Marvel’s people at SDCC have been doling out “concept” (read: paintings, not photographs) character-posters of the various film characters as they’ll appear in “The Avengers.” The set is now complete, and when placed together they form a banner that now constitutes the first “official” group-shot of (right-to-left) Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Coulson and Maria Hill. Click it to embiggen it:
The immediate “big deal,” of course, is that we can now see what the new-er Hulk looks like… which is to say he looks like The Hulk. I haven’t put them side-by-side as yet, but it looks to me like the face – with the larger-than-normal maxilla (“upper-lip” palat) and pronounced Neanderthal-esque brow – is erring more toward the 60s/70s comics Hulk than previous versions. The Ang Lee version, for contrast, was designed to look more like an “inflated” version of Eric Bana; while the “Incredible” Edward Norton Hulk reflected more recent designs where he’s more of a “giant human.” But… yeah, Hulk looks like Hulk. I wonder if they’ll keep this design for the new TV show?
Oh, yeah… that’s something else that’s kinda gotten lost in the Comic-Con shuffle: in lieu of (for now) further films, Hulk is getting a new live-action TV series. Also on the front-lines of Marvel/Disney’s new TV venture: “AKA Jessica Jones” (with Luke Cage and Carol “Ms. Marvel” Danvers in the supporting cast) “Cloak & Dagger” and, for some reason, “Mockingbird.” Those with a less-than-noble interest in the “Cloak & Dagger” announcement should, unfortunately, adjust their expectations accordingly; as it’s an ABC Family project and thus very unlikely to let Dagger keep her infamous uniform.
I’m also given to wonder if there’s any significance to the fact that Captain America (which is now on-track to have had the biggest opening weekend of all the Summer 2011 superhero movies) has the center-spot, appears to be at the “front” of the lineup and seems to have a color-scheme that’s a little bit bolder and less effected by the sepia-sheen of the rest of the piece, which makes him stick out from the others. A lot of folks had been assuming that the more popular Iron Man (or the more widely-exposed and theoretically higher-ranking Nick Fury) would be the “boss” of The Avengers; but this makes it look an awful lot like Cap is in his (in the comics) usual position as team-leader.
I like Hawkeye just fine, but I still say not even letting him have a mask only serves to call attention to the question of just how useful being really, really good with a weapon that’s been obsolete since the 14th Century is on a team of (literal) gods, monsters and super-soldiers. And hey, look: You can see the Helicarrier and a Quinjet (?) in the background. Awesome.
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
I um….I think I need a moment to myself… =P
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Isn't Hawkeye's thing more with special arrows? I think he's not really going to do much in the Avengers movie. Anyway, Marvel Studios really know how to handle their IP. They're the new definition of Awesome! 2012 is going to be a busy year at the movies.
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Maybe it's because Cap has seniority that he gets to be the leader. He at least has more experience leading a team than Iron Man. And I doubt Fury will be doing many field missions, not that I wouldn't want to see him do awesome things.
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You mean left-to-right for the banner, right? Black Widow's on the left.
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Ummm…the same way Black Widow is useful, as a spec-ops agent ala the Ultimates. Like it or not, none of the other members are subtle and they might need intel or subtly at some point.
Also, Bob I'm aware that making characters look like their comic book counterparts tends to short circuit your critical eye (don't deny it, it's fine) so lemme put this in unambigious terms:
Putting Hawkeye in his stupid look, even by comics standards, mask in a live action film, would be roughly equivalent to making the title look like this:
THE AVENGERS:
Don't take us at all seriously.
It would draw attention to itself, take away from the other characters, make the film and concept harder to take seriously and, yes, look silly. This is the reason why it would be a bad idea to try and translate Wolverine's costume. Some can look good on screen, others…not.
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Bob, you have me hooked. I'm going on an “Avengers” binge, starting tomorrow. Watching all related videos, “capped” of with a viewing of Captain America.
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And I am still uninterested, bordering on annoyed. Plus this whole thing also brings up one really ugly aspect Favreau mentioned when moving on to projects not associated with Marvel: what the HELL are they going to do with the individual series for these characters? The realization of that made me realize that Marvel's attempt at a movie universe could end up being a needlessly confusing MESS.
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I was never the guy who fussed about how accurate the costumes looked, I've always thought it's more important that they look good in the context of the movie rather than looking exactly like their comic book counterpart.
So why am I so bothered by the fact that Hawkeye is missing a mask? 😦
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Cool. It's a perfectly crommulent poster.
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I'm very happy that SON OF COUL made the poster, even if it's just barely.
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Awesome piece of concept art. I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this movie work. Honestly, I'm not very familiar with Joss Whedon's body of work save a little bit of Buffy and Firefly, but I can't help feeling that Marvel couldn't have picked anyone better to make it. Just as long as each person on the team gets their own Crowning Moment of Awesome, I'm content.
Oh, and I'm in firm agreement with Elessar. However, I personally would've rather seen a spandex outfit for the 2003 Daredevil film that leather-fetishistic one that they went for. It just looked wrong. Even the mask didn't seem to work for me, and that says a LOT.
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Just saw Captain America last night and I'm finally excited for the Avengers (never cared about their comics; was always an X-Men guy). I feel like Captain America is one of the msot faithful (in spirit at least) in translating comics to movies. It was exactly how I would expect a CA movie to be. There were no surprises, there were no risks, but CA is the last Marvel hero you want to try and shake things up with. Leave that to Ironman or something.
*Spoilers ahead*
But now I have so many questions. How are they going to get Thor back from Asgard? Loki really isn't the Big Bad is he? Etc.
And yeah Hawkeye…even in the comic book world it was all I could do to ask “Why exactly are you here?”
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Hawkeye is sporting his Ultimates attire. It's not that bad, and Ultimates did a good job of rationalizing his usefulness on the team.
I approve, and agree that the purple outfit just wouldn't work with the traditional mask. His background is as a shield agent, and purple doesn't scream stealth.
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@Aiddon,
I imagine that everyone else's “main” series just continues on (except Hulk, he goes to a TV show), possibly with cameos or asides to whatever went on in “Avengers.” No one has so much as breathed the word “Mansion” yet, so I doubt it's going to end with these guys all living in a clubhouse together. Everyone probably all goes their seperate ways until “Avengers 2.” Shane Black (making IM3) and others have already been saying that the “everything is a prequel/sequel” business is supposed to get turned down a bit once “Avengers” actually happens.
Heck, the only character who's “world” is significantly changed is Iron Man, since pre-“Avengers” he'll have had no explicit “magic” stuff in his franchise; and even then they don't HAVE to use it (though it WOULD be as good a way as any to finally pull the trigger on The Mandarin.) And while I doubt any cross-movie cameos would be just that – one-scene walk-ons – it'd be pretty awesome to see Stark to call for backup and in the next scene it's Captain America.
@Adam,
::spoiler warning::
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When Red Skull “dies” from grabbing the Cube, the “portal” it opens and yanks him into is made up of the same basic sound-effects and CGI as the Bifrost Bridge from “Thor;” and since the end of “Thor” indicates that present-day S.H.I.E.L.D. has the Cube (or a similar one) and Loki knows about it I imagine that's the basic answer. If the Cube's actual function (HYDRA had apparently just been using it as a big battery) is to enable inter-plantery/inter-dimensional travel, that opens up the possibility of pretty-much ANYTHING Marvel wants to show up to show up: “Why are The Skrulls here now?” “Cosmic Cube.” “Why is Red Skull alive again?” “Cosmic Cube.” “Where did Thanos come from?” “Cosmic Cube.” “Why is Hulk a different actor again?” “Cosmic Cube.”
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I don't trust Marvel to do that, not anymore. And quite frankly, should any of the characters get into trouble they can't handle alone you bring up the question of “Y'know, why don't they just ask SHIELD/The Hulk/Thor/Iron Man to help?” (not really Cap since compared to the others he's USELESS and squishy). And since Thor and Hulk are so goddamned BROKEN they'd squash nearly anything opposition.
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Now that the big superhero four of 2011 have come out, how would you rank them?
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It is an upcoming American superhero film. The outfits, masks and the background are fantastic
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Man please don't make this movie like Titanic cause its a f*cken love story, And this is a Super Hero movie please god do not have a f*cken love story in the entire movie
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If you ask me, there is a very simple solution to the “Hawkeye is just a dude with a bow” problem. Someone mentioned special arrows, possibly thanks to stark enterprise, but the connection with Thor's world opens the possibility that he gets a mythic weapon like Ullr's bow- that can happen as the result of some exile like thor had (“whoever wields this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power….”) or even just a random weapon Asgard has in its stockpiles.
It may not be canon with comic books, but movies have pulled off much bigger stretches to good effect (a la Ra's al Ghul's lack of immortality), and this one can even the scales. As you said once, moviebob, the team right now is a guy wearing a robot, the literal god of thunder, the Hulk, a super soldier, and a female Jet Li/James Bond hybrid. This dude needs an upgrade if he's going to survive the front lines (and make up for that minority complex hese getting at work).
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