Idris Elba Says He and Tom Hiddleston are in "Avengers: Age of Ultron"
Posted: 14 hours ago | Updated: 14 hours ago
TV/Film
Albert Ching, Managing Editor
Looks like the already-sizable "Avengers: Age of Ultron" cast may be even bigger than previously thought: In an interview published Sunday by London-based Telegraph, actor Idris Elba said not only does he reprise his role as Asgardian sentry Heimdall in the 2015 sequel, but Tom Hiddleston also will appear as fan-favorite trickster god Loki. Neither had previously been announced as involved in the film -- in fact, Hiddleston ruled out an "Age of Ultron" role last year.
In the interview -- focused on Elba's DJ stint at a hotel in Ibiza -- the "Luther" star describes a recently shot scene between he, Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth, who plays Avengers mainstay Thor. "I'm in Avengers," the actor is quoted. "And I'm doing a scene with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, and they're like, [whispers] – 'Aren't you [meant to be] in Ibiza?'" The writer of the article, Craig McLean, noted that Elba was "not meant to talk about this," yet he "clearly enjoys doing things he’s not meant to do."
The nature of the scene, and the size of Elba and Hiddleston's roles in the film, remains unrevealed, including whether or not Heimdall and Loki appear in the main action of "Age of Ultron," or in a flashback or dream sequence. Cameos from major Marvel Studios players have become fairly common, including Mark Ruffalo appearing as Bruce Banner in the "Iron Man 3" post-credits scene and Chris Evans playing Captain America -- well, Loki pretending to be Captain America -- in last year's "Thor: The Dark World."
Further in the interview, Elba discussed the abrupt transition from playing legendary revolutionary Nelson Mandela in "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" and doing reshoots for "The Dark World."
"I'd just done eight months in South Africa," Elba said of the "Long Walk to Freedom" production. "I came to England and the day I came back I had to do reshoots on 'Thor 2.' I was like, 'This is torture, man. I don't want to do this.' My agent said: 'You have to, it's part of the deal.' I'm actually falling down from a spaceship, so they had to put me in harness in this green-screen studio. And in between takes I was stuck there, fake hair stuck on to my head with glue, this fucking helmet, while they reset. And I'm thinking: '24 hours ago, I was Mandela.'"
"Avengers: Age of Ultron," written and directed by Joss Whedon, is scheduled for release on May 1, 2015.
Who Will Join The Avengers When the "Age Of Ultron" Dust Clears?
Posted: 22 hours ago
TV/Film
Brett White, Assistant Editor
"The old order changeth!"
Over the past fifty years, that phrase has become almost as synonymous with Marvel's premier superteam as "Avengers assemble." The saying first appeared as the title to 1965's "Avengers" #16, the issue that saw every founding member of the team depart leaving Captain America in charge of a trio of ex-villains -- Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Since then, the Avengers' line-up has become notoriously fluid, with members coming and going, defecting and joining, and getting promoted and demoted with great regularity. Over one hundred super heroes have purposefully walked through the halls of Avengers Mansion in the past few decades -- and now it looks like that tradition is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Following the cataclysmic events in next May's "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has been quite clear that things will never be the same for the team.
"The 'Avengers' films, ideally, in the grand plan are always big, giant linchpins," Feige told Buzzfeed. "It's like as it was in publishing, when each of the characters would go on their own adventures and then occasionally team up for a big, 12-issue mega-event. Then they would go back into their own comics, and be changed from whatever that event was. I envision the same thing occurring after this movie, because the [Avengers] roster is altered by the finale of this film."
If the Avengers are indeed going through a shake-up, here are the heroes we bet we'll see on the new version of the team -- possibly as early as 2016's "Captain America: Civil War!"
Falcon
Between the overwhelming fan response and Anthony Mackie's undefeatable charm, there's no way Falcon doesn't fly into action by Cap's side as an all-new Avenger. Looking at the upcoming slate of films, it also makes sense to assume that the new Avengers squad will be Steve Rogers-centric. It's been made pretty clear that something happens in "Age of Ultron" that drives Rogers and Stark apart, and then "Captain America: Civil War" shows up in theaters a year after the inciting incident. If a new Avengers squad assembles at the end of "Ultron," odds are they'll show up in "Civil War" -- and odds are they'll be on Cap's side. After all, Marvel wouldn't want to turn their most trusted brand into the bad guys, would they? If that's the case, then Falcon, the man that became Captain America's most trusted ally during "Winter Soldier," will become an Avenger. And come on, Marvel struck gold with Mackie's Sam Wilson, there's no way they're keeping the high-flying Falcon grounded.
Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch
This super-powered pair will make their debut in next year's "Age of Ultron," but the footage we've seen so far calls their status as full-fledged into question. The pair first appeared as prisoners of HYDRA head honcho Baron Strucker in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier's" mid-credits scene. They've since been seen in the "Age of Ultron" trailer, standing by the troublemaker Ultron's side. It's entirely likely that the Maximoff twins will start out as reluctant villains manipulated into doing dirty deeds by a megalomaniac, with Ultron filling in for the role played by Magneto in the original comics. If that's the case, then we might only get to see Wanda and Pietro team-up with the Avengers for a little bit in "Age of Ultron." When it comes to shake up the roster, though, we're going to assume that the last two to join the team won't be the first two to leave. If Marvel wants audiences to love these siblings as much as they love the science bros, they'll need to give them more exposure -- and that means keeping them on Captain America's Avengers team once "Civil War" breaks out.
Vision
Paul Bettany's synthezoid remains a mystery. We know he's going to be in "Age of Ultron"; you can see the character's spooky outline and cape in the concept art released for Comic-Con International. Past that, however, we haven't seen an official image of Vision and the longtime Avenger was noticeably absent from the trailer. Is he a bad guy? Is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy that will become a good guy, or vice versa? Does Ultron create him from scratch, or is he Tony Stark's A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. brought to life? Yeah, we have a lot of questions about Vision, so we really only have the comics to pull from -- and that makes him a shoe-in for the new team. The Vision has become an iconic Avenger over the years and he's one half of the most... let's say "quirky" couples in comics. If his potential love interest Scarlet Witch is signing up for Avengers duty, then Vision may not be far behind. Plus with his impressive density manipulation powers, the team could really use all the power they can get if they lose a Thor and a Hulk.
Black Panther
With actor Chadwick Boseman already cast as Black Panther, Kevin Feige made it clear at Tuesday's Marvel event that the iconic character would show up much sooner than his solo film's November 2017 release date. "He is definitively a big part of 'Civil War,'" said Feige. "We will meet him for the first time in 'Civil War,' in costume." There's really no other way to interpret that: Black Panther is gonna show up in the same movie that deals with the Captain America and Iron Man's fallout. The "Age of Ultron" trailer has already given us a good enough reason for Steve to interact with T'Challa: he needs to get more vibranium to fix his shield! Of course traveling to Wakanda for the sole purpose of asking for a big chunk of their scarce natural resource might not go over so well, and Black Panther will probably have more than enough reason to be skeptical of both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. But knowing what we know of the MCU's two leading men, which one do you think is better at not being self-centered, blunt and a tad bit purposefully annoying? Black Panther will warm up to Cap about a million times faster than Iron Man, which means he will join the Avengers.
Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers is going to be a big deal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only is she going to get her own feature film, she's going to be the first female hero to hold down a Marvel Studios movie. The joyous outcry from her fans caused "Carol Danvers" to trend on Twitter worldwide, and odds are Marvel is going to want to turn that fan fervor into box office dollars well before 2018. Fans are excited about this character right now, and it would be wise to start building her up in other movies before letting her fly solo; 2016's "Captain America: Civil War" sounds like a good place to start. Of course there is always the chance that Carol's "Civil War" arc could mirror the one she had in the comics, meaning she'd get her start fighting on Iron Man's behalf. That doesn't mean she'd have to stay his ally, though, and a third act change of sides would make for a great plot advancement. No matter what her role is in any of the Phase Three films, we're placing our money on Captain Marvel joining the Avengers much earlier than 2018.
Chadwick Boseman "Amazed" by Reaction to "Black Panther" Film
Posted: 22 hours ago | Updated: 22 hours ago
TV/Film
Scott Huver, Contributing Writer
Just days after being part of the massive announcement of Marvel Studios' Phase 3 movie slate, "Black Panther" actor Chadwick Boseman told CBR News that he's found the fan response to his new role to be "amazing."
At a weekend event in Los Angeles, we ran into the 32-year-old actor who'll be headlining as Wakanda's king T'Challa in 2017, after an announced role in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War."
What We've Learned From Marvel Studios' Phase 3 Announcements
"The reaction on stage at the El Capitan Theater was, like, amazing," Boseman said. "Just to be there -- the way that Marvel set it up and wanted to surprise people with it, it was one of the best surprises that I've ever been a part of." And the positive response didn't end with Marvel Studios' big presentation, even with the actor trying to maintain a low profile in the following days. "I've heard from a lot of my friends, and a lot of people I don't know have congratulated me -- but I've actually not heard a lot from other people because I went away. I tried to get away from everything just to ground myself. But it's been amazing. I'm so excited! I'm ready to start right now, and they're telling me, 'Slow down a little bit!'"
"It's never been done," Boseman said of the opportunity he has in bringing one of Marvel's most groundbreaking heroes to life -- "Black Panther" will be Marvel Studios' first film starring a Black superhero in the lead role, and Black Panther (created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) was Marvel's first Black superhero in its comic books. "It's been done before in different ways, but it's never been done exactly like this. Wesley Snipes also had his own franchise -- you have to acknowledge that. You have to acknowledge what [Anthony] Mackie's doing [with the Falcon]. But this is a little different in the way that Marvel is presenting it, so it's amazing."
I love how U Thant gave me a style to, run with, thx to Sari yep it's all her fault that I lost confidence.
Fortunately though, over the past month or so...I am resorting to U Thant posting style less and less. The cliq-ladies who covet U Thant hath no choice now but to use me as, a prop, to wedge against their fiery loins which burn for him.
I love how U Thant gave me a style to, run with, thx to Sari yep it's all her fault that I lost confidence.
Fortunately though, over the past month or so...I am resorting to U Thant posting style less and less. The cliq-ladies who covet U Thant hath no choice now but to use me as, a prop, to wedge against their fiery loins which burn for him.
I'm really excited about the Black Panther movie coming out! A positive strong black male super hero for black kids to identity with!
I like how he's described,
Quote:
"T’Challa’s calculating mind is one of his sharpest weapons against his enemies. He isn’t just smart, he’s considered one of the smartest people on the entire planet — and he has the physics Ph.D. from Oxford University to back him up. On top of that, he’s also an adept politician. But of course he’s good at plain old fighting, too, with extensive training in gymnastics, acrobatics, and martial arts."