Monday, January 28, 2013

'Ant-Man' and 'Doctor Strange' To Start Marvel's Magic-and-Ant-Filled Third Phase



From iwatchstuff: If you've been wondering why Marvel is making a movie about Ant-Man--especially when they haven't even touched their cache of flamboyant magicians--studio head Kevin Feige has some answers for you.

Speaking to MTV about the third phase of Marvel's ever-expanding plan of forcibly familiarizing audiences with ridiculous characters, Feige explained that while making a film about a talking raccoon was their idea, they're only doing this Ant-Man thing because of Edgar Wright being generally great. The writer-director apparently approached Feige about doing an Ant-Man film at a Comic-Con back in 2004, and Feige agreed solely because he, like the rest of us, was really curious what the director of Shaun of the Dead would do with a shrinking guy who talks to bugs.

As such, Marvel seems to be giving Wright pretty free reign with the project, Feige explaining, "It's very much an Ant-Man origin movie from the perspective of Edgar Wright and his co-writer Joe Cornish," while adding that, despite the expected stylistic departures, "it's certainly set in the Marvel Universe." And while there's no guarantee that Ant-Man will ever find his way into an Avengers film, as he's pretty hard to sell in a group shot, Feige did imply some sort of continuity, confirming, "Ant-Man is definitely part of Phase Three."

Also in Phase Three: Doctor Strange, the medically-licensed magician! Marvel has been talking about getting the character in theaters since at least 2010, and it sounds like it's finally going to happen sometime after Ant-Man's debut in 2015. "He's a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have," Feige explained. "He's totally different from anything else we have, just like Guardians of the Galaxy. He's totally different from anything we've done before, as is Ant-Man, which keeps us excited." Different is exciting!

He wouldn't get into what other increasingly-obscure heroes will be added in the third wave, but did say, "you probably don't have to look too far to guess at the next list of characters we're toying with and beginning to develop." Sooooo, Speedball then?

2 comments:

Octopunk said...

Huh. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt because Avengers was such an unbelievable coup, but this sounds like the Jack Black Green Lantern movie to me. As in, "Don't do it! It will all fall apart!"

Maybe then DC can step in...

Octopunk said...

To be clear, my objection isn't so much to an Ant-Man movie or a funny Ant-Man movie as it is to folding this tongue-in-cheek vibe into the "official" Marvel movie universe. Sounds like a misfire.

Malevolent

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