Disney today announced that The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, will also be available in 3D when it opens May 4, 2012. The movie wasn’t shot in 3D, so it’ll be going through a 3D conversion between now and May.

In related Marvel news, Disney has moved an untitled Marvel movie from June 27, 2014 to April 4, 2014. Marvel already has a movie set for May 16, 2014 so it’ll be a busy period for superheroes. With both Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 set for 2013 one of these could potentially be the Captain America sequel, or they could be something new such as Ant-Man, Runaways, or Doctor Strange which are all in development.

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Mickey Rourke isn’t known for keeping his opinions and criticisms to himself, and while promoting Immortals the actor spoke about his disappointment of Whiplash becoming “a one-dimensional bad guy” in Iron Man 2, and said most of his performance ended up on the cutting room floor.

From Crave Online:

It’s like when I did Ivan Vanko in Iron Man, I fought… You know, I explained to Justin Theroux, to the writer, and to [Jon] Favreau that I wanted to bring some other layers and colors, not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenging bad guy. And they allowed me to do that. Unfortunately, the [people] at Marvel just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy, so most of the performance ended up the floor.

Well, you know, it is f**king too bad, but it’s their loss. If they want to make mindless comic book movies, then I don’t want to be a part of that. I don’t want to have to care so much and work so hard, and then fight them for intelligent reasoning, and just because they’re calling the shots they… You know, I didn’t work for three months on the accent and all the adjustments and go to Russia just so I could end up on the floor. Because that can make somebody say at the end of the day, oh f**k ‘em, I’m just going to mail it in. But I’m not that kind of guy. I’m never going to mail it in.

Rourke may have a point as Red Skull was a bit one-dimensional in Captain America: The First Avenger, although saying that Loki was a great villain in Thor, so Marvel seems to be hit and miss in the villain dimension department.

Rourke appears to be in a critical mood as of late. He was set to shoot Seven Psychopaths with Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken for Oscar-winning writer and director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges), but in an interview with Movieline Rourke called the director a “jerkoff” and, when asked if he was still in the movie, said “he can go play with himself.” I take it that’s a no, then.

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Following a successful summer Marvel are now in a comfortable position with their properties. The Avengers hits next year and sequels to Iron Man, Thor and Captain America are in various stages of development.

Marvel have also been looking to develop characters outside of The Avengers, and last year they were working on a Runaways movie with director Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist), however it was put on hold because they felt they had too much going on. Well in a recent interview screenwriter Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3) gave an update on Runaways, and said he hope it moves forward sometime next year.

From The Playlist:

“Basically, ‘The Avengers’ came along and everything else at Marvel got put on hold for a year. But the script is there, we’re good to go,” Pearce said. “It’s kind of like [being] at the airport when you’re waiting for your slot to take off with Marvel, and we’re hoping we get a slot next year. Fingers crossed. They’re very happy with it, so hopefully it happens.”

The comic follows a group of six kids whose parents are a criminal group of mob bosses, time-travelers, dark wizards, mad scientists, alien invaders and telepathic mutants. The kids steal weapons and resources from their parents, and learn they themselves inherited their parents’ powers. With a mix between Twilight and X-Men Marvel could have had a hit with Runaways, but I guess it will have to wait.

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Heading into Captain America, one question was at the forefront of my mind: could director Joe Johnston recapture the tone of his 1991 cult classic The Rocketeer and translate that into a superhero movie for today’s audience? Thankfully, the answer is yes. This movie probably isn’t going to be any Marvel fanboy’s favorite, but it has enough action and humor to make it one of the fledgling studio’s better efforts of the past couple years.

The newest in Marvel’s ambitious multi-film build-up to The Avengers, Captain America shows yet another side to the studio’s versatile approach to creating one consistent universe; while Thor delved into an entirely different world, Captain America takes place in a different time, making it Marvel’s first true period piece. Johnston, a protégé of Steven Spielberg and a former Acadby Award-winning effects artist (responsible for designing Boba Fett’s armor and the AT-AT units in Star Wars, among many other things), really starts to relish the look and feel of the 1940s in this movie. In a recent interview, Johnston revealed that he had two offices during the making of the film and one of thb was in the art department so he could supervise the design and creation of the world; clearly, that aspect of production remains close to his heart. His team pulled off a really cool look here, a stylized vibe that reminds me more of a propaganda poster than what that actual time truly looked like.

After an interesting casting battle that featured “The Office” star John Krasinski and TRON: Legacy‘s Garret Hedlund, actor Chris Evans – who notably already played a superhero in Marvel’s Fantastic Four series – accepted the role and did an admirable job with a pretty decent script. Once the scrawny Steve Rogers (a great bit of CGI trickery) becomes the jacked Captain America, the audience’s ability to relate to the character dissolves a bit. It’s tough to pull for a guy who’s seemingly invincible; even Superman has Kryptonite, but there’s never any real danger for Cap. He and his boys go around the world kicking ass, and it’s cool and everything, but I wish there would have been a little more importance attached to his missions.

Hugo Weaving as the villainous Red Skull was inspired casting, but he’s essentially wasted on a character that never shows the true evil of which he’s surely capable. He’s gotta have that Darth Vader moment where he completely destroys something on a massive scale for the audience to really fear him, but unfortunately the character is never allowed that moment. The makeup is great, and Weaving was solid, but the character himself didn’t really do much.

One of the reasons I liked Thor was because of how well the writers integrated the S.H.I.E.L.D./Avengers setup stuff, making it organic to the story instead of forcing it in (like Iron Man 2). Since Captain America is a period piece, it’s a little easier for them to deal with; the story revolves around the cosmic cube (referenced in Thor and surely an important part of the upcoming Avengers), and they incorporate Howard Stark’s involvement into the story, filling out that character and allowing for some fun moments for Dominic Cooper to chew some scenery as, essentially, an older version of Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony. The rest of the supporting cast is serviceable, too. Names like Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci rarely disappoint, and more minor players like Neal McDonough (fantastic in “Band of Brothers”) and Sebastian Stan (entertaining in Hot Tub Time Machine, totally forgettable in the otherwise-brilliant Black Swan) also did some good work. (Though their parts are woefully underwritten.) Hayley Atwell (Cassandra’s Dream) takes center stage as Cap’s love interest, Agent Peggy Carter. Her character isn’t given much to do, but Atwell brings enough moxie to the part that I’m interested in seeing her again soon.

Like most of the other Marvel films, this one begins in media res and returns to the present time by the end. Aside from not detailing how exactly Cap is able to “sleep for almost 70 years” – and honestly, it doesn’t matter – I thought all of the storylines were nicely wrapped up and, without trying too hard, Captain America ended up being a pretty fun stepping stone towards next summer’s ultimate team-up flick. Until next time…

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In Part 4 we lost Batman but got Blade, a second-rate superhero that showed Hollywood how a seriously taken source material and genuinely good movie can turn into a successful property, regardless of how famous it was to begin with. For the first time, you didn’t need Superman or Batman to make a hit.

So Blade turned a lot of heads in 1998 and gave 20th Century Fox the courage to finally shell out $75 million so that X-Men could start filming after years of delays (Bryan Singer signed on to direct the picture way back in 1996). Initially set to open in December 2000, X-Men was moved to July and considering filming just started in September, this was definitely on a very tight schedule. But before we go forward with X-Men, we still got 1999 and 2 superhero movies to talk about.

Black Mask was a movie made way back in 1996 that opened in North America on May 14th 1999 starring Jet Li. The only reason this finally got released is because Jet Li was starting to become popular thanks to his role in Lethal Weapon 4 just a year before. Black Mask only made $12.5 million. A few months later it was time for superhero comedy Mystery Men to bomb at the box office with $29.7 million in North America. Yep, 1999 was not a good year for heroes of the super kind.

X-Men opened on July 14th 2000 with the 5th highest opening weekend at the time, $54.4 million and outstanding reviews and praise from fans alike. This was everything Fox wanted it to be and the franchise potential was enormous. X-Men went on to gross $157.3 million in North America and $296.3 million worldwide. The Marvel revolution was here.

In November 2000 an original superhero created by the mind of M. Night Shyamalan was unleashed in Unbreakable. This was a very different take on the genre but it still received good reviews and great fan appreciation. $95 million in North America and $248.1 million worldwide made Unbreakable one of the bigger hits of that year.

2001 was almost empty with only 1993 Hong Kong movie, Iron Monkey, out in North America grossing just $14.7 million.

2002 was a landmark moment for the superhero genre with Blade returning and Spider-Man finally getting his big screen debut after years of going nowhere. Directed by the now famous Guillermo del Toro, Blade II opened March 22nd with $32.5 million and went on to make $82.3 million in North America and 155 million worldwide. At this point Wesley Snipes and Blade were here to stay, at least until New Line would pull a Superman 3 on it, but more about that at a later time.

Stuck in development hell for over two decades, Sony Pictures finally bought the Spider-Men movie license in 1999 along with a James Cameron original scriptment (he tried to get the project up way back in 1990). After considering directors like Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, 2012), Tim Burton (Batman, Batman Returns), Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) or David Fincher (Alien 3, Fight Club), they finally went with must less famous Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) in 2000, a long time fan of the comics. Filming took place from January to June 2001 and Spider-Men was set to open in February 2002. After previewing an unfinished version of the movie and realizing the huge potential they had with a summer release, Sony moved the date to May 3rd 2002.

May 3rd 2002, the date Spider-Man, arguably one of the big three most popular superheroes in the world (Batman and Superman being the others), finally opened and what an opening that was. $114.8 million, the biggest weekend ever at the time and it would not stop there. Spider-Man became the best reviewed superhero movie ever, considered by both fans and critics the finest flick to ever feature a superhero. Spidey went on to gross 403.7 million in North America (5th highest back then) and $821.7 million worldwide. Sony now had the biggest hero in town and they wanted to milk it to the last drop. A sequel was obviously on the way, but not for another 2 years, in the meantime other studios tried their luck at this hero thing, now more interesting then ever before.

Warner Bros, the studio that managed to ruin both Superman and Batman in little over a decades, released The Powerpuff Girls Movie in 2002. Based on the popular Cartoon Network series, it made $11.4 million. Hard at work on rebooting their then tarnished superheroes, Warner were not out of the game yet.

On February 14th 2003 Fox unleashed another Marvel superhero on the big screen, Daredevil starring Ben Affleck. It turned out a mediocre flick but it did gross 102.5 million in North America and $179.1 million worldwide. Instead of following it with a sequel, Fox were planning to release a spin-off 2 years later, a disaster we’ll talk about in Part 6.

- Superheroes at the box office (Part 1)
- Superheroes at the box office (Part 2)
- Superheroes at the box office (Part 3)
- Superheroes at the box office (Part 4)

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In a desperate attempt raise his profile and possibly earn him a shot at the lead role in Marvel’s not yet greenlit or even announced Luke Cage movie, ‘Old Spice guy’ Isaiah Mustafa put together this little teaser trailer with him in the role.

Luke Cage was a streetwise youth named Lucas sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. In exchange for parole, Lucas clandestinely underwent an experimental procedure, originally intended to generate immunity to all illness; instead, it inadvertently granted him steel hard skin and heavier, enhanced muscle. After escaping prison, he forged the identity of “Luke Cage” becoming a “hero for hire. a sort of super-enhanced private detective.

Sadly for Isaiah his valliant effort to fill the African American superhero’s shoes is hamstrung by the cheesy scenes on show which remind this writer of a time when they used to make TV movies out of Marvel superheroes in the late 80s early 90s. Take a look and you decide. Do you think he’s got what it takes?

To me these grand self promotion attempts have always come off as a rather sophisticated ‘jumping around in your room thinking you are your favourite superhero’, or a ‘big budget Star Wars Kid’ if you will.

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Hot on the heels of Fast Five, Marvel’s latest superhero entry continues the momentum of Summer 2011. Kenneth Branagh’s Thor is a notable departure from the more reality-based Iron Man franchise; this movie spends half of its duration on Earth, but also introduces audiences to the Norse realm of Asgard. A star-making performance from Chris Hemsworth, a nicely balanced script, and an organic blending of S.H.I.E.L.D. mythology make Thor a blast to watch and one of the best films Marvel has made to date.

Who would have thought the guy from the opening scene of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek had the ability to carry an entire film? But Chris Hemsworth has insane screen presence, easily holding his own against the gravitas of veterans like Anthony Hopkins as Odin, king of Asgard. Hemsworth is jacked, absolutely believable as a badass warrior with a terrible temper. Tom Hiddleston plays Thor’s younger brother Loki*, a jealous conniving trickster competing for their father’s affection. He does a great job as the villain here, and (SMALL SPOILER ALERT) he’ll be interesting to watch as an evil force in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. I’ll go ahead and get my biggest complaint with the film over with now: Thor’s transition from hot-headed blowhard to humble servant struck me as rushed, with the screenwriters clearly trying to pick up the pace and get the action rolling again about halfway through the film.

Thor is important because it beats WB’s Green Lantern to the punch when it comes to epic space-themed superhero movies this summer. Asgard is a fantasy world, to be sure, but Branagh applies his Shakespearean experience to that world and grounds it with universal paradigms as old as storytelling itself: a king passing down his throne, betrayal between brothers, loyalty among warriors, and much more. These are themes we’ve seen countless times, and make it much easier to relate to relate to these events as they’re surrounded in otherworldly visuals. The production design of Asgard is fittingly regal, a vast empire filled with towering structures and CGI crowds. Alternating between impressive and slightly cheesy, the look of the movie is ultimately effective enough for an audience to accept the characters riding across a rainbow bridge and fighting Frost Giants.

But that’s only half of it. Once Thor is banished to Earth, he becomes a point of interest for Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, a scientist searching for a link between worlds. There’s something of a love story tossed in, but Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson this ain’t. Portman works just fine, but this is not a standout performance for her. She’s gorgeous – no surprise there - so it’s easy to see why the god of thunder would fall for her. Kat Dennings plays Darcy, an intern seemingly more concerned with making quips than contributing to Jane’s research. Thankfully, even as a character so blatantly written as comic relief, Dennings never strays into annoying territory. She’s given just the right amount of one-liners, and her quippy delivery and cutesy persona is exactly what the movie needs to balance out the sometimes overly serious drama going on back on Asgard. The success of the film is largely dependent on how believably it transitions between the two worlds, and even though the love story isn’t the most compelling aspect of this movie, the film is equally effective regardless of the setting. Stellan Skarsgard is also a fantastic addition to the cast, playing Dr. Erik Selvig, the veteran father figure on this side of the universe.

One of the things this movie does best is incorporate the characters and elements of S.H.I.E.L.D. into the story in an organic way. Katey Rich wrote a solid piece at CinemaBlend detailing the things Thor does better than Iron Man 2, and its treatment of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the standout achievement in my opinion. Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson discovers Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer, which Darcy hilariously mispronounces continuously throughout the movie) and forms a compound around it, setting up for a confrontation with Thor when he comes to retrieve it. Personally, I’m glad the actor has a bit more to work with here than in previous films. The only slightly negative S.H.I.E.L.D. comment I have was the totally unnecessary cameo of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), who not only has about three lines and never fires a single shot, but basically just appears so audiences will recognize him when he shows up in the upcoming SuperTeamUp movie The Avengers in 2012.

Though the film is well balanced, the action is a bit uneven. The battle scenes on and around Asgard are much more cartoonish and outlandish than the ones set on Earth; I’ll take the practical effects used in the explosions in the Destroyer sequences over the digital effects used during fights with Frost Giants any time. The graphics are decent overall, but the crazy color scheme of the world of the gods got a little too outrageous for my tastes as the movie progressed. Also, the 3D is pretty worthless, so save your money and see the 2D version if one’s available in your area.

Marvel has accomplished their goal with Thor: the film hasn’t even hit American theaters yet and it’s already made nearly $100 million overseas, seemingly assuring a direct sequel. But more importantly for Marvel, Thor will serve as a gateway for its lesser known “magic-based” characters to find a home on film. After watching a movie about Norse gods, it should theoretically be easier for audiences to digest a movie about a powerful sorcerer like Dr. Strange, for example. But in the meantime, we can be content that Thor is a well-directed, visually interesting (far of those canted angles, eh Branagh?), exciting entry into Marvel’s quickly-expanding film library. Until next time…

*I’m just going to go ahead and assume Thor is a prequel to The Mask, since Loki is the spirit locked in the mask that gives Jim Carrey his crazy powers in that movie.

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When Disney bought Marvel in 2009 it opened up the possibility of a Pixar/Marvel collaboration as they were now under the same roof. There was talk last year of Pixar possibly getting involved with a Dr. Strange movie, however Chief Creative Officer of Pixar John Lasseter recently said a Pixar/Marvel team-up is unlikely to happen.

From IGN:

IGN: There’s always fanboy chatter about how they’d love to see Pixar take on a Marvel project. Have there been any real talks of doing that? There’s been a lot of rumors.

John Lasseter: No, Pixar, we are — Disney has been great. Bob Iger is phenomenal. I’m Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation as well, and with Pixar it’s like, “Keep doing what you’re doing, guys.” It’s a filmmaker-driven studio. All of the ideas come from the filmmakers themselves. Working with the filmmakers on ideas.

IGN: So there probably wouldn’t be any kind of chance of seeing that kind of team-up then?

Lasseter: No, not at Pixar. We have The Incredibles, so we’ve done superheroes here ourselves and so we have that kind of history with Brad Bird doing The Incredibles.

While I could definitely see a Pixar/Marvel movie working, and working well, it’s probably best Pixar just stick to what they do best. They may be focusing more on sequels at the moment, with Toy Story 3 last year, Cars 2 this year and a Monsters Inc. prequel in the works, but at least they still have original movies in the pipeline (Brave in 2012) and aren’t being forced to make movies they aren’t 100% invested in.

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Marvel has been watching Emily Blunt for a numbers of year now. They originally wanted the actress for Black Widow in Iron Man 2 but 20th Century Fox still had her under contract to make another film with them following her appearance in The Devil Wears Prada. As a result Blunt had to pull out to film Gulliver’s Travels (she’s probably regretting that) and was replaced by Scarlett Johansson.

They then approached her for the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger, however Blunt was close to signing on to other projects at the time, so the role went to Hayley Atwell instead. After all of these offers and close calls will we ever see Emily Blunt in a superhero movie?

Collider asked her that very question while the actress was on the rounds promoting The Adjustment Bureau.

Do you think you’ll ever be in a Marvel movie?

Blunt: I’ve been offered certain parts, [but] either through scheduling or it just not being quite the right thing for me I haven’t done them. But I think for me, being in some kind of superhero movie it just has to be the right time and the right thing. I’m not prepared to sign onto many movies at one time.

So you don’t want a 9-picture contract?

Blunt: Not really. I just can’t, I don’t wanna do that. I think the joy of the job for me is the about the unknown and “who knows what’s coming next” so to feel like I’m straight-jacketed in some way might be tricky. But at the same time, I love what they do and I think that they make amazing superhero movies. So if something came along that was right, I would definitely consider it.

You watch the video interview here.

I suppose she has a point about the handcuffs Marvel places on it’s actors (Samuel L. Jackson is signed for 9 movies, Chris Evans for 6). Playing someone’s girlfriend in movie after movie would prevent her from taking on potentially meatier roles.

Personally I thought Blunt would have made a great Catwoman, but seeing as Anne Hathaway has that one we’ll have to hold out for the possibility of Lois Lane appearing in Blunt’s future. She’ll no doubt be on the short-list.

Which comic book character, if any, do you think Blunt should play in future movies?

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Following Jon Favreau’s departure from the Iron Man franchise Marvel has been busy seeking out potential directors for Iron Man 3. Whoever it is will need approval from Robert Downey Jr. first, unless of course Downey suggests one himself.

From Heat Vision:

Shane Black is in contention to direct Iron Man 3 for Marvel Studios.

The writer/director has powwowed with Marvel execs about his take on the third installment in the blockbuster franchise. As of now he is being considered for the directing job, but the assumption is that if he gets the gig, he would also write a draft.

Insiders said that Black’s involvement is far from a sure thing, and that other filmmakers were being looked at.

Black directed Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005 and was behind the scripts for Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout. His work and relationship with Downey Jr. suggests he would be a great fit for Iron Man 3, although i’m intrigued as to which other directors are also talking with Marvel.

Marvel and Disney have set a May 3rd 2013 release date for the sequel, which means Robert Downey Jr. will be suiting up for the fourth time sometime in 2012. The actor will start filming The Avengers in May.

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