Marvel’s
Avengers Assemble series is right at our door and collider met up with the
series executive producers and writer, Jeph Loeb and Steven T. Seagle to ask
some questions. Voicing
the characters are Adrian Pasdar (Iron Man), Fred Tatasciore (Hulk), Roger
Craig Smith (Captain America), Travis Willingham (Thor), Troy Baker (Hawkeye),
Laura Bailey (Black Widow) and Bumper Robinson (Falcon).
“How
did this show come about and come together?
JEPH LOEB: This is, in
fact, the biggest show that Marvel television has ever taken on, in the
animation world. We had a real challenge that was posed to us, and that
was this little, tiny art-house movie that came out last year, that I don’t
know if you saw, called Marvel’s The Avengers, written and directed by our
friend Joss Whedon, and it really set the template. It really showed that
you can do a major motion picture, from the folks at Marvel, that has multiple
characters on an epic scale. On top of that, it also showed us that one
of the most important elements is a certain kind of levity. It’s the
interaction between those characters that really makes that movie as special as
it is, and I’m proud to say, as you probably know, it was the highest grossing
film of 2012, it’s the highest grossing film that Walt Disney has ever put out,
and it’s the third highest grossing film ever, in the world. So, when
they asked us to do an Avengers television series, it was not a
small feat for us. It was something that we really had to dig into and
figure out.
For those of us at Marvel
Television, it always begins with the story. It’s all about the
script. It’s making sure it’s there, on the page. So, we needed to
go to a group of individuals who have not only created some of the most
memorable animated characters, like Ben 10 and Generator Rex, but also had done
two seasons of our very successful Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man series, and that’s the Man of
Action guys. But, it wasn’t just that. After that, our next big
step was coming up with a voice cast that can bring the fun, the excitement and
the epic adventure and, at the same time, make it their own. Not only do
we have the handsomest voice cast out there, along with the very lovely Black
Widow, we also have an incredible voice cast, in terms of being able to handle
the drama, the fun, the excitement and the promise that Marvel brings to every
single one of our projects, which is epic adventure on the human spirit.
One of the challenges of this
show was also wanting to have a great-looking show. For those of you that
have been following Ultimate Spider-Man, you know how we took that
show and brought it to the next level of what Marvel Television is doing.
And Hulk and the Agents of
S.M.A.S.H. was the next level of what we
wanted to get to. We knew that, in doing something that’s based around
the world of the movie and how popular that is, we really wanted to do the
biggest show that we’ve ever done, in terms of the look of the show. I
want to give credit where credit is due to Eric Radomski, who is the head of
our production for Marvel Animation and who also happened to direct the pilot
as well, has been the supervising producer on the show and has really been just
looking at every single way that we can just plus up. This is a
great-looking show.
How
much do you draw from the Marvel universe when you’re writing these scripts,
and how much do you have to stay away from that, for people who might not know
it?
STEVEN T. SEAGLE: We have
a great writers’ room. We have Mr. Loeb, on a regular basis. We have
the four of us at Man of Action (which also includes Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey
and Joe Kelly). We have Cort Lane, who’s also a producer on this
show. We have Joe Quesada, whose DNA is inextricably linked with all
things Marvel. We all grew up reading and loving these characters, so
it’s a delight to try to figure out what to do with them. How do you top
the movie? You don’t, until Joss [Whedon] makes Pt. 2. Our goal is
actually just to make sure that we tell great stories. We have great
actors. We know how the characters sound, and we know what they’re up
against. It’s about keeping the DNA of The Avengers from the comics that we loved,
and creating something new with the idea of the movie, as well. Week to
week, we give Hulk something to Smash, we give Iron Man something to lead, i.e.
The Avengers, which is a new role for him, we keep Falcon wide-eyed but able to
kick as much butt as the rest of them, and we make sure that Black Widow does,
in fact, put them all in their place, from time to time. It’s a
challenge, but it’s a fun challenge. We owe it all to a great writers’
room.
LOEB: While we do have 50
years of terrific Avengers stories, many of which our
writing staff has written, along the way, this has to live in its own
world. The Marvel cinematic universe and the Marvel animation universe
are things that are very true, in terms of the DNA of what it is. But if,
at the end of the day, all we’re doing is telling stories that have appeared in
the comic books already, then we’re not really challenging anybody. We
have a whole other division, where we actually literally take the comic book
and animate it. Our feeling was that, if this was going to be our show
and that it was going to be a brand new show, it has to be more adventures with
these characters, in the same way that, through the years, there have been long
runs on the comic book series. It’s the same characters, with different
voices, along the way. When we approached the Man of Action guys, we
said, “We’re not really interested in what’s come before, except in the way
that we want to make sure that it feels like it’s Marvel’s Avengers Assemble. From that point on,
this is your cast. Go to it and tell great stories.”
…
Does
Stan Lee have any involvement with this show
LOEB: We like to have
Stan come by. He’s our good luck charm. At 90 years old, he’s
welcome to come by, at any time. There’s always a way for us to work Stan
into what we’re doing.”
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