Over the last 24 hours there has been two announcements out of the House of Ideas camp concerning some non-AVENGERS/X-MEN/SPIDER-MAN properties with BLACK PANTHER and WAR MACHINE.
Don Cheadle, who took over the role of Col. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes in IRON MAN 2 stated to the MTV at Sundance;
They’re developing it now, they’re working on that. I think they’ve hired a writer, so we’ll see how it goes. It would be a lot of fun.”
He also spoke about the possibility of turning up in THE AVENGERS movie
“I don’t think he shows up in [‘Avengers’]…I think he’s kind of a lone wolf.”
Its no surprise that he probably won’t be taking part in THE AVENGERS as its already packed with actors and characters so having two men in metal suits would be a bit of an overload. Also with the news recently that Gwyenth Paltrow will not be appearing in AVENGERS its no surprise that the supporting cast would fall to the wayside to keep costs down and screen time for the A-listers high.
Another prominent black comic book character that is being groomed for the silver screen is BLACK PANTHER. PANTHER has been in development Hell for decades now coming close a few times to being made with star power behind the project from Wesley Snipes. With Marvel having a good run of late they are taking another swipe at the King of Wakanda, hiring writer Mark Bailey.
Don’t worry if you have no idea who Bailey is as he is a left field choice by Marvel previously only having one writing credit to his name, the documentary PANDEMIC: FACING AIDS.
So it is reassuring to know that Marvel are seriously looking to promote their lesser known, but as important, heroes into live action films, especially their minority characters.
