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15 Rules The Marvel Cast Has To Follow To Stay An Avenger

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Whether or not they want to think this way or even be a role model, just about every actor we see do their jobs (which is entertain us), becomes a role model. In theory that means an actor will behave in at the very least, a quasi-decent way. Or at the very least they're supposed to. When you're cast in a big huge franchise full of characters who are role models, as an actor - you better be on your best behavior.

When you're cast in a superhero movie, you're playing someone who inspires hope and is a role model. Add the extra fun of being cast as a hero in a DISNEY movie, and every single P and Q better minded on top of being on your best behavior.

While not as strict as Disney World employees, actors in Disney movies need to follow all kinds of rules and regulations that come with the territory of working for the Merry Marvel Mouse House Of Ideas. It doesn't matter if you're Robert Downey Jr, or Tom Holland or Elizabeth Olsen, or NYC Cab Driver # 4, if you're working for the Mouse, you need to follow these - 15 Rules The Marvel Cast Has To Follow To Stay An Avenger.

Non–Compete Clause

Wrestling and other sports fan will certainly understand this one. People might not understand the gravitas of the Marvel vs. DC feud. It is akin to the Monday Night Wars of the nineties, between the WWE and the old WCW. These two comic book entities have been fighting back and forth, jockeying for position for years now. Reed Tucker describes the feud’s history in his book, “Slug Fest.”

That feud between the House of Ideas and DC Entertainment obviously isn't a blood feud, but don't hold your breath for a JLA/Avengers movie anytime soon. Also, don't go blind waiting to see Chris Evans extend his altruistic goodie-two-shoes take on Truth, Justice, and the American Way as Superman anytime soon.

If you sign on to be part of the Marvel Universe, then the Marvel Universe is where you'll stay for as long as your contract states. FYI - in case you didn't realize, both Thanos and Cable are owned by Marvel, the only reason James Brolin is allowed to bring both icons to life. Basically, if you exist in one, you can't crossover, and the universes themselves will never meet.

Reshoots

Making a movie could take a very long time. Effects shots have to worked on by teams of computer and practical effects wizards. Actors shooting scenes have to shoot them from every angle imaginable, and then some. Directors and editors and producers all build the final cut of the film.

As they're editing the final pieces together, they'll sometimes realize that either a certain shot was missed, or they want to get a different shot all together entirely, so actors have to go through reshoots and callbacks.

With the intense filming schedule of a Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure, reshoots are commonplace. But they're also very frustrating for some, such as Idris Elba who was called back to do reshoots on Thor: The Dark World, while he was playing Nelson Mandela in Long Walk To Freedom.

 Press Tours

Once the movie is finished, it's time for the fun (or not so fun, depending on the actor) part. It's time to head to red carpet premieres all over the world. Places like Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood are filled to capacity with rabid fans and press people as you and your friends saunter down the carpet soaking it all in, proud of your accomplishments and hard work to bring a great, fun movie to the big screen.

While just about every star is contractually obligated to take part in press junkets and red carpet appearances, an Avenger has all kinds of work to do on top of the norm. They are contractually obligated to be there, and they better make sure they look happy while doing it.

It's a pretty gruelling process, and one that not all actors have to do, but if you want to be a superhero and earn that Marvel money, you have to tour the world like a superhero. But that also means you have to be constantly energetic and ready for anything, which can get more than tiring.

You’re A Toy

When you're working in a giant action kids movie and you're playing characters that have been around for decades, there's a good chance that your face will wind up everywhere. Cereal boxes, bags of chips, cans of soda. That's just the tip of the merchandising iceberg. Remember Yogurt in Spaceballs? It's like that - minus the flamethrower; although you can't put it past some companies to try and get that license.

You're also a toy, and a video game character, and on all kinds of clothes, and various other souvenirs. Some of these products are simple photo screen grabs. Other involve all kinds of photo shoots while you're hooked up to all sorts of green-screen rigs.

A good enough agent will be able to get their actor a piece of the merchandising pie, but that doesn't make the process annoying, to be at the beck and call of all of these outside vendors.

Diet And Exercise

This one is a no-brainer, right? In order to play a Greek or Nubian god, or any other God for that matter, you probably should look like one. That means a slew of exercising and eating right in order to look remotely like the superhero. Besides being beautiful, these particular actors have to tack on hours in the gym to look like a superhero. They also have a strict diet, consisting of boiled chicken and dried oats in order to look their absolute best.

This includes the women. Actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Zoe Saldana have to be fit and slim and fit into their tight fighting costumes. But guys like the Chris squad (Evans, Hemsworth, and Pratt), and a whole host of other actors have to maintain their figures or possibly face the chopping block.

Famously, Chris Pratt was slightly paunchy while playing Andy Dwyer on Parks And Recreation, and it was more than slightly hinted at he had to trim down in order to a play Starlord for Guardians Of Galaxy or give up the opportunity to traverse the cosmos with a rodent and his pet tree.

Franchise Contracts

When you're building a franchise, just like with a sports team, you need to lock in your key players, and in Marvel’s case, key stars and supporting players. Plenty of fans know all about these crazy contracts and how many films such-and-such actor is signed for. Marvel has certainly changed the game for franchises and universes of all kinds and when you sign up to star in one, you need to be ready to do at least three or four of them, with a ton of cameos too.

Marvel maven, producer Kevin Feige had once told Vanity Fair, “There will be two distinct periods. Everything before Avengers 4, and everything after.”

With many of the original actors’ contracts coming up at that point, roles will have to either be recast (not uncommon for superhero films), or we’ll continue to see new characters from the pages make it to the screen. Lets face it, as much as these actors love the money and the adulation, part of the fun of being an actor is the diversity of roles you take, and it could be hard to get into one character’s head when you always have say…Captain America’s stoicism running through yours.

Public Image

You would think that this goes without saying, but these actors, many of whom are already looked upon as role models before they jumped into spandex, are playing heroes who have been a part of pop culture for as long as seventy years now! For some these are silly little comic book movies, but for die-hard fans, this is their childhoods come to life.

Not just their childhoods, but now their children get to grow up, point at these heroes and say, 'I want to be like him one day'. That’s an important thing to think about, and it goes beyond the money making part of the film. These kids today have tangible real-life superheroes to look up to.

Just a few short months ago, plenty of walls came crashing down with all kinds of social movements. Thankfully, though, they're not above giving actors second chances - just look at the current face of the MCU, Robert Downey Jr.

Tow The Money Line Or Get Booted

When the MCU first got started, Disney didn't own the movie studio just yet. In 2008, Paramount Pictures released Iron Man and Universal released The Incredible Hulk - both were both ambitious productions that foretold the big picture futures for these characters and the world they inhabit.

The MCU had a simple philosophy back then, offer actors minimal but still respectable pay, which certainly was a gamble that paid off in the end. While he is now one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood, in 2008, RDJ was still rebuilding what little career he had left, praying for a role like Iron Man to come along.

Nowadays, plenty of stars are clamoring to work for Marvel, but take lessons from actors like Edward Norton and Terrance Howard - stars of both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, respectively. They both asked for a little more creative control and a lot more money and got booted from the House of Ideas for their trouble.

Leave The Stunts To The Stuntmen

Some actors, like Tom Cruise, are thrill seekers who more or less demand to do all of their own stunts when making a movie. We all know that no matter how much an actor or an actress wants to do a triple aerial twisting flip while shooting two blasters, landing on another bad guys head and performing a head-scissors take down, there are all kinds of stunt men and women on hand to put their own bodies on the line to step in when the stars are clearly out of their element.

Disney clearly has to look after their stars’ safety and insurance premiums are sky high on these productions, so plenty of times, the trained professionals are brought in to do the superhero action.

If you didn’t know the importance of stunt doubles, not just in Marvel movies, but all of them, click around the interweb for a while and you’ll see some strange to silly to freaky looking shots that will make you quote Spaceballs, “You captured their stunt doubles!”

Sworn To Secrecy

We wait with baited breath to see our favorite superhero actors saunter into Hall H, soak in all of the adulation and say hello to their adoring fans. Die-hard fans do their best to consume any and all making-of information in anticipation for that first 30-second teaser spot. Because of this, the Marvel Mouse House relies on shrouds of secrecy to keep plenty of big time plot holes all sealed up until opening night.

Perhaps J.J. Abrams and his crew has taught the Marvel mavens how to keep their mouths shut, but there are still occasions where even the stars get too excited and they mark out too about the on-goings of the films they’re a part of. Tom Holland for example let it slip that he was appearing in three Spidey movies, and we already knew about two of them.

It also didn't help when Mark Ruffalo accidentally revealed that everyone is gonna die in Infinity War. If you've read the comics, he's not that far off the mark.

Morals Clauses

Keeping up appearances is very important to any studio and the contracts they dole out. There has got to be a big-time Marvel Superhero Morals Clause for Disney. Say for example, if for some ungodly reason, Robert Downey Jr’s demons (in a bottle) came back to haunt him, like they did his on-screen counterpart in the comics, Disney would more likely than not be able to drop him without any mitigating circumstances.

In the last year, Hollywood leading men have been put on the backburner, with good (great) reason. There would definitely be retribution of the highest order if it came a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a creep. There's got to be a heavy vetting process before these actors get their spandex.

The Morals Clause would also extend to other ways the men and women or the Marvel Movie Marching society conduct themselves both on set and off.

Training

While they're certainly not allowed to do a lot of the death-defying stunts that they do, every one of these actors has to act like a bonafide action star. Demure and diminutive Scarlet Johansson has to make her Black Widow look and feel like she can wipe out an entire room of human operatives and rush headlong at super-powered aliens bad guys. Sebastian Stan had to go from being slim and lean, to bulking up as much as Captain America himself.

They, along with the rest of the cast need to do what plenty of people that have gotten to Carnegie Hall do - practice, practice, practice. And a whole lot of training. These guys need to at least learn how to fight Hollywood style, otherwise we'd have stupid looking fight scenes with too many close-up shots and far, far wide shots.

Instead, these guys train and choreograph the action scenes they'll be a part of to bring a sense of realism to their roles.

Keep Up Appearances

It goes without saying that once you have a role, it would be a good idea to do your best to keep the role. The best way to do that would be to train every day to maintain the muscular frame that helped any one of the Avengers get their role.

Chris Hemsworth might look like a dream to a lot of ladies out there, but that dream takes a lot of dedication for him to look like the God Of Thunder. Prior to Ragnarok filming, Hemsworth took to the gym with former Navy SEAL, Duffy Gaver, who put the Aussie trough the ringer.

To look like a god who could take down a Hulk, Hemsworth did all of the requisite sculpting techniques. Barbell curls, chest pulls, battle ropes, kickboxing, a host of more exercises helped the guy look like a million bucks to play the part in hilarious third chapter of Thor.

Giving Up The Role

Considering many of the actors currently on the Marvel roster’s contracts are expiring soon, we could see a drastic overhaul of actors and characters as Marvel starts up Phase 4. There might be a lot of actors we have to say goodbye to after Thanos gets done with the characters they play.

But the MCU has already faced turnover before with Terrance Howard and Ed Norton. But most recently, Andrew Garfield had to hand over his web shooters to Disney when Sony and the Mouse House Of Ideas decided to finally collaborate and let Spidey into the MCU Proper, handing the reigns over to Tom Holland.

Garfield however, wasn't done playing our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, as much as Sony and Marvel were done with him. The actor claimed he'd shed a tear or two watching Spiderman: Homecoming.

Make-Up Chairs

For some of these characters, the actors have to not just get into the role by working out and training and getting into their character’s mindsets, they also need a lot of extra help to look the part.

For actors like Paul Bettany (Vision), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), and a few others, waking up extra early to get their hair, face, and bodies done up can't make them happy. Perhaps if they can sleep while sitting very still they can catch a few more hours of sleep while the make-up team does their thing.

Whether they can catch some extra Zzzs or not, it has be a daunting process for an actor to sit there (or stand there) while several men and women lay their hands all over these actors to put on and take off all of their make-up.

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