Marvel News

OK so quite a bit of Marvel Studios news in the last few weeks.

First of all the studio has decided to delay the upcoming Thor, Captain America and Avengers movies. Now while I wouldn't have really cared if Thor had been put back by itself, I am p'd to have both this and 2 films I've waited my whole life to see (Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers if you couldn't guess) delayed too.

The original dates were Summer 2010 for Thor and 2011 for Cap and Avengers. Now Thor has been shoved to June 2011 and Cap to July 2011 with Avengers now scheduled for May 2012... 2012!!!! Damn... We'll also be seeing Spider-Man 4 in May 2011 but I'm not as excited about that as I am for the other Marvel movies so this'll just be an extra movie on the side for me. If I see a greasy Toby McGuire dancing at all in the 4th movie I swear I'll hunt Sam Raimi down and shove my replica Captain America shield up his ass...
Better news is that Jon Favreau (director of Iron Man) should be set to direct The Avengers. One of the main rumours for the delay on Avengers is that Marvel studios want Favreau to direct it which would be nigh on impossible if he was also doing Iron Man 2 around the same time as the original scheduled release date. Good news, he did a great job with IM!

Robert Downey Jr and Iron Man director Jon Favreau. Let Jon direct Avengers!!!!

More news on Thor is that Natalie Portman, of all people, has been tagged as the front runner for the lead female role in the new movie. Tipped to be playing either 'Sif', Thor's wife, or Jane Foster, Donald Blake's girlfriend, Portman should add some weight to yet another Marvel movie that could be a rollicking blockbuster (if Kenneth Branagh gets it right of course). Josh Hartnett has been has also been tipped recently to be playing the part of Loki, the brother of Thor and main antagonist in the comics. Not a big fan of Hartnett but we'll see how that rumour plays out. Could be a great role if he lets loose...
Some final news on Thor is that Alexander Skarsgård, son of actor Stellan Skarsgård, could be our Thor. Having met with Kenneth Branagh recently the rumour mill is ablaze with speculation that this little known actor (best know for his role on Trueblood) could well be the God of Thunder in the 2011 movie. A rumour to keep a watch on.

Sif and Natalie Portman. Looks good to me, although Natalie always looks good to me.

Josh Hartnett and Loki... Not so sure on this one.

Thor and Alexander Skarsgård. Is Alex our Thor?

Some news I was happy to hear was that Marvel are thinking of rebooting Fantastic Four. If you look at the way Iron Man was filmed and how well it's done it's not surprising that the studio would look at its current back catalogue of movies that haven't done that well (maybe box office wise but not fan wise in F4's case) it would be an obvious choice to do F4 properly and bring it in to this "real world" that Iron Man (and even Hulk to a lesser extent) have created an that we can all start to believe in. If only they get The Thing right this time round that would be something...


On the Iron Man 2 front it seems that Emily Blunt is out of the role of Black Widow and after a few rumours flying around of who would replace her it seems Scarlett Johansson has been cast. I still think this is bad casting, much worse than Blunt and it looks as if the studio is just trying to notch up some well known names to add to its ever-growing roster, but thinking about it Scarlett could look the part in tight leather and a red wig carrying some serious hardware... She might just be a little too small and pouty to play Widow in my eyes. Also don't Tony Stark and Natasha Romanova get it on in the comics? Can you see Johansson and Downey Jr getting together in IM 2? No, me neither... That seems a little creepy to me!

Black Widow and Scarlett Johansson... I want this to work but my mind is fighting it!

Still on the Iron Man 2 subject it's finally been confirmed that Mickey Rourke will indeed have a role in the movie. He's now been confirmed as 'Whiplash' who's movie character will also incorporate elements of the comic villain Crimson Dynamo. So expect Rourke to be seen in an armoured suit with metal whips all over the place! Kick-ass!

Mix Whiplash, Crimson Dynamo and Mickey Rourke and you get a kick-ass villain for Iron Man 2!