Marvel superheroes ready to do battle
PACIFIC COLISEUM SHOW: Live-action event filled with epic team-ups
Marvel Universe Live! Where: Pacific Coliseum When: June 18-21 Tickets: Ticketmaster.com or marveluniverselive.com
It rules the silver screen. It’s on the TV screen.
Since its première nearly a year ago in Tampa, Fla., the Marvel Universe Live! show has presented 25 superheroes such as Spider-Man and the Avengers pitted against Loki, the Red Skull and other über-baddies in a fast-paced live-action battle for possession of the Cosmic Cube.
With its interconnected storyline and real-time evolution across print, broadcast, online and film properties, this universe is indeed huge.
When the publicist for the liveaction event notes that I need to make it clear to readers when referring to actor Joshua Murillo that he “portrays/plays the Hulk,” and not that “Josh is the Hulk,” it occurs to me this universe may be getting a tad too expansive.
Hulk growling green giant. But Hulk not real.
“That’s funny because I’m a lot more Banner than the big green guy in real life,” Murillo says. “In fact, I was quite taken aback when I first saw the size of the Hulk, because he’s nine feet tall, massive. The suit is heavy and I did a lot of conditioning in rehearsals before I could mix it up with other characters.”
The promotional video for the tour shows everything from Hawkeye launching exploding arrows to Captain America’s extreme motorcycling and more.
Concept creator/director Shanda Sawyer says the show is a special effects extravaganza, but also a genre buster in terms of its devotion to the Marvel Universe narrative.
“It’s very important to the fans and to Marvel that the storylines and characters remain true throughout the Marvel Universe,” Sawyer says. “That overall iconography that has been established can’t be changed, so working with top Marvel writers and one of Hollywood’s best stunt and special effects experts has created something unique.
“Best of all, we can have characters from that universe appearing together in the live show which cannot owing to the much-publicized licensing issues of the film franchises.”
So diehard fans get to see epic Marvel team-up Spider-Man and Thor joining Wolverine to battle the Lizard. Sawyer says the entire storyline and character list was finished before the proposal to bring together Marvel, Marvel Studio and Feld Entertainment to produce the show.
“The concept took tremendous amounts of research to bring these characters together in a really fun and entertaining quest,” Sawyer says. “Spectacular stunts, lasers, pyro, lots and lots of fast fighting are certainly part of it. But what is leaving the arena of transfixed kids and adults is the narrative.”
As for what it takes to become a live-action superhero actor, Murillo came from a baseball career, boxed, competed in weightlifting and crossfit. He also played in numerous bands. All of which led him to a degree in business management and eventually acting. “To see how we’ve taken the action from the films and made it happen live is incredibly cool,” Murillo says.
“What surprised me was how Marvel has become so huge now that the story is familiar to a lot more people than just those who used to read the comic books. I just love that I got to be the Hulk as he was my favourite growing up because Bruce Banner was conflicted and complex, whereas Iron Man and Thor were kind of all set.”
From there, the discussion becomes a mutual nerd-off about how cool the coming Black Panther film will be, how they should make an Iron Fist and Master of Kung Fu film and more.
Sawyer says that the multi-generational audiences filling the arena tours prove there is a real history to tap into in Marvel Universe Live! The recurring theme of transformation inherent in the stories lends itself to constant evolutions too.