Some of the best films in the business have taken several years to tie together and release, and it’s kind of ridiculous reading about everything a story has to go through before it even has a chance to make it to the big screen. Then once a good film idea does make it to the movies, it never seems to go away.
There’s always a sequel, then a series, then an entire television show dedicated to the story line – take Pirates of the Caribbean for instance. Number four is almost here, and the ONLY character left is Captain Jack Sparrow. Or the Fast and Furious franchise, with Fast Five arriving this month. The title could sum up an entire article on the subject of money obsessed Hollywood.
Marvel seems to be going dangerously close to this money-grabbing level, but they’ve also gotten dangerously close to making all my dreams a reality, so I’m not sure where I should put them on my Respect-o-Metter. Take Iron Man. The first Iron Man movie was epic on phenomenal proportions. Robert Downey Jr. had his come back, Gwyneth Paltrow became an idol to red heads everywhere, and Marvel was pretty much a canyon up on DC Studios, as depressing as that is to admit. But Iron Man 2 was simply for the greens.
It hadn’t started out that way, however. Marvel had a plan, and a brilliant one at that – all leading up to The Avengers movie in 2012. The Marvel Mission: Introduce all their best comic book superheroes who are members of the crime-fighting, brilliantly fictional Avengers organization. Make every superhero they put out a franchise sensation by using the hottest actors and actresses in the business. Then put them all together in a single film that will change the face of the planet and quite possibly shift the way the Earth rotates. The only reason they had planned a sequel to Iron Man was to introduce a certain Viking God from Asgard named Thor, who gave the Marvel Mission a bit of a rug burn before hitting theaters.
Thor as intended to be made into a film as early as 1990, but after 20th Century Fox didn’t take the bate, Thor fell back into hiding until 1997 when Marvel Studios took flight. It still took until 2004 for the properties of Thor to even get purchased, and from then until Paramount bought the rights of Thor off it’s previous owners in 2006. Thor sadly tumbled into development hell, but in 2008 things slowly started to come together. Thus the movie of our superhero was born at last, soon to be released into the wild of the theater halls on May 6th.
While Marvel and Paramount were battling with the upcoming Thor film, they began another, taking the risk of drowning the public in Marvel for the sake of their plan, holding onto confidence that the public wouldn’t mind. After all, The Avengers franchise wouldn’t fly at all unless the leather crusading leader was at the head of the party – and that’s where Chris Evans scored a fantastic leading role as Captain America for a July 22 release date.
Thor and Captain America may be coming out one right after the other, but it’s all for the Greater Good depending on what type of fan you are. These movies are a comic book nerd’s dreams come true (unless you’re a die-hard DC fan). The Avengers will be great, whether you read the comics or just happen to be a movie fan bumming with the superhero phase Hollywood seems to be going through. And one of the biggest reasons for this is because the man behind the wheel at screenplay is kind of a low-down legend when it comes to making great stories.
If you loved Firefly, Doll House, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, you’ll be just as excited as me to know that Joss Whedon will be directing the Avengers film that’s set for a May 4th, 2012 release date. All thanks to the Marvel Mission.