The comic book movie genre has undergone something of a metamorphosis over the past few years. Whereas it was once something that mainly appealed to a dedicated group of followers it is now a major event for almost everyone on the planet. When superheroes dominate the home video, gaming console war and cinema world, it can be said that ‘the geeks have inherited the Earth.’
This past Summer moviegoers were bombarded with shields, green rings, hammers and vintage nuclear submarines but that’s nothing compared to next year when several blockbusters will be dropped in quick succession; Avengers, the Dark Knight Rises, Superman, Spider-Man and more.
Anticipation is high for the Avengers film in comic book fandom and beyond thanks to the media blitz surrounding the movie and the addition of cult favorite Joss Whedon as director. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk will join forces along with Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury’s agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to combat a deadly threat so immense that it’ll take over two hours to deal with it.
Hot on the heels of last week’s trailer release, footage was shown at the 2011 New York Comic Con. While no video stream is currently available, there is this neat vid of the cast at the 2011 NYCC Avengers panel with Nerdist Chris Hardwick.
For anyone interested, just click on the link below to read a breakdown of the footage as posted on io9.
A little girl runs down the street, through a nondescript Indian village and into a city. She runs upstairs into a crowded house and starts begging for help from the doctor. The camera pans to reveal Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) standing over a group of very sick patients. He asks if her family has what these poor folks have as well. She says yes and holds up a fist of cash. Bruce follows her.
Cut to Bruce and the little girl standing in front of a rundown shack. She runs forward, but Bruce holds her back and turns around, just as a jeep full of military personnel drives by. Bruce hides his face.
Bruce then follows the little girl into the remote home, far away from the crowded city we saw moments ago and into a shack. He walks through the door just in time to witness the little tyke jump out the window. He immediately knows it’s a trap, “Should have got the money up front, Banner.”
Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) steps out from behind the shadows. “For a man who’s trying to avoid stress, you picked a hell of a place to do it.” She’s not in her usual Black Widow catsuit. Instead, she’s wearing a long dress. She introduces herself as Natasha Romanoff.
Bruce shakes his head, “You brought me to the edge of the city. Are you here to kill me Miss Romanoff? Because that’s not going to work out.”
“I’m here on behalf of SHIELD.”
“What if I say no.”
“I’ll persuade you.”
“What if the other guy says no.” (Crowd goes nuts.)
“You’ve been two years without an accident.” They continue to argue a bit and Natasha reveals that Nick Fury needs Bruce’s help with a Tesseract rock, which has enough energy to wipe out the planet. They can’t find it and they need the best gamma ray scientist for the job. She continues to try to win him over stating, “No one is going to put you in a cage.” But at that moment Bruce loses it. “Stop lying to me!” he yells as he slams his hands on on the table. (Crowd goes nuts again.)
Bruce looks up and Natasha has pulled her gun on him. She’s terrified.
And then it’s a stand-off. Bruce tries to calm himself saying that we can do this without getting “him” involved. Slowly Natasha brings the radio up and orders everyone to stand down. Cut to an aerial shot of the hut surrounded by massive team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, all pointing their guns at the shack.
They’re really building up the unbridled rage of the Hulk well. It killed. If anyone had any doubts about the Ruffalo casting, this scene certainly silenced any Norton loyalists. The Avengers will open in theaters on May 4th, 2012.
Update:
IGN is reporting that we are due for a new lineup in a planned Avengers sequel:
While promoting next summer’s The Avengers at New York Comic-Con, the film’s producer and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed to IGN that — just as it has in 50-plus years of comic book continuity — the superhero team’s lineup would most likely change for a big screen sequel.
“Absolutely. That’s the fun of it — introducing new characters,” said Feige when asked point blank whether fans should expect a change-up to the roster. “Seeing: ‘How will things change after Iron Man goes through his next adventure? After Thor goes through his next adventure? If we do another Cap adventure, how will things change? The dynamic between them? Their own worlds? So that the dynamic in Avengers 2 is actually quite different than it is in the first one.”
Finally Dr. Druid will get his day on screen!
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