When audiences first heard Tony Stark quip “Shakespeare in the park?” in the firstAvengersfilm, they chuckled and moved on with their lives. When author Ian Doescher heard that line, apparently he took it as a challenge. Now, nearly a decade later, it’s all come full circle, and a full retelling of everyAvengersmovie based on the works of William Shakespeare himself will soon be on its way to booksellers. Not sinceHan Solo said the word “parsecs"has there been a more spirited reaction to a throwaway line.
WithWilliam Shakespeare’s The Avengers: The Complete Works, audiences will now be able to enjoy a re-imagining ofall 4Avengersfilmsin the style of classic Shakespearean prose. From period-appropriate language to authentic writing structure and even all the way to accurate stage direction, this collection is more than just a simple novelty. Every story beat from these beloved superhero movies has been fully converted, and it’s not even the first time Doescher has pulled off such a feat.
RELATED:The Witcher 3 Relies on Shakespeare as Much as Red Dead 2 Relies on Arthurian Legend
HardcoreStar Warsfans may already be familiar with Doescher’s work, where he famously wrote Shakespearean versions of every singleStar Warsfilm, fromthe already confusingThe Phantom Menaceall the way toThe Rise of Skywalker. The only true difference in this case (aside from the source material) involves the artist. While not exactly a comic book, the script-style writing will be accompanied by various illustrations throughout the pages. Artist Nicolas Delort provided the sketches for theStar Warsretellings, and now that task has been taken up by Danny Schlitz for theAvengersproject.
The official description reads “Fans will experience their favorite scenes, characters, and lines in a new—yet fully faithful—way, through monologues and dialogue by everyone from Captain America to Groot (‘Tis I!).” Yes, the idea of Groot repeating his single line of dialogue with frilly Elizabethan flourish is endlessly entertaining, and that’s before all the other possibilities. Frankly, if it doesn’t include the line “doth mother know you weareth her drapes?” then this whole opportunity has been naught but a farce.
Aside fromStar Wars, Doescher has given the Shakespearean treatment to stories such asthe eternally ’80s childBack to the Future,A Christmas Carol, and evenMean GirlsandClueless. But thisAvengerscollection will mark the first time he’s done such a large scale undertaking since that original series of books. It’s not surprising that more films aren’t re-imagined in such a way, considering how elaborate and thorough the work clearly is.
So now there’s something new to look forward to this year. Interested readers can pre-order, or the collection can live up to its fate ofcatching people’s eyes in bookstores, prompting a quick leaf-through, and after a chuckle and perhaps a snort, a declaration of, “ok, we have to get this.”
William Shakespeare’s The Avengers: The Complete Workswill be released on September 28th, 2021.
