I wanna do a thread devoted entirely to characters of Marvel Comics and Stan Lee. Talk about your fave characters, past, present and future. Talk about the comics, TV shows, cartoons, movies, etc. Let's celebrate the wonderful world of

&

Well, I know that the current Ultimate Spider-man cartoon that's out is complete ASS!!! I had such high hopes for it after the Spectacular Spider-man cartoon from a couple of years ago, but this shit is completely aimed at kids. Under 10.

I'm also ticked they're no longer doing the Avengers cartoon because they're doing another one that's more in line with the movie in the next year. Can't any damn Marvel toon last more than 2 or 3 seasons?? Damn! Wolverine & The X-Men lasted only one damn season, and that one was actually decent! At least Iron Man: Armored Adventures is still around, I think. It's definitely grown on me since the premiere episode. The second season's wrapping up now (in the US), and I have no idea if there'll be a third one. Probably not, considering it's not on Disney's channel and just knowing Marvel's history with this shit.

All I want to say is that I want J-Lo in a tight unitard & rollerskates portraying;

Come on now...I'm not alone in this, am I???

my problem with Marvel comics is that they've redone and revamped the characters/series so many times that it has become a nerdy auto-parody

the 60's/70's original stories, and maybe some 80's/early-90's that's all I care about...

fav characters? basically the X-Men, Spider-Man and the Hulk

You know you went stop pretending you didn't.

JoeTyler said:

my problem with Marvel comics is that they've redone and revamped the characters/series so many times that it has become a nerdy auto-parody

the 60's/70's original stories, and maybe some 80's/early-90's that's all I care about...

fav characters? basically the X-Men, Spider-Man and the Hulk

As if DC Comics hasn't redone/revamped/rebooted most of their characters.

At least the Green Lantern-related & Batman-related didn't change much. But everything else in DC's The New 52 era has change for the worst, IMO.

BACK ON TOPIC: At least the Avengers VS. X-Men storyline is interesting. See the Dark Phoenix split into 5 parts has to be THE biggest shocking moment in Marvel Comics history since The death of Gwen Stacey in the original Spiderman series.

Stan Lee definitely needs to grab Cerina Vincent to play Spider-Woman (the Jessica Drew one)!

TonyVanDam said:

JoeTyler said:

my problem with Marvel comics is that they've redone and revamped the characters/series so many times that it has become a nerdy auto-parody

the 60's/70's original stories, and maybe some 80's/early-90's that's all I care about...

fav characters? basically the X-Men, Spider-Man and the Hulk

As if DC Comics hasn't redone/revamped/rebooted most of their characters.

At least the Green Lantern-related & Batman-related didn't change much. But everything else in DC's The New 52 era has change for the worst, IMO.

fair enough

but the regular series of Marvel characters have to end, I'm talking about the comics that appear every 15-30 days, if I'm not mistaken; damn, are Marvel characters eternal??? when will Marvel/DC stop milking the cow? why do they insist with the regular series? why not just graphic novel stuff? damn, look at Batman, for example: after the early-80's crisis, the character has survived thanks to STRONG graphic novels (we all know which) not the stupid regular series...

anyone who thinks that the regular series of Marvel (and DC) after the early-90's were still exciting/relevant/interesting needs to go, lol...

[Edited 7/17/12 4:07am]

I want a Luke Cage movie!

In the last Hulk film, Samuel Sterns mutated into the Leader. I wish Marvel would follow up on that.

...and I don't want to see Jennifer Hopez in ANY superhero movie!

[Edited 7/17/12 6:39am]

Two words: Marvel Now!

Is anyone really clamoring for yet another reboot, relaunch, reimagining--whatever you want to call it that will surely result in more continuity headaches?

This is the House of Ideas response to DC's New 52?

uPtoWnNY said:

I want a Luke Cage movie!

In the last Hulk film, Samuel Sterns mutated into the Leader. I wish Marvel would follow up on that.

...and I don't want to see Jennifer Hopez in ANY superhero movie!

Aw come on...that @ss could be a superhero all on its own!

http://www.huffingtonpost...77581.html

Anthony Mackie As Falcon: 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Finds Sidekick

Captain America is getting a new sidekick. According to THR's Heat Vision blog, "Hurt Locker" star Anthony Mackie will play the role of Falcon in "Captain Americ... Soldier," ending months of speculation.

"That was a fun era," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told HuffPost Entertainment when asked about the possibility of Falcon appearing in the "Captain America" sequel. "It is interesting that you ask that question. And I'm not going to give you an answer. But I will give you kudos for pointing that out and recognizing that [Captain America had a sidekick]."

At Comic-Con on Saturday night, Marvel announced the title of the "Captain America" sequel, which draws from an arc written by Ed Brubaker in 2005. The Winter Soldier is actually Bucky Barnes, friend of Steve Rogers/Captain America, who died in "Captain America." In the comics, he's brought back to life and brainwashed to become an assassin for the Soviet Union. Sebastian Stan played Bucky in "Captain America," with Chris Evans famously playing the title hero.

As for Falcon, THR notes that he was one of the first black superheroes, and one of the few from America; Falcon's real name was Sam Wilson, and resided in Harlem.

Mackie was last seen in "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"; "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" arrives in theaters April 4, 2014.

^^ To whoever said they wanted to see a Luke Cage movie, I guess here's the next best thing.

But, it'll be cool to see The Falcon finally get a little screen love.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/

No Hulk?

uPtoWnNY said:

No Hulk?

They could do a She-Hulk film

July 18, 2012

By: Kevin Rusley

Marvel blew away the competition at this year's annual geek-and-pop-culture gathering, and your humble Examiner is here to bring you the details all tied up in a nice ribbon.

COMICS

Marvel’s bigwigs unveiled further details on their Marvel NOW! relaunch after announcing it a few weeks ago. For those just joining us, Marvel Comics plans to relaunch much of its line with a slew of new titles and new #1’s, but this isn’t a hard reboot like DC’s New52. It will instead unfold over several months, as every title will have time to conclude their present storylines before reverting to issue 1’s where new fans can jump on board, starting in October and continuing through February. Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso was on hand to answer some burning questions, (check out the video at Newsarama), stating, “this is all taking place in the present. It’s the heroes you know in the world you know that’s all been affected by Avengers vs. X-Men.”

For the full rundown, you can check out Entertainment Weekly’s handy guide. Also look for Marvel NOW! Point One #1 to kick things off in October.

TV/ANIMATION

At the Marvel Animation panel, fans finally got more details on upcoming shows “Avengers Assemble” and “Hulk and the Agents of SMASH” by head of Marvel TV himself Jeph Loeb, who dropped by with a goodie bag full of test footage from both projects. And with current animated series "Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes" drawing to a close, Loeb was nice enough to address the matter and how it relates to these future projects. The big question among fans is whether “Assemble” will be a sequel series to “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” the way “Justice League Unlimited” was a continuation of “Justice League”, or will it be a completely new take. It’s still hard to say, despite Loeb asserting that, “We are in no way saying that 'Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes' didn’t happen. You will see an epic, epic conclusion.” While “SMASH” is clearly geared towards younger viewers, “Assemble” hopes to take its cues from the Avengers movie. At least moreso than “Earth’s Mightiest” did. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

MOVIES

Riding high on the success of The Avengers movie, Marvel Studios made several major announcements regarding its upcoming slate for Phase 2 of their cinematic universe.

Robert Downey Jr., Shane Black, Jon Favreau, Kevin Feige and Don Cheadle were on hand for the IM3 panel offering tantalizing hints about what to expect for the third solo outing of the armored avenger and some footage that reveals Ben Kingsley is indeed playing the Mandarin. Fans also got to see the new Hall of Armors featuring the new gold-plated design (possibly the Extremis model).

Meanwhile, the Marvel Studios panel debuted banners for several other future releases. Cap and Thor’s new outings come with subtitles hinting at their stories: Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World, while Iron Man 3 doesn't get a subtitle, probably so it doesn't clash with Iron Man 2. Kudos for not putting “rise” in any of the titles.

In addition, fans got to see concept artwork for Guardians of the Galaxy, confirming the roster from the current run of comics (Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon and others) rather than the original team that debuted in the late 80s.

Edgar Wright later came on stage to present some test footage for the much anticipated Ant-Man movie, which is still in development but definitely looks to be part of Phase II; his was one of the new banners, and Marvel probably wouldn’t shown the footage at the panel if they weren’t serious about making the movie.

For those keeping track, Iron Man 3 is set for May 3 of next year, with Thor: The Dark World following soon after on November 8, while Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters on April 4 2014, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1, 2014. Ant-Man is still in pre-production with its release date TBD; Edgar Wright is slated to direct after he wraps his current project The World’s End.

And a few stray tidbits:

• Marvel screened its newest “One Shot” short film Item 47 at the United Artists Horton Plaza on Friday. The 12 minute short follows Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford as a young couple who recover one of the missing Chitauri weapons left behind after “The Battle of New York” in the Avengers movie. The short will appear exclusively on the Avengers DVD and Blu-ray on September 25. Check out the newest clip.

• Elsewhere on the Con floor, former Punisher actor Thomas Jane donned the white skull once again for a brand new short film entitled “Dirty Laundry”, co-starring Ron Perlman, which is now online.

VIDEO GAMES

Marvel Heroes

Several new previews for upcoming video games debuted at the Con. First up, the ambitious Marvel Heroes hopes to combine an action RPG with an MMO as fans will get to play as their favorite Marvel characters in a massive online environment. The game’s story will be backed up with a motion comic written by Brian Michael Bendis.

Avengers: Battle for Earth

Ubisoft unveiled the new ComicCon trailer for Avengers: Battle for Earth. Billed as “the ultimate superhero brawler”, the game features 20 playable characters and a plot largely inspired by the Secret Invasion storyline. The game arrives at stores December 31 on Xbox 360 and Wii U.

Deadpool

Another new preview gave us a glimpse of everyone’s favorite bombastic, psychotic, fourth-wall breaking masked assassin in his very own video game from Activision and High Moon Studios. Actor Nolan North (of the “Uncharted” game series) will provide the voice for the titular anti-hero, reprising the role from several previous animated appearances. You can find more juicy details at DeadpoolGame.com.

two words: jack kirby.

'nuff said.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

http://www.examiner.com/a...s-round-up

SDCC 2012 Marvel news round-up

July 18, 2012

By: Kevin Rusley

Marvel blew away the competition at this year's annual geek-and-pop-culture gathering, and your humble Examiner is here to bring you the details all tied up in a nice ribbon.

COMICS

Marvel’s bigwigs unveiled further details on their Marvel NOW! relaunch after announcing it a few weeks ago. For those just joining us, Marvel Comics plans to relaunch much of its line with a slew of new titles and new #1’s, but this isn’t a hard reboot like DC’s New52. It will instead unfold over several months, as every title will have time to conclude their present storylines before reverting to issue 1’s where new fans can jump on board, starting in October and continuing through February. Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso was on hand to answer some burning questions, (check out the video at Newsarama), stating, “this is all taking place in the present. It’s the heroes you know in the world you know that’s all been affected by Avengers vs. X-Men.”

Reportedly Marvel’s two premiere superteams will be completely restructured in the aftermath of their current action-packed crossover. Leading the pack of new titles are Uncanny Avengers in October, written by Rick Remender with art by John Cassaday, followed by All-New X-Men in November, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Stuart Immonen, and rounding things out in December is simply Avengers by Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena.

For the full rundown, you can check out Entertainment Weekly’s handy guide. Also look for Marvel NOW! Point One #1 to kick things off in October.

TV/ANIMATION

At the Marvel Animation panel, fans finally got more details on upcoming shows “Avengers Assemble” and “Hulk and the Agents of SMASH” by head of Marvel TV himself Jeph Loeb, who dropped by with a goodie bag full of test footage from both projects. And with current animated series "Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes" drawing to a close, Loeb was nice enough to address the matter and how it relates to these future projects. The big question among fans is whether “Assemble” will be a sequel series to “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” the way “Justice League Unlimited” was a continuation of “Justice League”, or will it be a completely new take. It’s still hard to say, despite Loeb asserting that, “We are in no way saying that 'Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes' didn’t happen. You will see an epic, epic conclusion.” While “SMASH” is clearly geared towards younger viewers, “Assemble” hopes to take its cues from the Avengers movie. At least moreso than “Earth’s Mightiest” did. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

MOVIES

Riding high on the success of The Avengers movie, Marvel Studios made several major announcements regarding its upcoming slate for Phase 2 of their cinematic universe.

Robert Downey Jr., Shane Black, Jon Favreau, Kevin Feige and Don Cheadle were on hand for the IM3 panel offering tantalizing hints about what to expect for the third solo outing of the armored avenger and some footage that reveals Ben Kingsley is indeed playing the Mandarin. Fans also got to see the new Hall of Armors featuring the new gold-plated design (possibly the Extremis model).

Meanwhile, the Marvel Studios panel debuted banners for several other future releases. Cap and Thor’s new outings come with subtitles hinting at their stories: Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World, while Iron Man 3 doesn't get a subtitle, probably so it doesn't clash with Iron Man 2. Kudos for not putting “rise” in any of the titles.

In addition, fans got to see concept artwork for Guardians of the Galaxy, confirming the roster from the current run of comics (Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon and others) rather than the original team that debuted in the late 80s.

Edgar Wright later came on stage to present some test footage for the much anticipated Ant-Man movie, which is still in development but definitely looks to be part of Phase II; his was one of the new banners, and Marvel probably wouldn’t shown the footage at the panel if they weren’t serious about making the movie.

For those keeping track, Iron Man 3 is set for May 3 of next year, with Thor: The Dark World following soon after on November 8, while Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters on April 4 2014, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1, 2014. Ant-Man is still in pre-production with its release date TBD; Edgar Wright is slated to direct after he wraps his current project The World’s End.

And a few stray tidbits:

• Marvel screened its newest “One Shot” short film Item 47 at the United Artists Horton Plaza on Friday. The 12 minute short follows Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford as a young couple who recover one of the missing Chitauri weapons left behind after “The Battle of New York” in the Avengers movie. The short will appear exclusively on the Avengers DVD and Blu-ray on September 25. Check out the newest clip.

• Elsewhere on the Con floor, former Punisher actor Thomas Jane donned the white skull once again for a brand new short film entitled “Dirty Laundry”, co-starring Ron Perlman, which is now online.

VIDEO GAMES

Marvel Heroes

Several new previews for upcoming video games debuted at the Con. First up, the ambitious Marvel Heroes hopes to combine an action RPG with an MMO as fans will get to play as their favorite Marvel characters in a massive online environment. The game’s story will be backed up with a motion comic written by Brian Michael Bendis.

Avengers: Battle for Earth

Ubisoft unveiled the new ComicCon trailer for Avengers: Battle for Earth. Billed as “the ultimate superhero brawler”, the game features 20 playable characters and a plot largely inspired by the Secret Invasion storyline. The game arrives at stores December 31 on Xbox 360 and Wii U.

Deadpool

Another new preview gave us a glimpse of everyone’s favorite bombastic, psychotic, fourth-wall breaking masked assassin in his very own video game from Activision and High Moon Studios. Actor Nolan North (of the “Uncharted” game series) will provide the voice for the titular anti-hero, reprising the role from several previous animated appearances. You can find more juicy details at DeadpoolGame.com.

Cool!

Thanks for all the info.

http://www.comicbookresou...p;id=39909

CCI: Downey Jr., Cheadle, Black & Feige Armor Up For "Iron Man 3"

Halfway through the Comic-Con International in San Diego press event featuring producer Kevin Feige, director Shane Black, star Don Cheadle and yes, Robert Downey Jr., the man who brings Tony Stark to life on the big screen interrupted the proceedings, gestured to the front row of reporters and said, "I'm sorry, but when does the kid with the Sharpee goatee get to ask a question?" "We'll get to him," assured a Comic-Con representative.

With "The Avengers" breaking records worldwide and fan anticipation for the third "Iron Man" film running high, Feige quickly explained Marvel Studios' goals for the armored hero's next silver screen go around. "We're not aiming for bigger, necessarily; we're aiming for different, fresh and new, and we're aiming for a new direction."

"There is an idea about being big, but I think it's about capturing and redoubling the intensity 'The Avengers' managed to capture," Black said. "That sort of lightning in a bottle feel of really stuffing so much into a limited space. We're trying to get as much into this as we can, we're going to get a ton of thrills into a short space."

"'Iron Man 3' is the beginning of the next phase, so it will set the tone in a lot of ways," Feige later added. "Tony's journey and things could spin forward, but it's as self-contained a story as we have done since 'Iron Man.'"

Discussing his taking on the role of directing this enterprise, Black said, "What surprised me is just how much generous help that was available to me. That made it just as easy as could be. John Favreau was available to give me all kinds of tips and advice…he gave me the sort of transitional feel I needed. Marvel has such an effective special effects machine that they could walk me through the process all by hand and pretty much ensure that I was free to concentrate on story and character and scale and scope."

As for how the storyline and the success of "The Avengers" impacted what they wanted to do with this movie, Downey said, "'Avengers,' I think, surprised us to a certain extent. Looking back on it, you can kind of dissect why. It was the right movie with the right people with the right director at the right time. And we feel the same way about this now. I feel that Rhodey and Tony had not entirely been explored as much as they might be…and that, to me, was sort of the heart of it and what was so great about it. Also, we try to be practical in a post-'Avengers' world. What are some of the challenges, now? What are some of the limitations that might be placed on [Tony Stark] and what sort of threat would have him, as usual, ignore those limitations?"

Concept art from "Iron Man 3"

"Truthfully…you got to find a way that the first two aren't done yet," Feige added. "You have to find where the story is emerging, is still on the way, and by the time you finish ['Iron Man 3'], you will have emerged as something resembling a trilogy. In other words, how has this story not yet been completely told? I think we're getting there. I think we found ways to make this feel organic and based on what's come before. That's what I'm happy about."

"This is a very Tony Stark-centric film," Feige said when asked if the film was designed to set up "Avengers 2." "Meaning not just Tony, but his world with Pepper and with Rhodey. It was important to us, as part of sort of the grand plan, from 'Iron Man' to 'The Avengers,' to build that up. Frankly, the first step of the grand plan, with 'Iron Man 3,' is to prove they're just as interesting, if not more so, by themselves, as they were when they were all together in 'The Avengers.' So 'Iron Man 3,' by design, is a very serious character study. It's not a serious movie, but we seriously dig into exploring more of Tony, of Rhodey and of Pepper, without calling S.H.I.E.L.D. and calling Thor or, 'I think Cap should be here in five minutes,' or any of that."

"Any questions for Captain Planet?" Downey interrupted, gesturing to Cheadle and referring to his co-star's tongue in cheek turn as the environmental super hero in the infamous Funny Or Die video. "I mean, what were you thinking," Downey asked with a laugh. "I obviously wasn't thinking," Cheadle replied.

Discussing his and Black's creative reunion after having made "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" in 2005, Downey said, "Well, I've known Shane for a while. 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang' was one of my favorite experiences. The script was practically perfect, but we improvised, anyway--"

"You 'improvised, anyway,'" Black repeated with a smile.

"I mean, even this time around -- we made enough mistakes all together that we are all really seasoned at this point," Downey Jr. continued. "I think that the main thing is Shane's storytelling, and the kind of emotional depth that happens without taking itself too seriously, is kind of what Jon had set up. There were times when Favreau and I would call Shane when we had a big scene the next day -- he actually asked that his payment was to have us pick him up a fresh piece of salmon and some blueberries. He became known as Code Word Blueberries after that. And he worked for the same fee now."

Director Shane Black was bemused by the negative reactions to the mostly-gold armor revealed during Comic-Con

As the discussion turned to the various suits of armor utilized in the film series so far, and in "Iron Man 3" in particular, Cheadle began by discussing his time under the mask. "There are some different iterations that War Machine goes through in this film," Cheadle said. "I don't want to give them away, but it's fun to see those things morph and shift. The Iron Man suit is really spectacular in this one, the innovation that's happened with it."

"I liked in the comics, too, that there was a bit of suit envy between them," Downey added.

"Also, what's great is one suit is a private enterprise, the other is military," Black said. "So you've got two Iron Men, in essence: the private sector and government guy."

"Yeah, and for some reason I think he's still the one they trust," Downey said with a laugh.

"By the way, I also find it really interesting that there were actually fans today who had anger that the suit was gold," a bemused Black shared, shaking his head. "I mean, of all the things in the world to get angry about, the suit."

As for the "Iron Patriot" rumors that have been running rampant since a photo leaked online showing someone on the set wearing a star-spangled suit of armor, Black said, "The not-fun thing is that it was online, and we don't have a whole lot of control over that anymore. The fun thing is, the reason it was online is that it's a real, practical suit. It was on the set, and someone took a picture of it. It's actually an awesomely designed suit, and the suit that Mr. Cheadle does get to wear at certain points in the movie. And at certain times on the set, maybe it's not as fun to wear."

"Not as fun as in the movie," Cheadle confirmed.

"[It's] more uncomfortable for the actor wearing it, "Black continued. "The fun thing is, just in terms of the fans and the fan blogs, is just how much it all is so wrong. Let's just get some costume at K-Mart, and have that show up. We love the rumors, we love that, that's fun."

Since the first film, fans have been wondering if the movies will explore the darker aspects of Tony Stark's life, not the least of which is his battles with alcoholism. "I think that's the big idea," Downey said. "But also, you know, interestingly enough, this film has a lot of breadth to it. We realized at the beginning of 'Iron Man 2,' Tony's dying, wow. Then, he has a party and then he's drunk, wow. And some people are going, 'We don't like him.' There's a way to enjoy all of that kind of shadowy stuff and still -- we just kept thinking about what would it really be like if this guy was in this country and where else could he go in this country and what sorts of themes and backdrops could we explore? I think if you look at the history of the films that Shane's written and he's directed, there's a real desire for me -- just as someone who loves movies, to sort of harken back to some of those themes in mainstream films, and they will occur in 'Iron Man 3.'"

"Although Tony won't fall off the wagon," Black added.

"Actually, you haven't seen my rewrites. Rhodey picks him up at Betty Ford, scene 2," Downey joked.

"That's in? That made it in?" Cheadle laughed. "Great!"

While the film's main antagonist, Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, is Chinese, and a portion of the story takes place in China, that didn't mean the movie's cast and crew spent time in the far east. "It's weird because we're not really going to China. Can I say that?" asked Black.

This blurry photo launched numerous blog posts and comments in reaction to the star-spangled armor

"You just did," Cheadle answered.

"This is why I love Shane. He says it and then turns to Kevin and asks if he can say it," Downey added.

"Remember in 'Iron Man 2,' there's a great sequence at the Monaco race track. Whiplash comes out and cuts his car in half," Feige said, expanding on Black's answer. "Many, many crew members went to Monaco. The first unit didn't. Robert didn't. It's a similar sort of Hollywood movie magic that will be occurring in this case."

"Yeah, basically we're setting aspects of the film in China, but we won't be filming there. Don't tell anybody!" Black joked.

"That stays in this room!" Cheadle added.

The conversation shifted from the international stage of the film to its more intimate aspects, specifically the romance blooming between Stark and Pepper Potts. "The remarkable thing that Jon Favreau managed to do when he forged these kinds of movies was establishing a precedent of espionage, high-tech kind of Top Gun style thrills, coupled with romantic comedy, in a strange way. That's always been the mainstay of these movies," Black said. "That's one of my favorite things about it, too. The romance is definitely a part of this. We've got Gwyneth coming back, and time has passed. In 'The Avengers,' Pepper and Tony are together and doing great, and living together."

"Kevin said there's never been a movie like this where the lead guy is in a relationship with the girl he's going home to, who's kind of, like Gwyneth Paltrow, telling him what to do. However, Rhodes is single. What are we gonna do about that?" asked Downey.

"Is this a dating service? Are you starting something?" asked Cheadle.

As for the challenge of keeping "Iron Man" -- and indeed, all of Marvel Studios' films -- fresh for the moviegoing public, Feige said that that issue is one Marvel believes it has figured out. "I've been at Marvel for 12 years now, and we've had that concern, going back to when 'X-Men' came out, and then two years later, 'Spider-Man' came out. And then, in one year, there were three films," Feige said. "The trick and the formula is just trying to make great movies. We try to make them all great, all different and all fresh. What you'll see in 'Iron Man 3,' that Shane is bringing to it, is some very unique plot points and very unique directions that were taken with the franchise. The same thing with 'Thor' and the same thing with 'Captain [America].' As long as they all feel fresh and you don't fall into some sort of formulaic mold, I hope people will see them."

"Basically, what Kevin is saying is, we were allowed to take some risks, and I think that's very notable," Black said. "I think it's very admirable, in a superhero movie, to be able to take a few risks. That's why I wanted to do this."

Robert Downey Jr. emcees Marvel's "Iron Man 3" kids' costume contest
Photo by Pinguino Kolb

"He's a great storyteller and he had a great relationship with Robert," Feige said of the decision to approach Black for "Iron Man 3." "His movie was one of the things that Jon and I kept going back to, when we were casting Tony Stark, that many years ago. It made a lot of sense to us. Joss hadn't done a movie as big as 'The Avengers' before we hired him. Shane is the same. We're confident in the infrastructure we can provide filmmakers, whether they've dealt with something on this scale of not."

"Oh, just say it -- I work for DVD copies," Black laughed.

"You were cheap, kid," added Cheadle.

"I was cheap," Black confirmed with a chuckle.

With the press event winding down, Downey turned once more to the "young man with the Sharpie goatee," an entrant from Marvel's "Iron Man 3" kids' costume contest earlier in the day. "This better be a great question," the star said before being asked what it's like to play the hero in all these movies.

"This better be a great answer!" Cheadle quipped before Downey could respond.

"I think I can speak for any of us who get to live in this world," Downey said. "There was just one of these photos things, I think you were there [referring to the kid asking the question] where a bunch of kids showed up as Iron Man. There were a couple War Machines there. And there's something about that where you just go, 'Wow, what a great opportunity.' I don't know. It's an odd thing, you know? I take it as seriously as Shakespeare."

^^ You just know that Don Cheadle is thanking his lucky stars that Terrence Howard decided to be greedy and ask for more money after the original movie.

PurpleJedi said:

Cool!

Thanks for all the info.

No problem, dude.

I know this is coming from left field but I really wanna know. Per the movies, will Captain America remain a virgin?

i challenge you to name a single character that stan lee has 'created' that doesn't have either steve ditko or jack kirby's name attached as co-creator.

http://www.salon.com/2012...el_comics/

http://srbissette.com/?p=12761

peedub said:

i challenge you to name a single character that stan lee has 'created' that doesn't have either steve ditko or jack kirby's name attached as co-creator.

http://www.salon.com/2012...el_comics/

http://srbissette.com/?p=12761

Interesting!

Darkforce manipulators and shadow melders all the way!

[Edited 7/21/12 2:04am]

I was always a Marvel kid, and my favorite book was the Fantastic Four. I agree with the frustration of reboots. I began to lose interest in Marvel with 1) broadsweeping crossovers that defy the 'leap of faith' needed to follow your favorite characters 2) John Byrne.

Not John Byrne exactly; more like what other writers did to 'fix' the things that this masterful storyteller did.

Been a big X-men fan since that issue where the Brotherhood attacked and turned Colossus into a statue. This current AVX storyline has me going crazy! I love it. Emma Frost telling Thor, "I've such pretty things to dress you in..." was PRICELESS!!!! Now if they'd just stop forcing Wolverine on us I'd be a happy camper.

Also having Gambit blow up Captain America's costume was brilliant! (He definitely won that fight in my book.)