During a recent press conference, director Jon "Iron Man" Favreau discussed his desire to direct a big screen adaptation of the developing Marvel superhero team feature "The Avengers".
"I'd love to, you know, if the experience is as good as this. Since The Avengers has The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man, they (Marvel) still have to make a few more movies," he said.
"I think they would want to get a chapter in on each of the heroes before they combine them. But I think it is very smart that they are thinking of 'cross-pollinating' between different characters..."
Marvel Studios plan to self-finance two movies per year, with numerous comic book-to-film projects in development, including Zak Penn's screenplay for "The Avengers".
"Ant-Man" will feature criminal 'Scott Lang' finding the cybernetic suit invented by 'Dr. Hank Pym', to be directed by Edgar Wright.
"Thor", written by Mark "I Am Legend" Protosevich, follows the Norse god of thunder banished from Asgard to live as human 'Dr. Don Blake' among mortal men.
Marvel's self-financed slate also includes feature film versions of "Captain America", scripted by David Self and "Nick Fury", written by Andrew Marlowe.
Studio-financed Marvel movies include "Deathlok" at Paramount, "Gargoyle" at Sony, "Namor" at Universal, and "Wolverine"/"Magneto" at Fox.
March 1970, Marvel Comics killed off the Simon/Kirby comic book character "Captain America", aka 'Steve Rogers', after more than 60 years in print.
Now Cap's 1940's sidekick, Army Company 'mascot' 'James Buchanan "Bucky"' Barnes' will pick up the shield and take his place as the new 'sentinel of liberty'.
According to Marvel, Bucky was placed in suspended animation by the Russians and stayed that way for 60 years.
Reappearing in the Marvel Universe as the character 'Winter Soldier', Bucky has no super-powers, unlike Rogers who was injected with a 'super soldier serum' that transformed him into a perfect fighting machine.
Cap's Canadian connection goes back to 1966 with the "Marvel Superheroes" cartoon TV series, produced in Toronto by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, headed by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson and Robert Lawrence, starring Canadian voice actors Bernard "Bunny" Cowan and John Vernon...
Bluewater Productions will develop a line of comic books with Legend Films. Debuting this summer, the books will consist of a variety of classic films updated for the graphic novel market.
"We are excited to be working with Bluewater Productions on the comic series," said Legend Films president Barry B. Sandrew.
"We have seen what they have done with the Ray Harryhausen brand and can't wait to see what they do with some of our films."
In the new comics, fifty years after an alien invasion unleashed 'Plan 9', a team of government scientists reactivate a zombie horde to lure aliens back to Earth...