Marvel Studios founder (and former toy inventor) Avi Arad has built an empire out of the superhero business, having produced everything from the Blade films to the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Hulk, Iron Man, and Spider-Man films and the upcoming Andrew Garfield-starring reboot, not to mention the 2012 superhero superfilm The Avengers. Needless to say, there was a ton to discuss and not nearly enough time when Movieline caught up with Arad at Comic-Con right before Sony’s Hall H panel for The Amazing Spider-Man.
With decades of comic book adaptations under his belt, Arad is something of the grandfather of modern-day superhero movie, having tried time and again to adapt classic Marvel superheroes for television and film. Somewhere around a decade ago, he happened on the formula for success with Blade (1998) and X-Men (2000), two films that launched the popularization of the genre and taught Arad how to fine-tune his approach as geek culture moved to the fore.
Now, the youth-oriented pursuits that always captivated Arad (toys, games, comics) have become dominant in the pop cultural landscape. Movieline chatted with the gentle-voiced super producer about his toy-making past, his disappointment over the Bratz movie, how X-Men taught him how to handle the sprawling, planned Avengers film franchise, why he connects to Ghost in the Shell but couldn’t figure out how to film Akira, and the status of his hunt for a Mass Effect director.
[Shaking hands, Arad marvels at my grip] How are you?
I shook hands with a girl who plays the violin. I couldn’t believe it. “Wow,” I said. “How did you do that?” She said, “I play the…
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