Trailer Wednesday: The Avengers

HELL-FRIGGIN-YES! The OFFICIAL trailer for The Avengers has arrived and is jam packed with awesome. I think I can skip the synopsis, so shall we begin?
(Full screen please. It deserves it!)



Breakdown, anyone? Hit the jump for it!

• 00:8 - New York... Of course. That place never has any luck when it comes to the Superhero world.
• 0:13 - People looking up, frightened. Could this be Loki's incoming invasion?
• 0:14 - EXPLOSIONS! Lots of 'em. Funny thing is this scene was actually filmed in Cleveland, much like many of the NY shots.
• 0:18 - Military and police sent in to fight this incoming and unknown source. I love this sense  of mystery that's been kept about it. Could they be shooting up at a Skrull mothership, as they've been heavily rumoured to be in here. Perhaps Loki manages to trick them into invading... He is mischievous you know.

Classic Skrull

• 0:21 - We've got more uniforms creeping into some derelict, metallic area with Loki in. SHIELD base?
• 0:25 - Sweaty head, evil eyes. Looks like Loki could have been put through his paces (against the Avengers) up until this point in the film. Or it could just be really hot in there... That leap looks lethal through. His staff looks slightly different from the Thor version and his hair is considerably longer, along with his persistent shade of greens. I think (or basically know) that Loki is going to see a lot of action throughout the movie, doing battle with each Avenger at least once - a much more enduring task than what was seen of his combat prowess in Thor. But perhaps some may be a battle of wits - I'd love to see Loki and Stark duke it out in a duel of quick brains and sharp tongues.
• 0:26 - Again, reminding us how high the stakes are here, as NY is getting literally ripped apart.
• 0:30 - SHIELD headquarters I presume (although the 30,000 feet in the sky Helicarrier is confirmed to be the primary base). However, this does resemble the base from The Ultimates comic series, which would suggest it is just off the coast of Manhattan.

• 0:36 - Nick Fury, in all his glory, steps from the helicopter. Samuel L Jackson, of course, reprising his role once more, with promises of some action for the SHIELD leader this time around.
• 0:38 - No footage, but the Nine Inch Nails song, "We're In This Together Now" kicks in - perfectly fit to the newly formed superpowered team.
• 0:41 - Good 'ol agent Coulson returns, after appearing in every other Marvel movie under the sun in the run up to this. Opening some sort of super-secret SHIELD vault by the looks of it. Hopefully he'll get some more spotlight, and I think he will, as Joss Whedon (writer and director) has stated in the past that he kept on coming back to Coulson as a means of fitting the script together more tightly. Also, he says he has a man-crush on the actor, Clark Gregg, so there's that...
• 0:46 - Captain America, in some smart, old fashioned duds. Can't wait to see how the "Man out of his time" aspect plays into it, and what it will add to Steve's character. Seen here finding his new outfit that harkens to the modern comics take on the Cap.
• 0:47 - Thor's basking in some sunlight, with his proud hammer, Mjolnir. And is just me, or does it look bigger than before. Also keen to see how they work out how Thor returns to Earth after being stranded in his homeworld, Asgard, at the end of his movie. 
• 0:49 - Bruce Banner, or Hulk as you better know him, is still in shanty abodes - on the run basically. Played by Mark Ruffalo here, instead of Edward Norton. His Avenger recruitment is also still up in the air, as people believed he was responsible for the NY destruction in his title film.
• 0:51 - Scarlett Johansson looking hot AND bad-ass as the illustrious Black Widow. Her character is definitely safe in Whedon's hands, what with his feministic track record with Buffy. 
• 0:54 - Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, the crack shot archer, briefly glimpsed in Thor. He's ditched the campy purple suit from the original comics, and has instead gone for a more red-inspired, simplistic look, to ground himself more as a real world character that echoes that of The Ultimates costume.
• 0:55 - Oh Loki... How on Earth (or elsewhere) do you manage to get yourself taken into custody by SHIELD, and then still wreak havoc upon the world?
• 0:56 - A SHIELD jet going down = not good. Same jet seen in that promotional poster released at comic-con I believe.

• 0:59 - And of course, rounding out the team is Iron Man; the infamous Tony Stark. The suit looks a little different too, with some more silver round the edges. Then he's zooming round a city (probs NY) at night time - so could this be related to the earlier (in the trailer) attack, or is this an entirely different one a la The Ultimates or event the very first Avengers comic, where they must take down a maddened Hulk as he rages into destruction. In The Ultimates, Hulk induces himself into rage, so that the team have someone to fight, while in the issue #1, Loki tricks Hulk into destructoid mode. Either could work, although the latter seems more likely with Loki's involvement: maybe even a hybrid?

• 1:04 - A better look at Thor's new costume at this Avengers round-table shot. Sleeveless with a shiny new breastplate - again, resembling that of The Ultimates look.
• 1:05 - I really, really like this shot. Off angle, with Cap and Iron Man (both maskless) standing there. I can't really explain it, but it just looks so bad-ass. 
• 1:09 - Nice "Gearing-up" sequence of shots.
• 1:12 - This little scene is chock full with pieces of info. Firstly, the Helicarrier has a kitchen, fully armed with a bunch of ceramic plates. Secondly, they've left Loki's sceptre/staff lying right there, in the very foreground of the first shot. Thirdly, Captain America's hoodie-cum-costume looks awesome, where can I get one? Fourthly, there is going to be some sort of rivalry between Steve and Tony, as can be expected when you've got two suped up, alpha-males on one team. And finally, that Whedon's whip-crack and witty dialogue is at its best, especially when coupled with Downey Jr's delivery. This is exactly the kind of thing Whedon is know for; sharp, snarky and all-so-satisfying speech. Love it. And Thor's laugh at the end... classic. Can we expect something along the lines of "You humans are funny, I like it. ANOTHER!" coming from the god of thunder?

The Helicarrier

• 1:20 - From what I gather from this short shot of Iron Man flying over the Hudson, it looks like he's chasing a missile that's headed to Manhattan. Could be some sort of very high stakes training mission, a PR stunt for the team or even the aforementioned Loki-planned invasion force (but looks more human that that...). Plus that boat behind suggests one of the former two, or something else entirely.
• 1:22 - Like I said, Fury sees some action this time around, and you can't match RPG firing in terms of that. Another point is the shot angles: again, going for that slanted, diagonal kind of shot, adding a certain level of uniqueness to proceedings from Whedon's directional input.
• 1:23 - There are a couple shots of Hawkeye and Captain America in quick succession here, both proving their acrobatic abilities. The Cap bounds over a burning car(?) with the same finesse he cruised through WWII with, while Hawkeye does a painful looking slide (must be wearing good leather) and lets loose an arrow.
• 1:24 - Black Widow proves her hand to hand prowess once more, with some brutal moves to human forces. Could this be from an introductory section of the film, revealing all the characters? She could be on some mission in this loft/storage area.
• 1:27 - Now this is very interesting... Thor is swinging his hammer against the Cap! My prediction is that Thor perhaps gets a bit protective over his brother, causing some conflict on the team. Or perhaps this is before they know each other, each presuming the other is a threat. This is the first time we see this wooded set in the trailer as well.
• 1:28 - An explosion rocks the SHIELD base (maybe only moments after that witty convo from earlier) and Steve gets gunning with some modern day weaponry.
• 1:30 - A wink of a look at the confrontation between Loki and the Cap, sending him flying into cars. This is also a bit misleading though, as the first shot is actually Loki holding Stark up by the throat and chucking him through glass, and the second one is from another part of the film with the Cap getting hit. So maybe it wasn't Loki who hit the Cap here at all... Skrulls? And Loki hitting Stark seems to be from the Helicarrier scene, which means he would have broken out AND if it is the helicarrier, then it is a LONG way down... Thor to the rescue? The Cap with a parachute? 
• 1:33 - Shots are fired on a city road, which could either be magic (Loki) or alien (Skrulls?). Sorry, I keep mentioning them, but they do seem logical. I could still be crucially wrong, mind. 

What the devil are they looking at?!

• 1:34 - Thor and Cap looking up... Once more not revealing whatever it is up there to us. Although spy footage from the set of scene revealed that the two  were fighting back to back against guys in MoCap suits... Dare I say Skrulls?

•  1:37 - An immortal line spoken by Stark in the form of "If we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it.". 
• 1:42 - Again, Iron Man flying into NY at night, with no aesthetic damage on the city at this point that we can see. 
• 1:49 - The Avengers!
• 1:50 - Another great example of Whedonistic dialogue, from Stark once more. "I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
• 1:56 - And the first and only look of the Hulk. For the first time, Hulk has been made using motion capture technology, providing a new level of realism to the legendary beast.
• 2:02 - May 4th 2012. And in 3D!? This is the first I've heard of that... Not sure if I like it or not...

So that's The Avengers trailer in a nutshell. God, I just cannot wait for it. So much awesome in one place. This is the first time something like this - a collaboration of several different films - has ever happened before, so you know it's going to be huge. The trailer, while seeming very action-packed, probably shouldn't represent the explosion to plot ratio, as Whedon has, as a writer in general, stated his reasoning of character and story before action - even so far that in the past he's had to assure his fans that he doesn't hate action, he just doesn't like it when its got no real point or drive to it. So I think we've got all bases covered in terms of writing and acting (thanks to the extraordinary cast), and after seeing this, the special effects (and music choice) seem solid too. 

Avengers assemble, May 4th.

ATR