This was an eye-opening read on the production of an Avengers sequel. Usually, studios have actors locked up for three or so films in the contract for the first movie (if certain thresholds are met). But several of the Avengers crew are not locked down for a follow-up. And Downey has spoken recently of retiring his portrayal of Iron Man (hard to believe after the massive opening weekend the latest film had). He has also, after making 25 TIMES as much as fellow actors on Avengers, stated that he will play hardball to get the rest of the cast what it deserves for any potential sequel.

I’ve read a few articles on this, and it has shocked me to hear how brutal Marvel is with their negotiations. Not that I assume filmakers are or should be overly generous, but you see the quality of actor and director they hire, the ability to put together an ensemble like this, and you figure it comes from paying people what they deserve. Instead, you get the sense that, like every Bruce Banner to date, the actors are expendable. It’s the tights that matter.

Could we see an Avengers 2 that features a mostly-new cast? It would be weird, but I’m sure they could pull it off. It burst my bubble a little bit, as I would love nothing more than two more films with the existing crew and Joss at the helm. In fact, I would love to see an odd experiment performed. Offer two different ticket prices, one with an extra $2 tacked on that goes to the entire crew (not just the cast), evenly distributed. Every single penny makes it back to them, no administration costs. How many moviegoers would pay an extra $2 knowing where it would end up? As much as I complain about ticket prices and the cost of popcorn, I would do it gladly. Then again, I stayed through the credits of Iron Man 3 (totally worth it), and it looked like a few million people were involved in the making of the film. So I doubt the extra $10 in everyone’s pockets would be all that appreciated.