This post is an excuse for me to tie up a few loose Marvel ends. Rumors have come out for months, so I won’t try to summarize everything. But here is the new Empire cover for Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. The whole gang’s here, and James Spader’s Ultron got his own cover (in the gallery). The covers look good. I’m over Thor, and Tony Stark grates, but the rest of them are awesome (especially Black Widow, Cap, and Hawkeye). There’s also a Super Bowl tv spot you can watch here. The biggest showdown we’ve seen so far in these trailers is Iron Man fighting The Hulk. Those physical throwdowns between Avengers seem to be the result of Scarlet Witch’s manipulations.
Marvel will begin production on Captain America: Civil War in April. Chris Evans will still play Cap, who will fight Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man. Scarlett Johansson will be back as Black Widow; plus Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier; Anthony Mackie as Falcon; and Frank Grillo as Crossbones. We’ll also see the first of Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther and Daniel Bruhl as a villain. I hope it doesn’t turn into the Tony Stark show.
Now onto much more speculative news. During Marvel’s Phase Three announcements, the studio announced their first female Marvel superhero movie, Captain Marvel (check her out here). I immediately pegged Natalie Dormer for the role. Now we’re hearing that Natalie might be the chosen one (via Pajiba). This is some interesting detective work. One of Marvel’s editorial directors, Ryan Panagos, maintains a Tumblr diary where he answers fan questions. Someone asked him about the Captain Marvel casting, and he posted a GIF of Natalie suggestively eating an apple.
Sounds like a tentative confirmation, right? Natalie and her trademark smirk would be excellent in the role. She’s a tough chick who kicks booty. Some people think her 5-minute stint in the first Cap movie should disqualify her for the role. If Marvel followed that rule, they’d lose out on the best actress for the Captain Marvel role. Go Nat!
Photos courtesy of WENN
That would be seriously cool. I hope it happens!
Happy Friday everyone 🙂
Yep. Love her!!!
No, Captain marvel was a man. And the Black Widow was always a minor character. How about using real female superheroes like The Wasp, Janet van Tyne?
…..but Shazam (Billy Batson/Captain Marvel) could pass on his powers to others and several women possessed them over the course of the comics, so it could be that a new woman inherits his powers or it could be Mary Marvel his long lost twin sister who had his powers at various time taking on his mantle.
Carol Danvers is the current Captain Marvel.
She’s also been a ‘real’ superhero for decades under other names.
Do you even read comic books!? Carol Danvers has been Captain Marvel for years. There have been 7 characters who have worn the Captain Marvel mantle and 2 of them were women before C.D. assumed the title.
Actually, Captain Marvel *is* a woman Carol Denvers. Originally, she went by the code name Ms Marvel. In recent years she changed her costume and code name to Captain Marvel.
Yeah actually Carol goes on to pick up the Captain Marvel title. The comic run is amazing.
I hope she gets it too! She’s a great actress (loved her as Anne Boleyn in The Tudors) and looks like the character.
Oh, that would be great!
This casting would make me so happy! I really hope it pans out.
If the cameo would cost her the job, it isn’t fair that Chris Evans plays Captain America after being in the “Fantastic Four” movies.
Fantastic 4 films are not in MCU so it is a bit diffeent for Chris Evans. But I love Natalie and it would be perfect if she was cast.
Fantastic 4 are definitely in the MCU even if Marvel doesn’t currently have the movie rights. I doubt you’ll see Andrew Garfield or Hugh Jackman playing another Marvel character. Chris lucked out.
Natalie would rock that role! And how cute is her tushie in that last pic?
I also noticed and it is on point
Yay for more female superheroes, but I am heartily sick of superhero movies. It was fun for a while, but it’s overkill now. For me, anyway.
Agreed, everytime they start listing the upcoming movies and characters I kind of zone out. I’m just eager for more female superheroes, especially in their own films.
Natalie is bad ass and would be great.
@Lucy2: My current dream is to see Dust in one of the X-Men movies, she’s seriously cool.
http://marvel.wikia.com/Sooraya_Qadir_%28Earth-616%29
OMG, I hope not. With Cumbatch that would be the second bad casting choice for Marvel.
Yes! He is the worst, I’m fed up of marvel and he pushed me over the edge….sigh I’m just going to have watch iron man, captain America, Thor and avengers as happier marvel times before Benedicts infiltration of everything!
yea since he’s touched Marvel, the one thing I like and don’t mind from Hollywood, it feels dirty and tainted. Why can’t he just go away?
Ugh. I so wanted Phoenix for that role.
Nooooooo! She needs to be a villain(ish) type character just based on that smirk alone. Emily Blunt for Captain Marvel, Natalie for Amora the Enchantress (I think she’d be awesome going up against Chris Hemsworth)
Ohhh I never thought of that but yes, she’d be great! And I love the idea of her going up against Helmsworth in Thor! How cool …
They do need an Amora, and I agree, she would be great. Would love to see her scheming with Loki and then the two of them double-crossing each other.
They might not get to do Enchantress. Cara develigne or however you spell it is slated to play Enchantress in the Suicide Squad movie that Tom hardy just dropped out of. Don’t think that’s marvel either as there’s rumours the batfleck might make an appearance.
@Snazzy @Lilacflowers If I could just get ONE .Gif of Hiddleston and Dormer looking at each other and rolling their eyes when Thor inevitably does something stupid, I would never have to speak again. I could just use that for all communication.
@Ceej I think the DC Enchantress and Marvel Enchantress are different characters 🙂 I think there is potential that we might get to see Marvel’s Enchantress as we’ve already seen her sister (? Correct me if I’m wrong here, people who know more) in “Agents of SHIELD”.
http://comicbook.com/2014/12/07/suicide-squad-who-is-the-enchantress-/
@Kali, yes, we did get to see Amora’s sister Lorelei on Agents of SHIELD. She escaped Asgard during the prison riot in TDW and Odin (actually Loki) sent Sif to bring her back, insisting she had to be kept alive (Sif wanted to kill her and didn’t understand why Odin would want her alive.) He probably sent Sif after her because he didn’t want her wreaking havoc on Midgard because that would draw attention back to him and probably wanted her alive as a favor to Amora – and he wanted Sif gone so she doesn’t get too suspicious, he keeps sending her away.
@Lilacflowers – thanks ☺️ I knew it was either sister/daughter (something along those lines). Am excited to see if Lorelei up in
“Ragnarok”. I think the actress could quite believably be Natalie’s sister too.
I agree. I love Natalie, but she’d make a better villain.
British actors are generally capable of playing villains and non-villains in one career.
Not a bad choice but the odds of an Exec making that kind of mistake? Not likely.
You missed Joss Whedon tearing studios (including Marvel) a new one for not doing female superheros justice (and saying Fox has the rights to all the best female heros). Damn. I mean he’s right, but damn. I guess the rumor that he’s done with Marvel after Ultron are true?
Yeah, I was actually quite impressed with how much he ripped Marvel a new one, to be honest. Considering how much of an influence he had in the overall MCU, I’m sure he’s probably got a lot more leeway than most directors would to say stuff like that and not get blackballed.
http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/2015/01/joss-whedon-calls-comic-book-movies-sexist-says-fox-has-the-best-female-marvel-characters/
Russo brothers are doing both of the “Avengers 3: FINALLY THANOS! FOR SERIOUS” movies. I’m fully trusting them after the awesomeness of Winter Soldier, am interested to see what they do.
I would shocked and thrilled to hear Jos say those things about Marvel. He’s got the chops to stay busy in HW and enough $$ to live comfortably for decades, so I’m glad he spoke his feminist mind on the subject. God love him.
Emily Blunt for Capt. Marvel. Natalie would be my second choice and they could retro con her appearance in Captian America in some way.
@Mia4s, I’ve heard Whedon is done after Age of Ultron too and that the Russo brothers ( the guys who did the Capt. America flicks) will be doing the next Avengers movies. I think I read that on another site.
I remembered where I read it. Sarah from Cinesnark wrote a piece about the Avengers Interview in Empire Magazine for Lainey, where Whedon discusses his disappointment in all the studios for their lack of female superhero movies. And he makes the comment that he cannot imagine doing “this” (The Avengers) again.
Yes, I was about to post what Sarah said (I love her movie blog).
If she gets cast, I’d to see a line where Cap sees her and goes, “don’t I know you?” Besides she could always be that character’s daughter/grand-niece/whatever.
Identical twin?
No, her character first showed up in the first Cap movie, which took place in the 1940’s. And Captain Marvel would be current.
Besides, they recast roles, so what’s so weird about a woman in the 1940s looking like Captain Marvel in the modern day? I mean, if Rhodey can upgrade from looking like Terrence Howard to looking like Don Cheadle and the Hulk can age from being Ed Norton to being Mark Ruffalo, I’m sure they can manage this incredibly minor double-up.
I’m not really a fan. I just can’t warm up to her. If she has the role, good for her though. I will admit I haven’t seen much of her work, so it’s a completely perceived distaste for her not based on a whole lot. Just one of those situations where you don’t warm up to someone for no real reason.
I watched her presenting a question on Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2014 – it was painful to watch. It’s like she didn’t know what to do with her head, and had no idea of what kind of expressions she should be making while talking. It seemed like they got someone off the street who had never been on camera or read off lines.
Cosign on this. . .and *runs away to avoid rotten fruit being thrown*
I love Natalie – on a general principle, she should be cast in everything. However, I’m not sure about this particular call. I’m very vague about comic characters, but wasn’t Captain Marvel African-American at some stage? Also, isn’t she a punching type of superhero, as distinct from a telepathic/magic-using type? If so, you might need someone with a more obviously muscular physique to pull it off – although Zoe Saldana does a great job in that type of role, and she isn’t obviously buffed.
I swear to god I’ll go to sleep soon and stop nerding out all over this thread but MONICA RAMBEAU MONICA RAMBEAU MONICA RAMBEAU!!!.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Rambeau
Would love to see her in the MCU at some stage.
@Gill – thank you for reminding me that I haven’t read a lot of her stuff yet, will rectify.
Zoe is already in a Marvel franchise. She’s Gamora.
Carol Danvers is a half-Kree superhuman. She does have super strength, stamina, etc., but she can also fly and shoot blasts from her hands. She doesn’t really need an “obviously muscular physique” to utilize her superpowers.
I wanted Emily Blunt…
EMILY BLUNT
For captain marvel, as carol Danvers it would have been cool if Katee Sackhoff played her. She was good in battlestar galactica as Starbuck. For Monica rambeau as captain marvel, the actress Tracie Thoms (played in death proof by Quentin Tarantino) or Danai Gurira would have been a nice casting…
Katee Sackhoff was frackin’ awesome as Starbuck. I want to see her doing something badass like that again.
Ok, I’m a comic book guy, and I’m confused. Shouldn’t she be playing Ms. Marvel, and not Captain Marvel? Ms Marvel (Carol Danvers in the comics) had an awesome range of powers and was a heavy hitter. Captain Marvel was a Kree warrior with Nega-Bands, and not a real part of the Avengers. Why not keep her as Ms Marvel with better powers, a strong tie-in with the Avengers, and better costume?
I think Carol Danvers Ms Marvel “took on” the Captain Marvel name in Kelly Sue Deconnick’s run on the character as a way to honour him. She’s still got the wicked powers 😀 Ms Marvel is now Kamala Khan.
Kree is Captain Mar-vell I thought.
Am I the only one getting Marvel fatigue? I love big budget action films, but I think it’s time to move on to something else. The worst part is they have movies planned for the next 5 years…eventually they’re going to start seeing diminishing returns.
I like Natalie Dormer, but there are other actresses I’d get way more excited to see in the role.
It would be such a “meh” choice.
They can get anyone they want, and she would either have had to had the greatest audition ever, or they were looking to cut costs. I think it’ll be Emily Blunt – they wants her to be the Black Widow, and they usually make it happen if they have someone they really like.
Who is the other woman on the cover? It doesn’t look like Elizabeth Olsen, and I don’t see any confirmed female cast members mentioned except Scarlett Johansson.
Also, EIGHT characters on the cover and the only new face is another white person. Their casting may have diversified a bit, but that’s certainly not reflected here.
That’s Elizabeth. She just looks a bit different with the dark hair.
This made my day! Ever since Dormer appeared on GoT and Elementary, she has quickly shot up my favorite actors list.
Not bad. I was hoping for Katheryn Winnick or Katee Sackhoff, but I can see it. I always forget that she even had a part in the first Captain America movie (and I bet that I am not the only one), so I don’t see how that would be an issue at all.
I just finished the second season of The Tudors, and I have never been happier to see someone beheaded, but she really killed me in her last few episodes. I actually got teary when she died.
“Sounds like a tentative confirmation, right?”
You’re reaching.
I follow him on Tumblr. He doesn’t answer questions about casting unless it’s already officially confirmed. He answers most questions with a gif.
She was the first actress I thought of when they announced that they were making this film. I mean, come on
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p526x296/10309192_645093458947226_7034698704830725405_n.png?oh=a7198978f62339bc889d1ab8bc87487a&oe=54F7AFDD&__gda__=1425311328_58fa0fc6d287680b9386c157772e3bae
Emily Dorner? Thats preposterous, I think Katheryne Winnick is undoubtedly THE best choice for the role of Captain Marvel. Emily Dorner lacks the body type and the necessary physicality for the role. She has a more petite, waif, un-toned type of body. Now Katheryne Winnick is taller, physically fit has martial arts training, and the acting chops to make a stellar Captain Marvel!
Sorry, not happening. She was in Captain Anerica (the first one). Marvel isn’t going to recast her. And before anyone tries, Fantastic Four and Captain America are owned by two different studios thus why Chris Evans happened as two characters.
After “Edge of Tomorrow”, I would go with Emily Blunt for Captain Marvel.
Natalie is great, but she would be better in a role where she is a supporting character. Not the lead.
My dark horse choice would be Rosamund Pike.