Avengers 2012

 

The Avengers is a an upcoming superhero film. The film is a crossover of all the films independently produced by Marvel Studios set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, namely Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).

Plot

When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster.

Cast

•  Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
•  Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
•  Chris Hemsworth as Thor
•  Tom Hiddleston as Loki
•  Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
•  Lou Ferrigno as the voice of The Hulk 
•  Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
•  Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
•  Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
•  Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
•  Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
•  Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig
•  Paul Bettany as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.
•  Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
•  Amanda Righetti as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent
•  Jenny Agutter as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Council Member
• Stan Lee

Production

The Avengers began filming in February of 2011[2]. It is being shot in Raleigh Studios.

HitFix reported that Edward Norton is not returning as Bruce Banner in the film and the studio will cast an unknown actor to play Bruce Banner. [4] The following day Kevin Fiege confirmed the report, though saying that a "name actor" would be replacing him rather than an unknown.

Norton later released a statement on Facebook:

 "As most of you know, I don't like to talk much about the business of making movies because it means a lot to me to protect the audience's fullest enjoyment of the 'magic' that films can have,. "But I am so appreciative of the outpouring of support from fans of the Hulk and The Avengers that I feel it would be rude not to respond. So there it goes: It seems it won't work out for me to continue playing Bruce Banner for Marvel in The Avengers. I sincerely hoped it could happen and be great for everyone but it hasn't turned out as we all hoped. "I know this is disappointing to many people and that makes me sad. But I am so grateful to Marvel for extending the offer and even more so for the chance to be part of the Hulk's long and excellent history. And I really can't thank the fans enough for how much enthusiasm you've sent my way... It means a lot to me. "I grew up with Banner and Hulk and have been a fan of every incarnation. I'm really proud, and very blessed, to have been one of them and will be thrilled to see him live on through other actors. Hulk is bigger than all of us, that's why we love him, right?"

Sincerely, Edward Norton "

    ―Edward Norton's comment on Facebook

Trivia

• Joe Carnahan was in talks to direct the film before Joss Whedon got the job.
• Edward Norton was originally set to reprise his role from The Incredible Hulk (2008) but negotiations between him and Marvel Studios broke down. Norton was replaced with Mark Ruffalo.
•  Jeremy Renner was said to be taking archery lessons for his role as Hawkeye.
•  The film will be the first Marvel film to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.
•  Before Mark Ruffalo was cast as The Hulk, Joaquin Phoenix was rumored for the part.
•  Morena Baccarin, Jessica Lucas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Cobie Smulders screen tested for the role of Agent Maria Hill. Smulders was eventually cast.
•  Lou Ferrigno returns as the voice of the CGI made Incredible Hulk whom he first portrayed in 1977.
•  The movie is thought to take place in New York City, as NYC buses and cabs are shown during the trailer.
•  Chris Hemsworth had to increase and expand his dietary/food intake in order to maintain the physique he built up for Thor.
•  Mark Ruffalo describes Bruce Banner's role in The Avengers as "a guy struggling with two sides of himself, the dark and the light; everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control." He furthermore describes Banner's alter ego the Hulk as "a loose cannon - he's the teammate none of them are sure they want, it's like throwing a grenade into the middle of the group and hoping it turns out well!"
• Mark Ruffalo is personally going to portray the Hulk through virtual-camera motion-capture, which allows him to actually portray the Hulk. Previous live-action versions have had Bruce Banner and the Hulk be played by separate people (Bill Bixby and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno), or had the Hulk rendered into the film in computer-generated imagery.
• Director Joss Whedon had earlier been considered to direct X-Men in the 1990s. A big fan of the X-Men, he even wrote a script, from which only two lines made it into the film.
• Producer Kevin Feige compares the film to Transformers: Dark of the Moon: "It set a standard for that level of ZOMG-awesomeness and scale. We're working to try to outdo that."
• Mark Ruffalo states it was an honour to take over as Bruce Banner from his friend Edward Norton: "Ed has bequeathed this part to me, I look at it as my generation's Hamlet."
• The Science and Entertainment Exchange provided a science consultation for the film. 
• According to Joss Whedon, the film is strongly influenced by the early 1960s Avengers comics, which he was a fan of while growing up: "In those comics these people shouldn't be in the same room let alone on the same team - and that is the definition of family."
• Tom Hiddleston spoke of his role as Loki in an interview by saying, "I can tell you that it's all of them against me. I am the super villain. So it's Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury forming a team because I've got so bad ass."
• In the preview, Robert Downey Jr.'s character of Tony Stark can be seen wearing a Black Sabbath T-Shirt. Black Sabbath performed the unrelated single "Iron Man" which is on the soundtrack from the first Iron Man movie.
• Has an unusually high number of Academy Award nominees in the cast for a comic book movie - or most movies for that matter: Robert Downey Jr.; Samuel L. Jackson; Jeremy Renner; and Mark Ruffalo. 
• However, it still falls short of the five in Iron Man 2: Downey Jr.; Jackson; Gwyneth Paltrow; Mickey Rourke; and Don Cheadle.
• The cast became good friends while filming so if all the actors happened to be filming scenes together in the same place, they would go out together after. Chris Evans once sent a text message to Clark Gregg simply saying "Assemble", which is the tagline for the movie. Gregg stated that this was his favorite text message ever sent to him.
• Tom Hiddleston describes Loki in this film as having evolved since Thor: "How pleasant an experience is it to disappear into a wormhole that was created by some super-nuclear explosion of his own making? I think by the time Loki shows up he's seen a few things and has bigger things in mind than just his brother and Asgard..."
• Actors Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson share the birthday November 22.
• Despite the fact that the studio had no involvement in producing the film, neither in marketing or distributing, the Paramount Pictures logo still appears in advertising. Despite Disney buying the distribution of Marvel films from Paramount (as Marvel is a Disney company), the latter studio will still receive partial box-office royalties for these projects.

Superbowl Sunday’s usual run of breakout commercials didn’t disappoint, as the floodgates to the Marvel Comics universe continued to pour forth adaptations and sequels to our favorite comic book superheroes, antiheroes, and downright gods. Marvel’s The Avengers 2012 trailer showcases the eponymous members of the comic-book company’s foremost team (although The X-Men might have something to say about that), many of whom have had their own movies, with varying levels of success.

In The Avengers trailer, we can see that Robert Downey Jr. is reprising his role as the ultra-successful Iron Man character (the earnings of both movies Iron Man and Iron Man 2 nearly quadrupled their respective budgets), the suit-of-battle-armor invented by billionaire industrialist Tony Stark. Australian actor Chris Hemsworth is thankfully back as the Mighty Thor, fresh off his own box-office hit, which more than tripled its budget in earnings. These two most powerful (constant) Avengers would ordinarily be expected to be able to handle just about any earthly threat whatsoever, so the fact that the 2nd Avengers trailer shows us the remaining crew of heroes resolutely affirms the unearthly threat seen in the first trailer, in the form of the god Loki, who is Thor’s half-brother. Although the most powerful member – arguably – of the Avengers is seen slapping bad guys into oblivion, the Incredible Hulk has always been at best a part-time employee (as seen in the first trailer, the Incredible Hulk is played by actor Mark Ruffalo, after Edward Norton unceremoniously bowed out). From the rousing last scene of the 2nd Avengers trailer, the villain Loki may wish the Hulk, as a character, had bowed out altogether.

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