Update: Nikki Finke reports that Marvel has offered Fav a new deal to direct Iron Man 2, with a requisite “insider” telling her, “What, do people think Marvel is stupid?” Well insider, I guess it’s good that Fav didn’t have to utilize Twitter, Plurk and Facebook to get a new deal, if true.
The NY Licensing Show teaser poster for the RoboCop remake received a huge response on Slashfilm, and today brings logos marking Marvel’s ambitious future like geek tarot cards via MTV.
One has to wonder what is running through Jon Favreau’s mind when a logo and bold release date position Iron Man 2 as first in line, while Marvel continues to leave him hanging blankly on MySpace.
As for the other films? While the logo for 2010’s Thor is from the comics, it’s rather cheesy in my opinion, conjuring 1988’s Gor and/or a wrestler who ties vibrant streamers around his arms. A notch below on the meh meter is the logo for The First Avenger: Captain America, which is a mouthful no matter what and is sans patriotic stripes. And then there’s the logo for the studio’s ultra-burrito, The Avengers, which also remains faithful to the comics and my personal fave of the ones here, alongside Iron Man 1 & 2. Unsurprisingly, the company’s Ant-Man and Runaways are absent here, as is Lionsgate’s Punisher: War Zone, which opens this fall and continues to have underdog status on the Nets, and next summer’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine from Fox.
Anyone have a cell phone grab of a DC Comics rep studying this at the expo?
Discuss: What do you think of the logos? With one massive hit under their belts, will all of these films pan out for Marvel? With the possibility of a creative controversy already brewing, what do you think the future holds?
June 12th, 2008 at 10:12 am
It’s intersting that you trash the Thor and Captain America logos, then applaud the Avengers logo for being “faithful to the comics” Both the Thor and Captain America logos are straight from the comics.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Iron Man is a stupid comic book and Thor sucks too. Let’s just stick to Batman, Wonder Woman and the X-Men, ok?
June 12th, 2008 at 10:27 am
What Nate said. The Thor logo is the logo that’s currently being used for all things Thor. And Captain America’s logo has looked like that for a while.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I just don’t think you can stack that many different typefaces on a black background without it looking pretty shitty.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I hope they don’t screw Favreau out of Iron Man 2, everytime they switch up directors things never turn out right. Only thing I’m really concerned is the reality of the series, Iron Man was praised for its realistic approach towards the genre but throwing Thor and The Hulk in this mix is gonna be a real hard angle to pull off without seeming cartoonishly humorous.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:37 am
They all look outdated/lame except Avengers.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:45 am
The fact that Marvel Studio’s HAVEN’T come out and publicly denied the rumours that they’re screwing over Jon Favreau over money speaks volumes to me. The guy did what many other people have tried to do and failed (miserably) - which is bring a DECENT IRON MAN film to theatres.
IF Marvel go ahead and dump Favreau as it looks like they’re doing then they’re making a very bad name for themselves if you ask me.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Yeah, I mean he made them over $400 million in pocket so far off of Iron Man, They should give him whatever he wants
June 12th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I doubt these are final. The iron man logo looks much more finished than the others. I’m not buying the quick effects (gradients, outer glows, simple beveled edges).
And Iron Man II, didn’t that just recently get announced? I doubt they would have cranked that out so fast.
I guess I’m just unimpressed, but maybe it’s just because it’s not in context. And have we ever seen a logo released before? Without a poster? That just doesn’t feel right, posters generate buzz, this feels more just like a quick list of releases.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Why is Thor using The Dark Crystal font?
Haw!
June 12th, 2008 at 11:34 am
These are not movie logos! Look at the Iron Man comic logo and then look at the Iron Man movie logo, big difference. The same thing will be true for the others once they get going, this is just some quick down-and-dirty show graphic and they just used what they had laying around.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I personally think that Marvel is putting all their eggs into one basket, which isn’t a good thing to do with Hollywood trends. And if Marvel had any common sense, they should slow down and concentrate on one movie at a time otherwise you are going to overlook the formula that made your first film a success. I also believe that it was foolish of Marvel to set the date so quickly without talking to their stars; both Jon and Robert. I wouldn’t be surprise if you hear the date has been pushed back.
Marvel owes a debt of gratitude to Jon for the work he did on Iron Man; and with any company, bonuses and a higher pay raise are almost expected with any homerun performance. I think it’s safe to say that they would be hitting the nail on their own coffin a might earlier if they don’t stop and look at what they are doing. I would really hate to see Marvel films go down in a ball of flames that quickly because of their decisions. I say this as well as a stockholder in Marvel. Give Jon his due and make it up to him and lets get on track for the preparation of the next film, which if Jon says has to be pushed back it won’t hurt my feelings since I know he’ll deliver a great follow-up.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Where is the X-Men: Origins Wolverine poster at?
June 12th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Angry:
Wonder woman? SERIOUSLY? Geez…
June 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
@ giantman
Yes, the other three logos originate from their respective books as stated above, and are most likely tentative, but this is the first poster with Marvel’s line-up and thus warrants attention.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
“sans patriotic stripes” if it was striped… now THAT would look stupid…
June 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
@ Hendo
What about a bald eagle?
June 12th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
its too bad they dont have decades of source material, and thousands of brilliant artists to lend a hand in creating these logos. oh, wait…
June 12th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Iron Man 2 better be good or the others will dive at the box offfice.
No matter what if Robert is in it people will go expecting a good romp and walk out disappointed wondering why Fav didn’t direct it? And then that huge chunk of change from word of mouth will not be there. First weekend is a success and then the second weekend falls 50-60% and so on. Then Marvel releases its other titles and with one disappointment after another audiences will stop going.
Point is Marvel is setting themselves up for failure
June 12th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
@Hunter
Oh sure, not arguing about the need for comment, just the reaction that these are in any way actual bono-fides when it comes to the film marketing. Which they are obviously not. The comment should be based on unrealistic expectations and WHY Marvel would do that? The answer probably has more to do with pressures from the Board/Stock/Banks/Creditors than anything else.
My best guess is that we’ll start seeing some date sliding in the coming months.
June 12th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Honestly, with all the controversy we’re all still rooting for Marvel to make this happen. Comic fans have wanted this for so long so it’s such amazing news that this may actually happen.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
i’m with you on the Thor logo. cheese. Hey, what about Punisher, what sh*t show thats gonna be, no one on wall street is talking about that, could be huge loss potential there… i mean, the film looks terrible. no villain pics yet? cmon !!!!
June 12th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
it’s very cool to see marvel skyrocketing through the film world. and they deserve the all the success they get.
but quality-wise: none of these will touch nolan/DC’s TDK or it’s (hopeful) third entry. nolan is the best filmmaker to touch the comic book film genre, and there are few people who could top him.
AND if singer is allowed another chance, superman could very well return to the top of the superhero movie food chain.
the movie that really has my curiosity is the wolverine film, because lemme tell you - gavin hood is NO JOKE. this guy could turn out something that does in fact rival TDK.
yes marvel is on fire right now, but none of those films announced will be as classic or as cinematically important as this new Batman universe - it’s influence is scattered all over these marvel flicks - Fav has repeatedly admitted it. singer too, is a better filmmaker than anyone marvel has grabbed so far, in this new wave of theirs.
of course raimi is a god as well, but he’s not under this new marvel umbrella…yet.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
when it comes to film, superheroes should not be mixed into the same projects. You can wish for some crazy team up film, but when push comes to shove, I’d be very surprised to see it ever work right. Assuming Marvel tries this cross polination anyway, I can only hope that DC doesn’t follow suit.
I don’t know how it feels for Marvel fans, but I’m going to be pissed the first time I hear of a Batman film that is going to include Superman etc. Forces were at work when that Justice League project bit it.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Make Mine DC
…though I will be seeing The Incredible Hulk tonight at midnight!
June 12th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
ok i dont know much about the industry but considering that they are only making these movies i dont think its no plausible for them to make their deadlines if all else fails they can always push it back right.
and another thing now that marvel is up people are already wanting to tear it down i dont get why people are like this we build something up just to hope and watch it fail.
i’m glad the superhero movies are going out of the hands of the other studios and being made by marvel because now we wont get no ridiculous dancing like in spiderman 3
i liked the movie until they broke pete and mj up again after that it was all downhill
June 12th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
the reason why a mash-up of superheroes will work for Marvel is because they’ve started building the mythology of the other characters into the individual franchises…..they’re slowly (and smartly) feeding us more and more references and plot points into each movie that comes out.
In Iron Man, they set-up Nick Fury….in Hulk, they set-up both Captain American and Iron Man. Once the Avengers comes out, it’ll all seem natural.
The reason why I think it could work (at least financially) is the potential of having all those big names in the movie. Ed Norton, Sam Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., and whoever they cast as Capt. America and Thor. Would have quite the draw.
Why it could work critically is due to the fact that we’ve never seen anything like it. The potential themes you can explore with a superhero team concept can be really interesting if you think about it. Especially given our situation today, and the mentality of the next generation: It’s about “we” not “me.”
June 12th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
matthew -
I like the points you make, but the reality is that they will have to write a film that includes all those characters into a story/plot without it getting clogged up with stupid. It sounds good, but I think it’s easier said than done.
For the most part, it worked in animation with JL:New Frontier, but that film could never have been done as live action (budget, etc). Most characters had very minor roles anyway.
Given the Marvel scenario, is a bit part for the characters all that is needed to make it work? Will the actors’ agents also like the “we” over the “I” when it comes to paychecks? I dunno. I admit I’m hedging on the pessimistic plausabilities, but at this point, I’m not convinced it’s going to work out as well as fans are hoping.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:09 am
I am not too sure about all of this. Although, I did just get out of the new Hulk film, it was amazing. But by this point it seems as if Hollywood is going to kill these superhero films…I think the last superhero movie should probably be the Avengers anyway. Then maybe Hollywood will have to go back to cop buddy movies again - or the 999th rip off of a Toy Story.
June 13th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
i dig all the logos. How is Captain America a mouthful? People are just going to call Captain America anyways.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
First, After a movie like the X-Men (multiple characters and life stories) does everyone really think that the story will “get glogged” by the wide aray of characters and stories incorporated? Second the reason the movies have guest apperance characters in them is so they can bring them together in The Avengers movie. You see (for the dense population) this enables the Avengers to be formed, leaving the meeting of the characters somewhat explained. Meaning that we the people need nothing more than a simple explanation or a brief but very action filled flash back to get us up to speed on the forming of the group. So please stop talking about the possible troubles in making the Avengers movie because of the various originations or histories of the characters.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
im not saying that i am sure but i think terrance howard is goin to be in that movie and if he is i hope that they make him war machine in the next ironman movie:D