Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
My biggest thing is that I would love in some form or fashion to return to the 'Marvel' universe, whether in television or a feature. I love the people at 'Marvel' and grew up reading the characters, and it was a real dream come true getting to play with the toys.
The majority of the DC and Marvel comic lines are white male characters, and the minute you make Thor a woman or Captain America a black guy, the Internet is filled with hateful comments and people saying, 'That's not what Captain America is supposed to look like.'
It's great to have loads of Marvel movies, but the movies that reflect our lives - that's why I came to the movies, and that's what I love. I want to see stories about my life being reflected back at me, and there's not that many of those anymore. It's a real shame.
I'd like to have had a bigger piece of Thanos than I do, but when the first 'Avengers' movie came out, Marvel and I - we renegotiated some things, so I get a taste out of this thing. I'm not becoming the next Bill Gates, but I'm getting a little something out of it.
I went to meet Joe Johnston, the director, and he's charming. I've been very lucky. Most of the directors I've worked with are charming. But Joe's a particularly charming man, and he showed me lots of designs and, rather memorably, welcomed me to the Marvel Universe.
What difference is there, do you think, between those in Plato's cave who can only marvel at the shadows and images of various objects, provided they are content and don't know what they miss, and the philosopher who has emerged from the cave and sees the real things?
Specifically with respect to the Inhumans, they are almost a mythological creation in and of themselves - the way they work, the way they operate, the fact that they're royalty - and they've always been involved with a lot of the big cosmos events that Marvel has done.
I'm not signing on to direct 'Black Panther.' I think I'll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things, and I think they're fantastic, and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me.
I found that the artist market was expanding in comics. Marvel was going from something like eight books a month to somewhere in the 20s. As a result of this expansion, Marvel, in particular, was hiring anyone who could hold a pencil. That's how I got my first job there.
There's a character, Eon, I did back in the 'Captain Marvel' story. Eon came from a greasy smudge on a paper bag inside my kitchen being used for garbage. I went and got a paper and pencil, drew it up, and he became a character in that story. Things come from everywhere.
I've filmed before in the U.S. and have more than 80 roles in TV, film, and theatre, but the feeling of becoming a part of the Marvel Universe as Colossus is incredible. Sometimes you just can't explain that moment, but when you think about it, you feel so happy and proud.
If I were to take five comic books, from four different publishers and Marvel, and lay them out, even if you didn't know the characters, you would be able to take a look at that Marvel comic and go, 'That's Marvel.' There's something unique about the way the story is presented.
There is a duality in recognising what an incredible disease it is - in terms of its origin, that it emerges out of a normal cell. It's a reminder of what a wonderful thing a normal cell is. In a very cold, scientific sense, I think a cancer cell is a kind of biological marvel.
If you look at Disney's slate compared to the other Hollywood studios, it stands out because of big titles and strong franchise films which also extend beyond cinemas, to merchandising or theme parks given the legacy of the four brands - Disney, Pixar, Marvel and now Lucasfilm.
I make no secret of the fact that writing She-Hulk can serve as an opportunity for me to sneak in some really cool characters that I personally love. Some will be obvious fits, but others will come out of left field - but that's what's fun about the Marvel U - the bench is deep.
My favorite comic book growing up was 'Thor.' It was one of my three, favorite comic books. Obviously, Marvel is such a huge name, but for me, to book a role in a Marvel movie, and for it to be 'Thor.' When my manager told me I booked 'Thor,' I literally didn't know what to say.
One of the things I love best about Marvel is the 'What If?' factor; being able to just say, 'Today we're going to explore a world where Magneto and Emma never gave back the X-Men. Or a world where Mary Jane shares Peter's powers.' So being able to do that is just super exciting.
Once I found out that I was playing 'Deathlok,' I unearthed my old comic book collection. I was going home for Christmas, and I have a collection of thousands of comics. I was surprised to see that 90% of them were Marvel. So, I wanted to go through my collection and start there.
Marvel heroes, at their core, are people who are damaged, are people that are trying to figure out who they are in life. And that doesn't matter whether or not they're X-Men characters or they're Matt Murdock or they're Tony Stark or they're Peter Parker... That's where it starts.
The second we started talking about doing the 'Civil War' storyline with Marvel, we brought up Spider-Man. Right away, Kevin Feige hinted to us there might be a possibility of them being able to work that out, and that's all we needed - he was in the movie the second we heard that.
The Inhumans are almost a mythological creation unto themselves. They're royalty, and are always involved in Marvel's cosmic events. But with the explosion of the Terrigen bomb and these new Inhumans coming to light, it brings a new street level aspect to add to the royalty aspect.
If you think about it, now that Spider-Man is in the Marvel universe, that means that Peter Parker was probably, like, eight years old when he saw Tony on TV telling the world he's Iron Man. And when you start thinking about it as a whole world like that, it gets really fascinating.
When Marvel approached me about possibly bringing back a She-Hulk solo series, a few touchstones for a take immediately popped into my head - make her an attorney. Make her charming and fun, not weighed down by the various things life will throw at her. Give her a vibrant social life.
I got into comics because I wrote an 'X-Men' novel for Pocket Books, and I introduced myself to the head of recruitment at Marvel. I'd heard through the grapevine they liked the book, so that gave me the courage to go up to them and be like, 'Hey, if you ever need a writer, here I am.'
People at Marvel and DC, we're rooting for each other. And when we're friends, like me and Jeff Lemire, or Charles Soule, or even Dan Slott - it doesn't matter if you're Marvel or DC. You'll talk story with each other, and there's like an agreement that you're just helping each other out.
One of the reasons that DC, Marvel, and other comic book companies have always asked me to do covers and variant covers is because they know that when they tell me 'icon,' I jump over their words, and I give them an iconic cover - but while I'm doing it, there is going to be an idea there.
I love Marvel. I'd be happy to do other projects with them at any time. They're a great company - I love all the guys and girls over there - they always are able to get a really fun cast for almost every project they have, which is often. And, of course, who doesn't want to be a superhero?
We look at Marvel, but we're not trying to emulate that in any way. In fact, we talked often about how distinctive what we're trying to do with 'Star Wars' is from Marvel. They've been extremely successful in exploiting the characters in that universe, and we have a place. We have the galaxy.
I wrote this 12-page 'Luke Cage' comic book for Marvel once, and I got to create a villain. His name was Lone Shark, so there was this running thing of whether it was spelled L-O-A-N or L-O-N-E. I like the idea of 'I'm a lone shark,' and then people are like, 'You are here to collect a debt?'
I know, people have had different things to say about Marvel, about how creatively free they are or not free they are, but for me, the rule has always just been stay as good as I can possibly be, and stay one step ahead of the curve, and stay unique, and stay myself. And they seem to like that.
'Spider-Man' seems to have a different tone to the pure Marvel stuff, but I really enjoyed the 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' and 'Iron Man' movies. I love the special effects and how it seems very real, but at the same time, it still lives within the realm of Marvel. That's got to be a lot of work.
If you look closely, you'll see that Marvel basically has three Thanoses. There is the 1970s Thanos appearing in the movies. This is before he got the Infinity Gauntlet. Then there are the Thanos stories I'm telling. And finally, there is the Thanos that appears in the mainstream Marvel stories.
As a fanboy, I was raised on the Marvel Universe, so I was very familiar with the 'Deadpool' world. On the other side, the 'X-Men' comics were one of my top five comics, so to be one of them, especially Colossus, is an incredible thing after years of creatively visualizing him since I was a kid.
Dave Cockrum's work at Marvel and DC defined my childhood and inspired me to be a comic book creator. Without Dave, there is no New 'X-Men' resurgence, there is no Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Lilandra, Star Jammers, or the Imperial Guard. His influence on generations of fans cannot be measured.
We have to support everyone so their stories don't get 'invisibilized.' We don't necessarily have to repopulate the next Marvel movie with people of color, but it's just about saying 'We have hearts, we have souls, we have minds, we have faults, we have flaws, and we're super-freaking interesting.'
I essentially started out with a Western series for WildStorm/DC but didn't want to be perceived as a 'Western artist.' I did a couple of super-hero things at Marvel but didn't want to be one of those guys, either. I loved all these genres and wanted to play in a very big toy box. Enter 'Planetary.'
Today, I marvel at the vegan foods in the supermarket, at the cruelty-free clothing choices in stores, and at the fantastic alternatives to dissection in schools, the modern ways to test medicines without killing rabbits and beagles, the many forms of entertainment involving purely human performers.
I read some Marvel, but I was more of a DC guy. Particularly the Flash, Barry Allen. I latched on to him because I felt like him. You thought to yourself, 'Well, you can't really be Superman.' You couldn't really be Batman - Batman was a really dark figure. I identified with Barry Allen's hopefulness.
There is no one who is more conflicted in the Marvel Universe, in my opinion, than Matthew Murdock. Is he his father's son, or is he the son of his father? Is he someone who is going to solve the world's problems in a court room, or is he someone who is going to solve the world's problems with his fist?
If there are two kinds of people in the world - DC Comics people and Marvel Comics people - what kind am I? Well, to be honest... I'm a Wildstorm kinda guy. In the interest of full and fair disclosure, I write for Wildstorm. But even if I didn't, I'd love what they do. No, seriously, I'd love their stuff.
In Marvel Comics, the worst thing was always that your loved ones could be attacked, or you could be horribly beaten in a knock-down, drag-out fight, but in the Superman comics, you would be run out of town with people throwing rotten vegetables at you and waving a sign that said, 'Superman, Who Needs You?'
I marvel to think that the Son of God would condescend to save us, as imperfect, impure, mistake-prone, and ungrateful as we often are. I have tried to understand the Savior's Atonement with my finite mind, and the only explanation I can come up with is this: God loves us deeply, perfectly, and everlastingly.
'Mayabazar' was the film I immensely loved as a kid. Only when I became a filmmaker about 20 years later did I realise its technical marvel and what a great epic it was. I and my visual effects supervisor, while making 'Yamadonga,' took two days to understand the magnification shot of Ghatothkatcha's persona.
One of the things that I really admire about the Marvel motion pictures is that, in one year, 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier,' which was a taut political thriller, and 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' which was a cosmic comedy, came out, and they could not be more different, and yet they both felt very Marvel.
The decision to work with Marvel for a while isn't any sort of denigration of DC. I had a fantastic time there, I was treated extremely well, I have strong positive feelings about all of my editors and the DC universe of characters, and I look forward to hopefully working with them at some point down the road.
I have tremendous brand experience. What I do a lot for Disney is manage the great brands of this company, whether it's Disney, ESPN, ABC, Pixar, Marvel, 'Star Wars.' And I'm very engaged in technology and its impact on the consumer, either what experience you deliver for them or how to market and sell to them.
When Captain America is in a room full of Marvel superheroes, he is always Top Dog, even though his powers are pretty modest. He could be stood next to Thor, Iron Man, whoever. He is the one that everyone looks up to. To me, that is Superman, too. Even de-powered in the Legion arc, he was still Superman. Still Top Dog.
The thing about Marvel is that they're not - they're into real acting. They're looking for artists that are willing to take chances and are willing to create characters. Even if that character has been around for years and years in comic books, they still are depending on us to create something and take it somewhere else.
I think when you look at the diversity of the readership, all the different people who love comics, I want comics to reflect the real world, and I think Marvel does a good job of trying to do that, but I don't think there's ever an end point when it comes to creating diversity and creating stories that people can relate to.
I'm a Marvel fan, and I think this particular world that 'Doctor Strange' goes into is really, really, really exciting. I'm really interested as both an actor and a fan to see what's done in this particular world. It's all about creativity. It's not about everything exploding at the end. It's about something very different.