Hopefully, Thor : The Dark World did its job of whetting your appetite for more films to come in 2014 and beyond. Right now the Marvel Universe is divided into three parts, all of which have their high points and low points. Here’s a look at what’s coming soon
April 4th, 2014 = Captain America : The Winter Soldier
Chris Evans has been doing a fine job portraying Steve Rogers so far. Sebastian Stan is indeed reprising his role from the first film. How closely the story will follow the comics folklore remains to be seen. I find it interesting that the trailers are downplaying the actual Winter Soldier character and instead focusing on Robert Redford in the role of SHIELD agent Alexander Pierce. The trailer also only shows brief glimpses of Anthony Mackie as Sam “The Falcon” Wilson and little indication that Scarlett Johansson will appear as The Black Widow. Other things of note : Frank Grillo from “Zero Dark Thirty” and “End of Watch” will be playing Crossbones. Georges St-Pierre from the UFC will be playing Batroc the Leaper. Co-directed by Anthony and Joe Russo with very limited CGI-effects, this one has potential.
May 2nd, 2014 = The Amazing Spider-Man 2
On a second tangent from Marvel, we have the Spider-man films. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Much has been made over Jamie Foxx playing Electro (the Ultimates version) but I’m much more interested in seeing Paul Giamatti as The Rhino. Dane DeHaan will be playing Harry Osborn while Chris Cooper will be shown as Norman Osborn (ASM3 anyone?). Apparently Dennis Leary and Martin Sheen will be reprising their roles as Captain Stacy and Uncle Ben somehow. I was bothered that the thief who killed Uncle Ben was never captured, and apparently he doesn’t appear in this film either. I wonder if that will be resolved in ASM3. Still, fans of the first film have a lot to look forward to.
May 23rd, 2014 = X-Men : Days Of Future Past
On a third tangent, we have the X-men films. Of all the films forthcoming, this one has the most promise. Matthew Vaughn, director of “X-Men First Class”, is back as co-writer, with original director Brian Singer helming the project. Combining the best of two worlds, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen share the screen with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Jennifer Lawrence is back as Mystique (no Rebecca Romain cameo this time?), along with Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, Anna Paquin as Rogue, and of course Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Most aficionados have been concerned about the liberties taken from Chris Claremont’s original story (Instead of Kate Pryde arriving from the future to the present day, we have Wolverine going back to the past). Will Wolverine get his metal claws back, courtesy of Magneto? Other points of note : newcomer Adan Canto will play Roberto Da Costa aka Sunspot, while Booboo Stewart from the Twilight saga will play James Proudstar aka “Warpath” (not Thunderbird?). Also on hand is Evan Peters as Quicksilver, French actor Omar Sy as Bishop, and Peter Dinklage as Sentinels creator Boliver Trask.
August 1st, 2014 = Guardians Of The Galaxy
Written and directed by James Gunn of Troma Studios fame, this stars Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Glenn Close as the Nova Prime, Dave Bautista from the WWF as Drax The Destroyer, and Lee Pace as Ronan The Accuser, with Bradley Cooper doing the voice of Rocket Raccoon and Vin Diesel doing the voice of Groot. It still amazes me that this group was chosen for a feature film, given how little non-comic-purists are aware of their existence, but the cast is amazing and with the addition of Benicio Del Toro as The Collector (who saw that coming?), there’s certainly glimmers of hope. When the cast even includes John C. Reilly, Zoe Saldana, and Djimon Hounsou, the pursuit of the next Infinity gem can’t be that bad….can it?
It feels as though there should be one more film leading up to “The Avengers : Age Of Ultron” but there’s been no announcements of any so far. Stay tuned for more details.
