A few weeks back, actor Vin Diesel revealed that his initial meetings with Marvel, which he teased often on his Facebook page, were initially about a new property that Marvel is hoping to launch in 2016. He says from there the talks turned to current roles and lead to his casting as Groot in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy, but the talks with Marvel didn’t stop there.
In an interview with Maria Menounos (via Bleeding Cool), Diesel says he and Marvel are still discussing the role for the mystery 2016 Phase 3 film .
“When I met with Marvel it wasnt for anything immediate, it was to talk about a film that would be introduced in the Phase 3 part of Marvel, not for a few years. You wouldnt be able to see it for a few years. In my mind, Marvel were doing it right, they were enrolling me at the ground level which is the best way to enroll me.”
“I get the call, I go down to Marvel. A great meeting. It was even talking about something so big I cant even talk about because its like the merging of brands in a way, which I wont get into. That was something way, way, way, way, way down the road.”
Though Diesel teased the meeting to no end on social media, he says he and Marvel agreed to not speak about specifics, and then Comic-Con happened.
“We had agreed not to say anything about the specifics of the meeting. So, now Ive got the fans who I love more than I love the industry, than I love everybody I was thinking Ive got to be real with them, Ive got to tell them something and yet I want to be respectful of peoples process and if people like to do a slow reveal, you know?””
“Quite frankly, it would have been too much to say and it might have been anticlimactic to say ‘Were working on something for 2016’ and so I just said ‘Youre going to hear some really big news’ and I left at the end of that and it went crazy.”
Diesel confirms that while he is still portraying Groot, his talks with Marvel about the 2016 project are still going on.
“The next Monday, Marvel talks to me and says Were going to send something over in two weeks. We want to focus on the 2016 but we also want to, if possible, answer this growing request for something now. I dont have six months to play a character in the immediate future, its all booked there was no way I was going to be able to deliver after Comic-Con, we were at a stalemate ”
These quotes bring up many different questions. What is the 2016 film that Marvel still wants Diesel to star in? What exactly does Diesel mean by “Merging of brands?” And when will we know for sure? Marvel currently has two untitled films slated for release in 2016, on May 6th and another on July 8th. What do you think they could be? Sound off with your theories below.
(Photo credit: WENN.com)
