In Contention

Tag: The Avengers

  • ‘Avengers’ assemble in concept art revealing Hulk

    Okay, one more superhero dip before we leave Comic-Con behind. Click for larger, expanded version.

  • COMIC-CON: ‘The Avengers’ teaser poster

    If you’re a diligent get-spoiled-ASAP type, you’ve probably already seen the teaser trailer for “The Avengers” (which plays as a button on the end of “Captain America: The First Avengers”). Marvel may not have a presence here in San Diego this year, but of course they’ll take advantage of the assembled (no pun intended) by dropping a little material from the film. So, the teaser poster will do. Check out the full image after the jump.

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  • REVIEW: “Thor” (***)

    As superheroes go—and go they do, with alarming frequency, at the cape-wearers’ convention that the multiplex has become in recent years—Thor, or at least the Marvel-authored Artist Formerly Known As Norse God Thor, is more super than most. Where most beloved superheroes are humans (at least ostensibly so) who grow into their superhuman powers as a kind of parallel puberty, Thor needn’t waste time on any such learning curve.

    He is, to reappropriate a quote from “Almost Famous,” a Golden God—quite literally golden as played by aggressively blond Australian up-and-comer Chris Hemsworth—and as such, preternatural strength and ability are things to which he feels entitled, not enslaved. Marvel’s Thor may be as boyish as the gangly Peter Parker or the gizmo-rapt Bruce Wayne, but it’s a boyishness of lifelong petulance rather than golly-gee self-awe; he may be better than his superhero brethren, but he’s also harder to know.

    That obstacle of relatability is both a debit and a distinguishing asset in Kenneth Branagh’s poppy, spirited addition to the Marvel adaptation gallery, and something that ultimately cleaves the film in two. An odd couple of films jostles for space in Branagh’s surprisingly trim 114-minute package: one a dourly earnest celestial battle epic set in Thor’s mythical, CGI-built home realm of Asgard, the other a sweetly goofy alien comedy set in the decidedly unmagical realm of New Mexico.

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  • INTERVIEW: ‘The Town’ actor Jeremy Renner

    Warner Bros. has been looking for any and every opportunity to get Jeremy Renner and his well-liked supporting performance in Ben Affleck’s “The Town” out there as Oscar season begins to take hold. Yesterday he was making the press rounds just as screener copies of the film were hitting voters’ doorsteps.

    The last time I saw Renner was on the C lot bus at the airport maybe a month after the Oscars put a bow on the long, rewarding haul of “The Hurt Locker.” He and that film’s co-star, Brian Geraghty, were coming back from some much-needed R&R and Renner told me at the time he was happily “unemployed.”

    Of course, plenty has changed since then. He finds himself starring opposite Tom Cruise in the latest installment of a “Mission: Impossible” franchise that he may well take over, joining the giant ensemble of Marvel’s hugely ambitious cross-over film “The Avengers” and, of course, kicking up awards buzz once again for his work in “The Town.”

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  • COMIC-CON: Wrapping it up…are we getting through?

    My Comic-Con experience ended a bit sooner than I expected this morning when I woke up and decided whatever was on the Sunday docket wasn’t as fetching as a three-hour ride in traffic back to LA. That’s how exhausting the convention was this year.

    Here’s the thing. We all know Comic-Con and its 125,000-plus attendees form nothing more than a marketing bonanza in this day and age. No need to preach down to those who were there if you decided to remain back on your high horse and wait it out. You’re not enlightened. We get it. The event’s roots had a completely different shade and Hollywood has invaded the territory. But at the same time, as Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher shrewdly pointed out before Saturday’s Warner Bros. presentation, Comic-Con — or comics, in general — has also invaded Hollywood.

    So what we have is a symbiosis that plays right into the hands of studio marketing chiefs. No one can fault businessmen for making business decisions, but I think it would be worth it for Comic-Con brass (whoever they are) to take stock of what’s happening here. A craven desire to sell as many passes as possible, secure as many big names as possible and bloat the festivities with dubious material has taken things far from where they started, yes. But the thing is so stressful, people are stabbing each other!

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  • COMIC-CON: Ruffalo and Renner a go for ‘Avengers’

    I’ll get to today’s Marvel’s “Avengers” presentation later tonight, but the news worth conveying is that Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner were on hand to be confirmed as Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk and Hawkeye, respectively.  The announcement was made by Robert Downey Jr., who was here with Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and director Joss Whedon, making for one hell of a photo op.  Chew on that for now.

  • Audiences to see a different ‘Iron Man’ than critics?

    At Monday’s screening of “Iron Man,” I was sad to see that Samuel L. Jackson’s much-anticipated cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury wasn’t in the cut. Though director Jon Favreau has suggested the scene might surface in the DVD release.

    Well New York Mag’s Vulture blog points us today to a Comic Book Resources story revealing that general audiences will get to see the Easter egg scene that was withheld from critics’ screenings on the grounds of Top Secrecy, so to speak:

    One thing missing from the film was the much-touted end of movie scene with Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury. I understand from British Film classification sources that the scene is in the print that they’ve approved for general release, but not in premiere or preview screenings, so as not to spoil the um.. surprise… bugger. Anyway, he’s recruiting for a group called The Avengers.

    And Moviehole confirms the notion. With the sentiments of two fellow journos. Fair enough. I was gonna pay to see it again anyway. Now I have even more incentive!

    And come on, “The Avengers initiative?” A shared scene with Tony Stark in “The Incredible Hulk?” The road to an “Avengers” moving being paved with gold? My geek meter is on overload.

    God bless Marvel Studios.

    UPDATED: It looks like John over at The Movie Blog has the footage in question up, from a YouTube posting.