It's finally here, he says robotically. Nearly every day is Avengers day online with paparazzi shots, interviews, stills, clips, posters, and whatnot, so the trailer just means that this is a Tuesday. But we must mark the occasion. It's how we do. And if "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" are going to assemble, we'll be there for roll call.
There can be only one... CHRIS.
The movie pits the collected superheroes against Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who holds the cosmic cube that The Red Skull lost (I think? Someone get me a "previously on" clip reel) because we have to braid the individual stories of the most recent Marvel movies (Thor and Captain America) back together with the two Iron Man movies where Nick Fury (who didn't get his own movie) was collecting heroes. They're even yanking The Incredible Hulk back in to the mix though surely nobody remembers dangly story threads from ye olden times of 2008. The only thing I remember from that movie was that Edward Norton lived in the jungle and then they poisoned the air so he turned green and lept through a glass walkway until he landed on a grassy field where he fought tanks until it was rainy and time to snuggle with Liv Tyler who was married to Phil Dunphy??? And somewhere in there was Tim Roth playing with chemicals and his own body? I can't remember. I'm guessing it won't be important because they save Mark Ruffalo (Hulk #3) for that mandatory "surprise the trailer isn't over!" joke tag at the end.
YES NO MAYBE SO breakdown and the actual trailer after the jump.
YES
- Tom Hiddleston was the best thing about Thor and it's fun to see an up-and-coming star get the Big Bad role they usually reserve for expensive stars. "You were made to be ruled..." is a creepy way to set up the stakes and his voice is just right.
- Captain America: The First Avenger was way better than we were expecting and maybe we got a little tingly seeing Chris Evans all boyscout serious and do-goodery again.
- The shots of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye look promising, love that rubble slide.
- Some of the action shots look like they hurt like we're seeing more stunts than usual and less CGI?
- Wait... Captain America fights Thor? Are you exciting to hear the sound effect when Mjolnir hits the shield? I am (geek alert!) Superhero vs superhero is always fun in comic books if they don't have to leap through too many disbelief suspending hoops to get there.
NO
Steve Rogers: Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away what are you?
Tony Stark: Uh... genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.
Thor: [Chuckling]"
- Anyone else tired of Robert Downey Jr's smug quipping? He used to have such nuance and range. And why is Thor laughing at that joke (although it's probably from a different scene if I know trailers). The best thing about Thor was how funny his humorlessness was!
- This looks closer to Iron Man 3 than Thor 2 or Captain America 2 which might be a problem.
- That dread pulsing sound effect at the beginning of the trailer that was so effective for the first or second Transformers trailer (I can't remember) is now a total cliche.
- God but that is terribly generic manly rock music playing all through the trailer. Are we supposed to be picturing legions of fanboys doing air guitar riffs in unison? Or are we merely supposed to make the connection that we loved Iron Man and it used all that metal in its soundtrack?
- There sure is an awful lot of still expressionless posing in this trailer, as if we are not seeing actual clips from the movie but clips from the photoshoots for individual character posters. This is particularly true of Scarlett Johanssons as The Black Widow (though we've hated that casting from day one. Oh for what could have been with Emily Blunt!)
MAYBE SO
she flips her hair back and forth, she flips her hair back and forth
- If anyone can make the movie version of The Black Widow (a great character in comic books) interesting isn't it Joss Whedon who has proven his mettle with directing bad-ass superwomen time and again (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Firefly)
- If anyone can make a superhero team movie interesting isn't it Joss Whedon who has proven that he understands the drama and comedy in interpersonal ensemble dynamics again and again (Firefly, Buffy)
- If anyone can make manly superheroics both funny and moving and exciting isn't it Joss Whedon who has proven his gift with tonal dichotomies frequently (Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog, Buffy)
THE TRAILER
Will you be there when these Avengers assemble?
If so why? My take away goes like so from these tiny glimpses. Iron Man: NO; Hawkeye: YES; Captain America: YES; Thor: MAYBE SO; Loki: YES; Hulk: NO; Iron Man: NO, Black Widow: NO; Nick Stark: MAYBE SO.