Avengers (Spoilers)

[Kojiro]

i thought he stabbed coulson with a dagger?

I suggest watching it again. I very clearly is the spear, in its shortened form. As he walks over to drop Thor you can see it's blood stained. He even gestures to it at Thor, as if to taunt him.

[SylasGaunt]

I kinda like one idea I saw that the Chitauri have that 'mothership destroyed we stop working' thing as insurance against Loki trying to pull a double cross and keep the army without holding up his end of the bargain.

[Ryan Thunder]

Stark - Naturally the comic relief and main focus character... who constantly ends up being the one getting his ass kicked. Much as I like Iron Man, they really push it to the max with the stupid techno garbage he likes to play with. Magic screeens and holograms flying everywhere while miniture arms magically remove his armor in stunningly intricate CGI brilliance.

Seems in character for him IMO. If I had like a trillion dollars or whatever it is he plays around with you bet your ass I'd have holo-screens and intricate little everything everywhere. Especially if I'd designed it myself.

[CarsonPalmer]

Captain America isn't really all that good. I watched it yesterday before watching Avengers (Thor as well). Too much CGI silliness (and the CGI wasn't all that good either), not as many talented actors, and a lot of the drama fell flat to me with cliched writing. Thor was a lot better despite having some of the same problems.

I'd just watch Avengers again instead if I were you.

I enjoyed Captain America for capturing the spirit of Cap in the comics. I mean, there were plot holes and it was kind of goofy, but it had the atmosphere of old-school Marvel storytelling better than any move except, well, the Avengers.

I also thought they did a good job of giving everyone something to do in the final scene; Cap worked as the tactician and Hawkeye's role as spotter on the rooftops made enough sense to suspend disbelief on that one. The Black Widow was the one who they had to really shoehorn in, but I'm willing to forgive because she did plenty throughout the movie, and its better to have her there than to just have her sitting around.

I liked that they went for the full-out destructiveness of the battle, and I appreciate that while they didn't dwell on civilian casualties (or show them), they didn't try to pretend that everybody got out okay. It would have made the movie far too dark to spend any more time than briefly acknowledging that there were losses, but it didn't become sheer silliness of pretending that half of mid-town Manhattan was levelled and nobody died.

[Gil Hamilton]

I don't think the next movie is going to be Thanos going for the Infinity Gauntlet. I know a lot of people have been saying that, but I'm pretty sure the Gauntlet was just meant to be an Easter Egg. That said, it would be pretty cool if Thanos more or less set up Loki and the Chitauri to fail and all this was just a ploy to get the Tesseract back in Asgard so that he could invade.

[AMT]

I don't think the next movie is going to be Thanos going for the Infinity Gauntlet. I know a lot of people have been saying that, but I'm pretty sure the Gauntlet was just meant to be an Easter Egg. That said, it would be pretty cool if Thanos more or less set up Loki and the Chitauri to fail and all this was just a ploy to get the Tesseract back in Asgard so that he could invade.

Well originally Thanos sought out the Cosmic Cube for power, only going for the Infinity Gems after dying and ressurecting.

Seems like they might be going along with that again, and it'd fit the same as the gauntlet would, since both items are in Asgard now.

[Stofsk]

It also sets up Thor for the next movie. If Asgard were invaded and in real trouble, he might go to earth and assemble the avengers (harhar see what i did thar) to help repel the attack.

I don't think showing the infinity gauntlet was just an easter egg. These movies have demonstrated a lot of intertextual continuity and foreshadowing. In my view, you've had the Infinity Gauntlet dropped in a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' scene, and they had a mysterious character set up to be the next adversary (who is certainly Thanos as others have pointed out); one or the other might have been an easter egg, but both? No way.

The real question is, do they continue the stand alone pictures or do they just go with a sequel to the Avengers? I think they're at least making another Iron Man film, aren't they? (Although maybe without Jon Favreau, which I do not understand at all)

[Lost Soal]

The real question is, do they continue the stand alone pictures or do they just go with a sequel to the Avengers? I think they're at least making another Iron Man film, aren't they? (Although maybe without Jon Favreau, which I do not understand at all)

Favreau pulled out because Marvel wants IM3 to be an Avengers sequel with a bigger focus on that storyline while Favreau wanted to focus on the Ironman story as its own entity.

[Mr Bean]

Box office numbers time
Two hundred... million

After breaking box-office records overseas, "The Avengers" has conquered America.

The superhero action flick featuring Marvel superheroes such as Iron Man, Thor and Captain America had the biggest opening weekend of all time in the U.S. and Canada this weekend — not adjusted for inflation — grossing a powerful $200.3 million, according to an estimate from distributor Walt Disney Studios.

Heading into the weekend, pre-release audience surveys indicated the 3-D film would have a massive domestic opening of at least $150 million, giving it one of the top five highest U.S. debuts ever. Instead, the movie soared beyond expectations, easily surpassing the $168.2 million 2011 debut of previous record-holder "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2." The picture also raked in more money in its first three days than strong performers such as "The Dark Knight," "The Hunger Games" and "Spider-Man 3," all of which collected over $150 million upon their debuts.

PHOTOS: The billion-dollar box office club

The movie appealed to a wide swath of moviegoers; half the audience was under the age of 25, and 60% of the crowd was male. About 52% of those who saw the movie opted to shell out a few extra bucks to watch it in 3-D.

The film also had a phenomenal weekend overseas, where it opened in many foreign countries roughly a week ago. Playing in 52 international markets, the movie collected $151.5 million this weekend, raising its total abroad to $441.5 million. That means that after just two weeks in release, "The Avengers" has already sold $641.8 million worth of tickets at the global box office.

In the U.S., "The Avengers" began its ascent to the top of the box-office charts in the early hours Friday, when the movie scored $18.7 million from post-midnight screenings. Over the course of the day, the movie raked in $80.5 million — giving it the second-biggest opening day of all time, behind only last year's eighth and final "Harry Potter."

As if the news weren't already positive enough for Marvel and parent company Disney, moviegoers loved the film, assigning it a perfect average grade of A+, according to market research firm CinemaScore. That score indicates that the movie will generate excellent word of mouth in the weeks to come, helping to propel the movie into the billion-dollar club at the worldwide box office — an elite group that only 11 films, led by James Cameron's "Avatar" and "Titanic," currently belong to.

Rest of the piece at the link but it looks like we have final proof that the Marvel was crazy smart to go their own way in setting up there own movie studio. Billions on billions in profits and just a week after release internationally and three days in the US market they have already made back the entire movie budget AND marketing budget and event budget twice over and they are expected to double profit again in the next week and we are still months away from super special blue-ray editions which also make massive bank.


*Edit
As for Iron man, the smart money would be to not make an Avengers sequel but start tying heroes together. IE for example we have at the end of the movie Bruce Banner going to work for Stark industries, we have Thor going home and Cap, Black Widow and Hawkeye going their separate ways. Have Iron Man 3 with Banner hanging out maybe he Hulks out for one fight but smashes things so Tony asks him to not help. Who would not love to see Tony Stark, Rhodey and Bruce out for a night of drinking? That lets you skip a Hulk movie you might not want to make. Throw in something to reference Fury and Shield still watching Ironman and you'll have a good movie. For Captain it's obvious pair him up with Widow or Hawkeye (Or both) spend his movie establishing himself in the modern day, building a new life for himself. As for Thor? Do whatever with him but again reference SHIELD (Maybe send the other un-named female Shield agent to watch over him while he's on earth)

[Stofsk]

What other unnamed female SHIELD agent?

[Lost Soal]

Ruffalo got a six movie contract out of this performance so count on Banner cameos in most, if not all, of the follow-up movies.

[Galvatron]

What other unnamed female SHIELD agent?

I'm guessing the one who showed up at the end of Captain America played by Amanda Righetti. I think she's supposed to be Sharon Carter.

[Ahriman238]

I think he means the one who was hovering over Fury's elbow this whole film, the one he identifies as Maria Hill.

Saw the movie, loved it. "Ant...Boot." Actually, on the matter of the dropping cell, I'm pretty sure sure Thor could just fly to safety and take the cell with him. I did chuckle at "Are you ever going to NOT fall for that?"

The Cosmic Cube is being used to open a portal for a Chitauri invasion? If anyone understands the smallest part of what the Cube is or does, this is like using a cruise missile to open the gates of Troy. Sure, the flood of Achaeans will pull down the Trojans, but you have a freaking cruise missile and can level the city anytime you like!

[FaxModem1]

Well, in Loki's own demented way, he wants to 'save' us. Not annihilate us.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I think by unnamed shield agent he meant Cobie Smoulders of How-I-Met-Your-Mother fame. I don't think they said her name at all during the movie, but she's credited as 'Maria Hill'.

Saw the movie, loved it. "Ant...Boot." Actually, on the matter of the dropping cell, I'm pretty sure sure Thor could just fly to safety and take the cell with him. I did chuckle at "Are you ever going to NOT fall for that?"

Thor was actually TRYING to fly, but he flies by swinging/throwing Mjolnir and then going along for the ride, so when he was getting tossed around in the cage he was unable to 'take off' properly.

[Galvatron]

Since Whedon likes to reuse actors, if he continues as the writer/director of the series I could totally see him casting Serenity-alum Chiwetel Ejiofor as Black Panther. Fillion and Baccarin as Pym and Wasp are a no-brainer, but I'd also be interested to see Sean Maher as Wonder Man.

The idea is to get some other hungry actors involved to keep the franchise afloat in case RDJ gets tired of suiting up.

[Darmalus]

The Cosmic Cube is being used to open a portal for a Chitauri invasion? If anyone understands the smallest part of what the Cube is or does, this is like using a cruise missile to open the gates of Troy. Sure, the flood of Achaeans will pull down the Trojans, but you have a freaking cruise missile and can level the city anytime you like!

I actually hope they don't make the cosmic cube the I-Win button it is in the comics, and keep it just a very potent energy source. Nothing makes me lose interest faster than a plot device that can only be overcome by the wielder being to mentally handicapped to tie their own shoes.

[Mr Bean]

I think he means the one who was hovering over Fury's elbow this whole film, the one he identifies as Maria Hill.

Correct, this unnamed shield agent looked to be a lock to replace coulson after the whole "getting stabbed" thing.

OAN Coulson should get a funeral in the next Cap movie, would make a good tie in from those who saw Cap 1 to Avengers to Cap 2. Just a tiny one minute thing where Cap could reflect on the symbol he became, maybe throw in a line about how he never got to attend Bucky's Funeral (Hint hint) since the war was still on and they had set it for after taking down Hydra which he obviously never made.

[PREDATOR490]

Iron Man 2 relegated most of it's time to pandering for the Avengers setup while doing nothing in itself... not being hopeful any of the other individual hero sequels will be any different. I.E Thor 2.
The obvious problem after Avengers being such a brilliant success is the inevitable choice being trying to one-up it or riding on the coatstrings while they mint out cheaper shit people will lap up.

Wouldnt be surprised if Iron Man / RDJ bails. Stark is easily getting the largest screen time and that will increase the chances of RDJ burning out and with Iron Man vanishing, the existing set of heroes arent that impressive to replace the loss.

[Galvatron]

I just hope RDJ doesn't make the mistake of thinking that he's risen above playing Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes. As an actor, he's extraordinarily lucky to be the star of two tentpole franchises. Eventually, if he allows himself to keep taking daring roles in ADDITION to the money-making safe ones, he's bound to pull a Christian Bale and win an Oscar based on his acting talent alone.

[KrauserKrauser]

Well if Iron Man bails, that would easily fit into the Avengers franchise. It has always been a motley crew of heros and misfits. Hell, Wolverin was an Avenger as was Spiderman.

Hank Pym will be an interesting addition, if they go that way and a properly casted Black Panther would go a long way to giving the franchise even more staying power.

[Galvatron]

If IM3 is the last of his solo movies and they want to keep making new Avengers flicks, I've said before that they could keep Iron Man in his armor most of the time and let RDJ do the voiceovers. Let the others have more screentime and we might not even notice that RDJ is hardly in it.

[PREDATOR490]

If RDJ wanted out, Joss Whedon would no doubt love the chance to kill a main character. Killing the Agent might have been a bit of a surprise but killing one of the actual heroes is more impressive.
Reducing Iron Man to CGI suit would be unlikely to happen as actors do love their face time and they have invested so goddamn much screentime in RDJ being Iron Man out of the suit as much as in it. More likely they would ditch him off-screen like they did with Natalie Portman in this movie.

[Stofsk]

What are you guys talking about. I can't see RDJ bailing. I mean, gosh, are you guys serious? Really? Where do you think his career was before Iron Man?

Down the shitter is where it was. He appeared in a few good films but rarely as the lead IIRC (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang he was the lead, and it was a great flick and I love it to bits, but it was barely a success; he was also in The Singing Detective but I didn't watch that film, so I can't comment on it, but a look on wikipedia suggests it wasn't a success at all). From the mid 90's to the early 2000s, his career was almost non-existent. Getting cast as Iron Man has turned him into an A-list actor.

Yeah he's really gonna bail on that.

[Aaron MkII]

Dude, Tropic Thunder?