Recently, I (as have many of you) saw “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths”, as well as what is arguably the best bonus feature to appear on a DVD in a good while. Now, in my opinion, though there have been some good animated films to come out of Marvel, DC has, for the most part, got them beat on that front. That being said, I would absolutely love to see Marvel take a note from DC in regard to the “Spectre” short film. No, I'm not saying that Marvel should put out short animated films with each of their feature-length animated films (though that wouldn't be too terrible an idea); what I'm getting at goes a little deeper, and involves the upcoming Super-Group project -- “The Avengers.” More importantly, it's all about using a ten minute space before a live action film to line up extra members for the team.
Let's start off by taking a look at what upcoming films Marvel Studios has in the works that are leading up to “The Avengers.” There's “Iron Man 2”, then “Thor”, then “The First Avenger: Captain America.” So, taking into account previous Marvel Studios projects, the roster for the first live action Avengers film looks to contain at least Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, and Nick Fury. While this is a decent members list, I think it would certainly be a mistake to have an Avengers movie without Hank and Janet Pym. Furthermore, as he has already been rumored, I'd also like to see Hawkeye Join the team.
The obvious problem here is that of what was wrong with “X-Men: The Last Stand” as well as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” -- and that's too many character introductions, origins, back-stories, etc. The solution (obvious or not) is to take a page from DC's “The Spectre” short film, as well as Disney's other-other company, Pixar (specifically, their short films that play before each of their feature-length films). What I mean by this is, how about we do ten-minute origin stories for a few less “marketable” heroes before each of the upcoming Marvel Studios films...
This concept has a few very nice advantages. First, most people will be ecstatic to get more “bang for their buck” (i.e. two films for the price of one ticket, although, one film is considerably shorter than the other.) Second, it allows for multiple new characters to appear within the Avengers movie without having to waste precious time introducing them, or forcing us to wait for their feature-length solo films. And just because a character gets their own short film, doesn't mean they can't have a solo film down the road. Take Ant Man for example. As I mentioned earlier, Hank Pym was one of the characters I would like to see introduced this way, in order for him to appear in the first Avengers film. Ant Man also has a solo film in the works. I don't think that an Ant Man short film would have a negative effect on a solo film at all, if anything, it would have a strong positive effect. The reasons for this positive effect are that you wouldn't have to spend time in the solo movie going over the origin, enabling a more in-depth story to be done with the character the first time around (if anything, do the origin “Incredible Hulk” style and just intercut it into the solo film's opening credits); and, characters like Ant Man, who don't have a huge fan-base, would greatly benefit (box office-wise) from being introduced to non comic fans prior to their first feature-length solo adventure.
So, now that I've given an explanation as to what I think should happen, I'll actually give you a taste of what I mean. Here are brief descriptions of two possible short films: “The Ant Man” and “Hawkeye.”
“The Ant Man”
A socially dysfunctional SHIELD research scientist, Hank Pym, is having trouble at home. His relationship with his wife is strained, and he feels that this is due, in part, to the long hours he has to put into his research. He wants nothing more than to be a SHIELD agent, so he won't have to deal with the headache of clinical trials anymore. After being repeatedly denied on the grounds that he is not “agent material” physically, mentally, or emotionally, Pym concocts a plan. He begins experimenting on a newly discovered particle that has the ability to condense or expand its mass. He begins trying to duplicate this result within his own cells, and after that succeeds, within his wife (who was more than willing to help out, seeing as this was the most time they had spent together in some time, and Hank needed to duplicate the results in order for it to be considered a scientific success.) He and his wife gain the ability to alter their density: i.e. they can double the density of their body, which will half the body's surface area...or they can half the density of the body which will double the body's surface area. In the end, when having a meeting with Fury, one of Hank's “Ultron” robots (a completely automated soldier based on Stark's Iron Man designs) malfunctions and nearly kills Fury, who is saved by Hank “Giant Man” Pym, coincidentally, SHIELD's newest field agent.
“Hawkeye”
Clint Barton was a soldier until some bad intel caused him to end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Due to his close proximity to a bomb, he lost most of his hearing, and all of his trust in authority figures. As he couldn't effectively carry out missions with such a low percentage of hearing, he quit and used his talent with projectiles to become a carnival attraction known as “Hawkeye.” He soon learns that the carnival is a front for a criminal organization, and he decides that if he can't be a soldier anymore, he can be a hired thief (as he greatly misses the rush of being on a battlefield, and he gets a similar feeling from breaking into high-risk establishments). His final mission, to break into SHIELD and steal layouts for several well-protected government buildings, leads to his capture. The film would end with Fury talking to Barton, insisting that with talent like his, they could certainly “work something out.”
Now, as anyone who passed first grade can see, I've stated that I would like to see an introductory short film in front of each of the upcoming Marvel Studios films, and I have only named two characters (or character sets), while there are three upcoming films (four, if you count the Avengers film). Well, that's because I could only think of two stories I particularly wanted to see and because Iron Man 2 is in post-production and in all reality, they wouldn't have time to put together a decent film to show before it in that amount of time.
As always, thoughts, comments, feedback, and yes...even criticism are welcome.
Excelsior!