Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe

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Marvel Studios - "Assembling a Universe"

With the new studio set

up, the way things work now,

is there more of an opportunity

for a crossover here and there

with Marvel characters in the movies?

If you listen to the

characters that we are working on

currently and you put them all

together, there's no coincidence

that may someday equal the Avengers.

I think, uh...

I think just having that...

that possibility on the horizon

is something that excites all of us.

Sort of looking at

this as more than just a movie

but a group of films.

We drove down to comic con

to premiere footage from "Iron Man,"

and we open up the front

page of a local newspaper,

and basically it says,

"Marvel rolls out the 'B' team."

Now, later that day, the

tide would start to turn.

All right. Who's ready for Iron Man?

Wearing the suit

is one of the great joys

of playing Tony Stark.

My turn.

As soon as I heard

that there was a possible part,

I was desperate to be a part of it.

I picked up a book one day, and it's

like, "oh, wow. Hey, I'm Nick Fury."

I got my eye on you.

It all started here.

If all these films are

the road to "the Avengers,"

then it was very important

that they connect.

Sir, we found it.

The question that we've

been asked since we announced "Thor"

was, "how are you gonna

fit this into the universe?"

I'm not sure we could

have done this interlinked

Marvel cinematic universe

without Captain America.

- I got to put her in the water.

- Please don't do this.

The fact that we don't have to

end the story just opens the door

to some really great evolutions

that the character can go through.

You've been asleep,

Cap, for almost 70 years.

My dream team.

This is the Avengers.

Every time you put the suit

back on, you get really excited.

Say my name!

Loki!

We want something new

and something unexpected,

and that's what led us last year

to announce "Guardians of the Galaxy."

Sometimes you've got to

run before you can walk.

I am Iron Man.

Tony Stark's

declarative statement

set the groundwork for what

would become a much larger story.

Marvel Studios had a vision...

a single universe

inhabited by heroes and villains

across multiple feature-film franchises.

When we started Marvel Studios,

the self-produced films,

we got financing to

make movies ourselves.

Avi Arad was the head of the studio

at the time and did a tremendous job.

We wanted to control the

destinies of our own characters.

We wanted to decide

when, how, and which ways

we would bring them

to film entertainment.

Some of the biggest

characters from Marvel comics

were already tied up...

Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men...

so the idea of Marvel

studios coming along and...

and launching itself,

this sort of upstart mission,

but doing it without their biggest guns,

there was some skepticism.

There's such a big library that we have.

All we had to do

is take the best of it.

We were tasked with doing

two movies right off the bat.

We chose Hulk because we

believed that there was

more to be showcased out

of the Hulk character,

and we chose Iron Man because

we believed in the content

and the concept and the comic.

He's a complicated figure, and

I think he kind of represents

the dark side in all of us and that hope

that we all overcome our own demons.

I had my eyes opened.

I came to realize that I

have more to offer this world

than just making things that blow up.

It's a huge reflection

of how Marvel tells stories.

People relate to Tony.

He's a billionaire, but

they still relate to him

because he's laying out his

personal problems, his relationships.

It's one of our

most interesting characters,

and it's our burden

to convince the rest of

the movie-going public

that that's the case.

We went out to I think about

30 writers on the first film,

and they all passed.

No one was interested

in writing this movie.

So we just kept sending

out this packet in a letter.

Iron Man's a character,

60 years of history,

one of the mainstays of Marvel.

Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass.

And when it came to looking

for a director on "Iron Man,"

Jon's name popped up and said,

"we have to meet.

There's something interesting there."

He deserves a lot of

credit for signing up

with this new studio that,

yes, we had producer credits

and we had involvement in

those early Marvel movies,

but ultimately we're

an independent studio

with a bond company that had

never made a movie before.

David Maisel had

come up with this whole

financing idea that we could

put together a big slate,

doing it from the ground floor

up, all in-house at Marvel,

and it was all slowly coming

into focus during "Iron Man 1."

They had a fund, and we

had exactly that much money,

and you had exactly that much time,

and we had a release date.

But nobody expected too much of it.

There was a sense that

if we didn't pull it off,

the studio wouldn't be around anymore.

And the fact that it's

Marvel Studios' first film

and it's not a big Hollywood studio...

so it's really a big independent movie.

You know, Marvel has shown

that these types of movies

could be very successful

at the box office

without having a big name driving it.

So, as a filmmaker, I

was able to cast the movie

as I would for a movie

I'd love to see, whether it

was a small independent movie

or a big Hollywood movie.

I assure you, the day weapons

are no longer needed to keep

the peace, I'll happily

transist to manufacturing bricks

and beams for baby hospitals,

making hemp pants, and the like.

But until that time,

can I get you a drink?

Ever since Robert was

announced as being Iron Man

and Tony Stark, people

really dug the idea,

at least in the fan world

who knew what Iron Man was.

And I think people who

didn't know who Iron Man was,

was intrigued by anything

Robert would be involved with.

The only time

I've ever gone up to

somebody at a restaurant

was when I saw Kevin Feige

after they announced Robert Downey Jr.

Just to say, "Kevin, that

was the dopest move ever."

It explained everything about the movie

that needed to be explained...

it explained their intent,

the integrity they had

about which actors they were going for,

and it was a real sea

change once Kevin took over.

And he said, "that's the

first decision I got to make

as the head of the studio."

I really took note of it.

Playing someone who's conflicted

and conflicted for the right reasons

and doesn't see the

potential that they have

and then starts living

in accordance with a code

is a great old-fashioned theme,

but I hadn't ever imagined

that I could be involved

in something that

demonstrates it on this scale.

And, you know, stock

brokers coming up to me

and taking off their tie

going, "Tony Stark, man,

let me tell you, in issue 117, the guy..."

you know, and I'm like, "wow."

Robert knew what a big opportunity

it was to be cast in this role.

I just finally know...

what I have to do.

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