I think Will Smith is probably one of those handful of international stars. But I think that [arc] came about four or five hundred issues in to the “Cap” run. I don't see launching with that comic.

If one of the movies doesn't do well in this run, how will that effect The Avengers? It’s the riskiest one of the bunch because you're relying on people wanting to come and see Thor again and Cap again.

Feige: I think Avengers is going to have it's own vibe. I think Avengers will feel very much like…it'll have a different tone than the other Marvel movies. I'm not talking budget level here, but it'll have a much more massive global feel to it. Our movies aren't about saving the world. Iron Man doesn't save the world. Hulk doesn't save the world. Captain America, a little bit. But it's not about these comic bookey “I will save the world” things. The Avengers is about saving the world because there's no other reason for characters that powerful to band together. So I think the scope and the scale will feel like a much bigger thing. So whatever you had seen - whether Starscream was your favorite character or Megatron is your favorite character or Soundwave is your favorite character - you're going to see the experience of that epic thing together. I think it'll be the same thing. Clearly I hope it'll all work. I hope that people will, like they've done with the comics for years and years, argue about who their favorite is and who would win in a fight and all of that fun stuff.

For Avengers,will the threat to them come from outside the Earth?

Feige: It'll be big. It'll be something that no single hero can handle.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Posters for Scott Pilgrim, Avengers, Rango, Despicable Me & How to Train Your Dragon

AICN had these cool photos of various posters from the recent Licensing Show in New York. I think the Scott Pilgrim and Rango ones are my favourites.




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Gordon's Alive? Brian Blessed may play Odin in Thor

I am really looking forward to Kenneth Branagh's adaption of Marvel's Thor. Now this news has got me even more excited.

Rich Johnston over on Bleeding Cool had this to say:

I understand that British actor Brian Blessed has been cast in Kenneth Branagh’s THOR movie, based on the Marvel Comics title, as the character Odin.

Blessed is best known for his roles as Caesar Augustus in I CLAUDIUS and King Of The Hawk Men in FLASH GORDON as well as being a charity campaigner and mountaineer.

He has appeared in a number of Kenneth Branagh productions, including HAMLET and AS YOU LIKE IT, famed for his booming voice.

I still haven't found any official confirmation on this, however he apparantly confirmed it at a recent public appearance in York. I will keep looking for official confirmation on this, so at the moment count it as a rumour.
The fact that Branagh as previously worked makes even more sense as he has also worked with Tom Hiddleston who was recently cast as Loki. Chris Hemsworth is Thor. Now we just need to find out what characters Natalie Portman and Josh Hartnett are playing.

I personally think this is a brilliant piece of casting and hopefully it is true.

How would you feel with Brian Blessed as Odin?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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UPDATED: Deadpool to kick Captain America in the nuts according to Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds has been chatting about the Deadpool film that is spinning off from X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

They are still looking for a finished script, but Reynolds says he is involved. However, it looks as if the tone for the film could be just right going by what Reynolds had to say.

Look, I'm into any role in which I get to kick Captain America in the nuts,...Yeah, it's in the works. That's about all I can really say. They're actively hashing [it] out. I'm meeting with them all the time. We're in constant contact, and it's just a matter of breaking the spine of the story and figuring out what it is and who's the villain.

UPDATE: Here's a little more from the interview:

REYNOLDS: We're just trying to get it right. There's so many variables to play. It's tough because when you have a character like Deadpool, to the greatest extent of your power, you want to bring as much authenticity to that character as possible. And by "authenticity," I don't mean that you'd want to make him somebody that you'd have a Starbucks coffee with, I mean that you want to make him as close to the comics as possible. And there's nothing that I wouldn't do to make sure that ends up on film, but sometimes things are out of your control, things that you can't change. But I'm really happy, in these early talks, that the studio is as obsessed with making it as close to the comic book source material as possible. And that's all I really needed to hear. Cuz I will husk-f*@k a herd of cattle to bring Wade Wilson to life as the real deal.

Will there be any real effort to make it fit within the continuity of Wolverine? Or will you just allow it to be its own thing? (This clip shows how Deadpool ended up in the alternate ending of X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

REYNOLDS: Without saying too much, I can't imagine that there's gonna be any tie-in to the Wolverine movie at all.

You've said previously, the Deadpool we glimpse in Wolverine isn't necessarily the character you'd want to play. You've spoken about doing the more self-aware –

REYNOLDS: Absolutely! That's the reason to do it…There's nothing else like that in movies, or comic books, for that matter. I would like to make him self-aware; I'd like to have a bit of a pop-culture air going on throughout the film. I mean, the greatest villain in a Deadpool comic is Deadpool. There's a lot you can do there, but you've gotta ask, "Who's the boss? Who's the guy he's going up against?" But it's breaking the fourth wall; it's including all those things in a way that works, but it's not nearly as hard as it sounds. It can really be done. And people tend to overlook the greatest resource we have, which is the comic book. If it can be done in the comic, it can be done on film in a way that's just as much fun to watch for people who know nothing about the character than for people who are obsessed with the character.

Not to belabor the point, but Deadpool is really the character where, if you're casting Deadpool, you're a smart choice for that. It works with much of what you've done already – the comedy, the drama.

REYNOLDS: Yeah, all those things. And I have ideas for it that I think are right in tune with the tone of that character. I'm dying to see them on film. Literally, dying. So many of the outlets that follow this character are curious what the elements will be, afraid that you won't be disfigured, that you won't wear the mask, and I laugh because there's no way to do this without having the scarring, having the mask, having it all. And it can be done. It's a no-brainer in that sense. You gotta have the character of Deadpool. You don't want to just invent something new and call it Deadpool.

Wouldn't it be great if they could tie Deadpool into the intermingling world of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and the Avengers over at Marvel Studios. Unfortunately as it is being made by Fox this may not happen. What characters to do you want to see in the Deadpool film?

Source: Filmstalker

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Thor to be gritty and dirty says the scriptwriter

CineFOOLS have a great interview with Ashley Miller. He is the screen writer for Kenneth Branagh's adaption of Thor for Marvel.

Reading it does make me feel even happier about the project. Here are some of the main bits from it.

Are you a fan of Thor?

AM-Would you like me to pull my Simonson run out of its bags and boards? Zack had to take me down with an elephant tranq to stop me from throwing in a scene between Thor and a frog.

Is there any Thor storylines you are inspired by?

AM-So many things. Certainly, Walt Simonson's take on the character greatly informs what we brought to the script although I wouldn't say we went to a specific story from his tenure on the book. We saw part of our job as taking all the many approaches to the character over the years (including the myths) and distilling them down into a form that worked for a two-hour movie. There's a tremendous amount of ground to cover, so inspiration has to come from everywhere.

As a writer what would you like to bring to the characters in the Thor Saga?

AM-Grit. Not in the sense that you'd want to see a generic "dark" take on Thor, but in the sense that you want to feel Thor's rage when he rages. You want to see him fight like hell, and take as much he dishes out -- maybe more. You want to have a visceral reaction to the guy, and what happens to him. You don't want his adventures to be clean and antiseptic. You want to see the dirt, and grime and blood. You want to feel every bone crunching moment of every fight. And when he unleashes the storm, you want to feel like you're seeing the power of a GOD at work.

The best example I can give you is the end of Ultimates 2. When Thor shows up and kicks ass, he shows up and kicks ass. He isn't screwing around. There's a certain brutal, cock-eyed realism to Thor in that moment (and through that book in general) that I really resonate to and want to expand on.

As most people will want to see Asgard does it feature prominently in the script or will it mostly be in our world?

AM-Marvel's official description gives you a pretty good idea of what the divide looks like.

With all the Marvel films converging do you have to write with a bigger story in mind? Will you be involved with any other Marvel comic/film writers? E.g J Michael Stratzynski?

AM-We definitely wrote with the bigger story in mind, or at least the bigger universe. Our script is very firmly rooted in the Marvel film world. We were constantly looking for ways to connect Thor to the other movies and heroes, even if they were simply in passing. Part of grounding Thor in the world is grounding him in the specific, fictional world he inhabits. How many of those references and connections make it to the final product are beyond our control, but they are everywhere.

I'll also tell you the nicest thing about working for Marvel, as a fan. You never have to defend the character to the people who own him. You never have to explain to them why Thor is cool, or what he can do. They are as likely as you are to come up with some awesome bit of obscure continuity and pitch it as a story or character element. It's a very writer friendly place.

It is great to see that a fan of Thor is writing the screenplay. I also like the sound of the fights in that we will see the dirt, grime and blood. If they can make it like that then it should be amazing. Can Chris Hemsworth as Thor pull this off?

How do you feel about the Thor film? How can they tie it into the Iron Man film and other Marvel films? What look do you want Thor to have - classic Marvel or the Ultimate version?

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Clifton Collins Jr may be in Thor

It looks as if J J Abrams Star Trek may have another link to Kenneth Branagh's Thor film after Chris Hemsworth was cast as Thor.

Clifton Collins Jr., who as the Romulan miner Ayel helped to kill Hemsworth’s character, George Kirk, appears to now be vying for a part alongside Hemsworth in the upcoming Marvel Studios film according to MTV.

“Studying my ass off for ‘Thor,’ gonna be a late night, well worth the loss of sleep!” Collins wrote Wednesday on Twitter. “Brewing big pot of joe, hitting ‘Thor’ hard this mornin!”

He also said that he would be heading into an audition for the part later that day, but didn’t specify which part he would be trying out for.

The question is what character would he be auditioning for? Possibily Fandral or Hogun from The Warriors Three. My feeling is that it will be for the part of Hogun based on the recent casting call announcement.

Official Casting Call for Hogun

[HOGUN]Male. ASIAN / SOUTH EAST ASIAN / MONGOLIAN / EAST INDIAN. Late 20s to mid 30s. Grim, stoic, fearless. A man of few words who lives for battle...SUPPORTING.

Clifton Collins Jr is one of those actors who always does top quality work. He was great in The Last Castle. Do you think Collins Jr would work as Hogun (he's the one on the right in the picture below)? If not Hogun who else could be play? Do you think Beta Ray Bill will be in the film?
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A Perfect Getaway - Trailer for David Twohy's psycho stalkers in paradise film

Cliff and Cydney are an adventurous young couple celebrating their honeymoon by backpacking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. Hiking the wild, secluded trails, they believe they've found paradise. But when the pair comes across a group of frightened hikers discussing the horrifying murder of another newlywed couple on the islands, they begin to question whether they should turn back. Unsure whether to stay or flee, Cliff and Cydney join up with two other couples, and things begin to go terrifyingly wrong. Far from civilization or rescue, everyone begins to look like a threat and nobody knows whom to trust. Paradise becomes hell on earth as a brutal battle for survival begins...

Written and directed by David Twohy (Pitch Black). It stars Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Kiele Sanchez and Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth.

A Perfect Getaway is due out on 14th August 2009.

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Tom Hiddleston cast as Loki in Branagh's Thor

I almost had this right. On the 4th May I mentioned how Tom Hiddleston, the co-star in Kenneth Branagh's Wallander series, could possibly be Thor.

This turned out to be incorrect when it was announced yesterday that Chris Hemsworth (George Kirk in Star Trek) had been cast as Thor in Kenneth Branagh’s big screen adaptation of Marvel’s Thor and the Summer 2012 superhero team-up film The Avengers.

However, Nikki Finke are now saying that Tom will be playing the evil Loki, the God of Mischief.

I was half right. Hiddleston is in the film, but playing the big bad. As I mentioned when Hemsworth was announced, I like the fact they are not using big names for this film. To the mainstream audience, Marvel's Thor is a bit of an unknown quanitity and you want the characters to prove their worth rather than be overshadowed by the actor playing them.

Also Hiddleston does have a look of Loki about him in some photos.

Robert Downey Jr worked so well as Tony Stark in Iron Man because Stark is a huge larger than life playboy kind of character.

It does make me wonder whether Josh Hartnett will still be in the film as he had previously been rumoured to play Loki, as had Natalie Portman. Maybe Hartnett will be playing another Asgardian - one of the Warriors Three?

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Thor in Scott Pilgrim vs The World

This is the latest photo by Edgar Wright from the set of his Scott Pilgrim film. I've not read the comic, but I assume this has something to do with Scott having to fight one of the evil Ex-Boyfriends.
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Captain Kirk's Dad is Thor

Chris Hemsworth, who played George Kirk in the opening of J J Abrams Star Trek has been cast as Thor in Kenneth Branagh’s big screen adaptation of Marvel’s comic. That means he will also be playing the Thunder God in the Summer 2012 film The Avengers.

Nikki Finke reports that Marvel and Branagh made the final decision earlier today after reviewing Hemsworth’s test footage. Chris is currently in production on the Joss Whedon-written Drew Goddard-directed horror film The Cabin in the Woods. The Australian actor (who used to star in Home and Away) was also just cast as the lead role in MGM’s Red Dawn remake last week.

Written by Mark Protosevich, Thor has been described as being “like a superhero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential. It’s the story of an Old Testament god who becomes a New Testament god”.

Marvel has announced a release date of 17th June 2011 for the film.

I thought Hemsworth was great in the Trek movie, so I'm happy with the casting. The other plus is that he is not a huge name or familiar face yet so it will be easier to buy into him as Thor.

How do you feel about the casting?

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Could Thor be an acting buddy of Kenneth Branagh's?

Kenneth Branagh has been speaking to IGN about the Thor movie’s development. Filming will begin in January of next year.

The gap in time between now and January means that Branagh can work on his TV series “Wallander,” based on the Henning Mankell series of novels about an existentialist police inspector. Branagh plays the titular Wallander alongside Tom Hiddleston, an actor who may or may not be donning the winged helmet for Marvel’s “Thor.”

“Tom Hiddleston is a great actor and he, amongst a number of others, has been part of the group we’ve spoken to and all that’s still a work in progress,” Branagh said of his “Wallander” co-star’s chances of playing Thor.

Other contenders to play the Norse God of Thunder have been Alexander Skarsgård, Charlie Hunnam, Kevin McKidd and Josh Hartnett. However, Josh was mooted to be playing Loki (but that could possibly be being played by Natalie Portman).

I've not seen Wallender so not sure what Hiddleston is like and whether he would be good as Thor. He doesn't seem physically big enough to play him, but I could see him as Dr Blake, Thor's alter ego. Personally, I'd like to see McKidd play Thor as he just has the right look.

What do you feel about the possibility of Hiddleston playing Thor? If not him who would you want to see?

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