漫威——驚人的造星工廠

On screen， they’re Earth’s mightiest heroes. But in Hollywood， they were has-beens and never-weres. That is， until Marvel got a hold of them.

Avengers： Age of Ultron 1）kicks off the summer movie season with a whirlwind of superheroes joining forces to once again save the world and shatter boxoffice records. The director and several key stars in the ensemble cast either kick-started their film careers with Marvel Studios （Chris Hemsworth as Thor， Chris Evans as Captain America， director Joss Whedon） or staged a dramatic comeback （Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man）.

The next few months could mark the most lucrative summer in Hollywood history， thanks to a wave of followups to major franchises. After Avengers， some of the most anticipated entries include Mad Max： Fury Road， Jurassic World， Terminator： Genisys， Mission Impossible： Rogue Nation and the Despicable Me 2）spinoff Minions.

Those moviegoers who prefer original stories over digitally created dinosaurs also have a surprising 3）surfeit of choices， as Hollywood has learned that summer can be a smart time for sophisticated counterprogramming. Two of the most celebrated movies from January’s Sundance Film Festival， the dark comedy Me， Earl and the Dying Girl and hip-hop comedy Dope， both released in June.

But in a summer with 18 sequels， reboots， spinoffs and comic-book adaptations， it’s the second Avengers that will set the tone. The film also demonstrates a new casting calculus in Hollywood， in which it’s not the actors who make the character， but the character who makes the actor.

Disney-owned Marvel has mastered that approach and made A-listers out of previous unknowns. Chris Pratt， for example， was best known for his supporting role on the sitcom Parks and Recreation. Then he landed the starring role in last summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy， by far the season’s biggest box-office winner， bringing in $774 million. He’s now one of Hollywood’s most 4）sought-after leading men and starred in Jurassic World this June.

Marvel takes the same approach with directors—in contrast to competitors like Warner Bros.， which has entrusted its superheroes to highend 5）auteur Christopher Nolan and experienced action director Zack Snyder. Kenneth Branagh’s career directing big-screen Shakespeare adaptations petered out several years before Marvel picked him to direct Thor. After that film hit it big， Mr. Branagh continued a second career in big-budget movies such as last year’s Jack Ryan： Shadow Recruit and March’s live-action Cinderella.

“Everyone pays attention to who’s starring， who’s directing， who’s writing Marvel movies，”said producer and former Sony executive Michael De Luca. “Because of their track record… how can you not pay attention to their farm system？”

Marvel Studios is certainly not the first company to pluck unlikely candidates for superhero films. It’s a tradition that dates back to Christopher Reeve in 1978’s Superman and continued with Tim Burton directing 1989’s Batman and Hugh Jackman in the 6）pivotal role of Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men.

But no company has 7）eschewed A-list talents as consistently and effectively in the modern age as Marvel. All but one of its 10 films released so far have been hits， a record rivaled only by Pixar Animation Studios. And none have featured a major star or established action director.

Money is a key reason， say people who have done business with Marvel. The Disney subsidiary’s chief executive， Ike Perlmutter， is notoriously 8）frugal and doesn’t believe that the millions rivals like Warner Bros. spend to get bigname stars like Ben Affleck and Will Smith are worth it.

“They are in the business of hiring the guy who hasn’t had a big success， because they don’t have to pay that guy very much，” said Mr. Whedon， adding that he made more money on his self-produced Internet series Dr. Horrible’s SingAlong Blog than he did directing the first Avengers， which cost $230 million to produce and grossed $1.5 billion worldwide.

Mark Ruffalo， like Scarlett Johansson， made the leap from respected indie film actor to event movie star when he first played the Hulk in 2012’s Avengers. “That decision，” Mr. Ruffalo said， “puts me on a shorter list than I used to be for any job. ”

To secure lead actors for its series of interlocking sequels and spinoffs， Marvel typically signs them to sixmovie deals. For stars， upfront salaries are paltry by Hollywood standards， often just barely over $1 million per picture for the first two films in a deal， after which they start to rise.

“Marvel has proved they can succeed without having to step up the way other studios traditionally do，”said one 9）veteran agent who has negotiated deals with the studio.

Still， with more than $7 billion in box-office returns and counting， even Marvel has been forced to become a little more generous. Other lead actors in Avengers： Age of Ultron were able to renegotiate their deals to get upfront salaries of more than $5 million， according to people familiar with the arrangement.

Most actors and directors have only good things to say about the experience of working on a Marvel movie. The company’s successful track record ironically allows for more experimentation in genre and form than is typically allowed in Hollywood these days—so long as it’s done with comicbook characters. It’s unthinkable that any other studio would greenlight a big budget 10）political thriller like next year’s Captain America： Civil War or a science-fiction action-comedy like last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

In addition， since the studio makes only two to three movies a year， its president and top creative executive Kevin Feige is personally involved with every project， and the company rarely develops scripts it doesn’t intend to make.

Mr. Feige is said to be a firm believer that the characters and the Marvel brand itself are the stars of his films. That approach 11）syncs well with Mr. Perlmutter’s 12）tight-fistedness and gives Mr. Feige the 13）leeway to make bold choices. He cast Mr. Downey as Iron Man in 2008， even though the actor’s career was on the rocks at the time， because his showboating bad-boy persona mirrored the character of Tony Stark， the man behind the Iron Man mask.

Comedy star Paul Rudd plays the title role in July’s AntMan， and next year Benedict Cumberbatch， recently Oscar nominated for The Imitation Game， will portray a master of the dark arts in Doctor Strange. The two are arguably the biggest stars to take on Marvel title roles， signifying the company’s growing appeal to actors with well-established， if not massive， careers.

New talent will be critical to Marvel as the multi-picture deals of many of its current stars 14）expire in the next few years. Infinity War could mark the last appearances of Downey， Hemsworth and Evans， unless they choose to sign new contracts with the company. And 15）a slew of new talent has yet to be selected for movies scheduled between now and 2019， including a new Spider-Man and galactic team The Inhumans.

But the disappearance of Marvel’s first wave of stars likely won’t mark the disappearance of Iron Man and Thor， nor a reboot of their origins， like 2012’s The Amazing SpiderMan， produced by Sony Pictures. Rather， Mr. Feige is said by people familiar with his thinking to favor the model of James Bond， who has been recast and aged down seven times over the past 53 years.

在大銀幕上，他們是地球上最強大的英雄。但在好萊塢，他們是已經過氣或無人問津的角色——直到漫威把他們收入麾下。

《復仇者聯盟：奧創紀元》為夏天電影季拉開了帷幕。這股超級英雄旋風再次拯救了地球的同時還打破了票房記錄。劇組名單中的導演和幾個主要演員要么是通過漫威工作室進入電影行業的新人（如飾演雷神的克里斯·海姆斯沃斯，飾演美國隊長的克里斯·埃文斯，導演喬斯·威登），要么是卷土重來的過氣明星（如飾演鋼鐵俠的小羅伯特·唐尼）。

多得一大波后續的同類型大制作，接下來夏季的幾個月將會是好萊塢歷史上獲利最豐厚的一段時間。《復仇者聯盟》后最值得期待的影片包括：《瘋狂的麥克斯：狂暴之路》、《侏羅紀世界》、《終結者：創世紀》、《碟中諜：神秘國度》和由《卑鄙的我》衍生出的《小黃人》。

不喜歡數字技術創造的恐龍而想看原創故事的電影觀眾同樣有非常多的選擇，夏季是劇情巧妙的反主流影片上映的好時機，好萊塢深明此理。一月份舉行的圣丹斯電影節上最矚目的兩部電影——黑色喜劇《我和厄爾以及將死的女孩》和嘻哈喜劇《酷斃了》——都在六月上映。

但這個夏天，在18部上映的電影續集、重拍影片、衍生影片和漫畫改編影片中，《復仇者聯盟2》占據了最重要的位置。這部電影同時展現了一種新的好萊塢演員成名方式——不是演員造就角色而是角色造就演員。

迪士尼公司旗下的漫威工作室深諳此道，并把之前默默無名的演員捧成了一線大牌明星。……