May 4th, the day that Marvel’s epic team-up movie ‘The Avengers’, is fast approaching, but it isn’t here yet. Why, then, is director Joss Whedon already talking about a sequel?
In an interview with SFX (via Coming Soon), the creator of ‘Firefly’ offers some insight into the upcoming film, and then discusses how the sequel could be bigger than the first installment.
Whedon talked briefly about what he tried to do with this massive undertaking that involved bringing the biggest heroes in the Marvel Universe together in one movie. He said:
“I want to know what makes them tick, what makes them flawed, what makes them fight – and ultimately, what makes them awesome. I go to these movies for those moments when the heroes define themselves, either through action or deliciously overwritten speeches.”
Speaking on the sequel, he says that to make it bigger than the first one, it has to be “smaller. More personal, more painful.” He goes on to say:
“By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself.”
You know what that might sound like to me? An indication of new team members. In the comic book universe, it’s not unheard of for The Avengers roster to constantly change. Characters come in and out of the team so often, and it adds a sort of freshness to the air whenever it happens. For all we know, some big stuff could happen in ‘Thor 2’, ‘Iron Man 3’, or ‘Captain America 2’ that could cause one of them to leave the team, or something could happen to Bruce Banner where he finds himself to be a threat to the rest of the team and is forced to leave the team at the beginning of ‘Avengers 2’, which would then cause the team to seek out new members.
The natural evolution of a team like this seems to include line-up changes. After all, Nick Fury did say that there were other super-powered beings out there. Bringing them onto the Avengers team or having them run into the Avengers would be a great introduction to these other beings, and it would definitely go along with his intention to make a “smaller” film.
If new team members are the case, Whedon has a few to work with already. War Machine, James Rhodes, is already present in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so that’s an option. Edgar Wright’s ‘Ant-man’ is in the works (and has been for some time), so Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, aka Ant-man and The Wasp, could make appearances on the new team, which would be great because they’re founding Avengers anyway. There have been talks of The Black Panther, Luke Cage, and Doctor Strange getting movies as well, and since they’ve all been on an Avengers team at one time or another, they’d be great choices as well.
Those choices may be more obvious, and I’d love to see any one or more of them show up in the Cinematic Universe, however, why not replace a Hulk with another Hulk? Say Thor and Hulk leave the team in the second movie. That leaves the team with considerably less muscle. Enter Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner’s cousin, who is also known as She-Hulk. That’s a great way to introduce a new character to the universe, while adding interesting dynamics to the group. For one, that’s adding another female presence to the team. How does Black Widow, or better yet, Tony Stark, feel about that? All the possibilities and scenarios that are swimming around in my head seem pretty awesome. If Joss Whedon agrees, maybe we can have a lunch and discuss it sometime.
While I’m throwing out team members and storylines, I might as well throw out a title as well. Not that I came up with it or anything, but I think that the sequel should be titled ‘The New Avengers’. Then the one after that, which could see cameos from the original team in addition to the new team, could be called ‘The Mighty Avengers’. Then, if by then they’ve added Spider-man, The Fantastic Four, and The X-men to the Cinematic Universe (or if they’ve found a way to do it without them), the fourth film could be ‘The Avengers: Civil War’, in which they tell the story of the Superhuman Registration Act that forces the Avengers to take sides and battle each other, resulting in *SPOILER ALERT* the death of Captain America.
Of course, this is all merely a fanboy throwing out suggestions as to what he wants to see Joss Whedon do on screen. There’s a reason that Marvel hired him for all this over me, so whatever he ends up doing should be just fine. And while I’m super curious about what he means by smaller, more personal, and more painful, I’m even more excited for May 4th to get here so I can finally see my favorite Marvel heroes together on screen in one movie.
As if you didn’t know already know, Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ is about the forming of a superhero team to stop an unexpected enemy that threatens global safety and security. The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and Samuel L. Jackson.
