Tag Archives: Thor

C’mon Marvel: Pay Up!

We are living in a post Iron Man 3 world, which only means that Marvel’s Phase 2 is upon us.  With Thor 2 out later this year, Captain America out in less than a year and Guardians of the Galaxy a little over a year away, it is time for Marvel to start thinking Avengers 2.  This movie will be bigger than big as evidenced from the box office of the first film and Iron Man 3 this past weekend, but a slight problem is brewing on the horizon.  The actors don’t want to work for peanuts again.  Basically if you decide to act in a film for Marvel you are working for a few hundred thousand dollars, and you will be signed to a multi-picture deal.  Smart move on Marvel’s end.  They get the actors they want locked in long enough so that they can retain consistency throughout their cross-over films.   The only re-casting so far has been Terrence Howard swapped out for Don Cheadle.  Terrence asked for too much money to come back for a sequel, so they booted him.  Also The Hulk has been recast three separate times.  I don’t count it as a recasting for money purposes however.  They wanted someone who worked better in an ensemble capacity.  Ed Norton does not command a large paycheck, but he LOVES having script control. Enter Mark Ruffalo

Right now, Marvel’s biggest problem is that Robert Downey Jr is out of contract.  Iron Man 3 was the last film he was contractually obligated to make, and he was the only one who ever got paid what he was worth.  There has been talk that Iron Man can be replaced with a different actor, but would Marvel REALLY want to test those waters?  Iron Man’s success and Downey’s portrayal is what ties the Avengers films together.  Without him, you have a problem.  So now Marvel has to renegotiate with Downey Jr., but he’s also planning on playing hardball for the rest of the heroes.  Chris Hemsworth and Scarlet Johannson are both said to be chapped over their awful contracts in their previous films and no longer want to work for nothing for a film that will make over one billion dollars.  Neither currently has a contract for Avengers 2, and rumor has it that Marvel would consider either getting other actors or just inserting other characters if need be to replace them.  I get that on paper.  Comics are a revolving door of characters.  They come in and out with little explanation, because certain writers like certain characters.  Thus the absence of any character could be explained away in two seconds: “Oh Thor, he’s up in Asgard protecting the realm.”  See? It’s that easy.  There is already talk of including Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Ms. Marvel, Black Panther, and Iron Patriot in the next film.  All really cool characters yes, but not at the expense of the ones we already have.

My advice to Marvel: Just pay up already.  You were fortunate enough to make an awful lot of money, without having to pay much for the work, but in doing that, you built careers.  Chris Hemsworth IS Thor.  That and women, namely my girlfriend love him.  Don’t upset the apple cart so early.   No, I am not saying that you’ll have to pay them Downey Jr. money ($50 million), but a decent salary, or a backend of the gross would be fair.  With a backend you can worry about paying them after the movie has cleaned up at the box office.  The films are universally beloved, and make you more money than you ever had as a company simply printing comic books.  The frugal nature of Marvel, and Disney for that matter with actors has allowed them to make some great movies, but when the only people getting paid are Johnny Depp, and Robert Downey Jr.  that is a problem.  If this contract dispute becomes more public than it already has, it will not go well for Marvel and Disney.  I, like many other comic book film fans, want to see as many of the characters I’ve grown up with on screen as possible.  Not less.  If I find out Thor isn’t in Avengers 2 because he couldn’t get one million dollars, I’ll lose my ever-loving mind.

 

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Thor: The Dark World Rounds Out More Casting

In the last two days, Thor: The Dark World has made two casting announcements.  The first is that Kat Dennings has re-signed to appear in the sequel as her character Darcy.  Darcy was largely the most annoying part of the first film, but now that Dennings is the star of one of the highest rated comedies on TV, you know they will try and shoehorn more comic relief into this film.

The other and more interesting bit of casting is that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (or Mr. Eko, or ADEBISI) has been cast as the villainous Algrim the Strong, ruler of the Dark Elves.  In the comics he’s coerced by Malekith, to fight Thor.  I think that Algrim and Malekith will make up a good pairing for Thor and the Warriors Three to have to take on, but my real question is why does this movie have to have anything to do with earth?

Darcy’s inclusion means that we’ll be getting more of the Earth stuff.  I didn’t love any of the Earth stuff the first time around.  If this film is going to be delving farther into Thor lore, how are we going to even have time for Jane Foster, much less, Darcy.  I guess I’ll have to wait and see.  I’m hoping they are just cameos at the beginning.

Tagged , , , , , ,

Doctor Who Vs. Thor

It appears as though Christopher Eccleston has been cast as a villain (something I feel like people end up saying alot), Malekith the Accursed in Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World.  Eccleston is probably best known as playing the “dark” Doctor in the relaunch of Doctor Who.  While his interpretation is my least favorite of the three, he brought a necessary dark side to the character.  Between that and his penchant for playing villains in everything, I think this is a good piece of casting.

I’m assuming that because Malekith is the ruler of the Dark Elves, the “Dark World” that the subtitle refers to is the world of the Dark Elves, Svartalheim.

I don’t care either way, I just want to see a Thor film take place primarily in realms other than Earth.

Tagged , , ,

I Want To Learn More About My Character

In a recent Collider interview with Idris Elba, the subject of ‘Thor 2’ came up. Elba said he would be back as the Asgardian God Heimdall. He also said that in the sequel he would love if we could learn more about this character.

This is probably horseshit.

Continue reading

Tagged , , , ,

Delay Sunday

No podcast today. It will grace your presence Tuesday night. We’ve (I’ve) decided to name these days ‘Delay Sundays.’ Where we’ll be discussing a currently delayed film. This week-

Red Dawn
Continue reading

Tagged , , ,

Like, Love, Hate- Thor

Just to be clear I loved the casting and performance of Idris Elba. If you have a problem with it, you need to go fuck yourself. Moving on.

Like- The Balance

I thought this movie was going to be awful when seeing the trailers. The humor seemed flat, Asgard looked stiff, and Earth looked like scenes from Just Visiting. I wanted to punch Kat Dennings in the face. To my surprise the film really did a great job grounding Asgard in the opening 20 minutes. It set up the world Thor came from well enough to make some of the ‘man out of time’ jokes fun. The pet store scene still kills me.

Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , ,