Thanks to CBR for the awesome interview...
On Iron Man 2:
What are some of things you want to improve on from the first film?
Little things. Really little things. I don’t know, I think our end battle this time will be slightly more epic in scale. It’s that balance of delivering the character. All we really care about in these movies are the characters. But also, delivering a spectacle. On the highway and the rooftop in the last movie was great and the connection between Jeff Bridges and Robert was great but we wanted to give it a little more spectacle this time around for the finale.
On Black Widow:
Black Widow is being introduced in “Iron Man 2” and is played by Scarlett Johansson. Will her character be a part of “The Avengers” movie or possibly be spun-off into her own feature film?
She’s signed on for all of those should we be lucky enough to have an audience that wants to see them.
On Nick Fury:
How large will Nick Fury’s role be in “Iron Man 2,” “Thor,” and “Captain America?”
You know, that remains to be seen. I think Sam Jackson’s gone on the record as saying that he hasn’t busted into bad-ass action mode yet. At the end of the first one, for the people who were patient enough to wait through the end credits, they met this guy named Nick Fury. They or Tony had no idea who he was. In this movie, he opens that door a little bit more for Tony and invites him to walk through it. Tony may or may not do that in this movie. But Nick Fury is the conduit through which all the characters will connect.
In that case, how important was it for you to sign Sam Jackson for all of those films?
We wanted to do it. We wanted to do it for the continuity and clearly he had inspired the Ultimate Comics incarnation of Nick Fury of the past ten years. So we were very happy when we got him involved in all of the movies.
On The Hulk:
Will the Hulk factor into “The Avengers” film at all?
I think so. In the comics, he has.
Would “The Incredible Hulk” star Edward Norton return for the Avengers movie?
I don’t know? We should ask him.
On Captain America:
How is “First Avenger: Captain America” shaping up?
“Captain” is going to start prep in October. We already have some concept artists working on it. Joe Johnston is finishing up “Wolfman” now. We’re deep into the script and he was in the office with us recently. We open the offices officially in October.
How close are you to actually announcing the “Captain America” cast?
I think it will be a few months.
On Thor:
How is “Thor” coming along and when does it start shooting?
Kenneth Branagh is great and we’ve got Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth and I can’t wait till next year when we bring all of those guys to Comic-Con. Natalie Portman is on board, which we’ve mentioned. We are about halfway through prep and we start shooting in January.
Finally, what sold you on Chris Hemsworth as Thor? What made you say, “This is the God of Thunder?”
It’s one of those rare things that doesn’t happen often but people like me always say it so it probably sounds cliché. But we auditioned a lot of people. We did a lot of screen tests. We put a lot of people on video. One guy just kept popping out. It was Chris. And you realized, regardless of what he’s saying or how he’s saying it, you’re engaged with him. It’s that movie star quality which I think he has. And, thankfully, he looks like Thor, which is a good combination.