The news that Disney is buying Marvel for $4 billion has taken the entertainment industry by surprise. But while the deal itself came out of nowhere, it’s not too shocking that these companies would see the benefit of coming together. They each involve an enormous universe full of characters, stories and, most importantly, licensing opportunities. And at a time when original plot ideas are difficult to come by, this acquisition could mean a surplus of comic book and film synopses based solely on the possibilities of team-ups, battles and other crossovers between the Disney and Marvel worlds.
To give you an idea of where this deal could lead, we’ve come up with ten potential movies that we’d love to see come out of the Disney-Marvel relationship. Check them out after the jump.
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As long as X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a success this weekend (and despite all its “bad luck,” it should do very well), Fox will follow it with another X-Men spin-off, this one detailing the back story of Magneto. Outside of that project, which has been in the works just as long as the Wolverine film, there’s interest in solo movies for Gambit, Deadpool and Emma Frost (White Queen), as well as a spin-off about the original X-Men team as students.
Recently, in another list, we called for an Origins film focused on the shape-shifting villain Mystique, for which we even suggested Brian DePalma to direct. That spin-off is still our first choice, but since there are so many great mutant characters in the Marvel Universe, we’d like to pitch ten more X-Men origin movies to Hollywood (not just to Fox). To go along with the studio’s idea of hiring an unqualified filmmaker (Gavin Hood) for the job, we also recommend a barely appropriate director for each film.
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I’m still not crazy about the idea of Liev Shreiber playing Sabretooth (aka Victor Creed) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I think of the actor as being more a white-collar kind of guy. And maybe a bit smarter. I know Sabretooth isn’t supposed to be nearly as dumb as he was portrayed (by Tyler Mane) in X-Men, but I think of him as being more animalistic than intelligent — I know it’s probably wrong to think that, and it’s been years since I last read an X-Men comic, but that’s what I’ve always thought. Meanwhile, I expect to see Schreiber wearing a suit and tie (or reciting Shakespeare, or both!). Hooray for typecasting!
Anyway, most of you have probably already seen these latest set photos courtesy of Just Jared, but I thought I’d showcase my favorites, which include that one above and this one and this one and this one. I’ll give it to the more knowledgeable fans who will point out that Creed has brains, but did he also have boobs? Surely they should have cast a more fit actor, or had Schreiber get in better shape. And I don’t just mean the obvious issues seen in these pics. Shouldn’t Sabretooth have gigantic shoulders, at least?
