CHAPTER 4:
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE CHRIS
Ever since Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man started a CBM movie boom still going on today, the rights for Thor and Captain America were hopping from studio to studio. But when Marvel Studios made a distribution deal with Paramount, the studio managed to quickly get the rights back.
After the success of Iron Man, Marvel set a June 2010 release date for Thor, which was meant to introduce the fantasy elements into the MCU. Matthew Vaughn was set to write and direct the film. However, he left the project later on. And the hunt was on to find another director.
Thus, Guillmero Del Toro was signed on to direct. Del Toro was excited to work on the film as he loved the Jack Kriby comics as well as the character of Loki. He also wanted to put a lot of focus on the Norse mythology and make the Adgardians muddy vikings. However, Del Toro left in favor of directing The Hobbit. And he didn't even direct THAT. He only cowrote it.
Then DJ Caruso was rumoured to direct. Why? Because he had plenty of CBM experience. He directed an episode of Smallville! And... um... An episode of Smallville! However, that rumour was false, as Kenneth Branugh took the directing gig. This had a mixed reaction. Some were confused because... why is the Shakespeare guy directing Thor? While others were excited because... the Shaksepeare guy is directing Thor!
Due to the time spent finding a director, Marvel pushed the film back by a year. However, they had to move it again as they realised "Oh crap, we put Thor and Captain America like two weeks apart"! They ended up moving it to the first week of May as it was the intended release date of Spider-Man 4 before it got canned.
Now for casting. A lot of actors were considered for Thor. This included Daniel Craig, Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum, Charlie Hunnam, Joel Kinnaman, WWE superstar Triple H, and Liam Hemsworth. The role ended up going to Liam's brother, Chris.
But don't feel too bad for Liam. He's Gale now, so everythin works out okay.
Wait, what about their brother, Luke?
Eh, no one gives a damn about Luke.
One other person who was considered for Thor was... Tom Hiddleston? And Jim Carrey and Josh Hartnett were considered for Loki? Yeah, I love Jim Carrey, but this sounded stupid.But hey, who knows? Maybe Hiddleston could've have done a good job as Thor.
NO!
The film was relased onMay 2011 and did a decent job. It got some good reviews for the performances, the effects, the action, and, of course, LOKI! As for the box office, it didn't do as well as Iron Man, but still did a decent job. Even if it had HUGE competition. In May alone, it had to face off against Pirates 4, Hangover II, and Kung Fu Panda 2. Plus, THERE WERE THREE OTHER CBMS COMING OUT THAT SUMMER! One of these was another Marvel film.
SEGWAY!
When Marvel and Paramount made the distribution deal, one of the movies that was promised was Captain America. Jon Favreau was considered to direct, but he chose to direct Iron Man. After Avi Arad left, Kevin Fegie decided to get Joe Johnston to direct it. Many people felt this was a good idea as Johnston already made a old style action adventure film (The Rocketeer). Originally,Fegie wanted half the film to be in WWII and half the film to be in modern times, but there was a CA movie like that already...
Marvel got Narnia writers Stephan McFeely and Chris Markus (MORE CHRIS PEOPLE!) to write the screenplay and they were major influenced by Back to the Future and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Now for casting. James Payton appears in one scene as Hitler and he would reprise the role in Monuments Men (worst typecasting ever). Alice Eve, Emily Blunt, Gemma Arterton, Rosemund Pike, and Keria Knightly were considered for Peggy, but the role was given to Hayley Atwell. Sebastin Stan was considered for Cap, but he got the role as Bucky.
There were a lot of actors considered for Cap. These actors included: Will Smith, Channing Tatum, Sam Worthington, Scott Porter, Garrett Hedlund, Mike Vogal, Wilson Bethel, John Krasinski, Michael Cassidy, Chance Crawford, Jensen Ackles, Alexander Skarsgard, Kellan Lutz, and Ryan Phillipe. The actor Marvel really wanted was Chris Evans. They asked him three times and each time he said no. However, he was convinced by none other than Mr. Robert Downey Jr. to take the role, and Evans finally accepted. Also, when making him smaller, they had to digitally manioulate his body instead of putting his face on a small guy. Also, this was his sixth CBM. The others were the F4 movies, The Losers, Scott Pilgrim, and the 2007 animated TMNT film.
Like Thor, this movie had strong competition (Harry Potter), but it did just as well as Thor in terms of Box Office and reviews.
Anyway, this was the final movie under the distribution deal with Paramountand Marvel would release their next movie with Disney. Speaking of which, there was a trailer for that movie after the credits of Captain America. And this movie was going to be huge. Epic. Something that was said to be impossible.
TO BE CONTINUED...