Comic Strip: Does Marvel Studios Want Angelina Jolie For ‘Captain Marvel’?

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, Marvel (supposedly) eyes a few new directors, Ryan Reynolds talks up ‘Deadpool,’ and ‘Daredevil’ reveals its first trailer.

Rumor Patrol: Directors For ‘Captain Marvel,’ ‘Black Panther,’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok’

Let’s say one thing up front: we know nothing about Marvel’s plans for their ‘Captain Marvel’ movie. There are a dozen different ways they can bring this character to the big screen and since she’s not especially well known to mainstream audiences, each and every one of them could work. However, there is one way to get a lot of butts in the seats: get Angelina Jolie involved.

That’s the latest rumor swirling around the internet, anyway. According to a (100% unofficial) report, Marvel Studios is courting the international movie star and ‘Unbroken’ director for this potentially risky project and she’s interested in taking it on. Considering the success of ‘Unbroken’ at the box office and Jolie’s sure-handed direction, this makes sense, especially since it would be great for Marvel to hire a female director to bring one of their best female superheroes to the screen. It’s the other half of this rumor that has us raising an eyebrow: her reported $20 million payday for the gig.

However, that number makes sense under one condition. What if Marvel wanted her to direct and star in the film? After all, Jolie is a genuine movie star with wide appeal and she could easily portray a tough action heroine like Carol Danvers. Anyway, that’s something to chew on for a little while.

If you want more to chew on, note that ‘Selma’ director Ava DuVernay has officially gone on the record about directing a comic book movie: she’d be down for it. Duh. She’s open about not knowing the material at all, but she also doesn’t pretend that she wouldn’t be interested in taking on a project like this. It’s no secret that Marvel wants a black director to bring ‘Black Panther’ to the big screen and she’d be on helluva choice. Between her and Jolie, it’s nice to see more diversity behind the camera at Marvel Studios. Hopefully both of these stick.

At the same time, DuVernay is too powerful of a voice to get lost in superhero movie land. If Marvel gives her James Gunn-level freedom, we’d love to see her let loose on the MCU. Otherwise, we’d rather she just do her own thing for the time being.

Anyway, here’s DuVernay’s comment followed by video of the whole interview:

I'm not a big comic book fan, but I know that I love to deconstruct heroes, deconstruct myths. I probably would want to do some kind of origin story, where you get to the core of it, before they get the powers. I don't know about Marvel, but I know I love to tell all kinds of stories, so I don't say no to anything; everything's possible.

Now, let’s take a quick dip in a lake of total crazy and venture in the hive of scum and villain that is Reddit. A user showed up on the Marvel Studios subreddit, claiming to be a recently fired employee with secrets to share. Naturally, you shouldn’t believe any of this for a second because this is the internet and everyone on the internet is a liar. Still, for the sake of discussion, let’s go over his biggest news dump: the short list for the director’s chair on ‘Thor: Ragnarok.’

According to this Anonymous Internet Person Who Is Probably Not Telling The Truth, Marvel Studios is looking at Adam McKay, Matt Reeves and Gareth Edwards for the job. Let’s break that down. Edwards seems unlikely since he’s got that ‘Star Wars’ spin-off and ‘Godzilla 2’ on his plate. He won’t find the time even if he wanted to direct this. Matt Reeves is far more likely, but he’s hard at work on the follow-up to ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,’ so it’s also unlikely (but not nearly as unlikely). That leaves McKay, who is best known for directing the ‘Anchorman’ movies. He may seem like an odd fit for the material, but he almost stepped in to direct ‘Ant-Man’ and ended up rewriting that film’s entire screenplay with Paul Rudd. Who knows? Maybe he wants to really try his hand at something big and different.

But seriously: this is some guy on Reddit. Don’t get too worked up about any of this.

From Green ‘Arrow’ to ‘Green Lantern’

First up, how about that image of Brandon Routh suited up as The Atom? It’s like The CW is working overtime to apologize for not putting a domino mask on Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow during the first season of ‘Arrow.’ Now, they’re unafraid to put their characters in honest-to-god superhero outfits:

The CW

With the introduction of The Atom and The Flash to the DC television universe, The CW and the shows’ producers have finally shown a willingness to embrace the crazier corners of their comic book source material ... which lends credence to fan theory that, if true, could go down as one of the craftiest retcons ever.

Could David Ramsey’s John Diggle, Oliver Queen’s right hand man, actually be John Diggle Stewart? And could he become a Green Lantern and get his own spin-off series?

Seriously. That’s so crazy that everyone involved would be foolish not to embrace it. After all, Ramsey is solid screen presence who is more than worthy of getting a chance to pull off some serious superheroics. Still, anyone looking for a confirmation will have to wait a little longer, as Ramsey himself has no idea if this bonkers idea will come to pass:

Is John Diggle John Stewart? I cannot say “yes,” and I cannot say, “no.” I’m serious! I do know that there is serious discussion about whether or not this guy becomes John Stewart. But, I mean, I’ll say this: it is top secret. I’ve asked them and they’re like, “we’re working on some stuff.” If that’s the case, it’s gonna be huge. This is the stuff they want to avoid. I think they don’t want anybody to know yet and they haven’t even told me. But they have told me that they are thinking about it and that they are considering it. But they’re not going to release anything yet. That’s exactly what the told me. Greg Berlanti told me that. Andrew [Kreisberg] and Marc [Guggenheim] have told me that. I haven’t spoken to Geoff Johns about it. But that’s the word from people directly involved in Arrow- that they’re working on something. “Here’s the truth of it: if I knew, I would tell you I know the answer to that, but I’m not at liberty to tell you that. I would answer like that. I probably wouldn't’t tell you anyway, but I would at least tell you that I know. I honestly do not know.

After Ryan Reynolds’ disastrous take on Hal Jordan in ‘Green Lantern,’ it would be wonderful to see the material done right on television. Heck, if they work fast enough, they will beat ‘Justice League’ and ‘Black Panther’ to the punch and introduce the first live action black superhero (unless you include ‘Steel,’ which we most certainly do not). There is no reason to not do this.

Oh, and before we move on, it seems that noted WWE fan Stephen Amell has a bone to pick with the wrestler Sting. Yeah, this is a thing:

Post by Stephen Amell.

That ‘Deadpool’ Movie is Really, Really Happening

Speaking of that disastrous ‘Green Lantern’ movie, Ryan Reynolds has begun chatting up ‘Deadpool’ by wisely tearing that stinker down. In a recent interview, he explained exactly what went wrong:

When we shot Green Lantern, nobody auditioning for the role of Green Lantern was given the opportunity to read the script because the script didn't exist. I'm not complaining about it — it was an opportunity of a lifetime, and if I were to go back and retrace my steps, I would probably do everything the exact same way.

And let’s face it: you really can’t blame him for saying yes to a superhero gig. It’s a shame that the whole thing blew up in everyone’s face, but Reynolds was the least of that film’s problems. He concluded this interview by assuring everyone that the ‘Deadpool’ screenplay is completely finished, so that won’t be a problem this time around ... unless the screenplay stinks, but we’ll remain optimistic.

Reynolds’ pre-filming publicity tour continued elsewhere, with the live action Wade Wilson explaining why it took so long for the film to get a green light from the studio. Reynolds credits the fan response to the leaked test footage for getting the job done. Prior to that, he says, 20th Century Fox wasn’t willing to move forward with the production.

But don’t ask Reynolds if the footage was intentionally leaked. He claims that no one actually knows:

Honestly, we all thought Tim Miller, the director, had leaked it. But I have since investigated that enough, in quiet moments when he was beyond the point of being penalized by anybody, and he said that he really didn’t do it. The initial [leak] came from Fox they think — someone recorded the footage on their iPhone and then released it. And then once that happened, somebody hacked into Blur Studios and got the original footage in high-res and put it online.

No matter how it came to be, ‘Deadpool’ is about to go before cameras. The film has a smaller budget than originally intended, but Reynolds says this has bought them far more creative freedom:

Now, we get to make the movie. We don’t get to make it with the budget of most superhero movies, but we get to make it the way we want to make it, so that’s even more exciting than having a catered lunch.

And while we still don’t know what ‘Deadpool’ is actually about, we do know that it will have a female lead that may be played by ‘Homeland’ veteran Morena Baccarin or ‘Orange is the New Black’ star Taylor Schilling. If one of them signs up, they will join a cast that also includes T.J. Miller as one of Deadpool’s allies and Ed Skrein as the villain.

This Week in Marvel on Netflix

Well, after months of shrug-worthy images and vague comments from the cast and crew, the first trailer for ‘Daredevil’ has arrived and it looks fine. Honestly, there’s not much to go on at the moment, even with a preview that runs nearly two minutes. We only get to see Matt Murdock’s early, homemade costume (which is, hopefully, only going to hang around for a few episodes) and we only get the briefest glimpses of his the show’s supporting cast (including a mysterious shot of Vincent D‘Onofrio’s Kingpin). Still, a lot of the typical Daredevil tropes are there: guilt, Catholicism, and darkness. Lots and lots of darkness of both the metaphorical and literal kinds.

We have big hopes for this series, especially since showrunner Steven S. DeKnight has experience telling character-driven genre tales on shows like ‘Angel’ and ‘Spartacus.’ Still, all we want is one piece of evidence that the show will feature Daredevil in his proper red costume. If that black pirate get-up is all he wears, we’ll de annoyed (and so will a lot of other people).

But let’s get positive! It seems that Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso has seen the first batch of episodes and he’s quite enamored with the show. Then again, it’s in his bet interest to say nice things about the show produced by the company that pays him:

I binge-watched the first four episodes, and I absolutely loved it. I cannot wait to see the rest. Daredevil flexes a very different set of muscles than anything you've seen from Marvel -- on TV or the big screen. It builds a world.

In the same interivew, Alonso also praises the acting and action, although his choice of words sound more like a press release than an honest reaction:

...especially Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk -- the cinematography is lush and atmospheric, and the action sequences will blow your mind.

But it was also a big week for Marvel’s second Netflix series, ‘AKA, Jessica Jones.’ The show has officially gone before cameras, adding Carrie Anne Moss to the cast in a mysterious new role. More importantly, we got our first look at Krysten Ritter as the retired superhero of the title and she, well, looks like Krysten Ritter. Which is fine! Unless the show features flashbacks to her costumed days, Jessica Jones is going to look like Krysten Ritter for all 13 episodes and people who don’t like Krysten Ritter don’t like attractive, talented actresses who deserve a chance to strut their stuff on a Marvel TV show.