Last week saw the trailer debut for the biggest superhero movie to date: Marvel’s The Avengers. In 24 hours, it was downloaded 10 million times—the fanbase is rabid and rightfully so. The scope is big, the action intense and the A-listers a plenty. Avengers is the movie to beat in 2012.
So you know expectations were high at New York Comic Con when President of Marvel Kevin Feige assembled his cast and touted brand new footage of the Iron Man/Thor/Captain America/Hulk team-up. Could it live up to the hype?
Absolutely.
The new scene from the film opens in a Middle Eastern-looking town, following a young girl as she races through the streets and into a house. She finds a woman and begs for her help—she needs a doctor. Thankfully, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) aka The Hulk stands right behind her, ready to snap into nerdy medical action.
Banner accompanies the girl to help her sickly father, quickly realizing that the request may be more than it seems. The girl jumps out the window and Banner turns back to the door, blocked by Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). There have been two big worries post-Avengers trailer: Ruffalo stacking up to former-Hulks Ed Norton, Eric Bana and Bruce Bixby and if Johansson was just there to look pretty and kick goons. The scene clears all of it up: the two share some playful banter on S.H.I.E.L.D’s careful tracking of Banner as he “avoided” society. Romanoff needs Bruce’s help–the Tesseract (last seen in Captain America), is in the hands of a baddie (who we know is Loki, of Thor)
What followed was an assemblage of new shots: Stark Tower at the heart of New York City, shots of Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) in action. This is what I wanted to see from the first trailer. Perhaps its the difference between my computer and the big screen, but finally the movie looks BIG. The footage capped off with another soon-to-be-classic Tony Stark moment.
Captain America: “Is everything a joke to you?”
Iron Man: “Funny things are.”
And just as a tease, the two and Banner are examining Loki’s staff.
Who knows what’s really going to go down in The Avengers, but this new footage was reassuring that director Joss Whedon is taking a character-first approach. But don’t fret—there should be plenty of explosions too.
On hand for the panel were a few surprise guests: Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Tom Hiddelston (Loki) and Cobie Smulders. Here are the highlights:
Mark Ruffalo called The Hulk, “his generation’s Hamlet.” That is, “everyone gets a chance to play the part.”Ruffalo also coined a phrase with the group: Ruffalalize. Basically, Ruffalo bringing the goods.Clark Gregg sang the Avengers theme song (check back soon for video)!Apparently every woman on the planet now loves Tom Hiddelston. Makes sense—he’s charming as hell and gun ho about Avengers. He teased a few of his battles and got everyone in the room pumped for his battle with The Hulk.The cast hung out a lot on set. One memorable moment: Chris Evans mass texted everyone to go out on the town one evening, with the simple message “Assemble.”Oh, and Kevin Feige basically confirmed an after-credits scene for Avengers. They already have ideas for the next movie!And that’s that. Now we wait, impatiently, for the next slew of footage!
