A a comic book geek, I'm stoked about how Marvel reinvented itself from bankrupt 1990s company to worldwide mega-brand.

And now they're sooo into movies, and branching into TV and DVD. And not "Bad Captain America direct-to-DVD" DVD.

Marvel just posted a list of their visual media projects in the pipeline -- and I'm a bit giddy.

Of course, I ignore most projects in "Development", as the majority of those never see the light of day -- part of "Development" is feasibility assessment, and if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense. For me, "Pre-production" is only slightly less "mheh."

"In Production" is more exciting to me, as are the "Self-Financed Films", as Marvel has committed bocu bucks for the Intellectual Properties they announced financing for last year.

And applicability to me as an actor? I want to be in all of the Marvel projects. I'm going to be following up on every one of these, particularly the voice acting opportunities.

I'll maybe add more commentary later, but for now, here's the list, with a "*" by those items about which I'm particularly excited (for character, writer, and/or director reasons), and a "?" next to those I'm a little concerned about (for the same reasons).

Marvel visual media projects in the pipeline (with IMDb links where I was able):

Studio Financed Films

• Production
  (?) Ghost Rider – Sony, Feb. '07
  * Spider-Man 3 - Sony, May '07
  Fantastic Four 2 – Fox, June '07
  
• Development
  * Deathlok - Paramount
  (?) Gargoyle - Sony
  * Magneto - Fox
  (?) Namor - Universal
  The Punisher 2 - Lions Gate
  * Wolverine – Fox

Self-Financed Films

• Iron Man
  Release date - May 2, 2008
  Distributed by Paramount
  * Director - JON FAVREAU (Made, Elf, Zathura)
  Production Designer – J. MICHAEL RIVA (Spider-Man 3, Zathura)
  VFX Supervisor – JOHN NELSON (I Robot, The Matrix 2, 3, Academy Award winner for Gladiator)
  * Director of Photography – MATTHEW LIBATIQUE (Inside Man, Requiem for A Dream)
  
• The Incredible Hulk
  Distributed by Universal
  Director: Louis Leterrier (Unleashed, Transporter 2)
  * Writer: Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand, X2: X-Men Men United, Last Action Hero)
  
• Ant-Man
  Distributed by Paramount
  * Director: Edgar Wright (Shaun of The Dead)
  
• ** Captain America
  Distributed by Paramount
  Writer: David Self (Road to Perdition, Thirteen Days)
  
• Nick Fury
  Distributed by Paramount
  Writer: Andrew Marlowe (Air Force One, Hollow Man, End of Days)
  
• Thor
  Distributed by Paramount
  Writer: Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, The Cell)
  
• The Avengers
  Distributed by Paramount
  * Writer: Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, X2: X-Men Men United, Last Action Hero)

Animation

• Direct-to-DVD
  (?) Ultimate Avengers II - Released 8/8/06
  * Iron Man - In production
  Doctor Strange - In production (Did you know there was a 1978 movie? Watch the trailer. Giggle. Repeat.)
  Teen Avengers - Development
  
• TV Series
  Fantastic Four - In production
  * Wolverine & the X-Men - Pre-production
  Iron Man - Development
  Spider-Man – Development

Labels: acting, biz, comic books, voice acting