‘Avengers 2’ update: Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch planned

So this is happening.

Joss Whedon, after having referred to wanting to add a “brother-sister” team to the mix in “The Avengers 2” or whatever the sequel will be called when it’s released in 2015, confirmed this week he was talking about Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, early Avengers members, children of Magneto of “X-Men” fame.

Quicksilver, or Pietro Maximoff, is Marvel’s fastest mutant. Scarlet Witch, or Wanda Maximoff, has powers that appear magical. They’ve been villains at times but heroes more often than not.

If you remember way back in May 2012, I wrote about the online guessing game that began after Whedon wrote several mentions of SHIELD agent Phil Coulson’s cellist girlfriend into “The Avengers.”

Quint and other folks speculated that the reference was to Scarlet Witch because the character – and this is a point of contention – supposedly had some background as a cellist in the comics.

Why would that be interesting?

Well, because Coulson was killed off and we all hoped he would come back as the Vision, the android Avenger. Cause Vision and Wanda were a longtime couple in the comics.

Of course now Coulson’s come back, somehow, for this fall’s “Agents of SHIELD” TV series. So now we don’t know what to think.

Anyway, if the cellist references and Vision hints didn’t pan out, at least we have Whedon saying outright he plans to bring the two into the mix.

Of course, they’re also talking about Saoirse Ronan as Wanda in the movie, and there’s just way too big an age difference between the young actress and Coulson actor Clark Gregg.

Even in Hollywood.

Oh, Vision.

 

‘Agents of SHIELD’ – What we want to see

Okay, so we all know by now that “Agents of SHIELD” will bow on ABC this fall, 8 p.m. Tuesdays. The Marvel/Disney movie is set in the post-“Avengers” universe and features the still-unexplained return of Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who’s recruiting a team of young agents to search for superheroes and unexplained phenomena. Along the way they meet up with a character who might be Luke Cage or might be someone else, played by J. August Richards.

So what do we want – no, need – to see in a “SHIELD” series?

SHIELD agents making contact with superheroes. Since this is the premise of the series, this isn’t much of a stretch. A lot of online joking has spoofed the idea of trying to do “Avengers” action on a TV budget and without big stars, leading to moments where Tony Stark or Bruce Banner just stepped out. But we want to see SHIELD agents meeting and dealing with superheroes. If they’re familiar characters from the comics who we haven’t met on-screen yet, that’s fine.

Lots of inside references. There’s a half-century of Marvel Comics and SHIELD storylines and characters out there and we need to see a lot of nods toward them. If “Arrow” can make reference to Blue Beetle without even knowing if the character will ever show up or set scenes in Bludhaven, Nightwing’s stomping ground, without having the rights to the “Batman” characters, then we can see plenty of Marvel characters introduced and references, by golly.

Seeds sewn for future Marvel movies. Why not introduce plot lines and characters planned for “Ant-Man” or even “Avengers 2?” Marvel Comics have, for the aforementioned 5o years, tossed characters and conflicts and stories into the mix to introduce them before they became familiar characters and plots later. Remember how the character later familiar as Warlock was introduced as “Him” in Fantastic Four?

Cameos for the big names. Yes, they could give us CGI recreations of Iron Man and the Hulk in “SHIELD.” But wouldn’t it be fun to see Robert Downey Jr. or Mark Ruffalo show up during sweeps weeks?

We want AIM and HYDRA. The uber-criminal organizations, introduced in “Iron Man 3” and “Captain America” respectively, are the traditional counterparts to SHIELD in the comics. They should be a background – and sometimes foreground – presence in the TV series. And what about AIM’s big-domed leader, MODOK?

Life Model Decoys! Tony Stark joked about them in “The Avengers.” They’ve been a SHIELD staple since the 1960s. These robotic doubles for our main characters are kind of cheesy, but it would be a fun acknowledgment of the show’s roots.

I’m sure there are other “must see” characters and plots out there, right?

Even more ‘SHIELD’ trailer!

First we had a six-second Vine trailer for ABC’s “Agents of SHIELD.” Then we had a 30-second trailer. Now we have a full two and half minutes of promo for the series – or at least the pilot, directed by “Avengers” director and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon.

And there’s so much fun stuff in it.

Observations:

The trailer addresses, head-on, the idea that Agent Phil Coulson (series start Clark Gregg) was supposed to have been killed in “The Avengers.” It’ll be interesting to see how that story plays out. Will they tease us with what happened? Or very quickly attribute it to a Nick Fury scheme to motivate Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson?

That’s definitely the voice of Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill from “The Avengers”) in the trailer, asking the young agent what SHIELD means to him. Interesting to see if Smulders will play a recurring role in the show.

I’m so hoping that J. August Richards is playing Luke Cage. Richards is more wiry and wry than Cage, but I really want to see this charismatic actor bring that classic character to life. And what do you want to bet Whedon will have him exclaim “Sweet Christmas,” Cage’s trademark exclamation?

There’s plenty of Joss Whedon-type humor here. Whedon was a master of playing against expectations and we see that here, especially the scene where (at least initially) anti-SHIELD investigator/hacker Skye (Chloe Bennett) is boasting that her message can’t be stopped … until Coulson and company roll open the door of her van. There’s another when Skye is being interrogated and is told it can go two ways. “Is one the easy way?” “No,” she is told. “Oh.”

We get some glimpses of the heroes of “The Avengers,” but the trailer really emphasizes the normal-ness of most of its main characters, noting, “Not all heroes … are super.”

That being said, Whedon likes tough chicks. Here we see Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May kicking butt, just like Buffy or the Black Widow.

We see not only Richards’ character in the trailer but indications that SHIELD is keeping track of a burgeoning superhero population around the world. That makes sense considering that the post-credits scene of 2008’s “Iron Man” – the scene that started this all – indicated that Nick Fury showed up when Tony Stark went public.

In a way, the street-level, non-superhero perspective reminds me of “Marvels,” the classic 1994 Marvel comic series that redrew the landmark events of Marvel in the 1960s from the eye of the common man.

For a weekly series, that’s a smart move. Viewers will like knowing there’s a perspective similar to their own, boggling over the Marvels that are popping up around the globe.

 

‘Agents of SHIELD’ trailer released

It’s Mother’s Day, but darned if it doesn’t look like the day has turned into “Agents of SHIELD” Day.

Today ABC and Marvel released not only a six-second preview of Joss Whedon’s new fall “SHIELD” series but also a 30-second version that not only gives us glimpses of the Hulk, Captain America and Thor but also some narration from SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) that explains the set-up.

“We work the cases that SHIELD hasn’t classified,” Coulson notes as the trailer opens. “The strange, the unknown. It’s not just spy versus spy anymore. The whole world’s in on the action.”

And it gives us our first look at “Angel” alum J. August Richards in a role that a lot of us are hoping is Luke Cage.

I’m also curious about the nature of the fiery figure (vision? explosion?) that Coulson calmly walks toward at one point. We can  be sure it’s not the Human Torch, right?

We’ll know more soon, we hope.

 

First look: Paul Giamatti as the Rhino

Hmm. Well, it’s interesting.

When director Marc Webb cast character actor Paul Giamatti as veteran Spider-Man villain the Rhino in his “Amazing Spider-Man” sequel, some of us wondered. Giamatti just didn’t seem to fit the part.

Now we have the picture above, tweeted by Webb, of Giamatti from production of the movie, which comes out in summer 2014.

It’s a different look, for sure.

Maybe he doesn’t have his Rhino onesie and horn yet. As various websites have noted today, he definitely has the roid rage look, though.

 

‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is on for TV and here’s a peek

We knew this was going to happen – “Avengers” director Joss Whedon is overseeing the series and directed the pilot episode, for pete’s sake – but ABC on Friday announced that it had picked up the “SHIELD” series.

So we got a couple of cool things on Friday, coolest of which is the cast photo above, with SHIELD agents flanking Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg).

There was also a “leak” of a few seconds of footage labeled “Hulk Fire.” It looks like footage from “The Incredible Hulk” to me, a few seconds of the Abomination tearing up Harlem before the Hulk shows up. But maybe I’m wrong.

Here’s a screen cap.

The show – which will exist in the Marvel movie universe – has the potential to be cool, Whedon-y fun like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the series explains some things – the presence of Coulson, who was ostensibly killed in “The Avengers” – and how it gives us some superhero action without busting its budget.

Not to mention the possibility of cameos, and the mystery of who “Angel” alum J. August Richards is playing. Is he Luke Cage? And how many other Marvel characters will be introduced in the series?

Here’s ABC’s description of the series:

“Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series.  “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.”

Professor X shaggy in ‘X-Men’

“X-Men First Class” was a really fun movie and had some sport with its 1960s setting, particularly in the boots and “groovy” threads worn by its cast.

It looks like “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” which apparently straddles several time periods in uniting the largest “X” cast ever, is going for a similarly authentic look.

So here’s James McAvoy as the younger Professor X. Patrick Stewart also plays Charles Xavier in the movie.

Director Bryan Singer tweeted this picture of McAvoy in the past day or so.

He dubbed it “Serpico,” and McAvoy does look a bit like the undercover cop played by Al Pacino … good lord … four decades ago.

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” opens July 2014.

Shane Black to make ‘Doc Savage’ movie

So news broke today – a couple of days after director Shane Black’s “Iron Man 3” set some pretty impressive box office records – that Black would make a “Doc Savage” movie, perhaps as his next feature.

Readers of this blog know that “Doc Savage” – a pulp magazine and comic book adventurer – is a favorite character of mine. That’s in part because he’s so impossibly cool – a super-smart, super-strong crime fighter who got that way because, like Batman, he worked hard to become what he became – and in part because Doc established so many pop culture touchstones.

He was named Clark before that Kent guy. He had a Fortress of Solitude before Superman. He was a scientific detective who tried to not kill before Batman.

And he had the Fabulous Five, a cool group of associates that were sidekicks before anybody knew what sidekicks were.

I grew to know Doc from the reissued stories that came out in paperback in the 1960s and 1970s, featuring great James Bama cover art.

There’s lots about Doc out there, including plenty of entries – including some on my blog – about the character, the pulps and the awful first “Doc Savage” movie released in the 1970s.

I hope you get to know Doc and are ready when Black brings him back onto the big screen. I’m already ready.

 

RIP Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen, who passed away today in London at age 92, was certainly inspirational. He sparked a love of movies and special effects among not only lifelong movie fans but boys and girls who grew up to be directors and, like their idol, special effects wizards.

But for me, Harryhausen was more than just the creator of great movie creatures like Medusa in “Clash of the Titans” or the sword-fighting skeletons in “Jason and the Argonauts.”

Harryhausen lent an air of respectability to the wildest fantasy stories kids could hope to see in movie theaters.

That’s because Harryhausen and his writing and directing partners adapted classic stories – a series of Sinbad movies or “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” based on his friend Ray Bradbury’s melancholy “The Fog Horn” – that were almost impossible for parents to say “no” to. Really, faced with the possibility of letting your kid see Harryhausen’s version of mythology or a “Godzilla” flick, what would you say?

Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation techniques – not the first, since the process pre-dated him with “King Kong” – were also the kind of effect you could show your parents and prompt awe. Look, we would say: He moves the small model of the gorilla a fraction of an inch, then exposes a frame of film, then does it over and over and over again. This was moviemaking at its most artistic and most craftsman-like at the same time. Anyone could recognize it as hard work. Even parents.

Magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland – edited by another Harryhausen pal, Forrest J Ackerman – let us revel in the process and marvel over those detailed models.

Harryhausen is being memorialized all over the web tonight, and there’s not a lot I can add to that. Except for a few personal favorites:

Harryhausen worked on “Mighty Joe Young,” the 1949 follow-up to “King Kong,” and made a giant gorilla downright cuddly. Who wouldn’t love a simian who rescued tykes from a burning orphanage?

Beginning with “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” in 1958 and running through “Clash of the Titans” in 1981, Harryhausen made history his own, giving us cyclopses (cyclopsi?) and minotaurs and sabre tooth tigers and fantastic and eerie creations like Medusa, with her snaky body and hair.

The world changed and the world of moviemaking changed and by the time “Clash of the Titans” came out, two “Star Wars” movies had been released and the world was turning to a more sophisticated type of computer-controlled-camera-and-model animation that itself would be replaced within just a few years with computer effects.

But Harryhausen’s legacy was long since in place, as evidenced by the sly references to his work, including the restaurant named after him in “Monsters Inc.”

Harryhausen made us believe that legends, gods and monsters walked among us. And until his death today, they truly did.

 

‘Iron Man 3’ Easter eggs

“Iron Man 3” for the most part stood on its own, without a lot of overt references to the other Marvel movies – except for that post-credits scene and mentions of the Avengers and Thor.

But the Shane Black movie did have some Marvel Easter eggs, references to the comics and the other movies.

Here they are:

Ho Yinsen, the scientist who helps Tony create the Iron Man armor in the original movie – and dies at the hands of the Ten Rings terrorists – comes up to self-absorbed Tony in the Switzerland flashback scenes in “Iron Man 3.” Actor Shaun Toub played the part in both movies.

Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee almost always has a cameo in big-screen adaptations of the comics. In “Iron Man 3,” he is glimpsed holding up a “10” sign during the Miss Chattanooga pageant.

One of the – potentially – most interesting Easter eggs was the inclusion of AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) in the movie. In “Iron Man 3,” AIM was an organization founded by bad guy Alrich Killian. In the books, AIM has a long history as one of the most significant criminal and terrorist organizations in the Marvel universe, dating to the 1960s. At the top of this entry, you even see Tony Stark sporting an AIM shirt. Here’s hoping these classic bad guys pop up in other Marvel movies.

In the movie, the character Ellen Brandt is the Extremis guinea pig who throws Tony around a Tennessee town. Various websites note that her character in Marvel comics is an AIM operative with links to Man-Thing and Dr. Strange.

In the movie, Rhodey’s War Machine is renamed Iron Patriot by the president. But in the comics, Iron Patriot was the guise taken by Spider-Man villain Norman Osborn in recent years, particularly when he led a villainous version of the Avengers.

More of an in-joke than an Easter egg: At some point Tony tells a little glasses-wearing kid, “I loved you in ‘A Christmas Story.'” Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in that holiday classic, grew up to be a producer and bit player in “Iron Man.”

And one that puzzles me: Where was Mandarin’s tattoo, as seen in trailers for the movie, of the Captain America shield with an “A” in the center? I’ve only seen the movie once so far but I didn’t catch the tattoo or the shot above, although it’s common for elements from trailers to miss the final cut of a feature film. Producers have said the Mandarin character – and his allies – adopted a variety of evocative images to get their messages across. We saw a lot of such savvy in the Mandarin’s videos. But we didn’t see the tattoo, unless I missed it. Did anyone else notice it?