The Avengers (2012)

[Norm]

Title: The Avengers

Tagline: Some assembly required.

Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure

Director: Joss Whedon

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Stellan Skarsgård, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Alexis Denisof, Tina Benko, Jerzy Skolimowski, Kirill Nikiforov, Jeff Wolfe, M'laah Kaur Singh, Rashmi Rustagi, Powers Boothe, Jenny Agutter, Arthur Darbinyan, Donald Li, Warren Kole, Alicia Sixtos, Maximiliano Hernández, Dieter Riesle, Kenneth Tigar, Walter Perez, Harry Dean Stanton, Josh Cowdery, Ashley Johnson, Katsumi Komatsu, Yumiko Komatsu, Robert Clohessy, Enver Gjokaj, Fernanda Toker, Andrea Vecchio, Robin Swoboda, Brent McGee, Jamie McShane, Michael Zhang, William-Christopher Stephens, Kelley Robins Hicks, Romy Rosemont, James Eckhouse, Stan Lee, Thomas Roberts, Pat Kiernan, Damion Poitier, Lou Ferrigno, Jesse Garcia, Momoko Komatsu, Jillian Morgese, Catherine Anderson, Ricardo Andres, Logan Bennett, Mayank Bhatter, Sharita Bone, Jason Botsford, Mary Kate Campbell, Gene N. Chavez, Layla Cushman, Robert Dean, Rick Dremann, Rod Fielder, Eric Frank, Israel Hall, Carmen Dee Harris, Alexander Christopher Jones, Mike Karban, Demoine Kinney, Andrew Knode, Annette Lawless, Kimberly J. Mahoney, Todd Manes, Jorge Mardel, Tiffany Sander McKenzie, Michael McMillan, Sean Meehan, Holly Neelie, Caleb Daniel Noal, Jeremy Orr, Nate Paige, Martin Palmer, Maria Perossa, Caleb Pieplow, Alexander Daniel Pimentel, Frank Powers, Jaime Powers, Brent Reichert, Kelly Ruble, Gina Sarno, Robert B. Schneider IV, Jeff Seich, Christina Shaffer, Douglas Slygh, Colin Strause, Robert P. Thitoff, George Thomas, Shane Thompson, Jerry Lee Tucker, Tai Urban, Chris Vaina, Sandra Weston, Seth Zielicke, Alex DeCourville, Andrea-Nichole Olivas, Tina Grimm, Evan Kole, Hank Amos

Release: 2012-04-25

Runtime: 143

Plot: When an unexpected enemy emerges and threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins!

by Marvel Studios.
This is good news the Hulk was a member of the Avengers in the first few issues of the comic book until he went rogue. Now all they need to do is make him less of a beast & restore some humanity to him like the old Comic Books.

 

[Med]

Now all they need to do is make him less of a beast & restore some humanity to him like the old Comic Books.

There are definite hints of this already happening in the last Hulk movie.
I hope Marvel can make this one work, but as Jon Favreau said in a recent interview, it's Thor that may be a problem here - making him fit into the new Marvel film universe along side Iron Man, Cap America and the like will be a real challenge. I'm eager to see what Ken Branagh does with the character.
What has happened to the Ant Man film BTW? Is Edgar Wright still involved and will it also be connected to The Avengers movie? I hope it is as it would be great to see the comic original line up in the very first film.

 

[todd s]

So this will be the 2nd Marvel teamup movie series to come out. While the only thing team up Warner has ever done....

At least we have the Justice League episodes from Smallville.
:frowning:

 

[Med]

So this will be the 2nd Marvel teamup movie series to come out.:frowning:

Er, pardon my ignorance...but what was the 1st Marvel teamup movie?

 

[Brian D H]

X-Men

 

[Norm]

I don't see why Thor is such a problem. If they can have Dr. Strange whats the problem. They could explain the Norse Gods as an ET race with powers from another dimension.

 

[Jason Seaver]

as Jon Favreau said in a recent interview, it's Thor that may be a problem here - making him fit into the new Marvel film universe along side Iron Man, Cap America and the like will be a real challenge.

I suppose that the people writing Thor could posit that the Asgardians aren't actually Norse Gods, but from an alien/parallel world with very advanced technology (cue the Arthur C. Clarke quote) who were taken for Gods when they last visited "Midgard", although they might get a bunch of "ripping off Stargate SG-1" flak for that.
Then again, while I'd prefer they keep the Marvel Movie Universe more-or-less science fictional, all bets are going to be off if they want to include Dr. Strange (in the Universe, if not this movie), which appears to be on their to-do list.

 

[Norm]

I wish they would follow the comic books. They worked fine for 45 years. They need to have faith in them. I don't want to see them have Thor using some sort of advanced technology. The Captain Marvel/Shazam gods thing will work for Thor as well.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Jason Seaver wrote (post #7):

Quote:

In my opinion, a Doctor Strange movie would make for one of the most fascinating fantasy presentations for adults possible, if done right. On the other hand, it would also make for the biggest possible cinematic gamble I can think of. Even more than the Thor character, getting Doctor Strange done right---if they can just capture the kind of "look and feel" that Steve Ditko's artistry gave to the comic book!---making him "mystical" without also making him "hoky" (especially with the hand-gesticulations or attitudes so favored by Ditko) and "Grasshopper-like", that's the challenge. Ah, the Dread Dormammu! Good villain for a dark fantasy.
For my part, if they do do an Avengers movie, I'd hope they'd pose the team against the "Squadron Sinister", their counterparts from a parallel Earth. Then Thor could match up against his opposite number from there, Hyperion.
Does anyone think in a movie like this (or in a Justice League movie, for that matter) the producers will be able to duck the costume/uniform "problem"? You can't have groups of disparate and diverse super-heroes all walking/flying/crawling/whatever around in the same dull dark uniforms. They'd have to let the individuals "shine" in their brightest, sometimes most garish, reds, blues, and yellows, it seems to me. (Spandex, anyone?)

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, Dr. Strange is a character everyone claims to like but no-one actually reads. He might be more successful in the movies, if only because you don't have to keep creating a greater threat every few months; he can play out his story arc and then have the movie end.
I admit, there isn't much reason for my wanting a firewall between my adventures with science-fictional tropes and those with fantasy tropes. It does seem to be an issue the executive producer has, though, and I can see why: Balancing them can be tough. It's tough to make Tony Stark look like a genius because he can build these amazing things, if a magical character can do it with just a wave of his hand; it's just as easy to go the other way.
As to the costume thing, I don't think it will be that much of a problem. Marvel does not seem to be shying away from the primary colors with its self-produced movies - although I imagine you could have an amusing subplot about SHIELD trying to get the heroes into some type of uniform and it failing badly.

 

[David Deeb]

Can't wait to see the Avengers movie though

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Jason Seaver wrote (post #10):

I don't know anything about Doctor Strange's association with the Avengers in the comic book, because that must have come about some time after I'd outgrown them, but I'd say that Doctor Strange would probably be best left alone and treated in his own universe, a universe of mysticism and magic, and not one of scientific reason.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

So this will be the 2nd Marvel teamup movie series to come out.
:frowning:

A movie about a team isn't the same thing as a "team-up" movie. And if it were you'd have to count Fantastic Four as well so that would be 3 in terms of franchises.

 

[Norm]

Well it seems every director that they find tries to shy away from the costumes. Which drives me nuts. In fact they seem to forget the whole reason for the disguise, to hide ones identity.

 

[Norm]

Can't wait to see the Avengers movie though

Yet they do it over & over again, & to top it off Marvel & DC let them do it.

 

[Brian Borst]

So this will be the 2nd Marvel teamup movie series to come out. While the only thing team up Warner has ever done....
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...35799.imgcache
At least we have the Justice League episodes from Smallville.
:frowning:

You're forgetting the Justice League animated series, that one was good as well.

 

[Rolando]

Listen, I would love nothing more than seeing this done well but the odds are against it. I would say it's pretty much impossible.

I wish it were possible but let's face it: Hulk AND Iron Man AND Captain America together in one 2 hour movie? Throw in a Norse God and it's a recipe for Studios to muck up a great comic book.

X-Men and Fantastic Four were great but they were always a team to begin with and X-men lends itself well to uniforms. Even the comic books tried a few times to get most of them in uniform.

Avengers is all about individuals that really have their own lives and trials. This is really more like a live action justice league. Also fated to remain in the toon world.

 

[Patrick Sun]

It appears that Joss Whedon will most likely be in the director's chair for this upcoming movie.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/marvel-close-to-whedon-hire-on-the-avengers/#more-31658

 

[Greg_S_H]

Geez, I hope he isn't writing.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Originally Posted by Rolando /forum/thread/278084/avengers-movie-thread#post_3459133
Listen, I would love nothing more than seeing this done well but the odds are against it. I would say it's pretty much impossible.
I wish it were possible but let's face it: Hulk AND Iron Man AND Captain America together in one 2 hour movie? Throw in a Norse God and it's a recipe for Studios to muck up a great comic book.
X-Men and Fantastic Four were great but they were always a team to begin with and X-men lends itself well to uniforms. Even the comic books tried a few times to get most of them in uniform.
Avengers is all about individuals that really have their own lives and trials. This is really more like a live action justice league. Also fated to remain in the toon world.

Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No, I really don't think so.
For one thing, this isn't Fox, and Rothman, someone with disdain for the source medium and genre, isn't the head of production at the studio. Whedon, if this pans out, is well versed in this stuff. Hell, the Buffy season six ' Dark Willow' storyline was a far better adaptation of the Dark Phoenix storyline than X3 was. These guys get this stuff.
As for how to integrate many disparate characters into one film- I would see this as hinging on Captain Americas character. The easiest way to do this, is to handle the exposition of everything through his eyes- especially if the first act of the film has him getting revived and entering the 21st Century. There is a huge opportunity there to have Iron Man and Thor already working in concert in the background, and CA getting up to speed to join them in a major operation.
As for The Hulk, the story could easily be about the Avengers stopping the Hulk as he rampages around the world, possibly being manipulated/controlled remotely by an unseen mastermind who either factors into the third act resolution, or else is carried, Spectre-like, over the course of more than one film to build up to an ultimate final showdown in a second or third film. By the end of the first film though, Hulk would no longer be an adversary, but a wild-card ally
This is also one property where the filmmakers could perform a deus ex machina that most of the viewers would likely cheer- i.e. having random other Avengers show up for the first time on screen in the climax to pull the main characters out of an impossible squeeze. The fact that you have a character like Fury overseeing and orchestrating things makes having something like Quicksilver or Hawkeye or Scarlet Witch showing up out of the blue, with no exposition, entirely plausible. The point of The Avengers, from it's internal story perspective, should not be that Thor, IM, and CA are necessary specifically- but rather that Nick Fury and SHIELD are in the business of perpetually assembling/overseeing/orchestrating/grooming an Ops team made up of extraordinary individuals. That is the reason disparate individuals converge.
The big part of this is how well the framework is being laid in these next three films. If something is off there, the job gets a lot harder. Just like a house, the next three solo films are the foundation and the frame. They have to be done right if The Avengers is going to work, and if they aren't, the Avengers will need to spend (screen)time and money correcting the mistakes to simply make the project livable.