The Toughest Job In The Marvel Movie Crossover World
With a host of Marvel movies looming on the horizon screenwriter Zak Penn (X2 / X-Men: The Last Stand / The Incredible Hulk) arguably has the toughest job of them all. As the writer of The Avengers it is Penn’s job to bring all the crossover storyline threads together from at least Iron Man 2, Captain America and Thor. I say “at least” because there may be more overlapping threads and tie-ins to other Marvel movies that he has to deal with too, such as Spider-Man 4.
Next week Penn has a meeting with some of the writing teams on the movies mentioned above to work out how they’re going to align the plot threads and bring them all together.
“They’re doing Captain America and Thor first, and then Avengers is coming out,” Penn said on Tuesday at the Los Angeles Film Festival. “They want to see that they’re all connected, not like the Fantastic Four can’t come into the X-Men world, like I was told [by Fox]. I’m taking a meeting next week with the Thor and Captain America people, and we are all going to get together, and I will see what is going to happen. I’ll see where they are leaving the characters; it’s pretty complicated. … There’s a board that is tracking what is happening. [We'll see] how this movie overlaps in that movie. … Marvel is autonomous now. It is night and day: Everyone has read every comic. They know how to make a cool movie.”
So does Penn think The Avengers will be a cool movie?
“It’s hard to make a good movie,” he said. “We all have the best intentions, and it still might suck.”
At least he’s being honest.
Iron Man 2 will be released May 7, 2010
Spiderman 4 will be released on May 6, 2011
Thor will be released Jun 17, 2011
Captain America will be released July 22, 2011
The Avengers will be released May 4, 2012
Source: Sci Fi Wire
June 27th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Just had a brief back and forth with Zak Penn regarding Avegners to make sure the misleading slant on his words were straightened out.
(Regarding MTV’s recent article/interview with Zak on Avengers)
“I was speaking off the cuff and in response to a question about how good the movie will be. I pointed out that it isn’t always a function of someone stopping us from making a good movie. It is hard to make a good movie, period, which is why there are so few of them. Simply intending to do something good guarantees nothing. I was also misquoted regarding Fox and the Fantastic Four. To clarify, I simply pointed out that other studios can’t do crossovers like they had in the comics, but Marvel Studios can. I never asked Fox to do anything, nor did they stop me, those legal issues are not even up for debate.” -Zak Penn
He also told me to tell the fans to “Get psyched because it’s (The Avengers) is gonna be insane!”
June 27th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Thanks for the update! For the record, I’m psyched as hell for The Avengers!
June 27th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Not sure where the misquote comes into it but from what I read above Zak Penn has at tough job and is being a normal person in saying that it might suck. It will suck, for someone – there are so many naysayers around and in any case, not everyone likes the same stuff. But I think The Avengers has the potential to rock and so I’m looking forward to it with anticipation. Good luck with the writing Zak!
June 27th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
I think perhaps Zak Penn doesn’t want people to think that he meant the film could suck, but rather he was trying to emphasise that it’s simply hard to make a good film.
Whether my take is right or wrong, it’s gotta be a tough job being the writer of the biggest movie crossover ever.
Can’t wait for it.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
The article above was sourced from Sci Fi Wire, but the post being referred to at MTV I believe is this one:
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/06/24/avengers-screenwriter-zak-penn-warns-that-movie-might-suck-despite-filmmakers-best-intentions/
July 8th, 2009 at 11:52 am
It was taken out of context in the sense that he was not saying Avengers might suck. He was generalizing that everyone goes into these projects with the best intentions but if there’s a weak link in the chain somewhere it of course could in the end suck. He then stated that it’s in the best hands with the rights in place at Marvel Studios unlike 3rd party efforts from Fox. IN that case a screenwriter may be rushed, Marvel has less control, and you have too many chefs in the kitchen and the deal is rushed due to rights limits.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I don’t see how it’s taken out of context, I mean, did he say this or didn’t he? No one is saying he didn’t say it, only that it was taken out of context. But by whom? He said it still might suck and the point being delivered by everyone saying its out of context is that although its out of context IT STILL MIGHT suck. No one said it might suck because of his screen writing. In actual fact this article is very respectful in that it honors him by saying he’s got a tough job. I also don’t see how this takes it all out of context since the line before the “it might suck” comment reads “does Penn think The Avengers will be a cool movie” and not “does Penn think his script will be good.”
So I’m still waiting to see exactly how this is taken out of context? One person says “he was generalizing” but about what, about the fact that the movie could still suck no matter how good everyones intentions are? He either said it or he didn’t yeah?
I’m keen as hell for The Avengers and every other Marvel movie as a big fan of the comics, but some of them have sucked and The Avengers could suck too. Nothings a given.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I have so many opinions on this, on how to do a movie like this right, yet I doubt my own ability to actually be able to pull it off if I were faced with it. My number one would be simply, stay true to the characters. Each one has his/her own personality, strengths. There can and should be some humor without turning things campy. There pretty much has to be when you have characters like Spiderman and Ironman in the mix. The difficulty is having so many characters in one movie with a believable (yeah right) crisis worthy of their teaming up together and keeping it somewhat intelligent. There aren’t too many earth-bound threats that I can imagine that wouldn’t be of a politically controversial nature that we can throw at such a team of superheroes, so it seems like it will have to come from aliens of some sort, or maybe the Hulk or something else Hulk-like?
April 21st, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Just wanted to add, I’m a fan of comics from a distance. I haven’t read or bought many, but I enjoy reading a good one now and then. I don’t know the characters well, so sometimes I find myself liking a movie that got a detail or two wrong about a character despite the fact that I dislike when someone gets a character wrong. That said, I wanted to add, I don’t know if She-Hulk was present in the Avengers comics, but I think this movie would be a great way to introduce her. I forget how she became she-hulk, but maybe just have the character who might later become she-hulk. For those who don’t know, she-hulk isn’t a muscle-bound freak. She’s, well, really good-looking,but green, and has the super strength, and maintains her ability to think and speak normally except on a couple of occasions. I think she’s an interesting character that would work well in the Avengers, even if she doesn’t usually join them on missions.