(Fantastic Four Premiere image by WireImage Dimitrios Kambouris)

By David Server

CountingDown couldn't make it to the Fantastic Four junket (New York City? It's far from LA), but we didn't want to leave you folks empty-handed! So we managed to land an exclusive interview with Marvel Studios President and CEO Avi Arad, who gabbed with us a bit about what to expect from the future of Marvel Films! Check it out!

CountingDown: Now that Fantastic Four is finally finished, after years of development, do you feel that the finished project accurately captures the tone of the comic books?

Avi Arad: Absolutely. We captured the tone, the essence, the characters, and in some ways, we advanced the role of the villain. We were able to make Victor into a persona that is understood. It's not just a face of steel, it's first a man of steel. And then by connecting him in the interrelationships, and sending him on the spaceship with them, and the interaction between him and Sue, and the obvious jealousy and envy in a way of Reed, and something that Reed is incapable of, I think really helped us to create this fifth wheel if you will, and that's always the thing we took the most crap for. And we learned from our movies that if the villain is not connected to the heroes emotionally, then it's a disturbance versus an involvement. And to me, Reed and Victor are a polar opposite of the same man. They're two brilliant guys with ambition. Reed is Mr. Pure Research, he's applied research, and he says it, he states it. He's the smartest guy, he just doesn't know what he has- because he doesn't care. He cares about the invention, about the potential. So by establishing that, that's why we added to the legacy.

CD: What about the rest of the characters?

Arad: The rest of the relationships work well, and we were very, very fortunate. Between Chiklis really delivering on the heart, and I know everybody has their heart broken by Chiklis at least twice in this movie. And Chris Evans - carrying Johnny Storm the way he did, very few actors can do that. To look like him and yet be funny in a pretty tricky kind of a role, it's between being the jerk and a wise-ass, and it's not easy to do. And he pulled it off, he's awesome. And Jessica was an inspired choice that worked totally for us. And Ioan looked the role and plays the role. Someone was saying to me, y'know, in the beginning, he was a little boring, and he didn't talk to the girl... ' And I said, yeah! That's what it's supposed to be!' In movie two, you'll see a different Reed!

CD: Alright, moving on to another big project - X-Men 3, a lot of excitement, a lot of curiosity, and some large roles still left uncast - any updates on that front?

Arad: I would venture to say that next week, you will hear a lot.

CD: How's pre-production coming on the film?

Arad: Pre-production is going insane, as you know, with changing horses and stuff... and thank goodness for Brett Ratner, because this is the hand and the mind of an experienced director coming in and taking over, and making all kinds of changes we all embrace, things we felt the movie needed. So he walks in like an old hand, he knows what to do. He loved the script to begin with, otherwise he couldn't have come onboard, and it's been a pleasure. He knows his craft. Especially with our schedule, can you imagine? So we are very excited about him, and he's excited to do it. And the irony; Bryan is doing Superman and he's doing X-Men... it's like square-dancing!

CD: Any idea when we might start getting our first look at the new cast members in costume? I'm dying to see Kelsey Grammer as Beast!

Arad: Well, we are releasing the movie on Memorial Day, so I think you'll be seeing things sooner than later!

CD: Spider-Man 3 is another big one you guys have coming up - how is progress coming on that film?

Arad: It's an everyday thing, y'know, we work on it everyday. Pre-production everyday. Because we have so many interesting elements, new interesting elements. This movie has really intense, heavy pre-production, and I'd predict this is the bigger of the three.

CD: Could you talk a bit about what you guys have planned for the San Diego Comicon this year?

Arad: We're gonna give you your first glance into Ghost Rider!

CD: You've been shooting that in Australia with Mark Steven Johnson and Nick Cage for a while now. How's that footage looking so far?

Arad: It's very special. It's Marvel mixed with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It has it's own tone, it's a Western, it's pretty awesome. And Nick Cage, as you've seen in the pictures, never looked better. It was a project waiting to happen for a long time, and it finally happened, and Mark did a great job, and we're excited. That's why we're showing [footage] at Comicon. We just wrapped, and if we didn't' feel comfortable, we wouldn't have shown anything.

CD: One of the latest rumors floating around the web is Bruce Willis as Nick Fury - any truth to that one?

Arad: Rumors, rumors, rumors. Good rumors, but obviously, we can't comment on rumors.

CD: Ok, final question: if you could steal one character from the competition and add them into the Marvel Universe, who would it be?

Arad: ... who is the competition again? I'm not being conceited about it, I just like the complexity of the Marvel characters, that's why I was always more of a Marvel guy... The only character in DC that I've always had an affinity for... as a matter of fact, I used to put my son to sleep when he was a two or three years old, I used to make up Superman stories. There was something about Superman, I always felt he was an interesting character, and if we could have had him in our universe, yeah sure, I'd take him.

CD: Thanks for your time, Avi! Can't wait for those X-Men 3 announcements!

Arad: Trust me, it's gonna be great! Bye!

And there you have it, folks - you should be caught up on all things Marvel now! Thanks again to Avi Arad. And keep it here at CountingDown for continuing coverage on all of Marvel Studios' latest projects!