Friends to Family (Marvel Cast x Cast Member OC)

- 2010 Comic Con Panel

***Slight panic attack

"The Marvel Studios success story started right here in Hall H and today, I think that story's going to go to the next chapter. Let's bring out Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios." The crowd cheered as he walked out and he and the moderator talked. Katja's hands started shaking as her breaths increased.

"Hey," Chris got her attention, "you okay?"

"Uh, no," she said, her panic evident in her voice.

"Hey, hey, you're okay. Everything's okay," he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I- I can't do this. There's so many people out there, and cameras, and- and-"

"Breathe, Katja," he told her. "Just like this." He breathed in and out, trying to get her to follow suit. "Better."

"Yeah," she nodded. "Better, but still scared."

"I know this is scary and that there are a lot of people out there, but you've got this. Okay? I'm gonna be with you the entire time and everything's gonna be great."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We're gonna go out there and we're gonna show them how awesome our film is gonna be."

"You mean the film we've barely started?"

"Yes. That one." They both laughed. "And if you want to leave at any point or it gets to be too much, tap me three times on the arm and I'll help get you out. Okay?"

"Thank you."

"Anytime," he smiled. "You're my sister on screen, so I'm gonna be like you're big brother in real life too."

"Now, let's bring out Chirs Evans, Katja Owens, and Hugo Weaving," the moderator called and the crowd cheered.

"Ready?"

"Ready," she nodded, following him out and taking a seat between him and Hugo.

"Hey, guys. Welcome," he started as the crowd continued to cheer. "Welcome to the stage." Katja's eyes widened and Chris noticed, taking her hand in his under the table to calm her. "So, Joe, uh, you know what, every film starts with some fundamental decisions and one of those of course is tone. Um, tell us a little bit about the decisions you guys made as far as tone."

"Tone, uh, I'm thinking B Flat, maybe C Sharp," he said, making them all chuckle. "No, okay. It's, uh, you know I see it as a classic adventure, uh, love story, sibling experience, you know, with- with an edge. One of my favorite films was Raiders of the Lost Ark." There were cheers in the crowd. "Which I happened to, uh, I worked on. That's one of the reasons it's my favorite film." They chuckled. "One of my favorite films, but, um, at no time during that film do you feel like you're watching something that was made in 1936. It feels as modern today as it did when it was made and that's what we're going for here. It's not going to feel like, uh, a war movie that was made in 1942. We have one chance to tell the origin story of Captain America and, uh, that's what we're going to do." The crowd cheered.

"You know, Captain America's not the oldest character from Marvel, but it's probably the most enduring character. Chris Evans, tell us about that challenge and that opportunity," he finished over the cheers of fans and Chris waved. "There's a lot of history there. It's a challenge and an opportunity for you, isn't it?"

"Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely," he leant forward to the mic. "I mean it's- it's intimidating. A little daunting. But, you know, it's- it's exciting. I'm trying to put the magnitude of the project in a separate part of my brain because I think if I focus on it too much I'm gonna just melt into a panic attack," he glanced at Katja. "Um, just trying to approach it as any other movie and focus on the character and work with Joe and hopefully he'll direct me in the right direction and I won't ruin the movie." The crowd cheered while Joe laughed and Katja chuckled.

"So, Katja, you don't really have that issue of having someone that people are comparing your character to because she was not in the comics, right?" the moderator asked her and she froze for a second before Chris squeezed her hand.

"Right. Annabelle doesn't exist in the comics, so I get the chance to bring her to life, which is daunting in it's own way."

"So, Chris, you and Katja just started filming last week, is that right? Or when did you start on the set?"

"I started on set about five days ago. Katja showed up the day after I did."

"How's it going?"

"It's going great. It's going great. We ease into it, we did some nice, gentle scenes to get our feet wet and it's been fantastic. Everyone I've been working with is great, the suit's fantastic, and, uh, it's just a thrill."

"Katja, this is also your first film, correct? First time on a set?"

"It is," she nodded. "I've never worked on any other project, so having something this big is definitely... amazing and terrifying," she laughed through her nerves.

"One of the signature characters is Hugo Weaving with the Lord of the Rings films," the crowd cheered as he continued with, "The Matrix films. And Hugo here, you have the Red Skull. There's a lot of things..." he continued with his question as Chris leaned over to Katja.

"You did great," he whispered and she gave him a smile. "You doing okay though." She nodded and he smiled at her.

"I'm not going to do it now," Hugo said of his Red Skull voice. "You might hear it though."

"He's alright," Chris teased and they all laughed.

"So, Chris, one of the things we know, obviously is you've played a superhero on screen before. You were the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four films." The crowd cheered. "Did that play into your decision at all in any way? Is that something you considered pro or con when you took on this role?"

"Um, I'm sure people out here might have an opinion one way or another, but, you know," he shrugged. "So again, to me, it's just a movie. It does happen to belong to the Marvel family, but at the end of the day, I'm just trying to make a character come to life and looking at it the way I would any other project, whether it's comic book or not. Um, so obviously I'm gonna have to navigate a few questions like that. Uh, but hopefully if we do our job right, the movie's good, then no one will have too much of a problem with it. I hope. I hope."

"You guys are just getting underway with the film really, but Joe, uh, there are many different Captain America figures if you look through the years. Which decade did you pick in the comics? Tell us about the Captain America we can expect to see in your film."

"Well, I've looked at all the different Captain Americas. You know, right from the beginning, which I believe came out in 1940, before America was even in the war, I'm sort of a fan of the Brubaker version of Captain America." The crowd clapped. "And we are, uh, borrowing certain elements from the Brubaker version visually for the Cap's suit. I think, uh, we're tending to, uh, we're going slightly more modern than the original Captain America which was basically a pair of pajamas with the stars and stripes on them. But I'm sure Chris will be very happy with that. Won't you Chris."

"Ecstatic." Everyone chuckled.

"Kevin, uh, in any superhero movie, one of the initial things you have to decide is the costume and how the costume will be realized on the screen. How things look on the page doesn't necessarily look on screen. Can you talk a little bit about that challenge and what you guys have come up with on this film?"

"See? We're already done," Chris whispered to her.

"You're really good at this." "You did great, especially for it being your first time."

"Well, I have a great big brother to show me how to do it," she smiled at him.

So, first true interview. You kind of get to see more of who Katja is, so I liked that. Let me know what you think or if you want to see another (better) panel like this. Stay safe!