At this year’s Comic-Con, one big movie was notable by its absence from all but the exhibition floor and some mentions by director Joss Whedon during a Dark Horse panel: The Avengers. This weekend at the company’s D23 Expo, the Mouse House made good with some brand new footage and an appearance by many of the cast.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige introduced a fresh look at the film that spliced together some of the footage from the teaser that has been running at the end of Captain America with a couple of minutes’ worth of scenes.
The new material opened with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) confined in a flashy cage designed, as he observes, for someone else. Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury explains that it’s for “someone stronger” and their exchange is monitored by various other members of the team, including Chris Evans’ Captain America and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner.
Another notable new chunk was Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark running down the list of heroes while talking to Loki about the forces arrayed against him. “I have an army,” snarls Loki. “We have a Hulk,” snaps Stark. And… Scene.
When the lights came back up, Feige invited the likes of Hiddleston, Cobie Smulders, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth and Downey Jr up on stage, with only Downey Jr getting much of a chance to speak, largely to crack a joke about visiting the parents in Anaheim and getting the crowd to roar its approval by asking if they wanted to see the footage again.
Sadly, Whedon and other members of the cast were a little busy causing mayhem elsewhere in the States as the movie wrapped up its shooting schedule. But from the looks of the footage, we’re in for a snappy, fun ride. Favourite moment from what was screened? Jackson’s Fury waving off Loki’s claims to “real power” from inside his prison with a tart “Let me know if ‘Real Power’ wants a magazine or something….”