Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2017 film)

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an American superhero film, loosely based on the video game of the same name, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The film is directed by Joss Whedon and is co-written by Whedon, Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. and stars an ensemble cast. The film was released on July 21th 2017. The film garnered universal acclaim and numerous awards.

Plot
In an attempt for power across the cosmos, Doctor Doom, Loki and Thanos assembles villains from each corner of the universe as an army to help them conquer it, while Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. assemble The Avengers, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy and other super heroes in order to stop them.

Heroes

 * Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man/Peter Parker
 * Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark
 * Chris Evans as Captain America/Steve Rogers
 * Chris Hemsworth as Thor
 * Mark Ruffalo as Hulk/Bruce Banner
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
 * Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett
 * Patrick Stewart as Professor X/Charles Xavier
 * James McAvoy as Young Professor X/Charles Xavier
 * James Marsden as Cyclops/Scott Summers
 * Famke Janssen as Phoenix/Jean Grey
 * Halle Berry as Storm/Ororo Munroe
 * Kelsey Grammer as Beast/Hank McCoy
 * Nicholas Hoult as Young Beast/Hank McCoy
 * Anna Paquin as Rouge/Marie D'Ancanto
 * Shawn Ashmore as Iceman/Bobby Drake
 * Daniel Cudmore as Colossus/Peter Rasputin
 * Ellen Page as Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde
 * Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner
 * Channing Tatum as Gambit/Remy LeBeau
 * Ben Foster as Angel/Warren Worthington III
 * Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson
 * Michael Biehn as Cable/Nathan Summers
 * Omar Sy as Bishop/Lucas Bishop
 * Fan Bingbing as Blink/Clarice Ferguson
 * Booboo Stewart as Warpath/James Proudstar
 * Adan Canto as Sunspot/Roberto DaCosta
 * Rinko Kikuchi as Armor/Hisako Ichiki
 * Miles Teller as Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards
 * Kate Mara as The Invisible Woman/Sue Storm
 * Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch/Johnny Storm
 * Jamie Bell as The Thing/Ben Grimm
 * Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff
 * Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye/Clint Barton
 * Paul Rudd as Ant-Man/Scott Lang
 * Morena Baccarin as The Wasp/Janet van Dyne
 * Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff
 * Evan Peters as 70's Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff
 * Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff
 * Don Cheadle as War Machine/Iron Patriot/James Rhodes
 * Gwyneth Paltrow as Rescue/Pepper Potts
 * Paul Bettany as The Vision/J.A.R.V.I.S.
 * Anthony Mackie as The Falcon/Sam Wilson
 * Sebastian Stan as The Winter Solider/Bucky Barnes
 * Michael C. Hall as Daredevil/Matt Murdock
 * Jordana Brewster as Elektra
 * Tyrese Gibson as Luke Cage
 * Keanu Reeves as Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd
 * Thomas Jane as The Punisher/Frank Castle
 * Wesley Snipes as Blade/Eric Brooks
 * Charlie Hunnam as Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze
 * Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange
 * Daniel Craig as Union Jack/Joseph Chapman
 * Ryan Gosling as Moon Knight/Marc Spector
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor as Black Panther/T'Challa
 * Chris Pratt as Star-Lord/Peter Quill
 * Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer/Arthur Douglas
 * Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon
 * Zoe Saldana as Gamora
 * Vin Diesel as Groot
 * Jared Padalecki as Nova/Richard Rider
 * Jensen Ackles as Quasar/Wendel Vaughn
 * J. August Richards as Deathlok/Mike Peterson

Villains

 * Tom Hiddleston as Loki
 * Toby Kebbell as Doctor Doom/Victor von Doom
 * Jet Li as The Mandarin
 * Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian
 * James Spader as Ultron
 * Damion Poitier as Thanos
 * Hugo Weaving as Red Skull/Johann Schimdt
 * Ian McKellen as Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr
 * Michael Fassbender as Young Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr
 * Finn Whitrock as Venom/Eddie Brock
 * Chris Cooper as Green Goblin/Norman Osborn
 * Alan Rickman as Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius
 * Dane DeHaan as Hobgoblin/Harry Osborn
 * Matthew Lillard as Carnage/Cletus Kasady
 * Jamie Foxx as Electro/Max Dillon
 * Paul Giamatti as The Rhino/Aleksei Sytsevich
 * David Tennant as Mysterio/Quentin Beck
 * Sam Worthington as Shocker/Herman Schultz
 * Rhys Ifans as The Lizard/Curt Connors
 * Timothy Olyphant as Scorpion/Mac Gargan
 * John Malkovich as Vulture/Adrian Toomes
 * Gerard Butler as Kraven the Hunter/Sergei Kravinoff
 * Oscar Isaac as The Chameleon/Dmitri Smerdyakov
 * Thomas Kretschmann as Baron Strucker/Wolfgang von Strucker
 * Christopher Eccleston as Malekith the Accursed
 * Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Kurse/Algrim the Strong
 * Tim Roth as Abomination/Emil Blonsky
 * Tim Blake Nelson as The Leader/Samuel Sterns
 * Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
 * Jeff Bridges as Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane
 * Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer
 * James Badge Dale as Coldblood/Eric Savin
 * Ashley Hamilton as Firepower/Jack Taggert
 * Frank Grillo as Crossbones/Brock Rumlow
 * Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser
 * Dijimon Honsou as Korath the Pursuer
 * Karen Gillan as Nebula
 * Benicio del Toro as The Collector/Taneleer Tivan
 * Mads Mikkelsen as Mister Sinister/Nathaniel Essex
 * Oded Fehr as Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur
 * Rebecca Romijn as Mystique/Raven Darkholme
 * Jennifer Lawrence as Young Mystique/Raven Darkholme
 * Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth/Victor Creed
 * Ray Park as Toad/Mortimer Toynbee
 * Aaron Stanford as Pyro/John Allerdyce
 * Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut/Cain Marko
 * Jason Flemyng as Azazel
 * January Jones as Emma Frost
 * Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw
 * Ray Winstone as The Kingpin/Wilson Fisk
 * Jason Statham as Bullseye
 * Laurence Fishburne as Galactus
 * Benedict Cumberbatch as Baron Mordo
 * Martin Freeman as Annihilus
 * Ralph Fiennes as Mephisto
 * Domhnall Gleeson as Blackheart
 * Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost
 * Luke Goss as Jared Nomak
 * Dominic Purcell as Dracula
 * Bill Paxton as The Clairvoyant/John Garrett
 * Alexis Denisof as The Other
 * Ian Hart as Graviton/Franklin Hall
 * Dylan Minnette as Blizzard/Donnie Gill
 * Elena Satine as Lorelei
 * Patrick Brennan as Blackout/Marcus Daniels

Supporting characters

 * Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane Watson
 * Sally Field as Aunt May Parker
 * Hugh Laurie as J. Jonah Jameson
 * David Alan Grier as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson
 * Zooey Deschanel as Betty Brant
 * Felicity Jones as Black Cat/Felicia Hardy
 * Donald Glover as Randy Robertson
 * Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery
 * Michael Douglas as Hank Pym
 * Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
 * Brett Dalton as Grant Ward
 * Chloe Bennet as Skye
 * Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
 * Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
 * Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
 * Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan
 * Titus Welliver as Felix Blake
 * Ron Glass as Dr. J. Streiten
 * B.J. Britt as Antoine Triplett
 * Patton Oswald as Billy Koenig
 * Amy Acker as Audrey Nathan
 * Anthony Hopkins as Odin
 * Jaime Alexander as Sif
 * Zachary Levi as Fandral
 * Ray Stevenson as Volstagg
 * Tadanobu Asano as Hogun
 * Idris Elba as Heimdall
 * Clive Russell as Tyr
 * Natalie Portman as Jane Foster
 * Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig
 * Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis
 * Liv Tyler as Betty Ross
 * William Hurt as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross
 * Adrian Pasdar as Glenn Talbot
 * Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
 * Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter/Agent 13
 * Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
 * Leslie Bibb as Christine Everheart
 * Oilvia Williams as Moira MacTaggert
 * Rose Byrne as Young Moira MacTaggert
 * Tao Okamoto as Mariko Yashida
 * Rila Fukushima as Yukio
 * Reg E. Cathey as Franklin Storm
 * Sean Astin as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson
 * Bob Odenkirk as Ben Urich
 * Kris Kristofferson as Abraham Whistler
 * Jessica Biel as Abigail Whistler
 * N'Bushe Wright as Karen Jenson
 * Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson
 * John C. Reily as Rhomann Dey
 * Glenn Close as Commader Irani Rael
 * Michael Rooker as Yondu
 * Ophelia Lovibond as Carina Walters
 * Ruth Negga as Raina
 * David Conrad as Ian Quinn

Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot make an appearance in the post-credits scene as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to lead into the Marvel/DC crossover sqeuel. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost make cameo appearances as Damage Control members at the end of the film. Stan Lee, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes also make cameos, during the film's climax.

Development
In May 2014, Marvel Studios, Sony and 20th Century Fox made a deal to turn all there Marvel properties into one cohesive universe. In February 2015, a teaser for something leading to a reveal on March 4th was released in theatres and on the internet and televisions across the world and with words, The world will be watching.

On March 4th, The world will be watching was revealed to be Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. A teaser showing various cities in the world being under attack and the last part showing the Marvel heroes including Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man, Nick Fury, The Thing, Cyclops and others walking towards the camera and Spider-Man landing in front of them, the logo for the film appears along with a July 21st 2017 release date, then Spider-Man webs the camera. The day after Marvel put it a press release for the film and announced that all the actors who have played the characters will returns to reprise those roles and that Joss Whedon will direct and co-write the film with Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss.

At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International, Whedon appeared on stage to introduce the actors to rapturous applause. Whedon described the film as an "universal scale" type of film and will make The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron "look like a playground scuffle". Andrew Garfield said Spider-Man was "sort of the heart of the movie", Whedon added

"Spider-Man was always the most relatable character in the Marvel universe, so he's gonna be the character you follow and the one who's going to bring you into the movie."

Whedon also said about adapting the video game as the basis for the story, "We're not going by the game mission by mission, we're just taking the core plot of bringing all these characters together."

Pre-production and filming
Filming began on February 4th 2016 in New York.

Post-production
Filming finished on August 25th 2016. Footage of the film was screened at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International at the Marvel panel.

Critical reaction
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance received universal acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an rating of 10/10 based on 280 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "With a script that never puts the visuals over the story and characters, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is one of greatest superhero films you will ever see and it will sure go down in history as a classic".

Box office
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance grossed $3,657,469,358 in North America, and $1,999,890,456 in other countries and has a worldwide total of $5,657,359,814. It became the highest-grossing film worldwide as well as highest-grossing 2017 film. It is the highest-grossing comic-book adaptation, the highest grossing superhero film and the highest-grossing film ever released by the Walt Disney Studios, Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

Sequel
A sequel and crossover with DC Comics, titled Marvel/DC: When Worlds Collide, written and directed by Whedon is scheduled to be released May 24th, 2019. It will be the first time Marvel and DC Comics have crossed over on film.