Upcoming Marvel logos

MTV have been seeing some cool stuff at the New York’s Licensing Expo, and the latest is pretty sweet too. Of course, there’s no guarantee that all of these films are even going to be made, I guess. But still, it’s pretty cool to see. Particularly THE AVENGERS, no?

Now, it doesn’t happen often, but I actually do have some semi-insightful to say about the topic at hand. Who knows, maybe we can have some interesting debate here. Lord knows there are enough of you out there smarter than I am, and who love to argue with me.

I saw THE INCREDIBLE HULK today, and it kind of made me slightly more amenable to the idea of not bringing Jon Favreau back for IRON MAN II. Now, I need to make it clear that I think Favs did an amazing job, that ought to warrant the opportunity to direct the sequel. I mean, box-office numbers alone — IRON MAN is a massive success by anyone’s standards.

However, I did feel that THE INCREDIBLE HULK was a better movie. And also a better movie-going experience. And that’s with Edward Norton and Tim Roth’s characters being – in my opinion – infinitely less entertaining than Robert Downey Jr and Jeff Bridges’. How much of that is script-related, I don’t know. IRON MAN is slick, pretty beautifully so, but I though Leterrier did a better job with the HULK material. In particular, the first time that Banner becomes the HULK — that was real, real nicely done. I loved IRON MAN, but a big part of what I disliked about it was the final, should-have-been-epic, battle scene. I felt like the movie used the suit’s weaker power-source as an excuse for a shorter, less exciting ending, whereas HULK closed so, so strong.

Anyway, I’m not saying I don’t think Favreau should be back. On the contrary, I wholeheartedly think he should, and what’s more, I think he has earned it. I’m just saying that after the outrage I felt when I first heard there were doubts about his return, I kinda don’t feel so strongly anymore. And if I had a vote for THE AVENGERS, I’d probably give it to him. If nothing else, he seems like he is really passionate about doing it, and that he knows the material.

Also, the talk about him being shafted over money? That I still think is ridiculous. That dude earned a big fat pay-check, guys!