Joss Whedon to direct 'The Avengers'

[Teggy]

By the way, why is there a Triforce on Stark's Sabbath t-shirt?

[Harkonis]

By the way, why is there a Triforce on Stark's Sabbath t-shirt?

lol

[Blackjack]

As far as what will be on DVD/BluRay, This Collider Joss Whedon interview has some bits:
http://collider.com/joss-whedon-the-avengers-2-sequel-interview/160713/
*At least a half hour of deleted scenes, including one in Cap/Steve Rogers' Brooklyn apartment.
*Including various scenes of Cap not relating to the world, and feeling isolated. Whedon felt what was in the final cut (it's the final post-credits scene in the Cap film) told the audience what it needed to know about Cap's state of mind.
*I gather Whedon's probably not going to address any sequel questions until he gets to take a nice long vacation.   He loves doing little things and I'm sure he's as likely to do a sequel to Dr. Horrible than another $200M+ production.  

[Blackadar]

Saw this on Saturday.  Really, really awesome flick.  It ranks right up there with The Dark Knight and Iron Man as one of the best superhero movies of all time and is just a superb summer action movie. 

[Isgrimnur]

He loves doing little things and I'm sure he's as likely to do a sequel to Dr. Horrible than another $200M+ production. 

I am disappoint in you, Blackjack.

[PR_GMR]

Can anyone elucidate on some of Avengers lore? I'm not a life-long reader, so the secret scene at the end left me a bit cold:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Who is Thanos? Also, what is the Infinity Gauntlet?

[Blackjack]

A funny aside: Hemsworth did a pretty amusing voiceover (in character) for a UK morning radio show:

Chris Hemsworth Breaks Uncomfortable News on Capital Breakfast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd-sLasEQgs&feature=related
*Just a funny plea from one of the DJs to a visiting parent, I think. So it's "safe for work." 

[Blackjack]

Can anyone elucidate on some of Avengers lore? I'm not a life-long reader, so the secret scene at the end left me a bit cold:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Who is Thanos? Also, what is the Infinity Gauntlet?

Lots of info on the web, try this link for some explanation:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Avengers ending explained -- who's Thanos?
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/05/05/avengers-ending-explained-thanos/

*imho, this is more likely a teaser into Thor 2, at least for now; they've got no Avengers 2 plan or script just yet, and that likely couldn't happen until 2015 at the earliest.

From interviews with Joss Whedon, there are certain Avengers storylines in the comics that he's totally crazy about. So if he did return for a follow up later, I'm sure he'd have ideas he'd love to pursue, and that we'd love to watch.  

I guess Whedon has talked a bit about what he'd see envision for an Avengers follow up in general terms, which sounds sort of Empire Strikes Back-ish (spoiler-free):
http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a370020/joss-whedon-on-avengers-2-it-needs-to-be-smaller-more-personal.html

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator told SFX that he doesn't want a follow-up to "rehash" what worked in the first film.

Asked how Avengers 2 could top next month's superhero blockbuster, Whedon responded: "By not trying to. By being smaller. More personal, more painful.

"By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself."

[PR_GMR]

Spoiler for Hiden:

Can anyone elucidate on some of Avengers lore? I'm not a life-long reader, so the secret scene at the end left me a bit cold:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Who is Thanos? Also, what is the Infinity Gauntlet?

Lots of info on the web, try this link for some explanation:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Avengers ending explained -- who's Thanos?
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/05/05/avengers-ending-explained-thanos/

*imho, this is more likely a teaser into Thor 2, at least for now; they've got no Avengers 2 plan or script just yet, and that likely couldn't happen until 2015 at the earliest.

Thanks, Blackjack. Thanos looks like a tremendous villain. At first I thought the 'Infinity Gauntlet' was some sort of killer competition.. like a 'Hunger Games' for superheroes, but it's actually a glove.



So it could be a teaser for 'Thor 2' next year.. or the next 'Avengers'. We shall be kept in suspense until then.

[rittchard]

Can anyone elucidate on some of Avengers lore? I'm not a life-long reader, so the secret scene at the end left me a bit cold:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Who is Thanos? Also, what is the Infinity Gauntlet?

Kind of curious as to some folks' reaction about the scene.  I mean, does it really matter who it is?  For fans, of course there is immediate recognition/gratification.  But for those not familiar, isn't it simply enough that there's another even badder bad guy waiting in the wings? 

[Harkonis]

Spoiler for post credit scene

Spoiler for Hiden:

Keep in mind the gauntlet itself was in Odin's Vault in Thor 

[CeeKay]

Spoiler for Hiden:

Can anyone elucidate on some of Avengers lore? I'm not a life-long reader, so the secret scene at the end left me a bit cold:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Who is Thanos? Also, what is the Infinity Gauntlet?

Lots of info on the web, try this link for some explanation:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Avengers ending explained -- who's Thanos?
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/05/05/avengers-ending-explained-thanos/

*imho, this is more likely a teaser into Thor 2, at least for now; they've got no Avengers 2 plan or script just yet, and that likely couldn't happen until 2015 at the earliest.

Thanks, Blackjack. Thanos looks like a tremendous villain. At first I thought the 'Infinity Gauntlet' was some sort of killer competition.. like a 'Hunger Games' for superheroes, but it's actually a glove.



So it could be a teaser for 'Thor 2' next year.. or the next 'Avengers'. We shall be kept in suspense until then.

technically it could be a lurking threat through all the MCU movies up until the next Avengers.  heck, they could tell a story over the course of several movies since they have enough properties in place now-  imagine a two part story with Iron Man 4 and Captain America 3 or make it even more epic by throwing in Thor 3 and Hulk 4 (random numbers used for example).

[Teggy]

Kinda feel bad for Cobie Smulders - before I saw the movie I saw some people say she was pretty wooden, but when I saw the movie, it seemed like she was the only character that didn't really have anything to work with.

[PR_GMR]

Kinda feel bad for Cobie Smulders - before I saw the movie I saw some people say she was pretty wooden, but when I saw the movie, it seemed like she was the only character that didn't really have anything to work with.

Im gonna chance it and say: Is Cobie Smulders the one actress that played Nick Fury's kinda-nameless female agent/assistant? Yeah, she had hardly anything to work with.

[Bullwinkle]

Kinda feel bad for Cobie Smulders - before I saw the movie I saw some people say she was pretty wooden, but when I saw the movie, it seemed like she was the only character that didn't really have anything to work with.

Im gonna chance it and say: Is Cobie Smulders the one actress that played Nick Fury's kinda-nameless female agent/assistant? Yeah, she had hardly anything to work with.

I have to say I'm not sure what problem people are having with her.  I thought she was fine.

[CeeKay]

Kinda feel bad for Cobie Smulders - before I saw the movie I saw some people say she was pretty wooden, but when I saw the movie, it seemed like she was the only character that didn't really have anything to work with.

Im gonna chance it and say: Is Cobie Smulders the one actress that played Nick Fury's kinda-nameless female agent/assistant? Yeah, she had hardly anything to work with.

yeah, Maria Hill. 

[rickfc]

Kinda feel bad for Cobie Smulders - before I saw the movie I saw some people say she was pretty wooden, but when I saw the movie, it seemed like she was the only character that didn't really have anything to work with.

Im gonna chance it and say: Is Cobie Smulders the one actress that played Nick Fury's kinda-nameless female agent/assistant? Yeah, she had hardly anything to work with.

I have to say I'm not sure what problem people are having with her.  I thought she was fine.

This. I didn't think she did anything bad per se, but just didn't have much of anything to do except repeat Nick Fury's orders.

[Bullwinkle]

Kinda feel bad for Cobie Smulders - before I saw the movie I saw some people say she was pretty wooden, but when I saw the movie, it seemed like she was the only character that didn't really have anything to work with.

Im gonna chance it and say: Is Cobie Smulders the one actress that played Nick Fury's kinda-nameless female agent/assistant? Yeah, she had hardly anything to work with.

I have to say I'm not sure what problem people are having with her.  I thought she was fine.

This. I didn't think she did anything bad per se, but just didn't have much of anything to do except repeat Nick Fury's orders.

She actually got to question his orders, too.

[Dreamshadow]

Kinda feel bad for Cobie Smulders - before I saw the movie I saw some people say she was pretty wooden, but when I saw the movie, it seemed like she was the only character that didn't really have anything to work with.

Im gonna chance it and say: Is Cobie Smulders the one actress that played Nick Fury's kinda-nameless female agent/assistant? Yeah, she had hardly anything to work with.

I have to say I'm not sure what problem people are having with her.  I thought she was fine.

This. I didn't think she did anything bad per se, but just didn't have much of anything to do except repeat Nick Fury's orders.

Well, there was that walk away from Fury at the end, where the shot just kind of lingered on her...

[pr0ner]

Only look at this if you've seen the movie:

Spoiler for Hiden:

[rickfc]

Only look at this if you've seen the movie:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Awesome. One of the best scenes in the movie.

[Blackjack]

Only look at this if you've seen the movie:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Awesome. One of the best scenes in the movie.

EW has a perhaps excessively detailed behind-the-scenes look at that particular scene (2nd post-credits scene), so if you've seen it:

Spoiler for Hiden:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/05/04/backstory-avengers-secret/
*Both Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth had grown beards for other movies, so they each wore prosthetics for the scene; Evans just stuck his right hand along the side of his face and didn't move it; and Hemsworth had that sandwich in place to help cover his chin.  
*Downey revealed at a press conference the day before they were "shooting an additional scene," which made it tougher to keep the scene under wraps.  

=======================
I've not seen that many Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) interviews. I don't have the link handy, but in one I read yesterday, Whedon credits Smulders' How I Met Your Mother co-star Alyson Hannigan (of Buffy fame) for suggesting he audition Smulders for the part. Something like she told him "You've gotta let Cobie read!" about 5 times.   So Smulders was the 5th of 5 actresses to audition for it, and apparently Marvel Studios' prez Feige said "The 5th one IS Maria Hill!"

Smulders in the interview said she is signed for "several" more Marvel pictures and is very eager to reprise the character. Supposedly she hired some consultant who works with LA SWAT to train her, both in fitness and in handling firearms. Although her "HIMYM" character is supposed to be a gun enthusiast, she only used some prop guns on the set. She said that while she still loves doing the show, she enjoyed getting to play a different type of character.

[USMC Kato]

Only look at this if you've seen the movie:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Great scene. In just 10 seconds you can see all of their personalities shine through. Cap still feeling a bit out of time, Iron Man very smug, Thor just plain hungry after a good fight, and Banner....not sure. Is he grinning because he's a little more at peace for letting the Hulk out?

[Blackjack]

The Sound of The Avengers: (video interview)
http://www.slashfilm.com/sound-the-avengers/

The SoundWorks Collection talks with Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer, and Re-recording Mixer Christopher Boyes about his work on The Avengers.

-The Hulk's voice was a varied blend of Mark Ruffalo, Lou Ferrigno (uncredited), two guys from New Zealand and mixer Boyes.  
-The vid's spoiler free, mostly stuff from trailers and clips.

In the Duh Department, Disney's CEO is already hawking sequel development. Clearly we all want Joss back, so I hope they have the patience to let him decompress and do his smaller projects for a while. 

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Well, there's no way they can start filming too soon, as they have to make a bunch of sequels to the individual properties.

As for the movie, just saw it today and thought it was so much fun. Loved The Hulk!

[SkyLander]

Spoiler for Hiden:

[rickfc]

Going to watch it again tonight with a couple of friends. 

[stimpy]

By the way, why is there a Triforce on Stark's Sabbath t-shirt?

Not sure if you're asking this seriously, but thats the shirt from Sabbaths Never Say Die tour, their last with all original members.

[SkyLander]

Spoiler for Hiden:

My only...concern with the movie is that I never really saw a moment where banner gained control over Hulk, he just showed up and Hulk was all cool with everyone. I didn't think the scene when he landed was that moment where he magically had control.

[rickfc]

Spoiler for Hiden:

My only...concern with the movie is that I never really saw a moment where banner gained control over Hulk, he just showed up and Hulk was all cool with everyone. I didn't think the scene when he landed was that moment where he magically had control.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I don't think this should really be spoilered because it's in reference to the Hulk movie with Ed Norton, but whatever. At any rate, he gained control of his transformation at the end of that movie.

They pan to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and show the Days without Incident counter on the screen. They then show Norton in a sitting position meditating, he opens his eyes and they turn green. The counter rolls back to zero. End credits.

[PR_GMR]

Spoiler for Hiden:

My only...concern with the movie is that I never really saw a moment where banner gained control over Hulk, he just showed up and Hulk was all cool with everyone. I didn't think the scene when he landed was that moment where he magically had control.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I don't think this should really be spoilered because it's in reference to the Hulk movie with Ed Norton, but whatever. At any rate, he gained control of his transformation at the end of that movie.

They pan to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and show the Days without Incident counter on the screen. They then show Norton in a sitting position meditating, he opens his eyes and they turn green. The counter rolls back to zero. End credits.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Remember what Banner says before he transforms into Hulk: 'You wanna know my secret?.... I'm always angry'. This implies that he has learned to control the Hulk. I think he loses it earlier in the film because he really doesn't trust anyone on the SHIELD flying fortress and chooses to unleash Hulk

[rickfc]

Spoiler for Hiden:

My only...concern with the movie is that I never really saw a moment where banner gained control over Hulk, he just showed up and Hulk was all cool with everyone. I didn't think the scene when he landed was that moment where he magically had control.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I don't think this should really be spoilered because it's in reference to the Hulk movie with Ed Norton, but whatever. At any rate, he gained control of his transformation at the end of that movie.

They pan to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and show the Days without Incident counter on the screen. They then show Norton in a sitting position meditating, he opens his eyes and they turn green. The counter rolls back to zero. End credits.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Remember what Banner says before he transforms into Hulk: 'You wanna know my secret?.... I'm always angry'. This implies that he has learned to control the Hulk. I think he loses it earlier in the film because he really doesn't trust anyone on the SHIELD flying fortress and chooses to unleash Hulk

That, and Loki was fucking with him the entire time

[Bullwinkle]

Spoiler for Hiden:

My only...concern with the movie is that I never really saw a moment where banner gained control over Hulk, he just showed up and Hulk was all cool with everyone. I didn't think the scene when he landed was that moment where he magically had control.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I don't think this should really be spoilered because it's in reference to the Hulk movie with Ed Norton, but whatever. At any rate, he gained control of his transformation at the end of that movie.

They pan to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and show the Days without Incident counter on the screen. They then show Norton in a sitting position meditating, he opens his eyes and they turn green. The counter rolls back to zero. End credits.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Remember what Banner says before he transforms into Hulk: 'You wanna know my secret?.... I'm always angry'. This implies that he has learned to control the Hulk. I think he loses it earlier in the film because he really doesn't trust anyone on the SHIELD flying fortress and chooses to unleash Hulk

That, and Loki was fucking with him the entire time

Spoiler for Hiden:

Yeah, the staff was clearly causing the elevated argument, bringing out emotions that were under the surface.  It was making everyone lose control.

[CeeKay]

[Blackjack]

A film news site had put this together...

The Avengers as Teens:

*Renner's hair is pretty scary.

[PR_GMR]

 

[Blackjack]

Joss Whedon chimes up on the Whedonesque community blog for the first time since last September:

http://whedonesque.com/comments/28797#more
There's a lengthy, goofy Q&A after this

Dear Friends,

Well, it's been quite a weekend. Someday, long from now, I will even have an emotional reaction to it, like a person would. I can't wait! But before I become blinded by this "emotion" experience, there's a few things I'd like to say. Well, type.

People have told me that this matters, that my life is about to change. I am sure that is true. And change is good -- change is exciting. I think -- not to jinx it -- that I may finally be recognized at Comiccon. Imagine! Also, with my percentage of "the Avengers" gross, I can afford to buy... [gets call from agent. Weeps manfully. Resumes typing.] ...a fine meal. But REALLY fine, with truffles and s#!+. And I can get a studio to finance my dream project, the reboot of "Air Bud" that we all feel is so long overdue. (He could play Jai Alai! Think of the emotional ramifications of JAI ALAI!!!!)

What doesn't change is anything that matters. What doesn't change is that I've had the smartest, most loyal, most passionate, most articulate group of -- I'm not even gonna say fans. I'm going with "peeps" -- that any cult oddity such as my bad self could have dreamt of. When almost no one was watching, when people probably should have STOPPED watching, I've had three constants: my family and friends, my collaborators (often the same), and y'all. A lot of stories have come out about my "dark years", and how I'm "unrecognized"... I love these stories, because they make me seem super-important, but I have never felt the darkness (and I'm ALL about my darkness) that they described. Because I have so much. I have people, in my life, on this site, in places I've yet to discover, that always made me feel the truth of success: an artist and an audience communicating. Communicating to the point of collaborating.

I've thought, "maybe I'm over; maybe I've said my piece". But never with fear. Never with rancor. Because of y'all. Because you knew me when. If you think topping a box office record compares with someone telling you your work helped them through a rough time, you're probably new here. (For the record, and despite my inhuman distance from the joy-joy of it: topping a box office record is super-dope. I'm an alien, not a robot.)

So this is me, saying thank you. All of you. You've taken as much guff for loving my work as I have for over-writing it, and you deserve, in this our time of streaming into the main, to crow. To glow. To crow and go "I told you so", to those Joe Blows not in the know.

Marvel Studios' apparently known for "lowballing" directors so it does seem doubtful he got any sort of "percentage gross" share, which would obviously be astronomical for The Avengers. Still, he only has one other film under his belt as director (Serenity in 2005), so I'm sure they compensated him OK.  

His next film is a nearly zero-budget modern take on Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," and he seems fully excited about the Dr. Horrible follow-up, so he's probably not in danger of "selling out" any time soon.  

[Blackjack]

For accounting aficionados, the international box office ($500.1M through 5/8, though the chart has varying "as of" dates):
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=avengers11.htm&sort=todateGross&order=ASC&p=.htm
The top international markets so far are:

$40M: Mexico
$31.7M: Australia
$31.4M: Brazil
$31M: South Korea (yay)
$25.9M: France
$25.7M: United Kingdom
$19.1M: Germany
$18.4M: Italy
$18.1M: China
$14.9M: Spain

I'm envious so many other countries got to see it on my birthday (4/27). Cabin in the Woods was fine of course, but there were only about 8 people in the theater and a full-crowd Avengers opening day crowd would've been a blast to see with my brother. 

[rickfc]

I thought the movie was better upon a second viewing. You end up catching little nuances in the performances, etc that you don't catch the first time. It also helped watching it with a smaller crowd so I could actually hear lines like, "puny god" over the laughter.

 

[sgoldj]

Iwas thinking about necessary movies to see before the Avengers and I decided that none of them were necessary if you are comfortable with the whole Marvel thing.

(in reverse order)
Captain America - if you don't care about how SHIELD winds up with the mysterious power source, it's a Captain America origin story - a good one
Thor - despite it's flaws, the most necessary to see where this take on Loki comes from.
Iron Man 1,2 - origin and decent Iron Man story, but if you know the character, not much Avengers stuff

I left the Hulk movies for last because they require a statement about Ang Lee's Hulk (I am not a fan). The second Hulk movie by passes the origin. I liked it, also a decent Hulk story, but if you are not familiar with the character, the origin is dealt with in the first movie. If you are familiar, neither is a necessity to watch.

The "Avengers Initiative" is dealt with in exposition well enough in the Avengers film to get a handle on it.

Agent Coulson - here is the reason to watch the other films. I do believe that the shorts "The Consultant" and "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Hammer" are necessary for,his character. Especially "The Consultant" to answer the "why Hulk?" question.

Have I gone against the greater wisdom here?