The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may hate awarding Oscars to superheroes, but this year, they’re hoping the Avengers will save them.
On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter reported the Academy is looking to recruit actors from the Marvel franchise to “host” this year’s Oscars. There’s a lot of corporate synergy to this thing, because ABC, the network scheduled to air the ceremony on February 24, is owned by Disney, which owns Marvel.
There’s also a little movie, Avengers: Endgame, coming out on April 26. Even for one of the most anticipated movies, a little extra promotion is never a bad thing.
Details regarding specifically who will appear and in what capacity remain unknown. But THR reports that Marvel actors were asked not to present at the Golden Globes ceremony specifically to ensure their appearance at the Academy Awards carried more weight. (This checks out. The only Marvel actors we saw onstage at the Golden Globes were from the cast of Black Panther, which makes sense since the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama.)
If their appearance crystallizes for 2019, it will be the second time the “Avengers” appear together at the Oscars. In 2013, as a victory lap for the monumental success of 2012’s The Avengers, actors Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jeremy Renner appeared together on stage to award Life of Pi for Best Visual Effects.
The Academy has scrambled to find a host for this year’s ceremony after Kevin Hart, who was hired to host in early December 2018, stepped down when his anti-gay tweets resurfaced online. The Academy has since struggled to find a replacement. (Is Bill Murray too busy?) A previous report by Variety also suggests the Oscars could go without a central host entirely and “focus on clusters of top-tier talent to introduce different segments.”
Sure sounds like the Avengers are coming to save the Oscars.
The 91st Academy Awards will air on February 24 on ABC. Avengers: Endgame will be released on April 26.
