With all the speculation and rumors swirling over the roster for The Avengers I decided to take a look at a couple of rumored possibilities.
Clint Barton aka (Hawkeye)
Months ago it was rumored that Jeremy Renner was up for the part of the famed archer and that he may appear in
Thor. That is until he had this to say to Movieline....
That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion. It
was an idea. Those Marvel guys, I’m a big fan of them. They’re so smart about how they want to do these things — they have Captain America, and Thor coming around, Iron Man 2, and then I happen to know Zak Penn, who’s writing The Avengers. So they thought Hawkeye is an interesting role, and asked me if I knew anything about him. I said no, so they gave me their sort of spiel on what he was, and I thought that it was kind of interesting. The only reason it came out this early, because Avengers is two years away, is that they’re thinking okay, we may throw him in Thor, we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there’s truth that we talked about it, but there’s no truth to me doing it.
I still don't know what to make of this retraction, correction, backpedaling
or whatever you wish to call it. This statement sounded to me as if he was just trying to get the cat back in the bag. I still think we will see Hawkeye at some point in one of the films leading up to
The Avengers or in
The Avengers itself.
Janet Van Dyne aka (The Wasp)
There have been plenty of rumors involving The Wasp. Eva Longoria was at one point reportedly up for the role.
More recently Olivia Munn has been rumored to have "picked" the role of The Wasp out of Marvels catalogue of characters.
While I don't give any credit to these casting rumors I do believe The Wasp will cameo in one of the upcoming Marvel movies leading in to
The Avengers.
Hank Pym aka (Ant Man, Giant Man, Goliath and Yellowjacket)
Now, I have heard zilch, nada, zero about a possible cameo or appearance of Dr. Pym in any of the upcoming Marvel movies. I find this strange for more than one reason.
The first reason being that everyone is aware of the fact that Marvel is planning an
Ant Man movie at some point. So the one character that we know Marvel is interested in has had no cameo mention.
Also, why so many rumors about The Wasp without Ant Man? Can't have one without the other.
Well this really got me to digging on anything Hank Pym related. I find it difficult to believe that Marvel would exclude him from a cameo in one of their upcoming films.
While reading the acting credits for
Iron Man 2 I came across something that caught my attention.
Josh Driver ... Expo Scientist (uncredited)
Out of curiosity I looked for pictures of Josh Driver but had a difficult time finding any. Finally I found his official website at http://www.joshdriver.com/home.html which is worth checking out. It is a cool website. Anyway I found this picture on the site.
Ok, so he looked a lot like what I would envision Hank Pym to look like. My curiosity rose even higher.
It turns out that he has had parts in such movies as
Walk The Line","Black Snake Moan" and
"Valentines Day" and is a regular on
"Melrose Place." He is also a very talented musician.
I decided to e-mail Josh and ask him about his role in
Iron Man 2 not really expecting a reply.
I noticed your name in the Iron Man 2 credits and the fact that your are listed as an (uncredited) Expo Scientist. You look very similar to a important Marvel scientist in Iron Man and Avengers history.
Are you by any chance playing Hank Pym in Iron Man 2?
Thank you for your time.
Hawksblueyes
To my surprise the next day I received this answer.
I am actually not sure. Thanks for the complement though. Maybe the casting directors had Pym in mind when they casted me but as far as I know I am just a friend of Tony Stark and a scientist at the Expo.
Thanks and enjoy the film!!
- Josh Driver
I found the lack of a clear yes or no a very unusual answer. Clearly not one I expected. We have traded a couple of e-mails since this reply and he granted me permission to use it in an article if I would like.
So, what do you make of Mr. Drivers reply and who do you think will be on
The Avengers movie roster?