Chatting With Marvel’s Jeph Loeb About The Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United Blu-ray! #ThorDarkWorldEvent

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Hey All!

On my recent press trip for Disney, I got an early preview of two of the biggest Heroes from the Marvel Universe teaming up in “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United,” the first full-length, direct-to-video CG animated feature from Marvel Animation Studios. It was presented to us by Jeph Loeb, the executive producer of the animated feature. Jeff has played a big part in Marvel Entertainment and even the Marvel Agents of Shield television show as he’s Marvel’s Head of Television. This new animated film features the voices of Adrian Pasdar (TV’s “Heroes,” “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man”) as Iron Man and Fred Tatasciore (TV’s “Marvel’s Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.,” “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man”) as Hulk, this groundbreaking Marvel movie experience is available only on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital platforms tomorrow December 3, 2013. Yep it comes out on my birthday. I know what I want as a gift! I know you’re probably bummed Robert Downey Jr. is not the voice of Iron Man in this animated film, but don’t let that get you from not seeing this film and getting this Blu-ray as it’s really well done regardless of who’s voicing the characters.

In this action-packed adventure, the invincible Iron Man and the incredible Hulk come together to save the Earth from its greatest threat yet! When two HYDRA scientists try to supercharge a Stark Arc Reactor with Hulk’s Gamma Energy, they unleash a being of pure electricity called the Zzzax – and he’s hungry for destruction. Together, Iron Man and Hulk are the only force that stands in the way of the Zzzax’s planetary blackout. But first the Super Hero duo will have to get through snarling Wendigos, deadly robots and the scaly powerhouse, Abomination. Can two of Marvel’s mightiest Heroes find a way to work together without smashing each other before time runs out?

We were curious to know why only these two Avenegers were paired together, so we had to ask Jeph.

Jeph Loeb states, “We tend to keep an eye on who folks want to see more of. We asked the fans and those are the two characters people most wanted to see.”

Marvel’s decision to feature Iron Man followed the enormously popular appearance of the Hero in the “Iron Man” franchise and the blockbuster hit “Marvel’s The Avengers,” which currently stands as the third highest grossing film in U.S. history and the number one release from Walt Disney Studios.

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The Hulk’s breakout role in last summer’s “Marvel’s The Avengers,” provided creators with the next Marvel Hero. Loeb attributes the overwhelmingly positive response to Hulk’s appearance in that movie to the fact that its creators finally gave long-time Marvel fans the opportunity to see the character as “a Hero, not a monster.” Loeb assures fans that, with this feature-length animated release, the Marvel Animation Studios team set out to depict Hulk “with that same kind of thought and expectation.”

Loeb defines the fundamental difference between the two Heroes as follows:

“Tony Stark is a man who thinks first and then acts second. He surrounds himself with technology and builds himself a suit of armor and any kind of tool and weapon that he needs. On the other side is his sort of polar opposite, and that’s the Hulk, who acts first and contemplates his actions later. He believes that the best way to handle things is through SMASHING. We’re talking about a character whose tremendous power comes from who he is without any kind of enhancements through technology,” the Executive Producer says.

That’s not to say that these two distinct characters don’t influence each other’s heroic styles during the 72-minute run time of “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United.” Loeb assures fans that, during the course of their first feature-length pairing, the two “learn a little from each other and borrow tricks from one another.” Together, Hulk’s brute strength and Iron Man’s high-tech intellect combine to form an ultimate avenging force that’s ready to take on whatever villains – or should we say villain-z – that come their way!

Loeb traces each actor’s rich history bringing their respective characters to life:

“Adrian Pasdar, who’s been playing Iron Man since about the fifth episode of ‘Ultimate Spider-Man,’ is one of our regulars in the Marvel animated universe, so we’re delighted to have him on board. Similarly, Fred Tatasciore, who plays Hulk, has probably played the character more than any other person who’s ever played Hulk and we know that that’s a role that’s been around a long time, going all the way back to Bill Bixby. Fred’s been our Hulk on everything from ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ through ‘Marvel’s Avengers Assemble,’ ‘Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.’, as well as numerous other projects that were worked on prior to Marvel Animation Studios forming in the first place.”

The production of “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United” marks the historic first occasion Marvel Animation Studios has completely utilized computer generated technology in order to create a Super Hero adventure. The use of CG animation results in a visually groundbreaking tale that brings stunning and vibrant new life to the animated Marvel Universe.

The decision to use CG technology was made after the film’s Supervising Creative Director, Eric Radomski impressed his Marvel teammates with a test demonstrating the effect of combining CG technology with 2D mapping. According to Loeb, “The test that Eric showed us was extremely promising and we green-lit it off that – no gamma pun intended – in order to move forward.”

Loeb expresses enthusiasm for continued use of CG animation going forward.

“It’s exciting when we get to use a new kind of format and see where we can go. What we’ve learned from this first experience is going to really show up with some neat stuff in the future as well.”

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Executive Producer Jeph Loeb promises fans:

“a huge epic story with great characters and an awful lot of fun. They’re two of Marvel’s most popular characters going up against great villains. It’s a terrific looking feature. It’s not often we get to do full-length animated projects and this is a 72-minute epic that we know people will not want to rent, but own.”

Loeb also hints at the possibility of a surprise at the end of the movie.

‘“I can tell you that, as Marvel fans know, it’s always worth staying until after the credits and that holds true even on this made-for-DVD.”

From the short 15 minutes we were shown I can tell you it got my attention and left me wanting to see me. I know it’s something our kids would love to see as well. I mean that’s a given being that we’re huge Marvel geeks in our home.

The Blu-ray has some great Bonus Features which include:

Marvel “Inter-missions”:

Marvel puts a humorous twist on their old-school original animated series. What better way to take a break from fighting villains than hitting pause and enjoying a little comedy with Marvel Mash-Ups.

Marvel Team-Up with Ryan Penagos and Joe Q:

Super Heroes are larger than life on their own. But when they join forces with another, they become a force to be reckoned with.  Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada, joins Ryan Penagos (Agent M) in an intimate and lively one-on-one conversation about these Marvel Team-Ups.

For more info…

Iron Man MiniMate InfoAgain “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United” is available only on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital platforms on December 3, 2013.

 

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