Marvel Gets Cash to do 10 Films

jmozena writes "Marvel has raised $525 million to independently finance 10 movies based on its comics over seven years. The titles named are Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack and Shang-Chi. The company's also changing its name from Marvel Enterprises to Marvel Entertainment."

Nick Fury??? Oh Noooooooooo!!!

[$RANDOMLUSER]

If you haven't seen David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. [imdb.com] you haven't lived. This turkey leaves "Plan 9 From Outer Space" in the dust as the "worst film ever made". Next time SciFi Channel runs it, make a point of it. You'll have more fun having a do-it-yourself MST3000 than words can describe.

Captain America x2.

[Anonymous Coward]

They brought captain america twice already to the screen, same as Punisher.

Re:As a non-american...

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Captain America only works in the context of World War II in Europe. His only "real" enemy was the Red Skull, who was Nazism personified. You have to think of "Cap" as a historical artifact.

Re:Don't get me wrong, but what?

[NiceGeek]

"The Avengers
A facless hero clan. I can't even name a single hero in this group."

You just did - Captain America, Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Black Panther have all been members at one time or another (along with fair chunk of the Marvel Universe)

What the hell is an ant-man? I only see antman II

[zakezuke]

http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/a/antma nii.htm [marveldirectory.com]

Let me paraphrase the marvel directory.

Scott Lang was an expert in electronics but for some reason couldn't make a buck. So he became a burglar but wasn't very good at it... he got caught and put in jail and got a job with some Marvel invented company that one would know if one ever bothered to read comic books. But he daughter was diagnosed with a terminal illness, probally something to do with all those green screen terminals Scott Lang was forced to used as he coudln't afford a real computer. The only doctor who can help was being helded by some other big evil company the name likely known by anyone who has bothered to read any marvel comics. So he decided to steal AntMan's outfit and magic shrinking gas. Fortunatly the real AntMan had a spair YellowJacket outfit and follows AntMan II and watches him confront the arch villin who's in the business of kidnaping doctors needed by wackos who like to dress up in costume, a common theme in the Marvel world. AntMan II rescues the good doctor who cures his daughter and just when he's about to step up and return the stupid AntMan outfit to AntMan... AntMan says he can keep it so long as he's a good boy.

Sells electronics by day, dresses up as an Ant by night... it's AntMan II!

So, from this I can establish the first AntMan was some guy with magic shrinking gas who liked to put on an ant costume get small and fight crime. And I wondered why I never really bought comic books.

Re:I think you have it backwards

[cpt kangarooski]

Trom? Do you mean Rom: Spaceknight? I don't remember a comic or character named Trom, though.

Re:The PROBLEM with American comics is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazing Spider-Man: 32 pages $2.50
Detective Comics: 32 pages $2.50
Action Comics: 32 pages $2.50
Uncanny X-Men: 32 pages $2.50

That does not include the ads.

Marvel also puts out Essential TPB series. Which usually contains 25 issues, 500+ pages for $16.99.

I worked in a comic shop for a while. Most of the people that praised Manga and trashed super hero comics were between the ages of 13-18. They usually bought the juvenile sex fantasy and super tough guy (but he is not a super hero because he has a sword and looks like a woman, that makes it okay) types of Manga.

Most of the super hero books sold to the older folks. They aren't really kids books though. The stories you read in mainstream comics are just like a movie or television show. You get a hole lot of crap, but every once in a while you find something great.

The comic companys target audience is actually around the 20+ area. Kids buy comics, the comics are usually appropriate for kids. However, the people buying most of the comics are adults.

Re:The PROBLEM with American comics is...

[TomHandy]

You do realize that the American comic industry is larger than just Marvel and DC, right? Certainly they are the lion's share, but there are a ton of independents doing all sorts of interesting things. And frankly, you can find some pretty interesting and different things even from DC and Marvel, or imprints like Vertigo and Wildstorm.

Re:Don't get me wrong, but what?

[zaren]

Just my impressions of the list:

And my impressions of your impressions :)

Captain America
Didn't they do this one and it sucked?

Yeah, back in 91. A lot of movies sucked back then. As did that one.

The Avengers
A facless hero clan. I can't even name a single hero in this group.

Do you mean the West Coast Avengers? Or the East Coast Avengers? Or the Great Lakes Avengers?

Now, I'm not surprised that you can't name any of the Avengers, because there have been so many (and even I don't know who's in the teams now). But seriously, their lineup has included:

Captain America
Thor
The Hulk
The Sub-Mariner
Iron Man

And let's not forget Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and the entire Fantastic Four!

Nick Fury
I guess because the Punisher movie worked so well...

Come on, in this day and age, you think a movie about a super-tough anti-terrorist government agent with tons of nifty guns and gadgets (and a floating fortress) isn't going to play?

Black Panther
Ah, a hero named after a hyper-racist group. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Hey, he was a big deal back in the day, leader of his own country as well as a powerful hero.

Ant-Man
Honey, I shrunk the superhero!

Okay, I've gotta go with you on that one. I see little potential to that movie.

Cloak & Dagger
Not that Cloak was a completely contrived character, or that Dagger wore far too little clothing, but how could this movie possibly be interesting?

A bit more modern spin - she the naive and innocent girl from the good side of the tracks, and he the rough and tough gangsta from the mean streets. Mix in some exotic street drugs, some righteous vengeance, and you've got a winner.

Dr. Strange
Who?

Dr. Stephen Strange, the Master Mystic, the Sorcerer Supreme! All sorts of juicy ghost-busting special-effecty opportunities there.

Hawkeye
Ah, Daredevil without charisma, but empowered with a ridiculous costume.

And don't forget the fancy bow and arrow!

Power Pack
Never heard of them.

Nobody did, and more's the shame. Some decent writing effort went into making and managing the characters in that series. It could be a really good kiddie movie.

Shang-Chi
Is this like the token Asian guy?

Could be. And yet, it could be their excuse for a lovely martial arts wire fest.

Re:Captain France!

[zakezuke]

Who would really be interested in Captain France? A guy that dresses up like a croissant, runs away from German bad guys and blames all his problems on Captain America.

I don't know what's more troubling, the fact that I laughed at your joke or the fact that someone took it upon them selfs to make a "Captain France".

http://www.chambrook.org/captainfrance/index.php?s trip_id=1 [chambrook.org]

Re:Captain America x2.

[techno-vampire]

They brought captain america twice already to the screen, same as Punisher.

Actually, three times. Don't forget the 1944 Republic serial Captain America. [imdb.com]

Re:before there was monotheism

[tarunthegreat2]

A word about Hinduism. Hindus also believe there is only one God - well the correct translation is Supreme Being. It's just they believe that there are different forms of the same Being. Different forms for different purposes and eras. So yes, by the strict definitions of other religions, this is polytheism, but in essence, Hinduism is monotheistic as well. Linky [wikipedia.org] The Smarta perspective dominates the view of Hinduism in the West. Smarta monists, seeing in multiple manifestations the one God or source of being, are often confused by non-Hindus as being polytheists. It is seen as one unity, with the personal gods being different aspects of only one Supreme Being, like a single beam of light separated into colours by a prism, and are valid to worship

Re:I wish DC get money and have more control

[1u3hr]

Just for novelty's sake I'd love to see a movie or a comic about the triumph of free-market capitalism and individual liberty over group identity and power-hungry socialists.
So would I, but as long as Hollywood is controlled by liberals it's not going to happen.

WTF? Hollywood is controlled by giant corporations. What flaky actors do in their spare time has no impact on what movies get made. Any films about the "triumph of ___ism", whatever the ___ism, is going to be a preachy bore. But if it turns you on, Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead was filmed in 1949, and Atlas Shrugged is supposedly in pre-production. More abstractly, what do you think The Terminator and sequels was about (aside from the eye-candy, that is)?

Re:before there was monotheism

[CFTM]

The irony to the entire thing is that the monotheastic religions of today are a result of the same process as that of the comic book super heroes. What I find fascinating about comic book characters is they are one of the last bastions of mythic creativity occuring within modern culture. Mythic creativity has been a meme within human cultures for a very long time and unfortantely the mainstream monothesastic religions no longer allow for any mythic creativity thus it spilled over in to comic books.

If anyone is interested in an academic approach to this subject matter I suggest checking out some of Joseph Campbell's work. The Power of Myth [amazon.com] is a great place to start; it does not deal specifically with comic books but it deals with the sociophenomona of myth creation. Great stuff!

Re:before there was monotheism

[Dread_ed]

For more research and detail on this phenomena than you ever thought was available please see this book by Joseph Campbell: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691 017840/102-8735635-8866503?v=glance [amazon.com]

Re:I wish DC get money and have more control

[drsquare]

I can't speak for America, but in Britain at least:

Socialism = Hard working people get taxed to the hilt so that scroungers with 6 kids by the time they're 20 years old who haven't worked a day in their life but have a government-supplied house can live off benefits and handouts.

Seriously though, that is NOT an extreme exagerration, it's actually true. Makes you sympathetic for people who exploit every loophole they can find to get out of being taxed.