The Avengers movie (Downey, Cheadle)

[IsaacMahomie]

Yes, he's a master of doing more with less. And characterwise, his touch will be great here. But this is also the Avengers we're talking about. I want to see some crazy fights to go down.

[opie301]

The final fight in Serenity? The intimate fight between Mal and The Operative paralleled against the bad-ass moves of River Tam? I thought these were well executed, poetic, and easy to actually follow what was going on.

Honestly, I'm not concerned with his ability to direct a fight sequence.

[Silv3r]

While his ability to direct a fight sequence in my opinion is fine, hopefully with the Avengers they get some good consultants in to advise what to have in the fight sequences, especially for Cap.

The operative in Serenity is about the only male I've seen him direct with some good fighting skills, and even then it was underplayed so he could either dominate or fight against brawlers (i.e. Mal). Whedon's love of powerful women lets us see great action when it's flexible women doing high kicks and whatnot, but I've never really been that impressed by dudes fighting in his work, its usually wide punches and stunted kicks, and thats just not enough in my opinion to make me go "wow". That said, I know Cap is from the forties and fighting wasn't exactly as refined and globalised then as it is now, so I'd expect a lot of tackles and boxing style punches, so I guess weave in some shield throwing in there and Whedon could at least do him justice.

Wow, that was a lot of ranting to get nowhere.

[IsaacMahomie]

But this is still Avengers we're talking about. This isn't just one on one fights. I want to see Thor smashing up tanks while Iron Man is shooting down helicopters and jetplanes, all while Captain America and Black Widow are taking on like 20 guys at once with explosions everywhere.
Maybe that's a little exaggerated. But am I the only one here who is expecting more than fist fight and chase scene out of Avengers?

[Silv3r]

I'm definitely with you on the whole "massive" front Isaac, but I have faith.

[IsaacMahomie]

I'll agree with you there. Due to his other successes, I have "faith" that Whedon will pull it off.

Any word on what HULK's role will be here? I'm hoping for at least one fight between the Avengers and Hulk.

[The Bodyguard]

Early rumor for the Hulk was that he would be the villain ala Ultimate 1. Don't ask for sources, I heard that sometime last year and I cannot remember where from. But I would be excited to see Hulk telling people he is bigger than Freddie Prinze Jr.


Seriously, the movie would win on that alone.

[opie301]

As far as I can tell, they're holding off on a Hulk sequel until after the Avengers crossover. I don't know if this means that a rampaging Hulk will be the focus, a tangential storyline, or if (oh man wouldn't it be cool) Banner gets recruited.

An interesting set of possibilities.

[LincM]

I'll agree with you there. Due to his other successes, I have "faith" that Whedon will pull it off.

Any word on what HULK's role will be here? I'm hoping for at least one fight between the Avengers and Hulk.

I don't want to have Faith, I want the Avengers to have Faith. Five by Five.

[The REAL Brian]

Just because Whedon hasn't done an out and out superhero movie before doesn't mean he can't. Some of the best received superhero films were done by newcomers to the genre.

[joerules]

The Whedon choice is no more risky than Rami on Spiderman or Favs on Iron Man I think he's proven that he can write (Astonishing X-men) and direct (Serenity) a group adventure. Crafting the story will be the biggest challenge. How do you make these very different characters work in the same world. The source is a good place to start and I think the approach in Ultimates updates it nicely for the real world but we're talking now about properties and franchises colliding. That is easier said than done.

[LincM]

I'm only being facetious about my comments: while I mean them, I'm actually more excited by the prospect than I show. I loved Serenity and welcome seeing what he can do with this film. But I would eat my hat if he doesn't have Dushku and Hannigan. Hannigan would be a perfect Firestar, while Dushku would be an awesome Madame Masque (even though I don't know how you could write them all into it).

[Silv3r]

I could buy Dushku as Madame Viper. But that would be more of a SHIELD movie than an Avengers one.

[LincM]

In as much as the world in general is concerned, a shield movie would actually be an Avengers film. You couldn't actually release a movie with the title "Shield", both because of the TV series and the lack of knowledge of the source material, and people would be confused by a film that included Thor, Fury, Cap etc that wasn't called The Avengers.

[Mongbert]

Whedon has a wide fanbase. I dont love him but I think you'd have to make an effort to mess this up.

You remember how the last Hulk ended? Shots implying Banner had it a lot more under control, and Stark and Ross talking. Really that means it could go either way, recruiting the Hulk would be a good opening scene if theyre not using that to thaw out Cap, I dont think a VS the Hulk would be a strong enough main plot.

Shame about Ant-man though, at least he's started to get a cool portrayal in the comics, that'll have to keep him happy for now.