The Avengers

[SportsFromA2]

First of all, it's nice to see the planet getting some serious menace. One sticking point with Thor was that the desert town he protects lacked scale. Not to say the world wouldn't miss that 7-11 and its newspaper box, but you know what I mean. Here we see a densely populated city street get carpet bombed as people scramble for their lives. You have a bigger team, so you need a bigger menace.

Marvel is still holding back on just what creatures are helping Loki -- Thor's black-sheep, exiled brother -- in his conquest of Earth. (They could be Skrull or Kree or some other extra-terrestrial force.) But with seven months to go, it's okay to save a few surprises.

"There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, so that when we needed them they could fight the battles that we never could," intones Jackson's Nick Fury, the superspy-turned-coach for the world's most dysfunctional band of good guys.

In addition to seeing sparks fly in battle, we see some of the inter-office hostility that will elevate The Avengers above just the usual save-the-day theatrics. "Big man in a suit of armor, take that away – what are you?" says Chris Evans' Captain America to an unperturbed Robert Downey Jr. "Uh... genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Iron Man answers. (Cut to Thor chuckling in the way we humans do at pictures of cuddly kittens wearing fruit as hats: Amuse me, inferior!)

Writer-director Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) is wisely setting up not just conflicts within the team, but conflicts within the personalities themselves. Never mind that Captain America was once a scrawny little shrimp who knew that what truly counted was a person's inner strength. (My, my... how quickly we forget after being encased in arctic ice for seven decades.)

The fighting between heroes isn't going to be limited to verbal jabs. We also see Cap and Chris Hemsworth's Thor having a brawl in the woods, with the big, blond god from Asgard swinging his hammer down on the crouched soldier's upraised shield. What's going on there? (My guess is the trailer is throwing some mixed up chronology at us, and that's Thor's return to Earth, where he lashes out at the guy in the colorful suit because... who wouldn't?)

They don't just fight each other, of course. We're also treated to Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye blowing up some stuff with explosive arrows, and Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow leaping up onto some henchman's shoulders with her legs wrapped around his face, thrusting him down against the ground as he surely thinks to himself: All things considered, there are worse ways to go.

Downey's Tony Stark speaks for the team, telling Loki (who's not seen in this shot, but in other footage is standing in front of him during this scene): "If we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it."

We have a title!

In addition to the particular alien menace, Marvel is also holding back on The Hulk -- but we get a little sample at the very end: The trailer features just a flash of the creature, and a look at Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner.

"Dr. Banner," Stark says, shaking the scientist's hand. "Your work is unparalleled. And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks," Ruffalo replies.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/10/1...ngers-trailer/

[ACfromtheD]

If there is a Cap vs IM fight it will be worth Loki being the villain.

[BubblesTheLion]

Joss mother ****ing Whedon mother ****ers.

[FLINTOID]

Where's Emma Peel & Steed???????????

[Fraze]

I really needed to see more Hulk.

[the King]

I really needed to see more Hulk.

[SportsFromA2]

So this is what whas explained about the Avengers story from the clip shown at d3 a few weeks ago:

The first extended look at The Avengers just premiered at Disney's D23 Expo. Here's our spoiler-y rundown of what we saw. Here's the spoiler-free version: everything we saw looked like an awesome mix of epic, funny, and badass.

spoilers:

The footage began with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in prison on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) addresses Loki through the clear panels of the cage: "In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, you so much as tap on the glass..." Fury then flicks a switch and the floor of the cage almost completely drops away, revealing a 30,000 foot drop to certain doom (or as certain as doom can be with someone like Loki).

Loki simply observes, "It's an impressive cage", and he notes that it was clearly built for someone else. Fury says that it was - it was built for someone even stronger than him. Loki knows they're talking about the Hulk, calling him a mindless beast and wondering how desperate Fury must be to ally himself with the likes of such a creature. At this point we see all the various personnel who are listening into this conversation, including Hulk's human alter ego Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders).

Loki wonders what it must feel like for Fury to have been so close to wielding the power of the Cosmic Cube, and how devastating it must be for all that to have slipped away. Fury accuses Loki of talking about peace and then killing for fun, and he tells Loki, "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Loki asks him what it must be like to be in the presence of real power - to which Fury simply replies, "Let me know if real power wants a magazine or something", and walks away from the cage. The Avengers look at the prisoner on the video monitors, as Bruce Banner caustically observes, "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

The footage then shows a bunch of action sequences, including a fighter jet flying over a city, an explosive truck chase, and - most intriguingly - a shot of Captain America and Thor apparently fighting each other, with Thor about to bring the hammer down on Cap's shield. All the while, we hear Nick Fury explain the mission statement of the Avengers: "There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become more. To fight the battles we never could."

But the most epic exchange comes at the end, as Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is behind a bar counter, mixing himself a drink. He describes his teammates: "Let's do a head count. We've got a couple master assassins, a demigod, and a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend" - that'd be Black Widow and Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America. It's then that we learn Stark is talking to Loki: "And you, big fella, have managed to piss off every single one of them."

To this, Loki responds, "I have an army." Stark's eminently quotable and awesome response? "We have a Hulk." We then see the Hulk roar, and the footage ends. While it's still early days - indeed, filming is still two weeks from completion - this is looking very, very good so far.

http://gizmodo.com/5832935/weve-seen...m-the-avengers

[SportsFromA2]

So if you believe Gizmodo's dictation of their preview, It's everyone vs Loki & Hulk? but then why is Banner with the rest of the Shield crew?

[TG7782]

So if you believe Gizmodo's dictation of their preview, It's everyone vs Loki & Hulk? but then why is Banner with the rest of the Shield crew?

My reading of that is its Loki vs everyone since Stark is the one saying we have a Hulk.

[SportsFromA2]

My reading of that is its Loki vs everyone since Stark is the one saying we have a Hulk.

ah, that's right...

but in the beginning of that, SHIELD had a prison built for Hulk.

So at first they're not allied with Hulk, but to get Loki I guess they "Add him to the team"?.

If you go back to the end of Incredible Hulk, Stark (on behalf of Shield?) is trying to recruit General Ross for the the "Team" - so does that indicated Shield's going after Banner/Hulk? Or Blonsky/Abomination (Tim Roth's character)?

perhaps Loki is teaming up with Abomination then?

This **** is so confusing.

[TG7782]

ah, that's right...

but in the beginning of that, SHIELD had a prison built for Hulk.

So at first they're not allied with Hulk, but to get Loki I guess they "Add him to the team"?.

If you go back to the end of Incredible Hulk, Stark (on behalf of Shield?) is trying to recruit General Ross for the the "Team" - so does that indicated Shield's going after Banner/Hulk? Or Blonsky/Abomination (Tim Roth's character)?

perhaps Loki is teaming up with Abomination then?

This **** is so confusing.

I think the problem is that you really can't have the Hulk on your team since he doesn't seem to be able to be controlled or take orders. They probably have the cage to keep him in check so he doesn't flip out and destroy everything. If Banner can control it at all, I'm sure he'd be a good guy although he probably doesn't much care for government types, lol.