Zak Penn Reveals Which Major Character Originally Had Only A Very Small Role In THE AVENGERS

Zak Penn Reveals Which Major Character Originally Had Only A Very Small Role In THE AVENGERS

Before Joss Whedon decided to rewrite the movie, Zak Penn penned The Avengers to Marvel Studios and he's now revealed which character was initially given a small role due to a lack of faith in them...

By JoshWilding - Apr 01, 2018 01:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Avengers
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Back in 2010, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was still in its infancy and Zak Penn (who had written The Incredible Hulk) was tasked with penning the screenplay for The Avengers. When Joss Whedon was hired, he threw out most of Penn's ideas - it's thought that it would have featured the team doing battle with The Hulk - but the writer has now revealed just how different the movie could have been. 

Revealing that pretty much no one was confident in the MCU finding any sort of success when Marvel Studios was first formed, he notes that Thor, in particular, proved to be problematic for them all. 

Originally, no one thought the God of Thunder's solo adventure would take off when it was being developed...until they laid eyes on Chris Hemsworth, that is! "I remember Chris Hemsworth walking through the Marvel offices, and being, 'Oh, my god, that guy is Thor,' " Penn says, adding: "Originally I was trying to reduce how much Thor was in [The Avengers]. Once it was clear that, no, this is going to work and were excited about it, then I did not [reduce Thor in the script]. I stopped doing that."

It's interesting to think that had the likes of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger failed to resonate with audiences, both heroes would have probably taken a backseat in The Avengers and quickly faded into obscurity! Luckily, things panned out for all of these characters (well, aside from Hawkeye it seems based on how little we've seen on him in Avengers: Infinity War's marketing).
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Hardfelt
Hardfelt - 4/1/2018, 1:50 AM
With respect Josh this was reported two days ago in the Hollywood Reporter https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ready-player-one-screenwriter-zak-penn-his-best-worst-movies-1097883 you should probably acknowledge that.
JohnMarston220
JohnMarston220 - 4/1/2018, 1:52 AM
I'm surprised no one's posted the update about Fox studios dropping the merger with Marvel. We were so close :/
Kevwebsz
Kevwebsz - 4/1/2018, 1:53 AM
@JohnMarston220 - I definitely believe you :)
Nebula
Nebula - 4/1/2018, 2:00 AM
@JohnMarston220 - [frick] that would've been a good one to make a post about.
JohnMarston220
JohnMarston220 - 4/1/2018, 2:02 AM
@Kevwebsz - That's pretty weird, I saw a video on YouTube announcing it was dropped. It was a pretty reliable source, but I went back to see the video but it seems like it was taken down...weird. Even googled it and theirs nothing.

Sorry!! Lol
Kevwebsz
Kevwebsz - 4/1/2018, 2:07 AM
@Nebula - Do it.
JohnMarston220
JohnMarston220 - 4/1/2018, 2:11 AM
@Kevwebsz - I'd post a gif but I'm on my damn phone

You know what gif I'm talking about (;
Nebula
Nebula - 4/1/2018, 2:15 AM
@Kevwebsz - Nah, I doubt Nate wants more than 1 post per person. Imagine the whole site being filled with them.
Kevwebsz
Kevwebsz - 4/1/2018, 2:16 AM
@JohnMarston220 -

Was it close?
JohnMarston220
JohnMarston220 - 4/1/2018, 2:24 AM
@Kevwebsz - theirs nothing, can't see it
Toecutter
Toecutter - 4/1/2018, 2:48 AM
@JohnMarston220 - Shit. That one would have been perfect.
JohnMarston220
JohnMarston220 - 4/1/2018, 2:56 AM
@Toecutter - Also unfortunate, really want Xmen back with Marvel Studios.
incredibleTalk
incredibleTalk - 4/1/2018, 3:52 AM
@JohnMarston220 - ...cant find that information anywhere...April fools I guess!
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 4/1/2018, 6:07 AM
@incredibleTalk - No shit?
Seejay
Seejay - 4/1/2018, 2:23 AM
No surprise. It is well known that Whedon dislike the character Thor.
LaserKing
LaserKing - 4/1/2018, 4:17 AM
A big part of Marvel and the success they are enjoying is that they are making the characters engaging. The comics were similar for me with the heroes not just saving the day but worrying about paying rent.
regularmovieguy
regularmovieguy - 4/1/2018, 5:54 AM
@LaserKing

“The comics were similar for me with the heroes not just saving the day but worrying about paying rent.”

I take it you didn’t like Homecoming?
LaserKing
LaserKing - 4/1/2018, 10:34 AM
@regularmovieguy - To be honest I did like homecoming. I did not like the Flash. I could live with him being a little better off and some of the other changes but I know they needed something fresh. I did like the first Spiderman movies and how they handled Peter dealing with all his problems. They did give Homecoming spidey some issues to deal with as well.
BritishMonkey
BritishMonkey - 4/1/2018, 6:16 AM
So, he basically had no clue how to write Thor and thought it best to do very little with him until he saw Hemsworth.
TheUnworthyThor
TheUnworthyThor - 4/1/2018, 8:53 AM
That would been soul crushing. As a longtime huge Thor fan I never actually believed I would get to see a Thor solo movie so getting one was a surreal experience. I always had thought my one chance at seeing Thor on the big screen would have been as a member of the Avengers. And now to hear people weren’t even confident in that. That would have sucked. But now here I sit with a Thor trilogy and soon enough four (hopefully) Avengers movies with a prominent Thor. Beyond my wildest dreams.
thunderforce
thunderforce - 4/1/2018, 10:14 AM
Well we were right then and Thor was held back . Hope they make up for it and show what Thor can really do in the next one . He should be the most prominent since he is the most powerful .
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