Some Assembly Required

And with the closing credits of Captain America begins the nine month countdown to May 2012 and The Avengers. It’s been widely publicised that the post credits sting features the teaser trailer for The Avengers, so it’s not a spoiler to talk about it.

A “teaser” in the truest sense of the word, it left me salivating for more. Seeing early shots of Cap, Thor, Fury and Iron Man all sharing the screen at once (and to a lesser extent Black Widow, Hawkeye and a Ruffaloified Bruce Banner), suggests that Marvel’s long term strategy has paid off.

And even if you don’t care for superhero films, and are less than enthused about the idea of The Avengers, you have to give them credit for the audacity of their planning. Not since the Lord of the Rings has a series of films been so well plotted, with the seeds of The Avengers being planted as early as 2008 in the post credit sting of Iron Man.

And when (ever) has a blockbuster featured so many stand alone heroes? Thor, Iron Man, Hulk and Cap have all carried their own films and established their own stories and now, to throw them all together in one huge blockbuster is actually much more groundbreaking that critics will dare to give them credit for. All in all, the epitome of what good planning can be, and emphasises how the comic book way of developing storylines can successfully translate to the big screen. DC should take note.

So what else can we take from the trailer? Well there was a brief shot of Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, the Avengers assembled in what looked like a briefing room and a shot of Loki surrounded by what looked like armed guards, suggesting he’ll be a major antagonist (continuing on from the Thor sting). Plus of course Tony Stark making a quip about Thor – if they’re smart, they’ll know that the entertainment will come partly from the banter between characters. And in fairness, if anyone can do character banter it’s Joss Whedon.

All in all, very exciting.

I’ll do the full Cap review tomorrow, but in the meantime I’m more than a little excited about next May. It would be rude not to do a marathon of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America to get ready for it, wouldn’t it?


Avengers...Assemble!