The folks at
Collider have conducted a huge interview with the driven force behind Marvel's Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios' president Kevin Fiege. Ultimately discussing the Kenneth Branagh-directed
Thor, Feige also discusses forthcoming films
The Avengers,
Iron Man 3,
Ant-Man and debunking
Doctor Strange references in
Thor. You have the option to read the interview or listen to the audio
HERE. Even shedding light on what was filmed last week in New York, as well further confirming the Helicarrier in
The Avengers, check it out!
On Thor's deleted scenes, I think a few shots of the Destroyer and I was talking to [co-producer] Craig Kyle and he was mentioning to me that there might have been a reference to Hank Pym in the movie that might’ve been taken out.
That scene is in the movie. Literally the only thing we took out were the words “Hank Pym”. It was when Selvig, Darcy, and Jane are on the roof and S.H.I.E.L.D. has just taken all of their stuff. Darcy is complaining about her laptop and Jane is going, “Who the hell are these guys anyway?” Selvig then tells a story, which is clearly alluding to Bruce Banner, that he knew a gamma scientist and this thing happened and S.H.I.E.L.D. came up, which he had never heard of again. Selvig may or may not have all of his facts straight on that, but those are the rumors that go around the science world there. He goes, “I have a friend who has had experiences with these people. Let me email him.” That friend is Hank Pym. But we took out “Hank Pym” because it felt like, “Banner! Hank!” We were just like, “Enough.”
People online are saying that there might be an Easter egg or two that might be a little Doctor Strange thing in [Odin's vault] in the movie.
’m not sure about Doctor Strange in particular. Oh, I know what they are talking about. That is not Doctor Strange. It is right out of Thor. It is right out of the first Tales of Asgard stories. I think it’s called “The Warlock’s Eye” I think it is verbatim what [Jack] Kirby drew. I think those are the scenes. There is other coverage and stuff where we lingered on those things longer but again “Why are you lingering on that stuff? It has nothing to do with the movie.” “Oh, but it’s cool. People will recognize it.” You can’t do it. But everything in that vault and everything you might see if you pause and look behind people’s shoulders or as the Einherjar soldiers are walking past – everyone of those has a story and it is from the books. There is Thanos’ glove, or certainly a glove that looks like it could be Thanos’ gauntlet, is in there for sure. The Warlock’s Eye thing is in there. There are some swords. There is a sword there that may or may not be eternal. There are a number of things. There is even one, and in fact I’m not sure if you can see this in the movie or not, but there is one that is empty. There was one sort of subchamber of the vault that didn’t have anything in it. So the question is “What used to be in it?”
When do you think you guys will announce what is coming up in 2013 or 2014?
It probably won’t be too long from now as we are figuring that out now. Clearly, if you look at the Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the X-Men films, two or three years between sequels is usually what we like to do. You don’t know if you are making sequels till the movies come out or not. So I will say that there is flux in what the release schedule could be for 2013, 2014, and maybe 2015. Then we hope to…I’m meeting with Edgar Wright tomorrow morning. It is the longest…I said to Edgar, “You didn’t realize it was like 5 years ago or maybe more than that that we met at Comic Con?” But he has the best [Ant-Man] draft yet and I think we could be in shape to do it. It’s a luxury that it has been allowed to live and breathe like that. It’s not where it was just racing to a release date. Iron Man 3 is for sure. We are actively putting it together right now. What happens beyond that? We will see. But for the first time…frankly, when we did Iron Man and Hulk we had two movies in development – Iron Man and Hulk. Now, there is more of a selection. So we can go, “What scripts are we feeling good about? What properties do we now feel that we want to bring into the forefront?”
Did you realize when you brought Shane Black in for Iron Man 3 that there was going to be such fan enthusiasm for this man to take over?
ike when we announced Robert [Downey Jr.], I always thought that there would be some people who got it and some people would be like, “Well, that is weird. Let’s see what happens.” I was surprised when certainly the fanboy community got it right away with Robert. I should’ve known they would’ve gotten it right away with Shane.
So when filming The Avengers, there are certain actors that are not being used yet?
Yes. On any movie it’s a rarity to have all of the actors in every shot and every scene. Clearly, we are making both movies. So we scheduled things knowing that [Chris] Hemsworth and [Tom] Hiddleston would be here now while [Chris] Evans is here promoting Captain America. He won’t be shooting The Avengers so we balanced a very difficult…it’s a house of cards with this shooting schedule. But it did start last Monday.
How long is the shoot for The Avengers?
Most of our movies go for about 80 to 100 days. I think The Avengers falls right in the middle of that somewhere. That is for first unit and then it could be anywhere upwards to 50 days for second unit. But we will be going through September.
There was a lot of conjecture if that was for Captain America or The Avengers filming in New York's Times Square? Or was that for both?
I like that conjecture. I’m glad that is the conjecture. Here is what I will tell you, the first day of The Avengers included Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson. They were the two actors there on the first day of The Avengers shoot. That doesn’t mean that is the beginning of the movie and that doesn’t mean that is the Times Square scene, but they were first up. I will tell you…let me tell you a little story. Filmmakers are anxious about what other people are working on. Have you seen the Transformers trailer yet?
It is unbelievable. You look at something like that and you go, “That is gigantic. That is huge. That is awesome. Wow. Boy, we have to equal that.” Literally an hour later I go into the dailies of The Avengers from the first few days of dailies. I saw Sam Jackson as Nick Fury in a slightly redesigned outfit with the eye patch turning around on the bridge of the Helicarrier and I went, “Oh. That is cooler than anything else. That one shot. That one thing.” I’m not worried anymore.
For the full transcript, where Feige speaks on bringing Marvel to Tv & teaming with Pixar, head over to Collider! So, for a recap, there was no initial reference to 'Doctor Strange' in
Thor, the filming in Times Square was for
Captain America solely, and theres a scene in
The Avengers where Nick Fury, in a new costume, is on the SHIELD Helicarrier bridge. Awesome!
And look for
Thor in theaters May 6,
The Avengers May 4, next year, and
Iron Man 3 May 3, 2013!