Comic Book Resources have posted their recap of Zak Penn's "Hero Worship" (his new Avatar Press series with co-writer Scott Murphy) panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, and some new details about what he had planned for
The Avengers have emerged. Of course, once Joss Whedon took over, the director rewrote the script and reportedly used few elements from Penn's screenplay; something surely only fans of
Elektra and
X-Men: The Last Stand were disappointed about. He told those in attendance that it was,
"My job was to keep revising the draft...for about four or five years, that's what I did. The story was basically the same, but it kept shifting. Then, once Joss (Whedon) came in, he took over from there."
Penn goes on to reveal that Marvel Studios had no contingency plan if any of the solo movies had failed and that he didn't think it was a good idea to release
THOR before
The Avengers. Instead, he would have introduced him in the superhero ensemble. Regardless of the changes made by Whedon, he revealed that Loki was always intended to be the main villain, although there was actually,
"some discussion of it being Red Skull." He added,
"If I thought I could have gotten away with Thanos. I would have put him in there." While it's interesting to note that it was clearly Whedon's idea to use the Mad Titan as a part of
The Avengers, the fact that the studio considered using the Red Skull may indicate that they still have plans for the villain...could we see him return in
Captain America: The Winter Soldier?!
Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures Marvel’s The Avengers--the super hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel super heroes Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.
STARRING:
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Ramanoff/Black Widow
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson
Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
Tom Hiddleston as Loki
RELEASE DATE: September 17th, 2012 (UK) September 25th, 2012 (US)