Assembling the Avengers

Just recently thousands of geeks congregated at the San Diego Comic Con which is the largest convention in the world. Big time publishers like Marvel and DC promote new projects to the highly enthusiastic geek crowd. It's also a spot for film producers who've realised a lot of their core audience attend shows like this.

One of the big announcements this year was when Marvel Studios rolled out the entire cast of the upcoming Avengers film. No it's not about a revamp of the 60s TV show with Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. The Avengers is probably the most ambitious super hero film ever made as it has characters from various Marvel films i.e Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, as well as the upcoming Captain America and Thor films all meeting together for one film. Apart from the cast ensemble which includes Robert Downey Jr. reprising his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man; actor Mark Ruffalo replaced Ed Norton for the role of Bruce Banner, the Hulk's alter ego after a well publicised spat between Norton and movie producers.

It's directed by Joss Whedon who is best known for shows like Buffy and Firefly, and a well known face in the geek circuit. It's been said many times that the Avengers "were born to fight the foes that no single superhero could withstand." But who will they be facing? Here's a rundown:

Hulk

At the end of the last Hulk film, it had Bruce Banner(Ed Norton) learning how to control his green alter ego or has the Hulk taken control of him? Could this lead to a big dust up with Iron Man?

Secret Invasion

A few years ago Marvel did a massive crossover where a shape shifting alien race known as the Skrulls posed as heroes and were quite successful eventually they were defeated. It's been rumoured that the one of the characters in the film is already a Skrull. This could mean that Mark Ruffalo's role as Banner could be a bluff and Norton could just reprise his role.

The Ultimates

Whedon wrote a gushing intro to Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's 21st century updating of the Avengers in the Ultimates graphic novel. It's been said that a lot of the film will be influenced by it, in fact Samuel L Jackson was practically a shoe in for the role of Nick Fury as Hitch drew Nick Fury as the actor. In the first story arc, the Ultimates must overcome their own differences to stop the Chitauri, an eight foot lizard like aliens from taking over the planet.

Loki

He's played by actor Tom Hiddleston. Although he's the main villain in next year's Thor flick, could Hiddleston pop up as the team's big bad? In an interview he was quite coy about his film deal with Marvel. But it would make perfect sense in the very first issue of Avengers Loki was responsible for the Avengers forming as a team.

But Avengers isn't the only film about guys and gals wearing costumes, 2012 is set to be a big year for comic based flicks. You've got a Spiderman 3D revamp, The Man of Steel which is a redo of Superman, plus Deadpool, oh and the final Batman film. There's one burning question which needs to be asked, who's going to play the Avengers's faithful butler Edwin Jarvis, Jarvis Cocker?!

Assembling the Avengers

Posted: 2/8/2010
Categories: Movies / Avengers

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