So with that, I can't wait to introduce you to our today's guests, Jenn Fujikawa and Marc Sumerak, who are here to talk about their cookbook, "Avengers Campus-- The Official Cookbook." It's awesome. It's a compilation of a variety of recipes inspired by the wider world of the Avengers , featuring recipes, appetizers, main course, desserts,
- OK, Thor. Hit me. - Avengers , assemble. - Get Avengers Endgame on Blu-ray and digital today. Yeah.
And so my sister and I started making our own comics. In the beginning they were incredibly derivative, like I would read The Avengers and I'd write a new comic and I called it The Avengers . But it had slightly different characters and it kind of went, well that's how you do it, you, you take something, modify it a little bit and make it your own. So after living there a couple of years I came back to the States and I started publishing my own comic books. So I was at this point 10 or 11 and I would write and draw them myself
And you always feel that way in the Marvel Universe. And the Avengers Campus is the same way. Sure, you've got the Pym Test Kitchen and the Worldwide Engineering Brigade which Cassie was already involved in, so it's natural to include Ant-Man and the Wasp
I've just taken 10 days off. "The Hunger Games," "The Avengers ," how good is the archery?
business reason to do something that might not um necessarily on its face have the size or the scope of a Star Wars or or an Avengers um both of which we also make um and so my feeling was get the script really good and then make it unden an undeniable proposition because it's on the page you see it and
Oh, my gosh, remember "Iron Fist." DARRYL "DMC" MCDANIELS: Remember "The Defenders." stuff that people don't even-- everybody's so caught up on what's in the movies, not "Captain America" and "Avengers ." But it was this whole universe. And the cool thing is, all three of us sat there, and we said, if we're going to do this, the most important element of this publication
Well, in fact it turned out to be kind of brilliant timing accidental that this is the summer of the superhero in America. We had the Avengers , we had Batman, we had Spiderman, and we even had an animated Superman called Superman versus the Elite. So the timing has been great and your dream as an author, there are certain touchstones today and the world minus Oprah's book club, there are the biggest thing that you can have
I-- what you guys were so lovely and sent me a copy, and I've read it front to back the entire way. And I actually went to the Disney Avenger Campus, so I've tried some of this food in real life and guys, it is amazing, if you guys haven't been. But to dive in a little bit more to this, for people that might not know too much about the cookbook yet, Marc, can you talk about the narrative background
It's called WEB, and it's a Stark-sponsored think tank of young innovators devoted to building a brighter future. During her time on the Avengers Campus, Cassie obviously pushed the boundaries of science, but she also, like any teen, had a lot of fun, made a lot of great friends, and ate a lot of amazing food.
It's such an iconic moment at the end of that first Avengers movie. And I think in the "Avengers Campus" cookbook, it was more about tapping into the personalities and the flavors of the character rather than individual moments on screen. It was a lot of the park, a lot of inspiration from the park, but those weren't necessarily on the screen.
So I just added this to give a nice punch line to the comic. I think I was thinking of the Avengers . If you see them, they actually--
So I think, you know, with-- what was interesting about "Civil War" was both characters had alternately been illustrated as patriarchal in this family called the Avengers . And what would happen if these two patriarchical figures got mad at each other and chose different sides on a very critical issue that was threatening
So I don't see how that would be a problem. So put us in The Avengers . You guys just remaining silent.
and resurrected them briefly as a punchline. I think I was thinking of "The Avengers ." It's uncanny. So I kind of threw the comic up online on my blog and went to bed, and then when I woke the next morning,
Such a good experience. Did you want to see Avengers versus Guardians?
Such a good experience. So Thanos has already been introduced in Avengers and now he's been shown in Guardians, right?
around this and what you're centering the narrative for the cookbook around? Absolutely. The "Avengers Campus" cookbook is narrated by a character named Cassie Lang. Cassie is the daughter of Scott Lang, who is also known as Ant-Man in the Marvel Universe.
I think anybody that's an MCU fan knows that. That's one of the go-to spots at the Avengers Campus. But are any of the films that you watched from the franchises that are represented book any of your favorites or ones
Amazing. How about you, Marc? I know you've done also other collab cookbooks and the "Avengers Campus," the official one that we have right here, is awesome. And you have been, again, a guardian to the narrative of all of these different characters over the years.
When you visit the theme parks, is that something that has also inspired you over the years to participate in cookbooks of the food experience And so it was really exciting to be at Avengers Campus and see if you look up, AccuTech is everywhere.
And he just did that in two or three passes at it, and we were done. But honestly, "The Avengers : End Game" is 3 hours, too.
"Civil War" takes your heroes and pits them against each other in a fight. Where do you think you went right with the "Avengers " storyline, and where did "Game of Thrones" go wrong?
Such a good experience. He's been pretty open about a cross collaboration of Avengers and-- is that what you asked?
Such a good experience. I don't ever want to see the Guardians fight the Avengers .
The way the producers described it to the writers, as if we were dropping the bomb on Hiroshima. So again, Batman alone as a grim avenger of the night in the comics but that Batman in mass media,
In the origin stories of superheroes, something profound, unexpected, and often frightening, transforms ordinary lives. A massive discharge of radiation turns a mild-mannered scientist into a hulking green avenger . The murder of another's parents leads him to don a black mask and dedicate his life to rescuing innocent victims of a maniacal joker.
And that's what this is. This is Cassie putting together a book where she can take a piece of the Avengers Campus home with her and so can everyone else so that they can enjoy it when they get lonely or a little bit hungry.
I got to say the shawarma moment certainly is the one everybody thinks of first, and there's good reason for that. It's such an iconic moment at the end of that first Avengers movie. And I think in the "Avengers Campus" cookbook, it was more about tapping into the personalities and the flavors of the character rather than individual moments
But so I wrote a review of an obscure little movie called "The Avengers ."
Such a good experience. Part B, toss in The Avengers , now what?
Such a good experience. So are there any plans already being made for teaming up both the Avengers and the Guardians probably for the next version of the movie?
Are there anything that-- is there anything that you found difficult in terms of translating, like, the big chicken sandwich for someone like me to be able to make it versus 2,000 people a day in the Avenger park? Right. With the Disney parks, they have these amazing chefs that work with them, and they know totally what they're doing
I mean, that girl is just-- she's an Avenger .
it might have become some kind of crazy superhero, Toxic Avenger style superhero.
"Avengers Campus-- The Official Cookbook." It's awesome. It's a compilation of a variety of recipes inspired by the wider world of the Avengers , featuring recipes, appetizers, main course, desserts, and drinks. This cookbook is the perfect guide to any Marvel foodie.
but also for fans of the franchise? As someone who loves the Disney parks and goes there regularly, I visited Avengers Campus several times before this even came to me. So I was very familiar with the food, very familiar with the characters.
It's great to go back and watch with a different viewpoint. And to Marc's point, because this book is about Avengers Campus and the characters, not necessarily the movies, to do my research, I had to go to Disneyland, like, twice a week. It was such a chore.
You've worked on huge, mega blockbuster projects like "Avengers ." And you've also worked with very artistic directors, Tom Ford, "Nocturnal Animals" comes to mind.
So for us, we just take the concepts of the book, especially in the "Civil War" case. We're taking the idea behind it, which is that the Avengers need to be regulated by a government authority. But we take that idea and we apply it to where these characters are now in the Marvel cinematic universe so we
And this is hypothetical. This is the geekiness, is if you were to join the Avengers -- hypothetical, because you guys can't talk about it. But hypothetically, if you were to, what could your characters actually bring to help them?
And what you love about people, often times, is very much cousin to what you could hate about them. I think that's going to answer a lot of the questions that people have about whether it works within The Avengers , because those two shows were very different.
Such a good experience. And looking out on it, we want to take these characters and bring them into The Avengers , and we want to like have them be on the same movie together.
When you visit the theme parks, is that something that has also inspired you over the years to participate in cookbooks of the food experience From Traci-- "Are there any recipes with ingredients you don't love, but knew it was true to the Avenger character for that recipe?"
On page 66, my buddy Leighton-- years ago, I wanted to do a "Toxic Avenger " style comic book.
hammer. The son of the god Odin and the goddess Fjorgyn. Thor was the defender of the Heavenly land of Asgard. The toughest warrior among the gods; an original avenger ; best friends
Jenn was tapped to create the recipes for that one, and we worked on "The Life Day Cookbook" together. We instantly meshed in terms of our deep love of food and the franchise, and the collaboration went so well that they kept us teamed up for the "Avengers Campus" cookbook, and maybe some other stuff that I can't talk about yet.
Hope van Dyne, to open up the Pym Test Kitchen to test out her theories. At the same time, Cassie got invited to become a member of the Worldwide Engineering Brigade, which is a part of the Avengers Campus. It's called WEB, and it's a Stark-sponsored think tank of young innovators devoted to building a brighter future.
that end up in here outside of the Wasp and the Ant family? Sure. Well, I think one of the best parts about Avengers Campus and the Marvel Universe as a whole is that it's populated by all these characters. They always have this feeling of, you never know who you're going to run into.
and some of the WEB kids like Peter Parker. But then you also have, right near the Worldwide Engineering Brigade building, you've got the Avengers headquarters. You've got a mysterious ancient sanctum where Doctor Strange shows up every now and then.