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While we’re busy being excited for the next Marvel Entertainment film to hit theaters, Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s hard to forget there’s also a sequel to The Avengers filming right this very moment. Entertainment Weekly was nice enough to release some fantastic new images from said film.
The magazine is featuring Joss Whedon’s superhero followup in their big Comic-Con preview, the cover of which we posted yesterday. But we previously posted a story which hinted at performance capture master Andy Serkis having some sort of role in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. From what Mark Ruffalo revealed, he was simply helping him with his Hulk performance but a new interview suggests there may be more. The Daily Beast asked:
You’re also apparently playing a character in Avengers: Age of Ultron…is it Thanos?
Um…I’d have to deny that character at this point. But I am playing a character. I was really thrilled that Joss Whedon asked me to be involved. It’s fantastic. I’ve had a ball working with them, both as performance capture consultant through the Imaginarium, but also being asked to be in it. But I can’t say anything more!
Interesting…so he does have some role but can’t reveal what it is yet. However, the training part he can discuss. Serkis told The Daily Beast,
The difference for Mark this time around is that the Imaginarium, which is our performance-capture studio in London that’s providing all the performance capture for the Avengers movie, is providing education. Previously, he would’ve walked onto a set and you’ve got Thor and all the other characters in their costumes looking magnificent, and then you’d have Mark in a grey motion-capture suit playing this enormous character, so it’s about giving the actor the right atmosphere and credibility for the performance.
Also, we worked with Mark in really grounding him and playing with the digital avatar before going on set so he could see himself as the Hulk before going onscreen, and we put weights and inhibitors on him to give him the sense that his arms were these big, giant wrecking balls, and so that his biceps wouldn’t intersect with his body. We equipped him. We also gave him a sound system and pitch-modulated his voice so you could hear the enormous Hulk roar coming out of these speakers.
Meanwhile, IGN has quotes from Marvel’s Kevin Feige on the status of Stark Tower after it was beat the hell up during the last film:
S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone – for people who are following along. S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded and brought down at the end of The Winter Soldier because it turned out to not be the best organisation ever. So Tony’s bank-rolling The Avengers now. And he’s bank-rolling their headquarters. So it’s now Avengers Tower.
Tony designed it so in addition to a hanger for a brand-new Quinjet, laboratories, places where he can build and store his Iron Man suits, there are I believe two bars. Beautiful multiple space living rooms which are perfect for parties and social gatherings. But it’s a primary location in the film this time around.
And now we get to spoiler territory. You may remember us discussing Nathan Fillion’s surprise Guardians of the Galaxy cameo before and while we also heard a rumor of who he could be playing, we may now know for sure.
Stitch Kingdom received a press kit for the film in the UK which apparently included a credited cast list. It mentions Fillion, Stan Lee, and a few others. We’ll spoil cover it here for extra spoiler protection: “”
One more bizarre cameo rumor? Stitch Kingdom says Howard the Duck, of all characters, might show up. “We’re not exactly sure what it means yet — if anything — but while he couldn’t get himself a 25th anniversary Blu-ray (and not from lack of trying), Marvel legend Howard the Duck is somewhere to be found in the film. This inference comes from a line in the end titles that credits co-creators Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik. Whether it’s just a film/comic Peter Quill was familiar with before he was abducted from Earth or we’re about to have a new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is just about anyone’s guess.”
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