Posts Tagged ‘Quicksilver’

Evan Peters as QuicksilverIt’s not as good as I hoped but not as bad as I feared. Remember kids, it’s the 70s.

A few things to keep in mind while viewing this picture:

  • It’s not a high rez production still, the effects may not be finished.
  • The content is obscured by something in the air (ash? glass?)
  • Again, it’s the 70s.
  • Is that man in the back duct taped to the wall?
  • WHY IS XAVIER WALKING?! (apparently this is astral projection?)

That being said, Quicksilver’s hair does look more grey than silver. He’s also wearing some kind of headband which makes the styling seem kind of off. It also doesn’t help that his jacket is of the bright and super shiny silver rather than a matte silver I personally would have chosen.

Really, Quicksilver seems more apt to have come out of the 80s than the 70s, but so far everything seems to place this film in the early 70s. Perhaps our Pietro is ahead of the curve in more ways than one?

In any case, I remember seeing production stills of Thor and thinking that the outfits looked too plastic but when it came together in the film they had a much more polished metal look. I’m really hoping that we’ll see something like that here with Quicksilver. Perhaps the lighting (especially since they are using the high-frame-rate cameras that require super bright light) will make it pop better as a true silver rather than this grey which is very reminiscent of Storm in X3. I’m crossing my fingers on this…

It’s also interesting to note that Age of Ultron is going into filming soon which means they are going to have to soon settle on Quicksilver’s hair for Taylor-Johnson… I wonder if anyone at Marvel!Disney is taking note?

Lastly, seriously, that dude is duct taped to the wall. If Quicksilver did that at superspeed… then the movie will be worth it just for that!

Image Courtesy of CinemaBlend

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Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth OlsenI’ve already commented that it was official due to other reputable sources, but now it’s official!official with Marvel itself signing off on the casting.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen have officially joined the Avengers family as the brother-sister duo of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the highly-anticipated sequel to 2012’s smash-hit “Marvel’s The Avengers”! “Avengers: Age of Ultron” arrives in theaters May 1, 2015.

Taylor-Johnson broke out with his roles as Dave Lizewski in the “Kick-Ass” franchise and with his portrayal of a young John Lennon in “Nowhere Boy,” for which he won an Empire Award for Best Newcomer. Since then, Taylor Johnson has starred in 2012’s critically-acclaimed “Anna Karenina” and director Oliver Stone’s “Savages.”

Since making her big screen debut in 2011 with “Silent House” and “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” for which the actress garnered a number of awards and nominations, Olsen has gone on to star alongside the likes of Robert DeNiro and Sigourney Weaver in “Red Lights,” Josh Brolin and Samuel L. Jackson in director Spike Lee’s “Oldboy.”

Taylor-Johnson and Olsen will share the screen as leads in the highly anticipated “Godzilla” remake scheduled for a May 2014 release.

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” will bring the Marvel Universe’s biggest heroes together again to face one of their biggest villains, with “Marvel’s The Avengers” director Joss Whedon returning to write and direct the sequel. “Marvel’s The Avengers” was released in 2012 and went on to earn $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the third-largest grossing movie of all time.

In addition to “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel Studios will release a slate of films based on the Marvel characters including “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on April 4, 2014; “Guardians of the Galaxy” on August 1, 2014; and “Ant-Man” on July 31, 2015.

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Elle Style Awards, London, Britain - 11 Feb 2013It was pretty much a sure thing, though still classified as ‘rumor’, but the casting for Scarlet Witch seems to have finally been confirmed by the Witch herself.

Elizabeth Olsen Finally Confirms ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ Role via MTV

“Avengers” director Joss Whedon has been very open about his intentions to include brother-sister duo Scarlet and Quicksilver in his upcoming sequel “Age of Ultron,” but confirming who will play the sibling has been a little more difficult to pin down.

“Kick-Ass” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson was first mentioned as a contender for the role of Quicksilver this summer and was finally confirmed for the part last month (via The Wrap). He was said to be joined by his “Godzilla” co-star Elizabeth Olsen, in a report from Bleeding Cool in August, but an official confirmation was harder to come by for Scarlet Witch.

Samuel L. Jackson’s comments to The Wall Street Journal seemed to have confirmed that Olsen would appear with him in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” but now the actress herself has shared her excited about joining the project with MTV News’ Josh Horowitz.

Speaking with MTV News at the junket for “Oldboy,” Olsen joked that Jackson had freed her from refusing to talk about the project by confirming her role. She said that she doesn’t know too much about “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” but that she’s excited to work with Taylor-Johnson again.

“We get to play husband and wife, and we get to play twin brother and sister,” she said. “It’s also fun because even though in ‘Godzilla’ we play husband and wife, we don’t have a lot of scenes together. I just love him. I love his family. I love his kids. I’m so excited…to actually work with each other. I think it’s going to be fun.”

Olsen also mentioned her soon-to-be director, Whedon, who she was quick to compliment. “He’s very smart. He’s too smart. He might be too smart,” she said. “Some people are too smart for their own good, but he’s amazing.”

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” opens in theaters on May 1, 2015.

While I’m not against the casting in and of itself… this basically confirms that the Maximoff twins are being stripped of most of their classic characterizations as Romani/Eastern European and being turned into ‘edgy British’. I understand Marvel!Disney had to tread water lightly since they can’t use ‘Magneto’ or ‘mutant’ in the film, but that doesn’t excuse changing the Maximoff’s nationality as it is wholly separate from their mutant status. The twins where Avengers long before they were ever discovered to be Magneto’s children and being mutants is just an excuse for them to have powers. The filmmakers could literally translate the twins onto the big screen with almost no changes from their comic book form just by saying ‘magic/experimental thingy’ instead of ‘mutant’.

There are only three reasons for them to be doing this:

  1. They don’t think the audience would want to see POC characters.
  2. They don’t want to make the effect to do POC characters correctly (or risk backlash from screwing them up).
  3. They are pissed about the license issue and deciding to completely remake these characters as some kind of thumb-nose to Fox.

None of these reasons are acceptable.

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via CinemaBlend

Evan Peters Talks About Quicksilver's Look In X-Men: Days Of Future Past image
The image you see above, Tweeted by director Bryan Singer this past summer while X-Men: Days of Future Past was still in production, is the closest we’ve come to seeing franchise newcomer Evan Peters as the speedy mutant known as Quicksilver. But while we may have to wait a long time before we see an official image of the character, today at the very least we have an official description of what he will look like. iO9 recently caught up with Peters, and shooting him questions about the comic book movie role in an interview the actor revealed some key details about the approach to the character.

Off the bat, comic book fans will be happy to hear Quicksilver will be keeping the signature part of his design in the comics for the live-action film. Asked if the superhero will be sporting his trademark silver hair, Peters responded, “Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it’s cool.” And while the site wasn’t able to get any details about the suit that the character will be wearing into battle, apparently the star was a fan of some of the 70’s fashion he got to sport, including what he calls “a pretty sweet jacket.”

In addition to the look of the costume, the interviewer also talked with the actor about the set you see in the photograph above, which Singer called the brightest set he’s ever worked on. All of the lights were necessary for filming with high speed cameras (operating at 3600 frames per second), which Singer used to stylistically capture Quicksilver’s incredible powers. It sounds like the makings of some very cool sequences, but apparently it was a difficult set to work on for the actors. Explained Peters,

“It was incredibly bright. A lot of the crew and Bryan, himself, got to wear sunglasses. And the actors had to keep their eyes open for a long, long time, with that bright light just blaring at you. It’s like the sun. It’s brighter than the sun. It’s right there in your eyes. But the end result is so worth it. You just power through it.”

Explaining the effect, the actor said that the sequences will go into “super, super, super, super slomo” to the point where it will appear that raindrops are frozen in midair. He added, “It’s amazing how that camera works.”

X-Men: Days of Future Past has completed its principal production process and has now been placed in the hands of the editors and visual effects artists who will work to get the movie ready for release on May 23, 2014. In addition to Peters the film also stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Daniel Cudmore, Adam Canto, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart, Josh Helman, and Fan Bing Bing.

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via BleedingCool

image

Peter David has been inspired by Google as a corporation getting into new areas of business… And All New X-Factor is about an Internet search corporation Serval Industries, creating its own superhero team, after buying the name from Jamie Madrox. We get Polaris, Quicksilver and… Gambit. With three more to come…

Since Gambit’s solo and Astonishing X-Men ended, he looked to be in limbo. He’s going to return in All-New X-Factor from Peter David. Not only that, but half-siblings Polaris and Quicksilver are going to be working together? And on what seems to be a paid super hero team set up by the MU version of Google? This.. should be really interesting… to say the least.

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The Maximoff Twins: Scarlet Witch and QuicksilverI’ve seen a lot of confusion about Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch being in the upcoming Fox and Disney/Marvel movies. Here is what you need to know:

1. If one studio uses the Maximoff twins, can they be used by the other?

Yes. When Fox received the license to use the X-Men in film, Wanda and Pietro were put in a gray zone and both studios have license to use the characters, with limitations.

2. What are the limitations each studio has for using the twins?

  • Fox can use them as ‘mutants’ related to ‘Magneto’ with some kind of relationship with the ‘X-Men’ but they can not be refered to as ‘Avengers’. (They can be Brotherhood, free agents, X-Men, or other, as long as Fox has the license for that group.)
  • Disney can use them as ‘Avengers’, but they can not be specifically referred to as ‘mutants’ nor their father mentioned by name. (The studio has the choice of either leaving that ambiguous, i.e. orphaned at birth (which is canon), or they can write in a new back story.)

Neither studio gets to use them as a whole.

3. Will they be played by the same person?

Nothing says that they can’t be, but since they will be two different versions of the same character, one a mutant, the other an Avenger, then it only makes sense to have two different actors. Think of it as if Keaton and Bale had their Batman’s come out at the same time. Both are Batman but done in two very different tones with a different take on the Gotham universe.

4. Then who will be playing them?

Evan Peters has been cast as Quicksilver in Days of Future Past and Wanda will not appear in the film.

Names have been thrown around for Avengers 2 but no official announcements have been made at this time.

5. Wanda isn’t in Days of Future Past, so Quicksilver is an only child?

Not necessarily. Singer only says that Wanda will ‘not appear’, meaning her character will do just that, not appear in the film. This does not mean she can’t be referred to as existing some place else at the time, i.e. “Have you spoken to your sister?” “Last I heard she was in Australia.”

Or, they could simply leave it as a non-issue. If no one asks him if he has siblings, and he never volunteers the information,  then for all we know both Wanda and Lorna exist someplace (and possible show up in a later film).

6. If they aren’t mutants in Avengers… then what?

We don’t know at this time but there are several options. Augmented Humans. Experimentation. Alien Tech. Magic. Etc.

Personally I’m voting for ‘magic as a higher form of science’ because I believe not only would that be closer to their original status as mutants but also fit in well with the established concept via the Asgardians. Also, Doctor Strange.

7. What about their heritage?

The twins were grew up as the modern equivalent of Romani after being adopted when their mother died at childbirth (probably).

Nothing has been said in Days of Future Past regarding Quicksilver’s adoptive parents or where he grew up. Evan Peters does look like the son of Erik who is a German Jew. Wanda took more after their mother who was the Romani, but as Wanda’s not appearing in the film, I doubt much will be made of this and Quicksilver will be German or from a Soviet Block country.

Whedon has said that he’s looking at ‘edgy British’ for the twins. Now, ‘British’ does not mean the twins could not be of Romani heritage but they apparently will not be first generation Romani. Whether or not they hold any ties to the Romani heritage is highly suspect at this time as the studio may decide to avoid the subject in order to keep from causing any kind of political incorrectness.

Basically, it is more likely that the twins will be ‘white washed’ in Avengers than in Days of Future Past.

8. No Magento in Avengers, what does that mean for the twins?

Not a hell of a lot. The twins were in the Brotherhood then joined the Avengers long before they realized their true parentage.

 I think that is everything, if there is something I have missed, let me know and I will do my best to answer it.

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So it’s ‘confirmed’ that there will be no Wanda in DOFP, but it’s not clear if this means she’s simply somewhere else (maybe Australia) or if Pietro is an only child in this universe. I will accept if she’s just not around (or they leave it open, i.e., they don’t say either way) but if they make him an only child then I will be very disappointed.

From BleedingCool

Crowds at Montreal’s Fantasia Fest last night were treated to some footage from X-Men: Days of Future Past and a Q&A from director Bryan Singer. I’m guessing it would have been the same reel of clips that I saw at Comic-Con, but I’d certainly have liked another chance to see it. Just one more reason I wish I was at Fantasia Fest.

JoBlo‘s man in the field gathered up a list of notes from the Q&A, and while there was a lot of previously-heard stories and other bits of business, some of it was fresh or worth another go-around. Here are the points that stand out to me. There are spoilers for old X-Men movies implicit throughout the rest of this story.

  • Tom Cruise is deferential to his directors.
  • Singer doesn’t see Jack the Giant Slayer as creatively compromised but does think it was mis-marketed.
  • Russell Crowe wanted to play Wolverine bald and that’s why he didn’t get the role
  • Singer thinks that X3: The Last Stand made a mistake with Cyclops.
  • While editing the first X-Men, he got into such a row with the editor he smashed a bottle on the wall and was locked out of the editing room for three days.

And then there were a couple of bigger, chewier points.

First up, Singer said that The Scarlet Witch won’t be appearing in Days of Future Past. Which means Quicksilver will be operating separate from his sister. And I wonder if the movie version – or rather, this movie version – of Quicksilver will even have a sister.

There’s already a bit of a puzzle in his family tree, with the character apparently old enough that he would have been born before the events of First Class but that film’s Magneto, who in the comics is his dad, was seemingly unaware of him. I’m curious to see what they’re doing with this decision.

And then there’s Singer’s comments on how the “old” Professor X has returned. JoBlo’s note says, verbatim:

Could justify bringing Xavier back because he transferred his consciousness and could possibly construct a body around that consciousness.

Most were assuming that time travel was involved in the resurrection of Charles. At least I was, before I saw The Wolverine.

But what’s this with the word “possibly”? Does that come from JoBlo or Singer? It’s not clear. Because if Singer doesn’t know, for sure, how the character was brought back to life, then he must be leaving it ambiguous in the film.

He could be misleading us. He could be misquoted. Either way, this notion of constructing a body… that’s a new one to me. Has he ever shown abilities of that kind in the comics, because I’m certainly not aware of them if he has.

X-Men: Days of Future Past continues production now. It’s looking good to me. Expect to see it in US cinemas on May 23rd next year.

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Spoilers ahead though only if you’re one of those who never watch teaser trailers. Oh, and Evan Peters literally quoted his character directly from the comics… good sign.

From io9

We saw the first teaser of X-Men: Days of Future Past just now at San Diego Comic-Con, and it was the most exciting X-Men moment in a decade. Here’s our rough impressions of what we saw. UPDATE: More details added!

Spoilers ahead…

Seriously, I hope this footage shows up online soon, because my description is not going to do it justice. There was a lot going on here. We saw it twice, so I’m adding more details from the second watching.

We see a closeup of Patrick Stewart’s eye, and someone (Stewart) asks, “What’s the last thing you remember?” Professor X (Stewart) responds, “I had a glimpse into the past.”Then Professor X tells Wolverine, “You’re going to have to do for me what I once did for you.” We slowly zoom out from Professor X’s aged face, and then we see him with a Cerebro helmet on, and later coming out of the Cerebro chamber.

And this is a dark dystopian future, where the dark, fetishy costumes are looking more dirty and distress and messed up, and Professor X and Ian McKellen’s Magneto seem weary and filled with dread. They’re in a war chamber in front of a table that shows how badly things are going. Wolverine even has a bit of gray in his facial hair.

We see flashes of all our favorite mutants, including Storm against a stormy sky, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, and some others. And there are futuristic-looking mutants, including  Omar Sy as Bishop, and some others I couldn’t identify wearing dramatic Mad Max-y makeup.

We learn that Professor X and Magneto have come together “side by side, to end this war before it ever begins.”

Wolverine asks, “So I wake up in my younger body, and then what?” Professor X responds, “Find me, convince me of all this.” And Magneto chimes in that Wolverine will find younger Magneto a different person, “a darker person.” We catch glimpses of 1970s versions of Magneto and Professor X — with a lot more hair and a lot more fire to them. Young Professor X has a crazy beard and a 1970s groovy outfit with an X-shaped light on his face, while Young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is waving a gun.

We see Young Professor X blowing dust off a white globe.

Back then, Professor X says, “I was a very different man. Lead me, guide me, be patient with me.” We see Young Professor X putting his hands on someone’s face as he tries to understand. Maybe Wolverine’s face?

Older Wolverine responds, “Patience isn’t my strong suit.”

And then blue glowing hands are gripping Wolverine’s head, sending him back in time into the body of his younger self.

We catch glimpses of other stuff — Young Magneto using his powers to pull a distressed Mystique along the floor. Young Magneto descending from the air looking scary. There is a mysterious opening under the Oval Office, revealed by the oval opening up like a trapdoor. And protests in the street, and Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) addressing a government hearing. And Richard Nixon looking weird and terrifying — and then Mystique walking down the street changing into a man in a pimp suit.

There is a LOT of stuff blowing up, and Young Professor X using Magneto, and the Beast attacking, a woman walking away from an airplane, and a military setting. We glimpse Professor X shielding his face from an intense white light, and the Cerebro machine exploding.

Young Professor X says, “I don’t want your suffering. I don’t want your future.”

And then Old Professor X is face to face with his younger self. He says: “Please. We need you to hope again.” It’s an actual spine-tingling moment. Actual goosebumps here.

In the panel, we met Omar Sy, who told us that Bishop is visiting from the future and just trying to survive, like everyone. Also on the panel: Peter Dinklage confirmed he really is playing Bolivar Trask.

And Evan Peters was here, as the new Quicksilver. Asked to describe his character, Peters said: “He’s very fast. He’s quick. He’s a spaz. He talks quick, he moves quick, everybody is very slow compared to him. He’s always at an ATM waiting for the bastard in front of him to finish.”

“He’s got excellent genes,” added Michael Fassbender, who plays his father, Magneto.

Someone asks what sort of costume Quicksilver will have, and Singer responds: “It’ll be a seventies costume. I had grown up as a kid in the 1970s and I had forgotten how hideous some of the clothing was back then.”

Someone asked if we might get a Deadpool movie, and Bryan Singer wouldn’t confirm that one will happen — but he did say the X-Men universe is as big as the rest of the Marvel universe, and there’s enough room for a ton of X-Men films developing all the different characters and corners of the universe, building it out.

Someone asked Jackman about musicals, and he said he would never sing as Wolverine. The crowd was disappointed, so he gave us a taste of what a Wolverine musical would be like: “I’m gonna slice ’em, I’m gonna dice ’em,” he sang operatically.

Someone asked the assembled cast which X-Men character, other than their own, they would want to play. Patrick Stewart responded: “I would like to play any female character in any X-Men movie, because then I would have a chance of winning an Academy Award.” (Because three of the women in the X-Men have won Oscars.)

Iain McKellen said: “If I can’t play the younger Magneto, then I would like to grow wings and play Angel.”

Oh, and in the panel for The Wolverine before we saw this footage, Hugh Jackman gave a shoutout to Wolverine co-creator Len Wein, who was in the audience, and it was really gracious and awesome.

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Bryan Singer just tweeted a pic that pretty much proves they were planning on using Quicksilver since before the Whedon/Disney announcement.

https://twitter.com/BryanSinger/status/352788163355348995

Maximoff House

The big question, is this a twin living on their own or both with their mother (if they don’t make her missing/dead as is canon) or with their adoptive parents? Seeing as the actor is in his late 20s I doubt he’s playing a 15 year old so not sure he’d be living with his parents as a 20-something. It could be his own house. And if it is, would Crystal be in the picture yet?

Is this why we haven’t heard anything about Wanda? Magneto goes to his son, who is living alone (or with Crystal), to get his help, so no sister. There was talk that the team will need Quicksilver’s speed for something specific. Does this mean that the two teams are working together? Or Charles knows about Magneto’s kids? Or they just know about a super speed mutant… and coincidences happen? So many options, some more awesome than others.

As for the Maximoff cold war, it takes time to set up a location for filming, you have scouting, then getting it prepped, etc. This sequence also had to be written and if they are bothering with doing outside shots then it may be more substantial than a quick scene. Not something to be likely be written on the fly. Lastly, the rumor after First Class was that this movie would be more Magneto-centric which this would play right into and show that Quicksilver was meant from the beginning.

Still no words on whether or not Wanda will be involved at all, but let’s hope she at least gets a mention…

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Aaron Taylor-JohnsonOkay, if ‘sources close to the production’ of Avengers 2 is to be believed as reported by The Wrap, then Whedon and Marvel/Disney are looking to cast Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver. He’s the right age, British, and knows a little bit about being an action super-hero because he plays Dave Lizewski aka Kick Ass.

Kick Ass is of course the title character of the Kick Ass comics owned by Marvel.

A comic written by Mark Millar… who is Fox’s ‘consultant’ for their Marvel/super hero films, although it’s unclear just how much input or direction he has had on Days of Future Past.

It would be even crazier if Kick Ass was a Fox film but it was distributed domestically by Lionsgate, the sequel by Universal.

Now, the casting rumor is coming quite soon after Bryan Singer tweeted his now edited Avengers tweet announcing Quicksilver had already been cast for Days of Future Past, which in turn came only weeks after Whedon confirmed Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will be in Avengers 2.

This could all be a coincidence but when they start to stack up…

While I still give Singer the benefit of the doubt on his using Quicksilver (considering early rumors where that the First Class sequel was going to center more on Magneto it makes sense his son would be included so Quicksilver could have been planned from the very beginning), it makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing a lot more little ‘pokes and prods’. Neither studio want to look like bullies, already Marvel/Disney has egg on its face with the issues surrounding how much they pay their lead actors, so I doubt things will get too heated in any way.

Though I am very much interested to see just how far this Cold War might extend between these two companies… and how many other characters might get dragged into the mix.

As for Aaron, to be honest, I’ve only ever seen him in Kick Ass and from what I’ve seen there… I’ve got no quarrel with this casting choice.

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