First Avengers Set Pic Online

Ladies and gentlemen, it just got real: The Avengers is definitely, 100% really, truly filming. And to celebrate the production kicking off, Marvel Studios handed Entertainment Weekly the first image from the set, an amazing, epic unbelievable picture of… some chairs.

Yes, OK, so maybe the chairs themselves aren’t that thrilling, but look at the names! And look where they’re sitting, right under the sexy big S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. Yeah, now you’re all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, though quite why some of you have tails is frankly something we don’t want to think about. No offense meant to Empire’s huge canine and feline readership, by the way.

Anyhoo, to go with the photo, the studio also confirmed some casting, with Tom Hiddleston officially locked in to play Loki and fellow Thor cast member Stellan Skarsgard returning as Professor Eric Selvig, an astrophysicist dedicated to finding the link between Asgard and Earth. You might want to have a peek at the post-credits scene in Thor, which opens today, for a clue as to what they might be involved with.

They’re joining the already-assembled Avengers cast, which includes the obvious Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Cobie Smulders, Scarlett Johansson and Clark Gregg.

Joss Whedon is even now calling the shots… Wait, no, now he’s playing Doodle Jump on his phone… OK, now Kevin Feige has taken his phone away and a grumpy Joss is back at the video village in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with filming scheduled to move on from there to glamorous New York City and, er, lovely Cleveland, Ohio later this year.

On Sunday, Whedon got into the action, posting a message about the start of production as only he can: “Tomorrow we start shooting (I THINK I'm legally permitted to say that). Day one. That's right. We'll be shooting the pivotal death/betrayal/product placement/setting up the sequel/coming out scene, at the following address:

[Marvel Lawyers rush in, take Joss's keyboard, blowtorch a picture of his family like in "Stormy Monday", drink his milkshake, leave the seat up, fluff his pillows, violently unfluff his pillows, leave.] Went too far.”

You can read the full statement, brimming with typically Whedonesque humour, over on his fan site. Marvel's The Avengers will arrive on screen on Friday May 4 next year.