Posts Tagged ‘Scarlet Witch’

OFFICIAL: Elizabeth Olsen & Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , , on November 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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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Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver Actors Confirmed (finally)

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , on November 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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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Fury Confirms Wanda, but Still Not Official

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , on October 3, 2013| 1 Comment »

jackson-furyThe internet is abuzz with the news that Nick Fury, well, Samuel L Jackson, confirmed via the Wallstreet Journal that Elizabeth Olsen will indeed be Scarlet Witch in Avengers 2, Age of Ultron.

“I don’t think we begin shooting before March of next year,” Jackson said of “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the next film to begin shooting in the Marvel universe.  ”I know we’re shooting in London, that James Spader is Ultron and going to be the bad guy, and that we added Ms. [Elizabeth] Olsen [who will play the Scarlet Witch], but I don’t know what she’s doing, if she’s on the inside or the outside. I haven’t seen a script.”

It’s important to note that it’s the journal which added the [who will play the Scarlet Witch], that’st not exactly what Jackson said. It could have been implied/said in part of the interview not published, but it’s not specifically mentioned here. Also, while I’m sure Jackson is close to the production, this is by no means official confirmation of the casting of Wanda.

Until Marvel or Whedon says so, it’s still a ‘rumor’. Of course, Jackson’s comments makes it a highly probable rumor, but still a rumor.

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Review: A+X #10

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , , , , on September 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

A+X #10Nobody likes Fantomex. This is just fact. Natasha is no exception… and apparently neither are the writers.

Sure, Fantomex does the right thing at the end, after being a complete unlikable jerk. In fact, him doing the right thing is really just him being a ponce. So, yeah, no one likes Fantomex.

Then we have the very cuties drawn Scarlet Witch and Domino. It was nice to see Wanda interact with a mutant and it not devolve into the whole “M-Day” stuff. Sure, there was a hint at it, but for the most part it was literally the story of two lucky ladies saving the known universe.

I do love Domino here, she’s sassy as all get out and just tases Wanda without a second thought. Hey, it worked, didn’t it?

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Avengers 2: ‘Accent’ly British?

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on August 22, 2013| 2 Comments »

Elle Style Awards, London, Britain - 11 Feb 2013The latest report on Wanda for Avengers 2 is that Elizabeth Olsen is in talks for the role. Now, I have to admit, I haven’t seen her in anything. I can’t say a single thing about her acting, but I’ve heard a lot of good things. And even though she’s not of Eastern European decent, she at least looks close to right for the part. Looks good in brown curly hair and very expressive eyes. A little spray tan and it could work. But here’s the rub, Wanda is Eastern European, she’s the Marvel version of Romani, so why couldn’t they hire one of the hundreds of very capable Eastern European actresses to play her?

An argument could be made that getting an American actress to play an Eastern European isn’t any worse than getting a British person to play an American, or an Australian to play a Canadian, or a Frenchman to play a Czech. It’s not about race, it’s about culture, and as long as they stay true to the character, the actor’s own bloodline shouldn’t matter, right? It’s an argument that is fraught with difficulties with no clear cut answers.

Personally, as much as I would prefer to have a culturally Romani/Eastern European play Wanda, I will settle for an American actress as long as she and the production respects Wanda’s character as Eastern European.

But in that same report, we have comment that she won’t be speaking in a European accent but a British one, thereby clinching the earlier comments that Whedon and Co. were looking to make the twins “edgy and British”.

This… is not acceptable. When you take a character out of a country then you redefine them. Gone is their heritage and birthrights. Gone is their world view and motivations. This is especially true when the culture is something as distinct and unique as Romani. It would be like taking a character that is Texan and making them a New Yorker, or vise versa. It’s a complete disrespect for everything that made that character who they are, for better or worse.

This is especially true for Wanda who is a basically a witch. There is a very spiritual element to her magic/powers and it is highlighted by her heritage. Granted, there is the possibility of going the wrong way with it and turning the character into a racist stereotype of a ‘Gypsy’, but there is also the very real possibility to use Wanda to help rid the world of that negative stereotype. Instead, it looks like they aren’t going to risk it and are taking the safe option of making her British, after all, British is in right now and we can’t offend them no matter how hard we try because they’re just so much better at insulting people than we are.

So the last question is, if Wanda is being stripped of her spiritual heritage, and can’t be a ‘mutant’, then will her magic be dulled down into something much more sterile and cold?

I always try to wait till I have the whole picture and not jump to conclusions, especially this early in the game, after all, Olsen hasn’t been officially signed on yet nor has Wanda’s character traits been absolutely confirmed… but I having a really hard time trying to maintain that level of neutrality.

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Maximoff Twins in Film: Masterpost

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , , on August 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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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Reblog: Bryan Singer’s Conceit For Bringing Back Professor X And Other X-Men Bits

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , , , on August 6, 2013| 1 Comment »

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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Reblog: Joss Whedon Scowls At The Scarlet Witch Cowl

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , on July 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

From BleedingCool

sw4Well, Wolverine lost his cowl in the X-Men movies. Now it looks as if Scarlet Witch will lose hers too for Avengers: The Age Of Ultron.

When asked if Scarlet Witch will keep her head dress,Joss Whedon told Nerdist;

No.

Well that’s nice and clear then. He went on.

No. She might wear a headband or something that might echo it. The guys at Marvel, the conceptual artists, are phenomenal, and they are so good at taking the essence of what works and interpreting it for the actual human body, and when they paint something you can not only tell how it’s gonna work on a person, you can even tell what fabric it’ll be. They are very specific, very talented. So I’m excited to see the designs. Obviously we want to echo the look that people know, but there’s the classic look and the Ultimates look, but you have to do it in a way that will work. But it can’t be too old school… she can’t wear a leotard.

I’m okay with this. I like what they did with her hair in EVO to echo the cowl, though I would prefer they kept it long and curly to befit her background. A simple fix might be giving her red streaks in her bangs (not the whole bangs) but yeah, the conceptual artists have been pretty good so far, I have faith in them.

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Avengers 2: Vin Diesel as Vision?

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on July 10, 2013| 2 Comments »

Vin Diesel at Marvel via FacebookVin Diesel has let it be known quite publically that he’s in talks with Marvel/Disney for a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This could be a little dicey/dodgy for him because some studios/execs don’t like their actors running about and blabbing everything.

That aside, the big question is: Who will he play?

There isn’t a shortage of choices, though some roles he’s better fit for than others. The people at io9 seem to think he’ll play The Vision, and it’s a really popular rumor right now, especially since Vin jockeyed for it back when Avengers came out.

It’s possible, he certainly has the “look” for Vision (tall, stoic, bald)… but here is my problem: he’s too old for Vision.

Before you yell ‘agest’, let’s look at the fine points here. The Vision is an android which means he doesn’t age, he’ll always look the same. If they want to use the character for several films then getting a younger actor simply makes the most sense. Just as you get an older actor who has already gone through puberty to play a teenager (that way you don’t have to worry about the sudden growth spurts, etc), you start with a young actor for a character who doesn’t age. Because no matter how well they stay in shape, they will eventually show their age once they hit the hill. (I’m sorry Hugh, you’re a wonderful Wolverine, and still sexy as hell, but Wolvie is looking rough around the edges now.)

So, if Vision aged like everyone else, then there wouldn’t really be a problem with Vin… except…

If they are looking at the likes of Saoirse Ronan to play Wanda Maximoff, or at least someone like her, then Marvel/Disney probably would want to get a guy in their 20s to play Vision as Wanda and Vision are the Avenger’s power couple. Granted, since Vision doesn’t really have an ‘age’ and there isn’t anything wrong with the age difference in general, an argument could be made that it’s perfectly fine to have a 46 year old Vin and 20 year old Saoirse (at time of filming) do a romantic sub-plot. But more likely Marvel/Disney will want to cash in on the pre-teen and young adult demographic and go with someone who can play the young romance/angst against Saoirse (or whoever gets cast as Wanda).

From a completely corporate/capitalism/what makes the most money view, Vin is not a good fit for Vision, which is why I think Marvel/Disney will cast him as someone else. Then they’ll get a 20-something for Vision, probably a small-name like Chris Hemsworth was before Thor, someone they can pay scale and contract for several films.

Anyway, personally, I love Vin Diesel and can’t wait to see him in the MCU, but I don’t see it happening as The Vision. There are a lot of options out there… he could be playing a villain for all we know. So until we have more to go on, I’m not going to even bother to speculate.

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DOFP: Maximoff

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on July 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

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

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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