Marvel's head of television Jeph Loeb gave a statement to BuzzFeed (via CBM) while promoting a new season of Ultimate Spider-Man that might give the impression the studio is considering a Heroes For Hire movie. He lumps Heroes For Hire together with Guardians of The Galaxy as a possible franchise. However, he could be just talking about a potential TV project similar to S.H.I.E.L.D. or even it's own cartoon series. The pair of heroes are currently supporting characters in the Spider-Man series and are likely there to boost awareness to the public. There had been development on both Power Man and Iron Fist films for years. Given that history at Marvel it's not hard to believe combing the two into one film could be a future project.
"Just like we just announced Guardians of the Galaxy, we are certainly looking at the Heroes for Hire franchise which is Luke Cage and Iron Fist."
ComicBookMovie was able to chat with Prometheus writer Damon Lindelof (Lost, Star Trek 2, Cowboys And Aliens) about what superhero he'd love to take a shot at adapting. Damon reveals he would like to change the minds of comic fans turning a sort of an unknown lame character like Iron Fist into a badass on screen hero. He points to Matt Fraction's recent comics as his favorite run. Did you hear that Marvel? Damon Lindelof is putting it out there he'd want to write Iron Fist which would be a giant upgrade from xXx writer Rich Wilkes (who had previously worked on a script).
"I think I would rather do a character that not many people knew, and maybe saw as lame and couldn't carry their own movie. One character I've always loved is Iron Fist, and Matt Fractions incredible run with him a couple of years back. I always thought that would make a really cool movie. But I am hard pushed to think of me doing anything better than The Avengers which I just thought was phenomenal."
"Yeah well I mean I think it's because he's even more fringy than Iron Man was, and also because he's called IRON Fist they may be worried about some confusion with the Iron Man franchise, even though obviously they are very different characters. But I have to imagine that with the success of The Avengers, they are planning to give Black Widow and Hawkeye their own spin-offs, and there are many more characters on the fringe of the Marvel universe that I feel are equally worthy, like Iron Fist."
One giant issue concerning Iron Fist is that you're going to need an extremely good script that doesn't take itself too seriously. There's so much genre involved martial arts, Eastern settings, immortality, mystical powers, shoot em' ups, noir, terrorists and flashbacks to different time-periods. Damon could certainly pull these elements together. Marvel is aiming to make a film featuring a character outside of the Avengers' world for it's second 2014 release and Danny Rand fits that criteria. It would also be an excuse to bring in Luke Cage as a supporting character.
Idris Elba (Thor, Prometheus, Pacific Rim) and Dwayne Johnson have recently lobbied to play Cage. While fans have been championing actors like Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim, Sons of Anarchy, Children of Men) and Ryan Gosling (Gangster Squad, Drive, Only God Forgives) for Danny Rand. Personally, I'd love to see Charlie and Idris re-team for something like this. Hunnam had been a Thor candidate so he's definitely on Marvel's radar and co-starred with Elba in Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim.
Kevin Feige has been somewhat coy about the second phase of the Marvel's release slate. We know that on May 2014 the studio plans to release an unannounced project on that date. It had been thought that Ant-Man or Guardians of The Galaxy would be prime candidates. Until Edgar Wright announced that he'd would be starting production on World's End this fall and could possibly shoot some of Ant-Man (likely green-screen scenes or a sizzle reel for Comic-Con) sometime during 2012 as well. This doesn't mean that Ant-Man would even be ready to released for 2014 considering the amount of special effects needed for the film. New word from Marvel gives the impression that Guardians is also out of the running.
A new quote from Fegie during an interview with Empire seemingly excludes Ant-Man, Black Panther and even Guardians of The Galaxy for the second 2014 slot. Kevin states that they will be introducing "a character outside of the Avengers' world". This gives the impression the first two are out as they're both Avengers. While the latter is a team film similar to the Avengers in that it would include multiple heroes, not one single "character". It leads me to believe that Kevin Feige is hinting to the mystical fantasy film Doctor Strange. There is another C-level character like Strange that could be a possibility as well which is The Immortal Iron Fist which will be a pulpy martial arts/shoot em' up flick.
"Our next step," said Feige, "will be to introduce a character outside the Avengers' world."
DOCTOR STRANGE:The first thought is Doctor Strange as they already have a script complete with the studio shopping it around to directors back in August. It's unknown which version of the character they'd be aiming to make since they have a few different takes. Steven Strange is famous surgeon who searches for a new calling when his sister dies. It leads him to an ancient order that teaches him the mystical arts leading him to become the Sorcerer Supreme. It could be a mystical period piece set in the 30's or just a straight up contemporary. His powers vary but could be somewhat limited in the first film since it would be an origin film with Strange learning the magic ropes. The cosmic universe has been explored with Thor and Avengers so it wouldn't be a stretch to see this character fit into the Marvel cinematic universe. While Kevin states the character won't have connections to Avengers it wouldn't stop them from introducing an Avenger like Scarlet Witch as a villain or supporting character.
IRON FIST: A project less likely is Iron Fist which hasn't been in development as long as Strange but had a script from Rich Wilkes. We haven't heard much on it but like Strange this character isn't a prominent Avenger and like Iron Man (before the original film's release) was basically a niche character. Ed Brubaker (known for the modern Captain America) reinvented the characters' mythology with The Immortal Iron Fist which gave an edge to both Danny Rand and Orson Randall. I could see how a martial arts/shoot em' up film with Highlander elements would be completely different from what they've already done.
