C’mon Hollywood #182

… keep the Avengers simple!
by Sturdy

So anyone that has seen IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, knows that Marvel studios is laying the groundwork for an upcoming Avengers movie. They’re not really even being sly about it, they’re basically telling you that’s what they want and where they want to take these characters. But whenever you combine superheroes together and get a bunch of big stars in the same film, things have a tendency to go wrong. So as much as I’m all for an Avengers movie, Marvel needs to go about it the right way.

I’m all for an Avengers movie…if done right.

To start out, they need to study the model of what’s going on or went on with the JLA movie. They need to really take that example, and then do the exact opposite. WB and everyone else involved with JLA from the beginning has made decisions that has induced fits of nausea and rage in fanboys across the globe. So to recap, here are some general guidelines…

Good example of what not to do.

First, you absolutely have to have the same actors reprising their roles. It looks like RDJ and Ed Norton are at least open to the idea, so they’re going in the right direction. But at this stage, can you imagine the horror if they cast some CW reject in the lead role of Iron Man? I know it’s not even up for consideration, but then again, I never thought they’d consider that for JLA either. Audiences love RDJ as Iron Man and Ed Norton as Hulk, so lets keep it that way for now.

I can’t imagine anyone else as Iron Man.

Second, they have to do something with Captain America before the Avengers movie comes out. Oh, and you have to have Captain America in it, period. We all have our opinions on the Captain, but I think he would be one of (DC’s Wonder Woman being the other) the hardest characters to do right by on the big screen. With such a big focus going on Iron Man and Hulk, you’d have to have a standalone film propping up Captain America before you’d thrust him into an Avengers movie. It’s true that people familiar with the comics would be fine, but imagine if you knew little or nothing about Captain. The whole frozen and then thawed explanation can’t be done justice in a sentence or two.

Love the idea of having The Hulk be the villain

Third, get a director that knows what the hell they’re doing. Don’t give this story to someone that’s going to churn out a bland, cookie-cutter version of what he thinks audiences want to see. Give it to someone that has directed a successful superhero movie before and that will take the time to do it right. The movie will need some style and a director with a vision. Oh, and while we’re at it; the studio needs to trust whichever director they choose. Let them take the idea and run with it.

Favs did well with IRON MAN, why not give him the helm to The Avengers?

Finally, and this is most important, keep it simple! We don’t need twenty characters running around the screen vying for time. I love the earlier idea of making Hulk the villain . That negates the need for a long setup for a villain. Throw in Iron Man, Captain America and maybe one or two other characters and you have yourself a film. We don’t need a repeat of X-MEN 3. I love cameos and it’d be cool to see Spidey swinging around at some point, but don’t go overboard with it. Keep the focus narrow and the characters to a minimum and I think the Avengers movie will be a blast.