AVA DUVERNAY PASSES ON "BLACK PANTHER" FILM Fri, July 3rd, 2015 at 2:19pm PDT
Ava DuVernay has decided to pass on directing Marvel Studios upcoming "Black Panther" film starring Chadwick Boseman in the title role, according to Essence.
"I'm not signing on to direct 'Black Panther,'" she told Essence. "I think I'll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things and I think they’re fantastic and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me.
"I loved meeting Chadwick and writers and all the Marvel execs," DuVernay said. "In the end, it comes down to story and perspective. And we just didn't see eye to eye. Better for me to realize that now than cite creative differences later."
CBR previously covered the report that the "Selma" director was "in talks" with Marvel to direct a film. However, the precise film was unknown but rumored as "Black Panther." DuVernay's statement both confirmed the rumor but also ultimately put an end to them as well.
Despite not seeing eye to eye on the project, DuVernay seems to hold no ill-will and admitted her excitement about the character and the upcoming film. "I love the character of Black Panther, the nation of Wakanda and all that that could be visually. I wish them well and will be first in line to see it."
Black Panther will make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War" before headlining his own film in late-2017.
This will most likely be my new favorite comic once it debuts.
The thought of Black Panther, Monica Rambeau, & Blue Marvel all on the same team......blows my mind.
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Squad Goals: Meet the Team in Al Ewing and Kenneth Rocafort’s ‘Ultimates’ [Interview] by Andrew Wheeler July 3, 2015 12:00 PM
Of all the books announced by Marvel during this week’s big All-New, All-Different unveiling, one of the surprise titles that generated the most buzz was Ultimates, by Al Ewing and Kenneth Rocafort. Though the name echoes back to the Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers, this is a very different team, comprised of some of the Marvel Universe’s major powerhouses and most brilliant minds as they tackle cosmic threats on the scale of… well, Galactus. ComicsAlliance spoke to Ewing to learn about the big idea behind this big team and the sort of threats they’ll be facing, and to discover what drew him to put characters like Black Panther, Captain Marvel and America Chavez on one team — besides the fact that they’re all obviously the best characters.
ComicsAlliance: What’s the mission statement of this new Ultimates, and what’s their relationship to the Avengers?
Al Ewing: The Ultimates are a team put together to find and fix omniversal problems likely to affect the safety of Earth and the larger universe. A cosmic team for cosmic threats. “The impossible is where they start.” Although, actually, they’ll be starting with the most well-known cosmic threat of all — Galactus.
As for how they fit in with the Avengers — they’re not strictly speaking part of the Avengers, but they are an official team, operating with the approval and subsidies of at least two world governments — the US and Wakanda — and fairly closely affiliated with Carol’s new organization. They’ve got the support they need to do the jobs they have to — I haven’t considered the possibility of ‘Ultimates cards’ to get them into places yet, but why not?
CA: With the Ultimate Universe destroyed, why take on this name, for the team and for the book itself?
AE: Because they’re the ultimate super team, solving the ultimate problems. They’re generally pretty ultimate. And “The Ultimates” is a fine name for a book — it says it all, really. I don’t see a need to retire it just because the universe it came from is no longer with us.
CA: It’s such an unusual team that I’d like to take the team members one by one, and find out why you picked them, and how you approach each character.
Blue Marvel? Obviously a favorite of yours.
AE: It’s true that I’m a huge fan of Adam, and I’m glad of the chance to put a little more focus on him and chronicle his adventures for a little longer. [Editor] Tom [Brevoort]‘s a fan of his too, I think — certainly, when we were kicking around ideas for the roster, he was part of it from the start.
Adam’s the same character he was in Mighty Avengers, although he’s got a new costume and he’s leaning a little more into super-scientist mode. He’s still one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe, and this is going to be a book where he’ll finally get to cut loose on the page. He can’t be distracted by a larger threat the way he was in Mighty Avengers — these are the largest threats.
CA: Monica Rambeau?
AE: Again, I’m a big fan of Monica and I wasn’t quite done with her — I feel like now that she’s reinvigorated and repowered and she’s kind of conquered her demons a little, we can really tell some fun stories about one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe. This is going to be a good venue for really pushing what she can do — how her powers operate, what they mean in terms of her humanity. Plus we get to see her interact with Carol Danvers, which is always fun.
CA: Speaking of which; Carol Danvers?
AE: Captain Marvel is another huge powerhouse, but she’s also in a high position of authority in the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe, especially when it comes to big cosmic threats. It makes a huge amount of sense to have her be on this team, representing a new, outer space peacekeeping force and speaking from that point of view — she’s a fantastically useful asset to the team in all areas. Part of what makes this lineup so interesting is that it’s not just these huge reserves of physical and mental power that are represented, but also political power. Which brings us to…
CA: Black Panther!
AE: … Black Panther. The most politically powerful hero in the Marvel Universe, I’d say. The reigning king of one of Marvel-Earth’s major technological powers — I don’t think calling Wakanda a superpower is any kind of stretch. The Ultimates is as much a Wakandan enterprise as it is an American one — it’s very in tune with that idea of having a plan in your desk drawer for when Galactus drops by. Wakanda’s always been very cagey about exporting Vibranium and its technological breakthroughs, and with good reason, but I feel like they’d be more willing to collaborate with other nations on matters of defending Earth against extra-terrestrial and extra-dimensional threats — that’s a case where everyone benefits. Nobody wants Earth to blow up. (Again.)
It’s going to be a lot of fun putting T’Challa and Adam in the same room.
CA: America Chavez? As she’s a queer woman of color, I think she’s incredibly important, so I’m very glad to see her back on a title.
AE: It was Kieron [Gillen] and Marguerite [Bennett] who brought her up when I was chatting to them about cosmic kickers of all the ass, so you can thank them. America’s a fun addition to the team, in that she’s been doing everything they’ve been doing in terms of keeping inter-dimensional crap from hitting fans for quite a while now, so she’s not seeing this as a brave new venture so much — she’s seeing a bunch of amateurs taking their first steps into a world she knows back to front. And there may come a point where she has to shut them all down.
CA: This is notably a very diverse team, as were your two Mighty Avengers rosters, but now we also have a diverse main Avengers team as well. Why do you think this sort of diversity is so important?
AE: I think it’s important in the way that a roof is important. If you’re moving into a building and the landlord says “oh, and we have — get this — a roof! And four walls! We’re not just a hole someone dug in the street!“, you don’t start giving out medals for that. That’s just a basic thing that ought to be standard. It’s just fiction reflecting reality — there are all kinds of people in the world, and we should reflect that properly and try not to screw up. To be honest, I think there’s a long way to go in a lot of ways, both on the page and off.
CA: How would you describe the vibe and energy that Kenneth Rocafort brings to the series?
AE: Otherworldly and beautiful. One thing I like that we’re getting him to do is strange and bizarre creatures and landscapes — he brings a kind of ethereal quality to it all that’ll really help us when things get cosmic. I love that I can tell him to draw a menagerie of strange inter-dimensional life, and what comes back is beyond my wildest expectations.
CA: A team like this is going to have to face some monumental threats. Can you drop any hints about the sort of craziness you’ll be asking Kenneth to draw?
AE: Well, we start off with a Galactus two-parter that’ll probably go further than people are expecting. I mean it — you might think you know what’s going to happen, but unless you’re a very good guesser, you don’t. Following that, we have a trek to the outside of the Omniverse, a journey into the dreams of the Dreaming Celestial, and the return of one of the oldest and strangest creatures in the Marvel Universe. It’s going to be a fun ride.
Ultiimates #1 by Al Ewing and Kenneth Rocafort goes on sale in October.
Also, Claire is currently being portayed by Rosario Dawson in the Daredevil Netflix series.
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I Love Ya But You’re Strange – Where’s My Money, Honey?
by Brian Cronin | August 7, 2011 @ 11:45 PM
Every day this August I’ll be spotlighting strange but ultimately endearing comic stories, one a day (basically, we’re talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books). Here is the archive of past installments of this feature.
It just occurred to me that in the archive, I was using Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #8-9 as an example of what kind of stories I am featuring in this bit, but I had not yet actually used those issues. So I’ll correct that now.
Here is the story of how Luke Cage came to say to Doctor Doom, “Where’s my money, honey?”
Steve Englehart, George Tuska and Billy Graham were the creative team for these two issues.
The action begins in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #8, when Luke is approached by some dude about making $200 a day taking down some folks…
Luke is displeased to learn that the people he was hired to deal with were actually robots. He feels that he is not being dealt with straight, so he takes his issue to the guy he thinks is in charge, but learns someone ELSE is really in charge…
So Luke takes out all the robots, but is dismayed to learn that his $200 fee is not going to be honored…
The next issue (Tuska drew the hell out of the first issue – the second part is part Tuska, part Billy Graham) opens with Luke breaking in to the Fantastic Four’s headquarters to borrow a plane to get to Latveria…
Once there, Luke takes advantage of a civil war going on (led by a dude called the Faceless One, who is leading an army of robots, much like the ones Luke dealt with in the States) to gain access to Doom’s castle…
“Where’s my money, honey?” is a transcendentally beautiful piece of dialogue.
I won’t spoil what happens next to the story – does Cage get his money?!?! Find out in the Essential Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, in stores now!
(LOS ANGELES) -- Paul Rudd plays the titular tiny hero in Marvel's Ant-Man, and Tuesday's Good Morning America got a behind-the-scenes look at the film set, and also chatted with the stars.
One of those stars is Evangeline Lilly, aka the film's Dr. Janet Van Dyne, who said Rudd will make a big impact onscreen, especially on the ladies: "I think they’re going to be shocked at how fricking sexy Paul Rudd is going to be in this movie," she said.
She added, "I’ve had moments where, like, the beauty team, the glam squad will come be like, 'Oh my God, you should have seen those shots of Paul, he looked hot!'"
Co-star Michael Douglas -- who plays Dr. Hank Pym, Lang’s mentor and Van Dyne’s father -- appears to back her up, adding: "Paul Rudd has worked out so much that they had to tone his suit down because his eight-pack and his pecs were exploding."
In the film, Pym is the brains behind the special process that shrinks a human to the size of an ant.
As for Rudd, he said when you're in a movie like Ant-Man, you've got to bring a sense of humor. "Yeah, it’s very serious. It’s very serious," said Rudd. "You have to be serious when you’re riding around on the back of an ant."
Jared Leto and Margot Robbie may have ended up stealing the show in the first Suicide Squad trailer, which was officially released Monday after debuting at Comic-Con and then being leaked online.
Leto, who is set to play the Joker, is seen at the end of the clip, saying a creepy line that basically trended all weekend -- "Oh, I'm not going to kill you...I'm just going to hurt ya really, really bad.”
We also see Robbie as Harley Quinn, part of the "worst of the worst," trapped in a cage, hanging upside down when she first appears in the clip. Later on, she's in a fancy sports car, racing with the Joker himself, while Batman clings to the roof, trying to take them down.
"I want to assemble a task force of the most dangerous people on the planet," Viola Davis' Amanda Waller says in the clip.
"They are bad guys?" asks a government suit.
"Exactly," Waller says.
Suicide Squad, also starring Will Smith, opens August 5, 2016.
Ant-Man, which opens Friday, stars Oscar-winner Michael Douglas in his first comic-book movie. He tells ABC News Radio that a twinge of professional jealously helped sway him to Marvel's latest film. "Jack Nicholson's a good buddy of mine, it looked like he had such a good time in Batman, [playing] The Joker, and Danny [DeVito], playing The Penguin, you know, good friends of mine. And I looked at my resume and I don't have anything like that."
In Ant-Man, Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a thief who unwittingly steals a suit that gives him the power to shrink down to the size of the titular insect. The technology was developed by Douglas' character, the brilliant scientist Hank Pym, who, decades earlier bore the Ant-Man mantle himself, becoming one of the founding member of The Avengers.
Pym taps Lang to become the hero in an effort to steal its stolen tech back from Stoll's Darren Cross, who builds a competing suit with eyes on creating an army of super-powered, size-shifting soldiers.
The suit also gives its wearer the power to control ants, which play an interesting role in the movie. "I have a lot more respect for them," Douglas says of his six-legged co-stars. "I don't think there's ever gonna be a movie which has identified ants with such definitive characteristics."
While he previously admitted working on the movie was "a gas," there was one downside: Pym's fluffy goatee. Douglas tells ABC Radio his wife Catherine Zeta Jones was not a fan. "It had to get shaved off very quickly. She did not like me kissing her with the beard, and she made her position very clear."
Ant-Man craws into theaters July 17 -- and be sure to stay past the end credits for a can't-miss extra scene.
Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Margot Robbie and her Suicide Squad co-star Jared Leto have taken method acting to a whole new level.
In an effort to stay in character while he was away from set, Leto, who plays the Joker, sent disgusting gifts to his co-stars, including a live rat to Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn, his love interest in the film.
The 25-year-old Australian actress, who plays Harley Quinn, responded the way her character would and decided to keep it.
In the August edition of Elle magazine, Robbie explains, "If Harley got something from Joker, she'd probably cherish it."
Adds Robbie, the rodent, which she calls Rat Rat, now dines on organic berries from Whole Foods.
Suicide Squad, also starring Will Smith and Cara Delevingne, opens nationwide August 2016.