Though we all love Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, there are literally hundreds of Marvel heroes out there that nobody outside of comic geeks has ever heard of; characters that, by comparison, make Thor look like Batman. Back in April, news came out that Marvel would be developing these characters as film properties, only instead of breaking the bank on a potentially risky investment, the films would have smaller budgets, somewhere in the $20-$40 million range. You know what's even easier than spending $40 million on a 2-hour long feature? Making 10-minute short films and marketing them alongside the bigger names.
Latino Review reports that Marvel is going to start making shorts for their B-list characters that will be shown in front of their major features. The news comes from a source within Marvel/Disney, but it is not yet known who the first character will be or which film the short would be attached to. Upcoming features for Marvel include Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger next summer, The Avengers in 2012 and Ant-Man and Nick Fury at some point in the future.
This sounds like a terrific idea, but there are a lot of potential problems. First off, they are going to have to try and get major stars to take time out of their busy schedules to make a short film, even if it is one for a studio like Marvel. But what if the character takes off? This means that any actor who appears in any short would have to be given the same extended contract as those given to Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth. And what if the character doesn't take off? Then you are essentially burning money and flushing it down a toilet. It doesn't make much sense for Marvel to make an Iron Fist or Dr. Strange film without making sure there is an audience to see it first, but there are a lot of possible potholes that need to be avoided.
