WDW Daily News

Marvel Entertainment, LLC is amping up its focus on performance. The company known for its arsenal of Super Heroes is messaging to companies known for performance, strength, and durability that teaming with Marvel – a company whose characters instantly reflect these core attributes – will help further enhance their brands and build out their audience.

Companies across categories wanting to accentuate strength and performance are seeing the value in collaborating with Marvel including: Under Armour for apparel, Tantrum electronics accessories, Bell performance bike accessories, C-Preme durable helmets, and Sage Fruit’s better-for-you produce.

Marvel is focused on building a greater connection on how its arsenal of characters can help companies better connect their brands to key performance attributes such as strength and durability. It is working closely with companies to develop the best licensing executions for connecting performance between their brands and Marvel through innovative and creative product experiences.

“Marvel Super Heroes are a natural fit for this exciting initiative,” said Paul Gitter, senior vice president, licensing, Marvel at Disney Consumer Products. “We see tremendous opportunity to further build out this performance initiative across all product categories – from consumables and apparel, to electronics and sporting goods.”

After scouring the country to find the best of the best in live action performers with an amazing array of disciplines and skills, Feld Entertainment, Inc., the worldwide leader in live touring family events, today reveals the final cast of more than 50 performers ready to bring its most ambitious live event experience to life in Marvel Universe LIVE!.  Debuting this July in Tampa, FL, before having its world premiere at New York City’s Barclays Center on Wednesday, August 13, the show will be the most physically demanding in Feld Entertainment’s storied history and will stop in 85 cities nationwide.

Featuring the most Marvel characters ever in one production, Marvel Universe LIVE! will be headlined by a cast trained in everything from martial arts to motocross in order to bring the Marvel Universe to the live action arena. Supported by a unique blend of aerial stunts, pyrotechnics and state-of-the-art special effects, the performers will bring an epic live action experience right in front of audiences’ eyes every time.

After an intensive eight month cross-country casting process that took place in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando and Ellenton, Florida, with hundreds of hopefuls representing the United States, Mexico, Hungary, France, United Kingdom, Russia, and Japan showing off their considerable skills, the final ensemble is set. When the spotlight finally shines, spectators will see some of the world’s most gifted athletes and performers including professional snow-skater and three-time X Games champ Phil Smage (Captain America), WMX Pro National champion and two-time X Games winner Ashley Fiolek (Hydra Agent), and 2012 X Games Silver Medalist Louise Forsley (Black Widow). To depict the superlative athleticism of some of Marvel’s most renowned heroes, Feld Entertainment also has signed martial arts expert and AAU Junior Olympics/National Champion Kirk Jenkins (Wolverine) and long-time American Ninja Warrior professional course tester Eric Foster (Hawkeye).

“From the beginning we knew that to pull off a show of this magnitude we had to have a cast that was the closest thing we could find to real life Super Heroes,” said Shanda Sawyer, director of Marvel Universe LIVE! “These are intense roles that require performers who are experts in their fields with the ability to take those skills and apply them to a number of meticulously crafted sequences, all designed to push the limits of anything the audience has ever seen in an arena show of this caliber – and they need to do this day in and day out.”

Marvel Universe LIVE! will captivate audiences with an authentic and original story that brings more than 25 Marvel characters together on one epic quest.  The story is framed around the battle over the Cosmic Cube, the source of ultimate power and one of the most feared and coveted treasures in the Marvel Universe, that has been shattered into pieces by the mighty Thor in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. With the pieces scattered across the globe, Thor’s villainous brother, Loki, devises a scheme to clone its powers, inciting a threat that could not only decimate Earth but also obliterate the Universe.

For an inside look at the audition process click here: http://youtu.be/gPh0IdAxf58

For a complete cast list and more information, visit the Marvel Universe LIVE!  website (http://www.marveluniverselive.com)

Take a look at 3 new posters for marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ featuring Star-lord, Gamora, and Drax.

The film opens in theaters on August 1, 2014.

SEEKING REAL “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!” Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Marvel Studios, Dolby^® Laboratories and Visa Signature are joining forces for a nationwide MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY”—GUARDIANS OF GOOD contest in conjunction with the August 1, 2014 release of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper.

MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY”—GUARDIANS OF GOOD invites real “Guardians of the Galaxy,” young men and women (ages 14-18) from across the United States, to share their stories of how they are bettering their communities through service, science or innovation, and gives them the opportunity to connect with a galaxy of Peer Guides—who are already doing great things—to learn from their successes. Entries will be accepted between June 11, 2014 and June 29, 2014.

Application forms, eligibility requirements, official contest rules and more information are available at http://www.marvelguardiansofgood.com.

Applicants for GUARDIANS OF GOOD will participate in online sessions with Peer Guides, who will include representatives from generationOn, Broadcom MASTERS®, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” Ultimate Mentor Leadership Council. Peer Guide sessions are scheduled to take place between June 13, 2014 and June 21, 2014. The Peer Guides will discuss their personal stories of service, science or innovation as well as learnings and advice.

Following the Peer Guide sessions, all applicants will then submit a short video explaining how they are improving the galaxy and what inspiration and guidance they received from their Peer Guides. The five best video entries will be selected as winners.

The five winners will each receive: Two round-trip tickets to Hollywood, including hotel accommodations, from July 20 through July 23, 2014, to be on the red carpet at the World Premiere of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” on July 21, 2014; an invitation to the first-ever GUARDIANS OF GOOD INNOVATION & SERVICE SUMMIT on July 22 at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, where professionals and peers will share their knowledge; a backstage tour of the Disneyland Resort; and a red-carpet screening of the film at a Dolby® Atmos™ Theatre in or near the winner’s hometown.

GUARDIANS OF GOOD INNOVATION & SERVICE SUMMIT is scheduled to include presenters from NASA/JPL, speaking on the monitoring and protection of Earth through asteroid detection and Earth-observing satellites and ensuring the safety of Mars spacecraft during a comet encounter, Disney Imagineers, generationOn, Broadcom MASTERS®, Discovery Science Center, & Disney Global Community Outreach.

For more information about MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY”—GUARDIANS OF GOOD, please visit http://www.marvelguardiansofgood.com

Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Sneak Peek is coming to Disney Parks July 4, 2014.

At Disneyland, the sneak peek will take place at the Magic Eye Theater in Tomorrowland. It will also be shown in REALD 3D at the ABC Soundstage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World.

Marvel Studios has made no secret that they have a huge plan for continuing their cinematic and televised universe, stating that their plan reaches as far as 2028.

Full Story

One of the best things about Joss Whedon’s first Avengers movie for Marvel was Mark Ruffalo’s first appearance as Bruce Banner, the alter ego for the incredible Hulk.

Full Story

The fate of the universe rests in the hands of a thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac in the latest preview for Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” in theaters August 1!

From the studio that brought you the biggest super hero movie of all time, “Marvel’s The Avengers,” comes this year’s #1 live-action adventure, Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” available early on Digital 3D and HD August 19, and on 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray, DVD and On-Demand September 9, from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

Pre-order Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on Blu-ray, Digital 3D & DVD today: http://bit.ly/1tWFAG1

Take a look at some stills from Disney’s animated Marvel film, ‘Big Hero 6’.

Brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion, a robot named Baymax, Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city.

Release Date: November 7, 2014