After kicking serious ass at the box office with the 2nd-highest box office earnings ever for a 3-day opening, and getting near-perfect reviews all round (if you haven’t seen it yet, why the hell not?), Iron Man has blown Marvel Executives expectations out of the ice-layering stratosphere.
Marvel has confirmed release dates for a string of upcoming movies, beginning with an Iron Man sequel. Iron Man 2 is set to debut on April 30, 2010, with Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard intact, followed by the feature film debut of Thor about 5 weeks later. For Thor, Marvel are looking at professional wrestler Triple H or Scottish actor Kevin McKidd, who made an impression in the HBO series Rome, to carry the hammer.
In 2011, Marvel are planning to release The First Avenger: Captain America. No speculation yet about who might play the square-jawed lead. The final release announced today is The Avengers, which will bring together Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and, conceivably, the characters of Ant Man and Wasp for a July 4, 2010, spectacular. I assume this will be far better than the flop a while back with Sean Connery.
The only trouble on the water for Marvel is the upcoming The Incredible Hulk which opens next month, since Ang Lee’s version had only received a luke-warm reception on opening. Let’s hope the star power of Edward Norton and Liv Tyler will change that.
