‘Avengers’ … The Legend Cometh

Oh, my God!!! Alright, I apologize for that momentary lapse into my child-like geekdom, but come on … it’s the freakin’ Avengers. Hmm … Let me digress for a moment, just as a courtesy for those of you who likely are not privy to what I am speaking of. I grew up not just reading comic books, but more-or-less living on them. They were like oxygen. I honestly didn’t think I could survive without them. Then, I grew up… sort of. I went to college, got a job, got married, then unmarried, then realized we are in the middle of a comic book renaissance return. Of course, we are seeing many comic book movies being made with many more to come, but we are also seeing a revival of the medium itself in some very new ways. I think these occurences  are clearly symbiotic, which will surely result in a long and fruitful run of movies. And believe me, there is a lot of great source material out there.

The Avengershas consisted of a fluctuating potpourri of very diverse superheroes throughout its long and glorious comic book lifespan. However, a single movie cannot possibly do justice to the true nature of The Avengers, but can certainly start us off with a bang. By now, I’m sure you have witnessed a rising  onslaught of media attention to Iron Man, which already looks promising beyond our wildest dreams. A major factor behind this, I believe, is the talented filmmaker Jon Favreau, making his superhero movie debut. His devotion to his craft translates well to this new and growing genre of movies.

  

However, what’s really exciting is that in recent interviews with Favreau, he has made some very intriguing statements. The biggest of which is that he has a very strong interest in directing The Avengers. In addition, he also said that he agrees with others involved in the Marvel family that the Avengers movie should carry its characters’ actors from their solo films into the Avengers film. This would mean Robert Downey, Jr. would reprise Tony Stark/Iron Man and Edward Norton would also return as Dr. Banner/Hulk. Wow… we already have a very talented (and expensive) cast and we haven’t even determined who is going to portray the other likely heroes from the most traditional Avengers lineup, including Thor, Captain America and possibly Ant-Man.

Now, there is also a DC Comics movie in the works calls Justice League of America  which is similar, but I was always more of a Marvel fan. But hold on!!! JLA still promises to be good, assuming it gets made. My biggest complaint however, is that the filmmakers are approaching the film with a different mindset. They intend to cast entirely different actors, mostly unknowns and young ones at that. Only time will tell. Thus far, DC has Batman and Superman to play with. The likely characters of The Flash, Aquaman and Green Lantern haven’t ever had a big screen treatment yet.  In addition,  we have yet to see which side of  director George Miller will show up, the Mad Max director or the Happy Feet and Babe director.