Al Pacino confirms discussions with Marvel and first trailer for Zemeckis’ The Walk

Al Pacino is perhaps the greatest actor of the past fifty years. The Oscar winning star of Scarface, Serpico, Heat, Scent of a Woman, Dog Day Afternoon, Insomnia, Carlito’s Way, Donnie Brasco and The Godfather trilogy did, earlier in the year, express interest in a collaboration with Marvel following his viewing and immediate delight in their space-set smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s now confirmed that he’s met up with Marvel’s studio head Kevin Feige about the possibility of a role in the films.

“I would imagine either there’s something he feels is right for me,” he explained. For different roles the mysterious part of Star Lord’s father is still up for grabs; hopefully he won’t get stuck as a generic villain. Other more venerable actors to take the step into the fray of Marvel’s action packed world include Anthony Hopkins in Thor, Michael Douglas in Ant-Man, Jeff Bridges in Iron Man, Tommy Lee Jones in The First Avenger and Robert Redford in The Winter Soldier. It’s no long stretch to imagine Pacino accepting such a role. The Marvel movies up for casting are Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Inhumans and The Avengers: Infinity War.

Although the story was comprehensively covered in the Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire, the death defying accomplishment of tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who walked on wire from one Twin Tower to the other, will be seen on screen again in The Walk, the first trailer for which has been released. Robert Zemeckis, director of Back to the Future, Cast Away, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact and Forrest Gump, commands the cast of Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper, Inception, Lincoln), Charlotte Le Bon (Mood Indigo, The Hundred Foot Journey), James Badge Dale (Iron Man 3, World War Z) and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Hugo, Shutter Island).

The Walk – October 2nd 2015

Marvel confirm their future in massive announcement: Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Inhumans, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Thor: Ragnarok and Infinity War!

In the summer, Marvel confirmed a series of release dates without a name to them but, at a recent presentation, the Phase 3 line up was at last revealed. It begins in 2015 with Ant-Man although that wasn’t mentioned today. What did steal focus was the third solo outing for Captain America which is now officially titled Civil War. It’ll be directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (The Winter Soldier) and will star Chris Evans (Snowpiercer) as Cap’ and Robert Downey Jr (Chaplin, Sherlock Holmes) as Iron Man while there are rumoured appearances from Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, The Other Boleyn Girl) as Black Widow and Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau, The Hurt Locker) as Falcon. There’s new title artwork for the film.
Captain America: Civil War – May 6th 2016

Next up was Doctor Strange. Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) recently signed on to star with Scott Derickson (Sinister) directing but the harrowing casting process has pushed the film’s release back a few months.
Doctor Strange – November 4th 2016

The smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy has now taken over $750 million worldwide and its sequel will be released sooner than expected. Director James Gunn (Slither) returns with the cast of Chris Pratt (The Lego Movie, Moneyball) as Star Lord, Bradley Cooper (Limitless, Silver Linings Playbook) as Rocket, Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek) as Gamora, Vin Diesel (Saving Private Ryan, Pitch Black, Fast and Furious) as Groot, Dave Bautista (Riddick, Bond 24) as Drax, Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Oculus) as Nebula and Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men) as Thanos (probably).
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5th 2017

Thor’s second adventure, The Dark World, wasn’t consider the box office success of Cap’ 2 or the Iron Man films but it still grossed far north of $600 million globally. This has prompted the confirmation of Thor: Ragnarok, in which Asgard trembles at the threat of apocalypse. Chris Hemsworth (Rush, The Cabin in the Woods) and Tom Hiddleston (War Horse, Only Lovers Left Alive) will star as Thor and Loki respectively while I’d expect Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Leon) as Jane Foster, Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Pacific Rim) as Heimdall and Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, The Remains of the Day) as Odin. A director is yet to be found.
Thor: Ragnarok – July 28th 2017

Black Panther was the first of three new properties to be announced. Again no director is signed on but a writer is present in the form of documentary maker Mark Bailey. More excitingly 42 and Get on Up’s Chadwick Boseman was confirmed to be playing the tribal hero. We reckon Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Prestige, The Lord of the Rings) will play villain Ulysses Klaw.
Black Panther – November 3rd 2017

The title itself is going to be tricky to sell but Marvel have at last invested in a female led film, following suit from DC’s Wonder Woman. There’s still no word on a director or star (is Longmire’s Katee Sackhoff still on the cards?) but a release date is in place.
Captain Marvel – July 6th 2018

New franchise Inhumans was also conceived is similar circumstances in that we know almost nothing but there are faint rumours that Vin Diesel (already voicing Groot) will play team leader Black Bolt.
Inhumans – November 2018

The most exciting announcement of all was that the third instalment of the central Avengers series will be split into two parts. Infinity War Part 1 and 2 will be released across 2018 and 2019. I sincerely hope that Serenity’s Joss Whedon will direct.
The Avengers: Infinity War Part I – May 4th 2018
The Avengers: Infinity War Part II – May 3rd 2019

Let’s just recap on the story so far in Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe:

Phase One:

Iron Man – 2008 – Jon Favreau – Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Clark Gregg, Paul Bettany, Samuel L Jackson

The Incredible Hulk – 2008 – Louis Leterrier – Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson

Iron Man 2 – 2010 – Jon Favreau – Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Clark Gregg, Paul Bettany, Samuel L Jackson

Thor – 2011 – Kenneth Branagh – Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Clark Gregg, Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba

Captain America: The First Avenger – 2011 – Joe Johnston – Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Samuel L Jackson

The Avengers – 2012 – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Paul Bettany

Phase Two:

Iron Man 3 – 2013 – Shane Black – Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Ben Kingsley, Paul Bettany

Thor: The Dark World – 2013 – Alan Taylor – Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Christopher Eccleston, Anthony Hopkins, Jaimie Alexander, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba

Captain America: The Winter Solder – 2014 – Anthony and Joe Russo – Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Robert Redford, Samuel L Jackson, Sebastian Stan, Cobie Smulders

Guardians of the Galaxy – 2014 – James Gunn – Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Benicio Del Toro

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – 2015 – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, James Spader, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis

Phase Three:

Ant-Man – 2015 – Peyton Reed – Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Judy Greer, Michael Pena, Corey Stoll

Captain America: Civil War – 2016 – Anthony and Joe Russo – Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, (unconfirmed) Anthony Mackie

Doctor Strange – 2016 – Scott Derickson – Benedict Cumberbatch

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – 2017 – James Gunn – (unconfirmed)

Thor: Ragnarok – 2017 – (unconfirmed) – Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston

Black Panther – 2017 – (unconfirmed) – Chadwick Boseman, (unconfirmed) Andy Serkis

The Avengers: Infinity War Part I – 2018 – (unconfirmed) Joss Whedon – (unconfirmed) Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin

Captain Marvel – 2018

Inhumans – 2018

The Avengers: Infinity War Part II – 2019 – (unconfirmed) Joss Whedon – (unconfirmed) Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin

The Third Phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been unleashed so tell us which of the ten new instalments you are most excited about. For us, it has got to be both parts of Infinity War. Bye for now!