Find Out How DEADPOOL Director Tim Miller Contributed To Marvel’s IRON MAN Success
We all know the Deadpool director has ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to Thor: The Dark World, but it seems the VFX guru is also linked to Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Hulk
Coming off the unexpected success of the Deadpool movie, director Tim Miller and co. have been receiving praise left and right for the box office record-breaking hard R-rated Marvel adaptation. And the latest bit of praise comes from Marvel's Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada, who took to Tumblr (via CBR) to reveal that Miller actually played a role in the development and the success of the first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Most people may not know or even remember but close to 10 years ago Tim and I worked on a Marvel project together. As we at Marvel began plans on the first Iron Man movie our focus group research showed that we had some serious awareness issues with the character, especially amongst kids. One of the major takeaways was that kids who had zero knowledge of the character had no interest in him because they thought he was a robot. In early 2007 Marvel assigned a small group of us to create what would eventually be called Iron Man Advertorials: Three animated shorts with a simple clean story that would introduce Iron Man to younger viewers using our two most recognizable characters at the time as bait. Our marching orders were to… Clearly demonstrate that there was a man inside the armor, show off his wide range of cool powers, Position him clearly as a hero on the same level as Spidey and Hulk by having those characters show how cool they perceive him to be and valued him as a peer.
“We also felt that if we really wanted to grab kids attention we needed to go high level CGI and Marvel gave us the budget to do it. This was a huge vote of confidence at that time because things were still tight in those days. That’s where Tim and the incredible team at Blur came in and knocked this assignment out of the park. Working with Tim was a joy (you’d have trouble finding a nicer more creative guy) and immediately his love of all things Marvel and comics was evident. He took the scripts and created beautifully visceral action scenes while never forgetting to keep things lighthearted with the classic Marvel sense of humor running throughout. Attached is episode one, two and three to follow. Considering how long ago these were created and how far computer graphics have come, I think the shorts hold up pretty darn well and what always makes me smile when I watch them are the little bits and pieces that would later come to influence certain moments in our films. See if you can spot them. What’s also fun to see is how even back then Tim’s wonderful and mad cap directorial skill was clearly evident.”
If you were around during the earliest days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you probably already saw the animated Iron Man short (above) with the eager desire to see what happens next with the Armored Avenger, Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk (see below). Anyhow, it is rather cool that Deadpool director Tim Miller was involved in the universe long before he and his Blur studio directed the opening sequence to Thor: The Dark World. And now that we've seen more of what he can do with the Merc With a Mouth, perhaps he could helm a Marvel Studios flick in its entirety further down the line. What do you think?