The first microphone was handed to a journalist near the center aisle while the enormous cast settled into their seats across the stage. Alex sat beside Robert Downey Jr., with Rachel McAdams and Don Cheadle nearby. Zack Snyder occupied another section beside Henry Cavill, while Joe and Anthony Russo sat among the X-Men cast.
The reporter looked at the crowded stage before turning toward Alex.
"You've announced or shown material from more than ten major films tonight. At what point does the slate become too big even for Titan?"
Alex leaned back comfortably. "I'll let you know when that happens. Right now, we're good."
Robert immediately leaned toward his microphone. "That's also what he says when somebody asks whether we really need another explosion."
Alex glanced sideways at him. "And the answer is usually yes."
Robert nodded thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, the explosions normally look great, so arguing with him becomes difficult."
The audience laughed as the next reporter stood.
"Are all these movies genuinely expected to release during 2009?"
Alex shook his head. "No. The slate will stretch into 2010. Some projects are already well into production, while others are still preparing. I'd rather move a film than rush it because somebody printed a release schedule six months earlier."
Another journalist followed immediately. "How do you keep Titan from becoming creatively stretched when you're producing superhero films, fantasy, science fiction, horror, war dramas, comedy, animation, and television at the same time?"
Alex looked toward several Titan executives sitting near the edge of the stage. "I have different department heads whom I pay astronomical salaries to keep things running perfectly. Titan became too large years ago for one person to manage every division personally."
Joe Russo lifted his microphone. "That's also why Alex eventually stops bothering us."
Alex turned toward him. "I prefer the term trusting you."
Anthony smiled. "He reviews everything, asks approximately nine thousand questions, gives us a budget, then eventually says, 'Go make the movie.'"
"That's basically the process," Alex admitted.
A reporter picked up on that immediately. "Do you personally review every script before production?"
"Every single one," Alex replied. "That'll never change as long as I'm alive. Before Titan spends hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of people spend months of their lives making something, I want to know what story we're actually telling."
The reporter looked toward the directors. "And after he approves it, how much freedom do you really have?"
Joe answered first. "A lot more than people probably assume. With X-Men, Anthony and I spent months developing the structure. Alex had requirements for the characters and the universe, although most of the actual filmmaking decisions are ours."
Anthony nodded. "He'll challenge something if he thinks the character logic doesn't work. He doesn't call us every morning asking where Camera B is sitting."
Alex smiled. "That sounds exhausting for everybody involved."
Zack picked up his microphone. "Man of Steel works similarly. Alex knows where the larger DC universe is heading. I know what movie I'm making. Those things have to fit together, but I'm still directing my film."
The next journalist smiled toward Alex. "Titan used to feel like Alex Wilson making films. Now it looks like an entire entertainment ecosystem. Are you intentionally trying to build the biggest studio in the world?"
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Trying to build it? Titan is the largest studio in the world."
Robert slowly turned his head toward Alex. "Very humble answer."
"I worked hard on that humility."
The auditorium broke into laughter.
When another journalist asked which film carried the greatest creative risk, Alex refused to choose one.
"None that I'm going to identify before release. You'll know which ideas worked once audiences actually see them."
"And which projects are you personally most excited for audiences to discover?"
"The Green Mile, 21 Jump Street, and Hacksaw Ridge."
That answer drew surprised murmurs.
Alex looked across the audience. "Everybody expected me to name Iron Man or Star Wars."
Robert raised his hand. "I did feel slightly betrayed."
Alex bumped his shoulder against Robert's. "You'll survive."
"I'm reconsidering all fifteen of those movies you promised me."
Alex laughed. "You already agreed, so I'm counting it as legally binding."
Robert stared toward the crowd. "This is why you never casually promise Alex Wilson anything."
The next fan hardly waited for the laughter to fade.
"Alex, you've acted before. Are you planning to cameo in Marvel or DC, or are you secretly playing somebody important?"
Alex's expression became deliberately unreadable. "Who knows? Anything can happen."
"That sounds suspicious!"
"It was supposed to."
Another fan immediately shouted from farther down the aisle. "Are you Batman?"
The crowd exploded.
Alex stared toward the source of the question before slowly looking toward Zack.
"Ask Zack."
Every camera swung toward Snyder.
Zack laughed and raised both hands. "Why did I suddenly become responsible for this?"
"Because it's your movie universe right now," Alex replied.
A journalist grabbed the opportunity. "Supergirl teased Batman. Superman arrives in June. Angelina is Wonder Woman. Has Batman actually been cast, and is there already a movie in production?"
Zack glanced toward Alex, received absolutely no help, and finally surrendered.
"We have a Batman."
The response was deafening.
Henry Cavill laughed beside him as several fans immediately began yelling names.
Zack waited until the shouting settled. "We haven't locked the Batman script yet. Until that happens, we're keeping most of it private. Once we're confident in the story, you'll hear more."
"Will he appear in Man of Steel?"
Zack smiled. "I knew that was coming."
Alex leaned toward his microphone. "You people are relentless."
"Is that a no?"
"That's me saying you're relentless."
The audience booed playfully while Zack laughed.
Another journalist asked about Titan's darker comics. "What about Spawn and Hellboy movies? Marvel and DC are becoming enormous franchises, but those characters are much darker."
Alex nodded. "A couple of years from now, absolutely. We created those worlds for different audiences, and I don't want everything Titan makes squeezed into the same tone. Spawn shouldn't suddenly behave like Spider-Man because Spider-Man sells toys."
That earned strong applause from the comic fans.
The microphones then turned toward the Iron Man cast.
"Robert, Tony Stark is very different from a traditional heroic lead. Why do you think audiences will root for him?"
Robert considered the question before answering. "Because Tony knows, somewhere underneath everything, that he isn't necessarily the man he should be yet. He's brilliant, funny, arrogant, selfish in places, generous in others, and constantly capable of making his life more complicated."
He glanced toward Alex.
"The script gives him room to earn the heroic part. Alex never asked me to play Tony as somebody audiences automatically admire from the first scene."
Alex nodded. "If Tony begins perfect, there isn't much movie left."
Another journalist asked Robert how much freedom he had been given with Tony's humor.
"A surprising amount," Robert replied. "We'll rehearse a scene, I'll change the rhythm, Alex changes something back, then I change something else, and eventually one of us wins."
Alex immediately corrected him. "The movie wins."
Robert gave him a long look. "That's a very director answer."
"It sounded better than saying I win."
Robert laughed and rested an arm behind Alex's chair. "That's closer to the truth."
Another reporter asked whether Robert had been surprised that Alex trusted him with such an important franchise.
Robert's expression became more thoughtful.
"Yeah, I was. We've been friends for a while, but friendship doesn't automatically mean somebody hands you one of the biggest characters they've created. Alex was very clear from the beginning that he wanted me because he thought I could be Tony."
Alex looked toward him. "I never had doubts about that part."
Robert smiled briefly before looking back toward the audience. "That kind of trust makes you want to deliver."
Rachel McAdams received the next question.
"Pepper Potts isn't wearing armor or throwing people through buildings. How do you keep her from disappearing inside a movie this large?"
Rachel smiled. "Pepper survives Tony Stark every day. I'd argue that qualifies as a superpower."
Robert placed one hand against his chest. "That feels personal."
"It should."
The crowd laughed while Rachel continued.
"She's competent. Tony can build incredible technology, but there are parts of his life that would collapse without Pepper. Her importance comes from the relationship and what she contributes to his world."
A journalist turned toward Don.
"How large is Rhodey's role beyond being Tony's military friend, and does he eventually get armor?"
Don immediately looked toward Alex.
Alex looked back at him.
Don slowly returned his attention to the journalist. "Rhodey's important."
The reporter waited.
Don smiled. "That's my entire answer."
Robert leaned forward. "Excellent discipline."
Alex nodded approvingly. "I taught him well."
"You threatened him."
"I motivated him."
Don laughed. "For anyone wondering, this is exactly what set feels like."
The questions shifted toward X-Men, and Jensen Ackles quickly became the center of attention.
"Jensen, is it true you originally came in expecting a minor mutant role?"
Jensen laughed. "Yeah. I wasn't walking into that audition thinking Cyclops."
Joe Russo reached for his microphone. "That's actually one of my favorite casting stories from the movie."
Jensen turned toward him, already smiling.
Joe continued. "Jensen came in for something much smaller. Anthony and I watched the tape afterward, and we both kept talking about the same thing. He had this natural command without forcing it."
Anthony nodded. "There was a point where Joe stopped the tape and said, 'Why aren't we looking at him for Scott?'"
Joe pointed toward his brother. "Then he called Alex before I could."
Anthony laughed. "Somebody had to."
Alex picked up his microphone. "They called me and basically said, 'We think we found Cyclops, except he didn't audition for Cyclops.'"
Jensen shook his head. "Then Anthony calls me and says they want to talk about another role. I thought they were going to offer me some guy with twelve lines."
Joe grinned. "Instead, we gave him the team."
A cheer came from the audience.
The next journalist asked whether Jensen had been nervous about becoming the field leader of the X-Men.
"Absolutely," Jensen replied. "You look at Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Emily Blunt, Kelsey Grammer, Hugh Jackman, and everybody else involved, then someone tells you your character has to walk into a dangerous situation and these people are supposed to follow him."
Anthony leaned toward his microphone. "That nervousness actually helped us. Scott's learning too. We don't meet him after twenty years of perfect leadership."
Alex nodded. "The Russos understood the character immediately. That's why I stopped interfering once the script and cast were locked."
Joe looked toward him. "You're going to regret saying that publicly."
"Probably."
Mary Elizabeth Winstead was asked whether she had originally auditioned for Rogue.
"There were several roles being tested around the same period," she explained. "The process shifted as Joe and Anthony started figuring out how everyone fit together."
Anthony added that they cared less about matching an actor to the first audition label and more about finding the strongest ensemble.
"You sometimes watch somebody read and realize you're looking at the right performer for a completely different character," he said.
Zac Efron received a tougher question when a journalist mentioned his reputation as a young heartthrob and asked whether he worried people might underestimate him as Iceman.
"I expect some people will," Zac replied calmly. "That's fine. I'd rather prove them wrong through the movie than argue about it now."
Joe nodded toward him. "That attitude helped during casting."
Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson explained that they had auditioned separately before being paired once the Russos began testing Wanda and Pietro's sibling dynamic.
"We needed them to feel like they had history," Anthony explained. "They can disagree completely and still immediately look like two people who've spent their entire lives together."
A fan then practically shouted at Hugh Jackman.
"You're Wolverine. How does that feel?"
Hugh laughed. "Pretty bloody good, honestly."
The audience erupted.
Another fan asked how much screen time Logan would receive.
Joe answered before Hugh could. "We'll save that for the movie."
Halle was asked about returning as Storm after her earlier cameo.
"I knew more was coming, but I didn't expect the cast to be this large until the casting process started," she said. "The exciting part is that this might be the biggest star cast in a movie ever made."
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen received warm applause when the next journalist addressed them together.
"How does it feel becoming part of something this large?"
Patrick smiled. "Rather exciting, although I think the size of the franchise matters less to us than the relationship at its center."
Ian nodded. "Charles and Erik can discuss humanity over a quiet table and potentially tell you more about the conflict than an enormous battle could."
"Do they begin as friends?"
Patrick glanced toward Ian. "Well, you'll just have to watch the film to find out."
The Q&A moved toward Man of Steel.
"Henry, when you appeared in Supergirl, did you already know you were getting your own Superman movie?"
Henry nodded. "Yes. Alex and Zack had already spoken to me about where Clark was going."
"What was harder to find, Superman or Clark Kent?"
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