Games & Gadgets

With Iron Man director Jon Favreau discussing a sequel to his summer blockbuster, now is an excellent time to discuss what the rest of the Avenger movies should be like, thematically speaking.

Captain America

Captain America is the ultimate patriot, though his definition of "ultimate" and "patriot" are likely different from the general public's. Although he's not a scientific genius, he is incredibly intelligent, eloquent and well read. His recent assessment of America was "Corporate hands pulling government strings seems to the rule of the day. Lincoln predicted it would come to this." Lines such as that define the character, and if it means upsetting your audience, so be it. They might just learn from the man.

Thor

Here's the thing with gods: They're arrogant. Sort of full of themselves. If I'm watching a Thor movie, I'm probably not going to like the guy until the end, when he has his epiphany about what he can learn from feeble mankind. This guy isn't Superman to start with, but by the end, he's maybe got 80 percent of Superman's affection for Earth. And there's nothing wrong with that, because unlike Superman, Thor was raised in his homeland, Asgard. Also, feel free to play up the divided loyalty between his homeland and Earth.

The Avengers

When Marvel finally gets to the roster, the must-haves are short: Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. After that, I'd go with characters who will shine in support and don't need much of a storyline. Luke Cage would be excellent because his back-story is easy to grasp and he's got the one-liners to lend the proper humor to the movie. That's not to say he should be wacky in any way; the man commands respect and he'd better receive it.

Wonder Man is another character who wouldn't need much time focused on him, has good powers, and if you need to kill someone off, he's good to go. Who loves Wonder Man anyway?

As much as Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Yellowjacket/Dr. Henry Pym (all the same guy) and his wife — the Wasp — belong in the film, I'd hate to see their complex relationship shunted to one side for the main story. Unless Marvel plans on Ultron, an accidentally villainous creation of Dr. Pym's, being the main villain, I vote on cameos for the good doctor and his wife.

The Vision (a creation of Ultron who turned good against his creator's intention) would be a decent choice, except that would mean Ultron would have to exist, and I'm against that for now. If we need more sluggers for the Avengers, add Hercules.

Hawkeye, the expert archer, would be a good choice to balance the slugger syndrome I seem to be putting in the movie. Quicksilver, whose power is supersonic speed, would be fun to watch and would need about three lines for his fans to be satisfied.

Lastly, the villain. I say they chase the Hulk around until it becomes clear someone in the shadows has been manipulating them, needing a sample of the Hulk's blood. He gets it before the heroes can stop him, setting up the sequel.

Oh, you waited past the credits for the shadowy mastermind? I'm going to use a classic, Dr. Doom.