According to Deadline, Marvel Studios and Joss Whedon are trying to court Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the role of Quicksilver in the highly anticipated Avengers 2 due out in theaters sometime in 2015.
Do those blue eyes look familiar? Well they should! Taylor-Johnson is best known for his role as the titular hero in the Kick-Ass movie franchise.
Whedon had previously confirmed that Quicksilver and his witchy twin sister, the Scarlet Witch, would make their silver screen debut in The Avengers sequel. However, a few days later Bryan Singer announced on Twitter that Evan Peters would play his version of Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Peters, who can be seen in FX’s American Horror Story, has already begun filming DoFP which is scheduled for release on July 18, 2014.
So what gives? As a non-comic book person, you’re probably wondering why two actors are playing the same character. Well, Quicksilver is one of those characters that fall within the rights of both the X-Men and Avengers franchise, and it’s clear both Fox and Marvel Studios want him for their respective films.
The reason two actors are being cast is because it boils down to the film rights. Marvel sold the movie rights to the X-Men franchise to Fox back in the 90s, but still retained the rights to The Avengers properties. At the time, no one could foresee the powerhouse Marvel Entertainment would become and the birth of their own studio, so now their movie properties are split across different studios (Spider-man is with Sony) with no hope in the near future of them ever being under the same roof.
My thoughts:
It pains me to see these two studios battle it out. The only ones who lose here are the fans, and it’s once again a reminder that these movies boil down to money instead of preserving the source material. It’s obvious there is no communication between the two studios and each are both competing for the bigger revenue.
Fine. I get it. These movies need to sell big bucks. But this shouldn’t be a contest. In the end, all these comic book characters belong to the same Marvel Universe we’ve all been reading since childhood and everyone wants to see a link between the Avengers and X-Men movies.
Wouldn’t it make sense to drop the pitchforks and somehow find a way to bridge these two BIG blockbusters? Isn’t there some kind of legal mediator for Marvel’s films?
Avengers has already proven that moviegoers want a shared cinematic universe and that they want to see these characters grow in other films. It can only spell more $$$ for all parties involved.
Having two Quicksilvers is going to be a reminder that the X-men and Avengers movies take place in separate cinematic universes. It would destroy all our fanboy dreams! No one wants that. We want to believe there is still a chance Hugh Jackman can make a cameo as Wolverine somewhere down the line in the next Marvel Studios movie.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is due out next year and I say stick with Peters since he’s already signed on (and is easy on the eyes) and then have him somehow translate him into to Avengers 2.
Can you imagine if X-Men: Days of Future Past somehow played a role for Avengers 2? Or vice versa? Ah…a fanboy can dream can’t he?
Quicksilver, the Marvel Universe’s answer to The Flash, is a speedster that has sided with both the X-Men and Avengers. In his first appearance, he was part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants under the leadership of his father, Magneto.