Victor Von Doom
Fist of teh Internets.
Bump for all those playing and those who forgot....
Still.....
I believe we still stand by these statements.
****ing Compound.....
Still.....
THE PREMISE
Conceptualized as a summer blockbuster, with a large effects budget. An unabashed "popcorn movie". The plot revolves around the formation of the group, in response to a prison break at a jail for super-villains. Eight heroes from different parts of the Marvel Universe pursue their escaped arch-nemeses, individually. They soon realize they will need to stick together, in order to prevent their foes from executing an ill-defined nefarious world-conquering scheme.
My director of choice is Tim Minear, who is responsible for memorable episodes of The X-Files, Firefly, Wonderfalls, The Inside, Angel, and Lois & Clark. With a background as diverse as that, he's prepared to handle the mixed bag of characters in New Avengers.
THE CAST
Alan Rickman as Dr. Strange. I don't feel the need to justify this choice. If you're familiar with Rickman's work, I think it pretty much speaks for itself.
Carla Gugino as Spider-Woman. Honestly, I never paid much attention to her, during her stint as the eponymous U.S. Marshal on Karen Sisco. Nor did I pay much attention to her role as retired secret agent Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids movies. No, I picked her as the duplicitous Jessica Drew on the basis of her performance as uncompromising, hard-nosed crisis manager (read: cover-up specialist) Molly Caffrey in the under-rated Threshold.
Leonard Roberts as Luke Cage. Cage may posture like he's a 'playa' or an 'original gangsta', but when it's all said and done, he's basically a family man, looking out for the interests of his wife and newborn child. And he won't hesitate to bust heads to keep his loved ones safe. That's why Cage is the perfect role for Roberts, most recently seen as D.L. Hawkins on Heroes.
Caroline Dhavernas as Jessica Jones. The role of Jessica Jones calls for somebody who can play a survivor; a tough woman who's lived through her share of traumatic crap, and now wants to settle down into something resembling normalcy. She needs to be at once vulnerable to the ever-present threat of super-powered menace in her life, but also fully capable of dealing with any trouble that comes her way. With that in mind, I picked former Wonderfalls star Dhavernas.
Jared Leto as The Sentry. The Sentry is a character who is meant to be charismatic and conventionally good-looking enough to be a former icon of American heroic idealism. But he's also a severely damaged and mentally unstable persona. I'm convinced that Jared Leto -- no stranger to tragic figures -- would competently bring this difficult figure to life.
Justin Theroux as Wolverine. Wolvie needs to be at once physically intimading, but also capable of being occassionally goofy. That neatly sums up what Theroux does best -- for example, his wonderfully over-the-top "psychotic Irish gangster" role in Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle.
Christopher Gorham as Spider-Man. As others have mentioned, Spidey needs to be the Everyman. He's the reluctant adult with the wife and family to look out for, who can't help but play dress-up and hang out with the guys -- and often finds himself knee-deep in danger, as a result. I decided to go with Christopher Gorham, who made his debut as the likeable Harrison on Popular, then went on to pedestrian sci-fi fare like Jake 2.0. He's now a recurring guest on Ugly Betty, where he's proven that he's got the right kind of geeky, boy-next-door charm to justify the role of the Friendly Neighborhood Web-Slinger.
Clive Owen as Iron Man. This is 616 Tony Stark we're talking about -- a likeable, roguish bastard with more of an ethical conscience than he's willing to admit to. It's precisely the kind of role that permitted Owen to make a name for himself, in movies like Children of Men and Sin City.
Scott Speedman as Captain America. By far, the most difficult role to cast. Also, not coincidentally, the one I have the least confidence in. I decided to go with Underworld's Scott Speedman on the basis of his generic all-American looks alone. I just might change my pick, if I'm able to think of a satisfactory replacement, before the deadline.
So there you go -- a loose mix of TV mainstays and established film actors. Hopefully, they would have the chemistry necessary to pull off a team-oriented movie like NA.
I believe we still stand by these statements.
****ing Compound.....
