Robert Downey, Jr. introduces 'The Avengers' at San Diego Comic-Con
Plus the first official photo of the entire cast
Ending a momentous and event filled day at San Diego's Comic-Con 2010 today, both Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey, Jr. introduced the entire star-studded cast of Marvel Studios 2012 release "The Avengers."
Calling the picture more ambitious than "Inception," Downey Jr. made news by announcing the long rumored additions of recent Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton a.ka. the bow-welding Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, better known for his monstrous alter-ego The Incredible Hulk. The duo join Downey, Jr., who became a worldwide superstar after the success of the first "Iron Man," Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Chris Evans as Captain America and newcomer Chris Hemsworth as Thor.
The panel also featured the official announcement of comic book fan favorite Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Firefly") as the film's director.
The ensemble action epic will be released on May 4, 2012 and is expected to begin shooting sometime in the spring of 2011. It will be preceded by Marvel's "Thor" next May and "Captain America: The First Avenger" approximately a year from now.
The "surprise" announcement had been buzzed about for weeks, but was in question after the studio decided not to welcome Edward Norton back as Bruce Banner following a difficult time on the 2008 hit "The Incredible Hulk."
The only members missing from Earth's Mightest Heroes were the characters of The Wasp and Ant-Man. Both were part of the first "Avengers" team in the 1960s story that found the heroes uniting against a common foe, but it appears they won't be primary figures in the first movie version of the super hero group.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupFlynn Bridges
July 24, 2010 at 11:48PM EST Reply to CommentWell isn't that a site for sore eyes. Nicely done. Can't wait.
July 24, 2010 at 11:54PM EST Reply to CommentFunny... I don't SEE Edward Norton in that picture.
Isn't the Incredible Hulk going to be an important part of the film?
So where is Ed Norton? Strange.
I mean, Kevin Feige, aka, Tom Rothman 2.0, Unrepentant, Penny-Pinching Douche Bag Extraordinair, wouldn't keep Norton out of this film, would he?
Would he???
Oh, what's that? Green Lantern is going to destroy the two Marvel suck-ass flicks coming out next year?
And the sequel to TDK is going to destroy The Avengers (sorry, Joss!) in 2012?
Yep. That's what I thought.
Frak Kevin Feige. Frak him up his stupid ass. Kevin Feige is a frakking clown shoe, and if he were real, I would kick his ass.
Crow3711 get a life. ruffalo is awesome
July 25, 2010 at 8:35AM ESTJoeK Call me crazy but I'm looking forward to all of those movies (hopefully) being good. I'm not sure what we as fans gain having one movie we want to see "kick the ass" of another we'd also like to see.
July 25, 2010 at 10:35AM ESTI agree the Norton thing is unfortunate given that they asked us to swallow that move so soon after the Ang Lee/Bana one but everything else here is kinda silly.
comic relief Matt,
July 25, 2010 at 7:23PM ESTI really have to hand it to you. About a week ago you really set this blog on fire with all of your statements concerning Marvel’s poor treatment of Edward Norton. Norton deserved to hear his supporters speak and I imagine your effectiveness may have influenced how aggressively this weekends Avenger’s cast assembled panel was presented at Comic-Con.
In fact many of the things you said changed my perception of; the DC/Marvel standoff, the value of placing so many comics characters in wide release , and how given what we have seen what we should expect as more comics characters move to the big screen.
Dude keep up the good work. The comics company’s need to know we are watching and that we are more than just stupid appreciative sheep.
July 25, 2010 at 8:12PM ESTthank you for understanding that i was meaning to be funny, but at the same time, still holding disappointment of how everything went down with Norton.
that being said, i'm gonna see Thor and Cap, and I hope they do well. GL happens to be my favorite comic book series ever. i mean, i faithfully suffered through the Judd Winnick years to see my faith rewarded with Geoff Johns and getting to see Hal (and Sinestro) on the big screen.
there's room for all of these properties to be made into films.
it's just so very unfortunate how Marvel and Kevin Feige have handled their business. their attempts to screw over Favs gave him less preproduction time on IM2, which I guarantee is the main reason why the film itself seemed a bit... off, compared to the superior first effort.
they tried to penny pinch Sam Jackson and Mickey Rourke.
they're not going about their business well, and Feige is succeeding in turning himself into a hated man on par with Rothman.
And of course, Ruffalo is wonderful. Dude's a good actor. But he's not Norton, and I loved Norton's nuanced performance as Banner.
I look at The Avengers and I look at Feige, and all I see, even with the presence of Whedon, is X3 and Rothman.
Or FF and Rothman.
Or DD and Rothman.
comic relief Matt,
July 25, 2010 at 10:48PM ESTI guess we’re all going to see Thor, Captain America and the Avengers and hope for the best.
I said I really appreciated what you said over the last few weeks but what I think Marvel and Feige have at stake is the quality of their company’s library. Both seem to think that the public has an endless patience for badly conceived characters.
When they got Hulk wrong the first time; so they just remade it. No one liked the first Hulk so why should anyone return for another sequel, reboot, or other wise. When most people other than the diehards**** did not make the return trip for the Hulk, it was of course that spoiled diva Norton’s fault. And Marvel really did make a better and more profitable film.
But instead, it was Marvel’s obsession with being seen regardless of the cost or shoddy presentation of it’s heroes that may ultimately hurt them. It seems they are already planning another Punisher.
I talked about his more in a post I had for last week. I did not send it because I thought I missed the festivities; so here it is now.
**** equals comic fanatics
comic relief Matt,
July 25, 2010 at 10:53PM ESTOh yeah, I heard the humor in your posts but I thought the insight was even better.
Unlike you for years I’ve been on the fence. I asked myself what’s better Marvel’s prolific output or DC’s projective management of it’s properties.
Well I used to think Marvel’s prolific output was better, though I never said this…
But now, thanks to your reasoning, I have changed my mind. When I see all of the characters that Marvel has squandered: Daredevil, Electra, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Punisher, Silver Surfer, etc. just to make a fast buck you have to wonder who is in charge there? Most of these characters had never been seen outside of a comic before. This sort of recklessness has changed my perception of what matters. I’ve never been a more committed DC fan because I’m happy the company (who can’t get there characters produced) didn’t settle for any number of sleazy presentations of characters who are truly iconic.
Though I love both of their characters and don’t have a preference, I’ve always thought of DC has the superhero hero company and Marvel as the anti-superhero company. That said it would be a lot harder to repair heroes with reboots that it would be to repair anti-heroes with reboots. Also in these economic times, there’s a much greater obstacle to not undertake an effort to save a poorly pre-marketed heroes than it used to be.
Now I’m celebrating that I have never seen Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Flash or Atom exploited as though they were nothing and hope DC continues to be as shrewd. Nothing is wrong with waiting for the Nolan’s, and (Hopefully) Campbell’s to handle their properties and I look forward to the results. For better or worse until then we have to continue to watch Marvel destroy its library or properties. Yet why should we complain, ultimately don’t we all benefit from seeing more comic book content in film?
July 27, 2010 at 4:52PM ESTI agree with you on just about everything you said about Feige. Currently, he's enjoying the public adoration due to little of his own doing. It's mostly because of Favreau and RDJ and the geekgasm of Avengers that many people scream for him right now.
Sooner or later, they'll start noticing. About the Terrence Howard fracas. About how Marvel didn't want Fanvreau on IM2 initially, and then how they pressurized him to make the May 07 2010 release date. Then, their handling of The Incredible Hulk, frenetic trimming of the running time to make it shorter. Their issues with Edward Norton. Their low salary deals with Samuel L Jackson.
It'll all come in the limelight sooner or later. I am thinking of one big bomb or one more star walking out on Marvel, and all the skeletons will come out of the closet.
PS - What do you think of Zak Penn scripting Avengers? Frankly, I haven't been fond of his output so far and that he's handling the BIGGEST SUPERHERO MOVIE OF ALL TIME is really depressing :(
Hyperion
July 25, 2010 at 12:06AM EST Reply to CommentShaping up nicely. As far as the lack of Norton, who cares really. Yes, it would be nice for continuity but with his history of being difficult to work with I think he only has himself to blame for his absence. I see The Hulk and not Banner getting most of the screen time this time around.
July 25, 2010 at 3:17PM EST Reply to CommentMr. McWeeny is right: fanboys are so damn fickle. I have nothing but the highest hopes for these movies. It's no fun being a too-cool-for-school sour puss about these things. These are movies I've wanted to see on the big screen for literally as long as I can remember. It's much more healthy to have a positive attitude towards these things.
tigger500
July 25, 2010 at 3:39PM EST Reply to CommentI think Mark Ruffalo is a terrific choice. It didn't occur to me, but now that it is a done deal I can't think of anyone better.
MrFloppy
July 25, 2010 at 4:09PM EST Reply to CommentAnd what about secondary characters as Gwyneth Paltrow's or Natalie Portman's?
comic relief
July 25, 2010 at 5:44PM EST Reply to CommentWrite a comment...
comic relief I saw something really fantastic this weekend, something that was predicted yet I regretfully I never thought I would see. The entire Avengers cast was on stage; assembled.
July 25, 2010 at 7:26PM ESTWhy was this event so fantastic? This event has never happened before, in the history of comics.
We’ve seen other Marvel group properties, the X-men and Fantastic four collected in movies yet they we’re ensemble products from the start. As readers of these comics we never really expected Cyclops, Beast, Mr. Fantastic or the Thing to sell the entire book. Yet there have been times when individual characters were so popular a single personality was nearly selling the entire book.
What distinguishes the Avengers from these team books was the Avengers were always a team book that was made up of individual heroes (who supposedly we’re individually successful). Obviously we knew all of the characters were not as successful. From a fanboy (or girl’s) perspective we knew some of the characters might have been able to amass the readership to support their own comic books. And they might likely have had their own rogue gallery of villains they fought on a fairly regular basis also.
Heroes of this caliber are so unique that it is difficult for most major comics companies to sustain more than a few comics featuring this kind of team. Marvel has the avengers. At one time they also had the Defenders; but not now. I believe Marvel is now trying a strategy where they have multiple Avengers books. We’ll see how well this strategy turns out. DC has the Justice League. Other DC groups like the JSA and Teen Titans seem to be the same kind of ensemble of individual characters yet most of their other characters cannot support their own books. So they are ultimately hybrids of the individual/ensemble product trend.
I’m not sure which is harder sustaining a book about an individual character or a book about a team of heroic individuals. The individual character book have to have plausible central hero, a believable supporting cast, and that hero has to have a compelling origin and cause for remaining a hero despite heroic challenges. In the group of individual’s book, most of the individuals have to have all the things present in the individual character’s books. Yet the interaction of the characters in the team book has to have a persuasive chemistry and group dynamic so that we (the audience) will continue to return to hear all of the group’s future adventures.
Thanks to Comic con, we’re closer to seeing this on screen than ever before.
Anyway, thanks Marvel I was awed. Now I can barely wait to see the movie that will eventually result from this event.
July 25, 2010 at 7:00PM EST Reply to CommentWhile I'm a little surprised at the inclusion of Black Widow and Hawkeye over Ant Man and Wasp for the first movie, I'm glad the cast isn't any bigger than it is.
DAGOBAH
July 25, 2010 at 11:53PM EST Reply to CommentIt's a shame the online press ruined the surprise of the Ruffalo reveal at comic-con... I think after all the hoo-haa over the Edward Norton drop, if Mark Ruffalo had have walked out on stage without everyone already knowing he was a candidate to play Hulk it would have been something real special for the crowd...
instead, it was just "cool, so the rumours were true..."
July 27, 2010 at 4:47PM ESTPS - Although, from what I've heard, people were really taken aback when Harrison Ford walked on stage.