A number of casting developments have added clues to what the upcoming spin-offs and sequels to The Avengers will add to Marvel and Disney’s live-action universe. Not only do the characters assigned to the 2015 Avengers team make sense, but they will also have some tough super villains to take down.
The first hero of note is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Magneto’s son, Pietro Maximoff. His super powers allow him to move and run at super speeds, like DC’s Flash, which can also potentially result in catastrophic acts of nature like tornadoes. His code name is Quicksilver. You may recall Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s star-making performance as Kick-Ass. Here he is below along with a picture of Quicksilver from Marvel comics:
The next hero joining the Avengers to help stop the Age of Ultron is Sam Wilson, who uses the code name Falcon. Regardless of the fact that Anthony Mackie’s casting was official and then changed to rumored on various websites like IMDB does not remove the character from the cast lists for Captain America 2: Winter Soldier, Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, and the television extension Agents of SHIELD.
In the comics, the Ultimate version of Falcon became the head of SHIELD. Earlier versions of the character portrayed him as the Cap’s side-kick. Either way, his character will clearly add some technological punch to the other SHIELD agents like Black Widow and Hawkeye.
In my opinion, this next casting rumor is the best of the three new heroes to add to the list of Avengers. The wonderful actress Elisabeth Olsen, who starred in the fantastic thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, is rumored to be portraying Magneto’s daughter, Wanda Maximoff.
She calls herself the Scarlet Witch and she can change probability fields. In the comics, she falls in love with a synthezoid created by Ultron named Vision. The Scarlet Witch even yielded enough power to destroy the universe in the House of M story arc. Characters like the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man were assembled to discuss whether they should kill her or not as a result. Could that ever happen on the big screen? Copyrights point to an answer of no, but let’s hope they can be ironed out.
Last, in terms of heroes, a preview of another Avenger leaked last year and some fans got to see a teaser of the 2015 film Ant Man. In the comics, Vision is created by Ultron in order to kill Hank Pym, otherwise known as Ant Man. Therefore, the above members of the Avengers all have nice, neat little stories to fit into.
But, what about the villains? Who will all these heroes fight?
Benecio Del-Toro will become The Collector and he will appear in both Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy. The Collector yields the Power Primordial (read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Primordial) and he is over a billion years old. He is one of those bad guys that can take on the entire Avengers team by himself and win. Please Marvel and Disney! Give him the gold boots, hair and face from the comic cover below!
Also making his début in Thor: The Dark World will be the evil champion of the Dark Elves, Kurse. Kurse is the most powerful member of the Dark Elves race and he is also called Algrim the Strong. Kurse’s enchanted armor and mystical abilities make him about four times as strong as Thor, so Thor may need the Hulk to step in and SMASH! Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who appeared in The Bourne Identity and in the television series Lost, will portray Kurse on the big screen:
But, what about you loyal fans? Which Avenger or story arc are you dying to see on the big screen? Dr. Strange? Luke Cage? Marvel Zombies Return? Be sure to chime in!
Chris Patton is the writer for Laser Lemming’s movie review blog entitled The Cursed Hero. Read his rodent blog here: https://laserlemming.com/category/blogs/cursedhero/