Get sick for a day and tons of stuff happens. Oh well.
We’d like to think we started this brouhaha, so we don’t mind stealing images from those who didn’t mention us (take that!). So yeah, we saw ‘“Iron Man” last weekend and then made a perhaps, a knee-jerk loud stink that all the purported cameos in the – ones by Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Nick Fury, Ghostface Killah as a Sheik in Dubai and Hilary Swank – were AWOL from the film.
And that’s cause they were missing (at least at our screening, more in a sec). Our, “hey, what a rip off!,” definitely had a ripple effect and other people started to notice and complain as well.
While Ghostface Killah and Swank’s cameos seem to have been definitely cut out of the film (no one still seems to know what role Swank was supposed to play), it appeared for a second that director Jon Favreau purposely took out Sam Jackson’s cameo from the critic screenings so paying fans would get a small surprise come regular street date (today).
And then, Moviehole confirmed yesterday that Jackson IS in the film (like we all thought, or at least on Wednesday that clearly looked like the cast)
“At the end of the credits, Stark comes home and finds Nick Fury in his living room -staring towards the window. He then turns to tell Stark he’s the not the only superhero in the world. Stark asks who he is, and Fury turns and says he’s “Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D, and I’m here to talk to you about The Avengers Initiative”.
The Avengers of course being the Marvel Universe dreamteam super hero group, so it looks like Favreau is helping Marvel sew the seeds for that movie project down the road (Marvel now owns most of their own characters and is hoping to tie them all in for an Avengers movie that would probably be the most expensive movie ever made if all their franchises keep doing gangbusters like “Iron Man” certainly looks like it will this weekend.
OK, so we were duped. Or wait, is this Moviehole post just an unconfirmed rumor? Nah, Executive Producer Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”) confessed to MTV yesterday word is born. “Sam L. appears in the movie. Marvel likes to use these movies to announce [things], and tip their hand at different things to come.
“There’s a tip of the hat toward a future franchise. The Avengers is a movie a lot of people would like to see someday” (and one that the “Iron Man” directors says he’d love to helm).
Director Favreau was more coy. “It might not be a bad idea to stay until the very end of the movie,” he smiled. “Let’s put it that way” (uhh, dude your producers already confirmed).
To our one reader who suggests Hilary Swank is the woman standing next to Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark in a Vegas gambling scene earlier in the film, we respectfully, totally disagree. At this point, we’re even wondering if Swank’s alleged cameo was just disinformation.
But nope, Favreau confirmed her appearance back in the beginning of April, refusing to reveal whether it will set her up as She-Hulk, Black Widow, the Wasp or someone else. “There’s a lot of rumors online right now, and I’ve only honestly read one that’s true,” he hinted. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there. But I’m not about to get up and start confirming or denying things, because there is so much of a swirl of speculation that it’s kind of fun!”
In a recent interview (which we can’t find at the moment cause we’ve read so many), Marvel head Kevin Feige said the company now owns the rights to The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor Ant Man and of course Iron Man (and possibly one other smaller female character) so that right there could be the total members of your Avengers (and possibly smaller characters?). Either way, stay tuned. You could likely see that movie as early as 2015.