Joss Whedon to direct 'The Avengers'

[Blackjack]

Thor, with a dilemma about Chris Hemsworth's brother...


"Liam's dating MILEY CYRUS? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"


"Tell me you're NOT dating MILEY CYRUS! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"


"Ow! Please don't break my pinky."
"Just promise me you'll break up Liam and Miley Cyrus. For the love of Asgard, PROMISE ME!"
"OK OK! Just don't break my pinky!"

[Blackjack]

Random shots...


Iron Man demonstrates his amazing new Udder Attack! Milk's away!


"Don't talk about Ang Lee and Eric Bana! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"


"We're OSCAR nominees! We don't BELONG in this movie!" [Actually, I think Mark Ruffalo and Samuel Jackson are also former Oscar nominees, and Downey Jr. a Winner (for Chaplin) so I need to rethink this caption...-bj]


"This better be a grappling hook arrow, or I'm definitely not getting a spinoff film!"


"Hey, if we're good extras in this, can you get us zombie extra parts on 'The Walking Dead'?"


The poster photo if they didn't "Photoshop it."  

[Bullwinkle]

You know, Hawkeye isn't in the trailer much at all.  I'm suspecting he may become a casualty of war pretty early on.

[Blackjack]

You know, Hawkeye isn't in the trailer much at all.  I'm suspecting he may become a casualty of war pretty early on.

Well, he's in it more than he was in the earlier trailers. From what I read, he and Black Widow are sort of the "outcasts" initially as they aren't super powered or super-suit powered. They have their roles to play but just aren't suited for certain kinds of battle, is my take. My guess would be maybe they'd come in handy when enemies find ways to shut down IM's suit power, or make Hulk happy, take away Thor's hammer, or distract Captain America with a Hayley Atwell pinup poster.  

Here's a few closeups of various characters:





*Hmm, if I were a bad guy, I'd just bring a cordless screwdriver and try to remove Iron Man's face piece. 

[Chordian]

If All the Avengers Posed Like Black Widow

[Purge]

If Ceekay maintains an erection for the next 3 months I'll be curled up on the floor too...but only to make myself as small a target as possible.

Careful, I hear he likes being the big spoon.

[Purge]

Face-down and worried - isn't that your shtick, Hep?

[Bullwinkle]

You know, Hawkeye isn't in the trailer much at all.  I'm suspecting he may become a casualty of war pretty early on.

Well, he's in it more than he was in the earlier trailers. From what I read, he and Black Widow are sort of the "outcasts" initially as they aren't super powered or super-suit powered. They have their roles to play but just aren't suited for certain kinds of battle, is my take. My guess would be maybe they'd come in handy when enemies find ways to shut down IM's suit power, or make Hulk happy, take away Thor's hammer, or distract Captain America with a Hayley Atwell pinup poster.  

Black Widow was in it plenty.  And Fury (and I suspect his involvement is very behind the lines).  And everyone else.  Even New Christine Assistant SHIELD guy has two lines. 

I know Hawkeye's not the big sell, but his presence is very low-key.  Looking at the trailer again, he does appear 5 times, but it looks like it's from 2 scenes. 

Bold and probably not at all right prediction:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Hawkeye will strike an important, sacrificial blow early on in the film (maybe he'll only be in the hospital, though).  That shot of him falling and lining up the bow may be that moment.

[Blackjack]

If All the Avengers Posed Like Black Widow

I love it. The comments thread there is hilarious too (in a different way; everyone is analyzing the pic like it's the Mona Lisa ).

Hey, she's the only "lead" female character (HIMYM's Colbie Smulders plays an agent but doesn't sound like a big role per se). She's gotta flaunt it to keep the testosterone/estrogen balanced a little bit.  

Oh, this Iron Man scene cried out for some football captions:

"2-41, 2-41, HIKE!"
"The Stark University linebacker prepares to make a sack!"
"OMG! Where's the football???

The new IM "removing/assembling" schtick in the trailer seems to be to have him walk along a platform with the robotic arms popping up and gradually removing the armor pieces as he walks through it and then he gracefully walks out of his boots at the end, in his regular clothing. So it's sort of "on the fly," albeit at a fixed location.

[PR_GMR]

If All the Avengers Posed Like Black Widow

I'd hit it. All of them.  

[CeeKay]

[Blackjack]

Apparently the German trailer has a few bits of extra footage and voice lines:
http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/169801-german-avengers-trailer-has-new-end-scene

*I think extended Stark scene is around 59 second mark.
*New end scene starts at the 2:13 mark.

The German trailer for Marvel's The Avengers has come online and features two new scenes - an extended Tony Stark scene and a new end scene. Thanks to 'alexlachiusa' from the SuperHeroHype Forums, here is a translation of what is said:

Extended Tony Stark Scene:

Tony: And following orders is obvious not my style.
Cap: And everyone knows that style is all you care about.
Tony: From all the people around here, who wears the most figure-hugging outfit?

End Scene with Tony:

Tony: I promise a stress-free environment. No suprises.
[Pokes Bruce Banner with some sort of electrical shock-stick, presumably to see if he gets angry?  - bj]
Banner: Ow!
Cap: Hey!
Tony [to Bruce]: You really got it under control, don't you. Whats your secret? Relaxing Jazz, Bongo Drums?
Cap: Is everything like a joke to you?
Tony: If it's funny!

I just hope Chris Evans doesn't have to act cranky the entire movie.  

[CeeKay]

just saw this article about the UK getting a different title for the movie:

[Purge]

I hope it's not because of this mess:

[Bullwinkle]

Actually, I'm sure it has to do with the show, at least.

I imagine it still has an imprint of sorts there.

What were the comics called in England?

[hepcat]

What were the comics called in England?

"The Erstwhile Adventures of the Gentlemen Avengers"

[Blackjack]

If you can take a Thursday (May 3) off, and can stand movie theater food all day long, you might check out:

AMC Theatres Presents: THE ULTIMATE MARVEL MARATHON!
http://www.amctheatres.com/movie-news/2012/03/amc-theatres-presents-the-ultimate-marvel-marathon

AMC Theaters announced today they will be holding an all-day Ultimate Marvel Marathon on May 3 in select cities, starting at 11:30 AM, as they screen all five previous Marvel Studios movies--Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America-- in the order of release with the latter two in 3D, all leading up to a midnight showing of Marvel's The Avengers!

With this special movie package being offered by AMC, you can watch all six movies for the price of $40 with limited engagement tickets for the Ultimate Marvel Marathon available now from these select theaters:

Boston Common 19         Boston, MA

Burbank 16                    Burbank, CA

Downtown Disney 12      Anaheim, CA

Aventura 24                  Aventura, FL

Empire 25                     New York, NY

Garden State 16            Paramus, NJ

Downtown Disney 24     Lake Buena Vista, FL

Metreon 16                   San Francisco, CA

Alderwood 16                Lynnwood, WA

Tysons Corner 16          McLean, VA

More theaters will be announced and more tickets will go on sale on March 16 over at go.amctheaters.com/marvel (although that page isn't currently active).

I might actually go for it, if my office will let me take Thursday and Friday off.   Although I suspect I'd be toast by the time the Avengers started. I think the last midnight show I made was The Dark Knight in late summer 2008. I preferred when a couple other big releases that summer had 9 p.m. Thursday debuts instead.

I wonder if they'll pull a George Lucas and digitally paste in Mark Ruffalo's face on Edward Norton's body.  

I suspect like AMC's annual Oscar Best Picture Showcase, they'll probably give you a nice pass with neck strap/lanyard like I got back in 2007 (see below), which lets you come and go from the theater as you please if you'd like to get a bite to eat or maybe skip say, The Hulk:

Back then, my mom and I skipped Sunshine cause we just were worried about an impending snow/ice storm coming on.

As I recall, the AMC employees were pretty cool about letting us step out to get a sandwich or something else small from the food court and bring it back in (which they normally wouldn't let you do). Probably best to ask about that before trying it though. I'm not sure if that's standard policy or just certain employees being reasonable. 

[hepcat]

Wow, that actually sounds fun.

...god i'm such a nerd.

[rickfc]

Wow, that actually sounds fun.

...god i'm such a nerd.

No kidding. I'd be down for that...

[Chaz]

Just heard about that, and seriously considering doing it.  I can't find anywhere to buy tickets online though.  Boo!

[hepcat]

My biggest concern would be the funk in that theater after the third or fourth film though.   

[Chaz]

My biggest concern would be the funk in that theater after the third or fourth film though.   

Oh yeah, that'll be bad.  Of course, if I go, my plan is to sneak in a bottle, so I should be nicely buzzed for most of it.  Probably won't even notice. 

[Blackjack]

Just heard about that, and seriously considering doing it.  I can't find anywhere to buy tickets online though.  Boo!

The AMC link has links within it to Fandango to buy the movie passes online:
http://www.amctheatres.com/movie-news/2012/03/amc-theatres-presents-the-ultimate-marvel-marathon

I checked several of the ticket links and they're certainly not sold out yet.   I may wimp out cause my birthday's a little before that and I was planning on time off the week before the movie marathon. Gah. Although, hmmm, maybe I could invite my brother up and we could burn the whole day together. Not sure my sister-in-law would approve.  

And my bro probably wouldn't want to drive 2-hours home at 2:30 a.m. either. 

[Bullwinkle]

My biggest concern would be the funk in that theater after the third or fourth film though.   

I did a Star Wars Marathon at the Wang Center in Boston back when that meant only 3 movies.  It's a huge theater, and it was ripe in there before Jedi even started.

[hepcat]

My biggest concern would be the funk in that theater after the third or fourth film though.  

I did a Star Wars Marathon at the Wang Center in Boston back when that meant only 3 movies.  It's a huge theater, and it was ripe in there before Jedi even started.

Imagine the smell if there had been other people in that theater!  

p.s. heh heh...wang

[CeeKay]

My biggest concern would be the funk in that theater after the third or fourth film though.   

Oh yeah, that'll be bad.  Of course, if I go, my plan is to sneak in a bottle, so I should be nicely buzzed for most of it.  Probably won't even notice. 

and in tonight's new:  Local gets arrested for public intoxication and public at local movie marathon.  Police were notified after the man climbed up near the screen and was reported to shout 'you think those are tits Scarlett?  well CHECK OUT THESE!'.  After he proceed to rip off his shirt he was confronted by theater management, to which he responded to by dropping his pants and yelling 'By Odin's beard, quake before the power of Mjolnir!'

[Blackjack]

I forgot to mention, you get one free pair of collector's 3-D glasses ($10 value). An AMC rep posted in the comments thread at that link:

Full sets will be difficult to acquire. Everyone with a marathon ticket will get one pair. The kind you get will be first-come, first-serve

It's just a few goofily colored glasses in theme with one of the main Avengers.

I really want to do it, but I think more realistically I'll just try to get a ticket to a reasonable hour Thursday show that week.

[CeeKay]

45 minutes cut to bring it down to 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, Whedon said that a three-hour director's cut was not in the cards for The Avengers Blu-ray or DVD releases. However, he did note that we should expect to see some "extraordinary extras" as a result.

[farley2k]

Yeah but it doesn't seem to be a bad bit to cut.

Says Whedon, "There's a lot of me that got cut out, but I think part of the process in a situation like this is you make the movie, you make your movie, then you remove yourself out of the equation. At some point you stop looking beyond The Avengers movie, at your own stuff... You go, 'You know what, The Avengers are more important than I am so these things that I'm obsessed with aren't necessarily moving the story forward, and therefore they are baggage.'"

Of course it does mean that people need to wait on the DVD purchase since there will undoubtedly be a "Director's Cut."  Since is coming out in May there will be bear-bones version by Christmas and then the "real" version after.  (But how could they resist Christmas sales?)

[Chaz]

I'm not re-thinking doing the marathon in the theater.  Just watching all the movies at home, then going to see Avengers seems like a better, cheaper, boozier, fesher-smelling plan.  Also conveniently avoids the arrest scenario above, as my cats are very used to seeing me flash my chest at on-screen images of Scarlett by now.

[Bullwinkle]

Yeah but it doesn't seem to be a bad bit to cut.

Says Whedon, "There's a lot of me that got cut out, but I think part of the process in a situation like this is you make the movie, you make your movie, then you remove yourself out of the equation. At some point you stop looking beyond The Avengers movie, at your own stuff... You go, 'You know what, The Avengers are more important than I am so these things that I'm obsessed with aren't necessarily moving the story forward, and therefore they are baggage.'"

Of course it does mean that people need to wait on the DVD purchase since there will undoubtedly be a "Director's Cut."  Since is coming out in May there will be bear-bones version by Christmas and then the "real" version after.  (But how could they resist Christmas sales?)

See, that does sound like a bad bit to cut to me. 

I'm actually looking more forward to Joss Whedon's Avengers than just The Avengers.  More importantly, so should everyone.

[hepcat]

True, but I trust that Whedon knows what he's doing in the editing room and only took out the stuff he felt wasn't that good.

[Harkonis]

Yeah but it doesn't seem to be a bad bit to cut.

Says Whedon, "There's a lot of me that got cut out, but I think part of the process in a situation like this is you make the movie, you make your movie, then you remove yourself out of the equation. At some point you stop looking beyond The Avengers movie, at your own stuff... You go, 'You know what, The Avengers are more important than I am so these things that I'm obsessed with aren't necessarily moving the story forward, and therefore they are baggage.'"

Of course it does mean that people need to wait on the DVD purchase since there will undoubtedly be a "Director's Cut."  Since is coming out in May there will be bear-bones version by Christmas and then the "real" version after.  (But how could they resist Christmas sales?)

I don't know, he does specifically say no director's cut on dvd or blu-ray

[Harkonis]

True, but I trust that Whedon knows what he's doing in the editing room and only took out the stuff he felt wasn't that good.

If he even was the one doing the editing.  Almost sounds like the editor was a studio guy.

[Bullwinkle]

True, but I trust that Whedon knows what he's doing in the editing room and only took out the stuff he felt wasn't that good.

If he even was the one doing the editing.  Almost sounds like the editor was a studio guy.

I was thinking the same thing, like he's playing the good soldier.

OTOH, no one wants a 3 hour Avengers in theaters.

[rittchard]

OTOH, no one wants a 3 hour Avengers in theaters.

Speak for yourself, I'd love it!

[Bullwinkle]

OTOH, no one wants a 3 hour Avengers in theaters.

Speak for yourself, I'd love it!

Yeah, I meant more studio wonks and Joss.

[Purge]

True, but I trust that Whedon knows what he's doing in the editing room and only took out the stuff he felt wasn't that good.

If he even was the one doing the editing.  Almost sounds like the editor was a studio guy.

I was thinking the same thing, like he's playing the good soldier.

OTOH, no one wants a 3 hour Avengers in theaters.

Remember Transformers 3? That could have been cut down to an after-school special.

I respect good edits. Aliens was a situation where the edit was fine, but it was better full length.

Imagine if Bay decided to put in the other 45 minutes of bad acting in TF3 ...

[Bullwinkle]

True, but I trust that Whedon knows what he's doing in the editing room and only took out the stuff he felt wasn't that good.

If he even was the one doing the editing.  Almost sounds like the editor was a studio guy.

I was thinking the same thing, like he's playing the good soldier.

OTOH, no one wants a 3 hour Avengers in theaters.

Remember Transformers 3? That could have been cut down to an after-school special.

I respect good edits. Aliens was a situation where the edit was fine, but it was better full length.

Imagine if Bay decided to put in the other 45 minutes of bad acting in TF3 ...

Are you talking about the Director's Cut of Aliens being better?  Totally don't agree with that.

[Harkonis]

True, but I trust that Whedon knows what he's doing in the editing room and only took out the stuff he felt wasn't that good.

If he even was the one doing the editing.  Almost sounds like the editor was a studio guy.

I was thinking the same thing, like he's playing the good soldier.

OTOH, no one wants a 3 hour Avengers in theaters.

Remember Transformers 3? That could have been cut down to an after-school special.

I respect good edits. Aliens was a situation where the edit was fine, but it was better full length.

Imagine if Bay decided to put in the other 45 minutes of bad acting in TF3 ...

Are you talking about the Director's Cut of Aliens being better?  Totally don't agree with that.

same, while the stuff that was cut is cool and fun to watch, (the turrets rock for example), those scenes greatly hinder pacing imo.