Comic Cons and Marvel go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly. Awkward analogies aside, The Avengers took center stage with Marvel production head Kevin Feige being joined by actors Colbie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evans and a surprise appearance from Mark Ruffalo.
The group screened the recently released trailer as well as footage shown from the D23 Expo earlier this year.
A full scene featuring Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson was also screened. In it, Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner is hiding out in a foreign country and follows a little girl to a shack on the outskirts of town. There he meets Johansson’s Black Widow, who briefs him on the Tesseract and explains how his skill set is needed to prevent "the destruction of the world." There’s also a note that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been monitoring Banner and that he hasn’t had an outbreak as the Hulk for two years.
Ruffalo told the audience that his version of the Hulk is a more mature Banner who understands what’s going on under the hood. He also warned the audience not to film any of the footage saying, "Don’t make me angry, you won’t like me when I’m angry."
Another montage clip showcased the characters in action capped by Evans’ Captain America stepping toward Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark asking, "Is everything a joke to you?" to which Stark replies, "Funny things are."
After Hiddleston addressed a majority of the questions about his Loki character over the screams of women from the audience (one called him a "beautiful, beautiful man!"), Feige talked about upcoming Marvel projects.
Feige briefly touched on Iron Man 3 (arriving May 3, 2013), saying that it’s currently in pre-production and that with the addition of Dr. Strange, Inhumans and Guardians of the Galaxy, will be the first of what he calls "Phase Two," paving the way to Avengers 2. "Those movies will be a part of that." He also confirmed that Wolverine will not appear in Captain America 2, as previously speculated, but then teased, "You never know, someday…"
While we’ve seen glimpses of The Hulk, Smulders’ Maria Hill is still MIA from any clips or trailers. One wonders where they’re hiding her.
The Avengers assemble in theaters May 4, 2012.
Photo courtesy of CinemaBlend.
