Joss Whedon Says It’s “Very Doubtful” He Will Return For Avengers: Infinity Wars

Howdy ladies and gents, time for some comic book film news and this latest post focuses on the future of the Avengers Part 3 with Joss Whedon’s involvement. The following information comes from ComicBookMovie:

There’s been  a lot of talk about who will helm Avengers: Infinity War, with various outlets reporting that Joss Whedon wouldn’t be returning for the two-part movie. Since then, James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) was mentioned as being a possible candidate, though it’s Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) who have since emerged as the favourites.

What does Whedon make of all this? Talking in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, it appears as if he definitely won’t be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a little while following Avengers: Age of Ultron. “I couldn’t imagine doing this again,” he reveals, referring to the time and effort which has gone into the sequel. “It’s enormously hard, and it be, by then, a good five years since I created anything that was completely my own. So it’s very doubtful that I would take on the two-part Infinity War movie that would eat up the next four years of my life. I obviously still want to be a part of the Marvel Universe – I love these guys – but it ain’t easy. This year has been more like running three shows than any year of my life. It is bonkers.”

Whedon was similarly non-commital following the release of The Avengers in 2012, but it really does seem like he may be happy to take a break from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for a while based on these comments. Of course, there’s nothing stopping him tackling another Marvel Studios movie…

Well I can’t say that I didn’t see this coming, however, this is sad news for comic book fans. Joss Whedon, what a guy. He has come from a successful background in television and then joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe to craft, what is now one of the best superhero films in history; The Avengers. Since around 2011 he has had a sort of supervising role overseeing the other films in the series (like how he directed the post-credits scene in Thor or how he helped James Gunn finish the writing for Guardians of the Galaxy). This man knows his stuff. And with Avengers: Age of Ultron looking super sweat, it is hard to think of anyone else taking on the directing role for the third Avengers film. Now I’ve come to discover in recent years two things: 1) That no single director is the number one choice to directing certain films. And 2) That some directors after 1 or 2 or 3 films need to take a break before getting worn out or losing interest.

Now Whedon has been involved with Marvel Studios for around 4 years. He’s been writing, developing, directing, filming and crafting these wonderful Marvel adventures trying to make them work within the context of the comics, but also inserting his natural charm, humour and character moments into the film. It is a hectic workload and I don’t that it is has allowed him much time to chill out and breathe. So if the man wants out, I will not blame or condemn him for that decision. The man has done good buy us fans and Marvel…

HOWEVER! Like the article says, there was a point when Whedon wasn’t going to direct Age of Ultron, but he still came back to the MCU, so maybe it is a case of having the right story or having the right amount of money being paid into his account. Whatever the case is, I’ll be good with whatever choice comes out of the future because I am a realist.

So what do you think of this news? please be sure to comment below and let me know yo. 😀

 

MARVEL FILM NEWS EXPLOSION! BLACK PANTHER, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, INFINITY WAR & MORE ANNOUNCED!

I leave the internet for just around 9-10 hours and the world of comic book film news blows the hell up! Marvel, man, they know how to drop bombs of information. Looks like the cinematic universe is about to expand tenfold between now and 2019! The following information comes from superherohype:

ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype’s Silas Lesnick attended the Disney and Marvel Studios press event today where Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige made a number of huge announcements including that the title for Captain America 3, starring Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., will now be called…

Captain America: Civil War!

At a Q ‘n’ A following the announcement, Feige confirmed that “Civil War” will be a “global superhuman registration with a specific inciting incident” and that, “Secret identities aren’t as important in the MCU version of the story.”

Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch (who actually wasn’t mentioned, so perhaps the deal isn’t done) and directed by Scott Derickson, is officially scheduled for November 4, 2016.

James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2 has been moved forward a few months to May 5, 2017!

July 28, 2017 will now be the release date for… Thor: Ragnarok! (A few of our readers called this one.) Of course, both Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston will be returning as Thor and Loki. Feige says that it will immediately follow the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron with the goal to take Thor to “another level of his own franchise.”

The big news is that Marvel’s Black Panther is indeed getting his own solo movie with Black Panther scheduled for November 3, 2017 and the Black Panther will be played by…. Chadwick Boseman!

So that’s two sequels and one new character movie in 2017, Marvel Studios’ first year with three movie releases. Feige said that there is an easter egg in the Avengers: Age of Ultrontrailer for the Black Panther movie, which is probably that Andy Serkis plays Panther villain Ulysses Klaw.

Two more big announcements for new characters being brought to the Marvel Cinematic Universe are a Carol Danvers Captain Marvel movie for July 6, 2018 and an Inhumans movie for November 2, 2018. Both of these movies have been rumored for a long time, but now it’s confirmed that Marvel will have two new character movies in 2018 with the May 4, 2018 being…

Avengers: Infinity War – Part I!!!!

and with Avengers: Infinity War – Part II scheduled for May 3, 2019!

Feige said that the Hulk will appear in all of the Avengers movies and that a standalone Hulk movie may still happen. “We’ll see,” he said.

When asked about a Black Widow movie, Feige said the reason it hasn’t happened is “because she’s so good working with the Avengers and says that the Hulk is, at the moment, the same way.”

As far as rumors that Spider-Man might come over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Feige was vague saying that it was either “not true at all” or “something not ready to be announced yet.”

As far as the long-rumored Runaways movie, Feige said that he’s a big fan of the script they have, but it just isn’t ready yet. The Runaways “come up quite a bit in both TV and film discussions.”

Jesus Christ! Talk about news overload. Just when you thought Marvel have pretty much won the internet over with the début of the Avengers: Age of Ultron teaser trailer, they take it one step further. Everything before this feels like a raindrop by comparison, Marvel Studios is like the cool kid at the pool party that knows how to make the best cannonballs and just when you though they’d made the biggest splash already, Marvel come back and do it again bigger and better. So now we have the Marvel film line-up from now up until 2019, that’s 5 years from now, that’s good planning and while some of the following films were obvious, some are definitely surprising.

Now I’m going to talk about the films individually:

Captain America: Civil War

So, Captain America 3, guess it is Civil War after all. I laugh at all the people that said that there was no chance that the Civil War storyline would be adapted, that it was just rumour and nothing more. But then comes Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios like, “We can do whatever we want, yeah, even Civil War.” Now that this is official I can’t wait to see how it turns out, since secret identities aren’t the main focus, I really want to know what this “inciting incident” is. Bring it on, I can’t wait.

Doctor Strange

So Doctor Strange, yeah that’s happening and it is set for November of 2016. I’m down with that. There hasn’t been any information additional information released story or cast-wise, that being said I’m not expecting too much at this point in time because of all the hype and planning surrounding Avengers 2 and Ant-Man. But I hope that the title character is cast soon and announced in the next two or three months, tops.

Then of course there’s the recent news about Benedict Cumberbatch being attached to title role, of course it was rumoured before, but now it seems a little more legit because of the whole ‘in talks’ element that’s come into play. Now it hasn’t been made official by Marvel yet, however it seems like it would be the next logical announcement for this film. Now while I would have liked to see what would kind of performances would have come from Joaquin Phoenix or Ethan Hawke, at the same time I LOVE Cumberbatch as an actor and if he joined the MCU I would blow up.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

This was a given and obviously was announced back in the summer just after the first film came out. No new information about the film other than the fact that its been given other than the fact that the film’s release has been moved up by about 2 months I think.

Thor: Ragnarok

So Thor 3, its Ragnarok and I knew it would head in this direction. It is one of the most classic and epic of stories in the comics and Norse mythology to my knowledge, and the only way to make this Thor universe more hardcore would be to incorporate Ragnarok. I’m also curious to see what Thor and Loki are up to and how this film ties in to Avengers 2 as well.

Black Panther & Chadwick Boseman Announcement

But the biggest announcement for me was the confirmation that Black Panther IS happening and it WILL be part of Phase Three in November of 2017. To say that I am happy would be an understatement. It feels like I have been waiting for AGES for this to be announced. Since the time Wakanda was shown on that map in the background in Iron Man 2, I have been waiting for some sort of solid confirmation that Black Panther would be part of the MCU and now we finally have it. After having us transported to Asgard, a World War II setting and the far reaches of space, I feel like we’re now ready for an adventure set in Africa with the inhabitants of Wakanda. It could be a special and interesting film if handled correctly.

So then there’s the casting the title character and it is being played by Chadwick Boseman. While he was not my first choice, at the same time he is not a bad one at all. I’ve only seen him in 42, but I could already see that Boseman was talented and was going to go places in the future, and with the positive reception I’ve heard from some critics on Get On Up, I assume he’ll definitely be an actor to look out for after he debuts as T’Challa/Black Panther. And then there’s that concept art:

All I can say is damn, this looks sweet as hell, if the final costume looks anything like this then I will be SO happy. Black Panther has always had one of the coolest costumes in the comics and this concept art looks like a great adaptation of the original while also being very practical and stylish.

Captain Marvel

Then there’s this film, the one that’s been rumoured for such a long time and people have been asking for since around just after The Avengers came out (at least that’s what I observed online on many comic book websites). So it looks like a female-lead superhero film starring Carol Danvers is actually happening. Probably won’t hear much on this for a while (or at least until DC’s Wonder Woman gets another major announcement), but for now I’m just glad that it is happening.

Inhumans

Here we have another film that was hinted at and rumoured about for years, but has never had any validity until now. Now I know next to nothing about the Inhumans, I’ve only gotten small amounts of knowledge through Marvel Ultimate Alliance and the Fantastic Four cartoons. Something tells me that there will be some connectivity to at least Captain Marvel, Guardians 2 or Avengers 3. They seem like an interesting bunch and could be the next big group next to the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Avengers: Infinity War – Part I & II

So now we have the final piece of the MCU puzzle. After all this planning, crafting and hype, it all comes to this, the 3rd Avengers film where the big bad titan, Thanos will finally come to the forefront of these films and probably kick the Avengers to the curb. I believe that the Earth will not be the only place in danger, this may even extend to space (it is a possibility considering the over-the-top  nature of the comic stories). This will probably biggest event ever, and if it take two films just for the Avengers to win or survive, then this will have to be one hell of a film filled with epic stakes, incredible action and character moments that will be notable and unforgettable.

In conclusion, the Marvel hype train has reached a new level and I’m frigging hyped, so frigging hyped it is not even a joke. I want the future now, I want these films now! Give it to me now Marvel! XD

So what do you think of this epic Marvel film announcement? Are you happy about the films announced or not, and out of the films announced which one are you the most excited about? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to leave them in the comments below and I’ll see you on the next blog post yo, laters! 😀