While “Kick-Ass 2” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson has yet to be officially confirmed as Quicksilver in the forthcoming superhero sequel “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” he’s been the clear frontrunner for a couple of months now. And just days before the D23 Expo in Anaheim (Disney‘s version of Comic Con), where Disney is expected to make some major Marvel announcements, Taylor-Johnson spilled the beans about his approach to the iconic character. As he’s quick to point out to Total Film, he’s not officially signed up for the role, but that doesn’t stop him from talking about it. A lot.
Taylor-Johnson has already started in on research for the character, who in the comic books was created by Marvel titans Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as the son of Magneto and the twin brother of the Scarlet Witch (who will also be in “Avengers: Age of Ultron”). While he started out as a villain, part of the villainous fraternity the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, he eventually became an integral member of the Avengers. He is a mutant capable of moving in superhuman dashes (not unlike the DC Comics character The Flash; their costumes both contain a lightening bolt motif).
“There’s years — over 50 years — of backstory on him all there to use, and I like doing that. Him and his sister have been abandoned by their parents and their father, and they grew up in Eastern Europe defending and looking out for themselves and each other,” Taylor-Johnson explains, going into a little more detail about what his relationship with the Scarlet Witch will look like. “His sister really is his guidance — emotionally she’s the one who looks after him, and vice versa. He’s very overprotective physically — he doesn’t want anyone touching her.”
While he and the filmmakers (and Marvel, we’re sure) are in talks about what the character is going to look like, Taylor-Johnson says that he wants to shoot for a more “out there” performance, like some of his “Kick-Ass” co-stars have done. “That’s what we’re in talks about really, right now — how I could become that character and not feel forced. I might not look right with white hair, and the accent may be wrong… it just doesn’t work like that.”
This could be a real chance for Taylor-Johnson to explore the character and show people what he’s made of as an actor. “It’s about — unless you’re Jim Carrey or Nic Cage and go ‘This is the character’, people go ‘OK, OK…’ When people haven’t been shown your range like that, then they’re a bit more skeptical — they may not want you to push the boundaries in that way,” he said. “But that’s what I’m interested in as an actor…”
“Kick-Ass 2” comes out on August 16th, and “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” will bombard our galaxy in the summer of 2015.