Last week, EW
debuted the first look at
Agent Carter, a new short starring Hayley Atwell that focuses on
Captain America’s Peggy Carter as she makes the post-WWII transition into a chief operative for S.H.I.E.L.D.
When it debuts at Comic-Con this Friday night, fans will see a big
leap forward in scale and style for the short-film series, just like
last year’s Item 47,
about a down-on-their-luck couple (Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford) who
go on a robbery spree after activating one of the alien guns from
The Avengers.
So where does the One-Shot series go from here?
Marvel co-president Louis D’Esposito, who directed both
Item 47 and
Agent Carter,
offered some insight by way of what almost was: a stand-alone Loki
short, a young Nick Fury story, a visit to Black Panther’s Wakanda, and
maybe (someday) a Ms. Marvel or Black Widow film.
The big question every fan asks is: When will the One-Shots start featuring superheroes?
As the series builds, Marvel has done its best to keep expectations
in check, trying to avoid leaping in too soon with its established
characters.
“We would love to, but it’s difficult because there’s a cost to
that,” explains D’Esposito. “If Iron Man is flying around doing
something, that very costly. And first of all, what’s the story? Is it
important that that superhero is in the story?”
The point of the One-Shots, which accompany Marvel’s feature films as
extra features on their Blu-ray releases, is to give fans something
different. If they already have a full-length
Iron Man film, why make a short one?
“I’ve been asked many times too, would you introduce
new
characters?” D’Esposito says. “That even proves to be very difficult,
just from a cost perspective. What does the costume look like? Who is
the actor playing it? A lot of R&D goes into it. We have a great
concept department here, a visual development department, and it takes
time.”
One reason Marvel has been hesitant to reach too far into its
character shelf is because committing to those casting and a costume
decisions in a short-film could tie the hands of any director who ends
up using those heroes in a feature.
But he acknowledges: they’re getting closer.
“We are,” D’Esposito says. “And I keep saying it: set the bar higher, let’s try it.”
Ms. Marvel and Loki — two One-Shot possibilities
When it comes to using a superhero in a One-Shot, D’Esposito offers
this as a for-instance, a personal favorite: Ms. Marvel, a.k.a. Captain
Marvel, a human hybrid who gets her powers when an explosion infuses her
with extra-terrestrial DNA from the comic-book universe’s Kree aliens.
“Let’s just say I knew I was going to direct
Captain Marvel
[as a feature], right? And we knew who was going to play her,”
D’Esposito says. That would make it easy to introduce her first in a
One-Shot. “But that’s a plan that requires a lot of coordination. And I
don’t know if really we … if I’ve been thinking that far ahead. It’s
difficult enough to find something that’s enjoyable, that we can tell
with the budget limitations and in the time we have. Introducing a lot
of complicated variables might weaken that.”
Better not to do it, he reasons, than reach too far, too soon, and do it badly.
Budget and time are the primary restrictions. But Marvel is still dreaming big.
“I’m not gonna lie, when we were developing these [One-Shot] stories I
was trying to develop a Loki story,” D’Esposito says. “And is he on
Asgard?”
The trouble with that is Thor’s celestial realm is a major visual
effects challenge. “Being on Asgard is very difficult for us to do in a
short. It’s just impossible for us cost wise,” D’Esposito says. “The
short would be 30 seconds, and it’s over. One shot of Loki on Asgard.”
That’s not what “one-shot” is supposed to mean.
Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos, or Black Panther?
“We also thought about potentially … let’s say a young Nick Fury with
Dum Dum Dugan,” D’Esposito says. “Or a Black Panther short, maybe, in
that [One-Shot format.]”
Both of those projects would make comic fans squee: Dum Dum Dugan
(the bowler-hat-wearing mustachioed strong man played by Neal McDonough
in 2011’s
Captain America) has long fought alongside Fury in the Howling Commandos, featured in books dating
from the early ‘60s up to the
present day.
And
Black Panther, the first black superhero, is another character many fans are dying to see on the big screen (and remains
a real possibility for Marvel’s Phase 3.)
But introducing him in a short becomes a question of resources: how do
you show his fictional African nation of Wakanda on the budget for a DVD
extra? That aside, just casting an actor with the necessary badassery
for the part would be tough for a short.
“It’s very complicated to do: who plays those characters? And
designing the costume, getting it going … We tried,” D’Esposito says.
“We were there in development, and we tried, but they were very
difficult for all the reasons I gave. And we don’t want to do something
that’s half baked because it’s not good for us and it’s not good for our
fans.”
But fans can take heart:
Agent Carter was also once an idea that was deemed too big for the One-Shot series, as well.
Now it’s a reality.
Agent Carter vs. the glass ceiling
Marvel considered making
Agent Carter earlier in the One-Shot series, but when
Captain America came out in 2011 the shorts weren’t expansive enough, and last year,
Item 47 simply fit better as an addendum to
The Avengers.
Agent Carter finally got the go-ahead because it was a good way to bridge
Iron Man 3 and the upcoming
Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Atwell was available to do it, it incorporated an established character
from the comic books who had already been depicted in a film.
It helped the small budget that some of the effects shots depicting New York in the 1940s were already made for
Captain America.
That allowed D’Esposito and crew to focus their resources on the fight
sequences and hiring actors such as Dominic Cooper (reprising his role
as Tony Stark’s industrialist father Howard Stark) and
The West Wing’s Bradley Whitford (playing Carter’s chauvinist boss.)
Agent Carter also gives the Marvel universe a dose of much
needed girl-power. If fans who see it in Comic-Con on Friday react
favorably, it’s likely to lead to more female heroes on the screen.
“In
Item 47, I would say the protagonist is Lizzy Caplan, and obviously in
Agent Carter
it’s Hayley. They’re good stories, and they do show female characters
and maybe we can do a feature film one day,” D’Esposito says. “
Ms. Marvel,
I’ve already mentioned, is one of my favorites. I would love to do it.
It’s difficult because we have a limited the bandwidth and produce two
films a year. We have a few successful franchises, so how do we
introduce more?
This is a way.”
Best case scenario …?
“You know, maybe people see this and they say, ‘I love Hayley Atwell
as Peggy Carter,’ and maybe we have to do Ms. Marvel, or give Scarlett
Johansson’s Black Widow her own film,” D’Esposito says. “So, of course
we think about that. And when we see the success of it and how people
react, it really reinforces that.”
For those in Comic-Con hoping to catch a 7 p.m. screening of Agent Carter, stop by the Marvel booth for tickets.
If you want to brave the stand-by line: Arrive early to Reading Cinemas Gaslamp 15, 701 5th Ave San Diego, CA 92101
The short will go wide Sept. 24 on the Iron Man 3 Blu-ray set.
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Universal Studios Japan has worked closely with Capcom on promotions for Monster Hunter and typically around Halloween time Lickers and other Resident Evil creatures roam around the park after dark.