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D23 Expo: Avengers Assemble And Bring New Footage

While there are plenty of other things to eventually write about concerning Disney’s D23 Expo, which took place at the Anaheim Convention Center this past weekend, one of the most anticipated moments was easily the debut of basically anything related to the upcoming Avengers film.  As many keeping track of this sort of news know, Disney skipped out on having a big show at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, with intentions to save their big presentations for the D23 Expo.  As Disney currently owns Marvel, this meant holding back The Avengers as well.  Well the time has now come, and The Avengers did make an appearance at the Expo.  Nearly the entire cast was present on the arena stage, and they came with an entire scene from the film, as well as a sizzle real of new footage.  It was a good place to see Disney and Marvel fans geek out.

The Avengers presentation began before the new footage was shown with a reel that highlighted all the important moments in the previous five Marvel movies (Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredibly Hulk, Thor, Captain America), including the end credit scenes. Those were edited between the following words, “From Technology, To Mythology, From Science, To Legend, Has All Been Leading to This.”  Producer Kevin Feige then came out, talked about being a Disney geek, and said there are only two weeks left of shooting but he wanted to show something special to D23.  What followed was a scene and a montage of new footage, which I will attempt to describe.

The scene began with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) being locked in a large, circular glass room that looked very high tech.  Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) then entered the area, pressed a button and assured Loki that he is locked up tight.  At this point, it is revealed that they are aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and very high in the sky.  Fury states that Loki will be dropped from 30,000 feet in the air if he were to try and escape.  Loki calmly states that he is aware of his situation, but is also aware that the room he is locked in was not originally meant for him, as it is too large.  Loki and Fury then bicker about the tesseract (the Cosmic Cube), which grants ultimate power, followed by Loki calling Fury desperate, as he needed so many superheroes to stop him.  As we watch this discussion, it is revealed that the Avengers are watching it as well, via security camera.  As Fury leaves the room, while Loki stares at the security camera, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) states, “He really does grow on you, doesn’t he?”

The next segment starts off with Nick Fury addressing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s original plan of bringing together all of the powerful and extraordinary people of the world together as a team, in order to preserve the world’s safety.  And then all the crazy awesomeness kicks in.  A ton of different shots from the film involving the different Avengers appear, as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) singles out Loki as being responsible for, “pissing all of them off.”  After seeing these various shots that include Cap jumping away from explosions in his new suit, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Cap fighting, Iron Man mid flight, and shots of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in action, the real tease kicks in.  Loki states, “I have an army.”  Stark responds, “We have a Hulk.”  Cut to the first shot of Hulk screaming into the camera! Credits.

As the cheers raged on, Kevin Feige then introduced a number of the cast members who were basically available to wave hello to the crowd.  The stars present included Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Scarlett Johansson, and Cobie Smulders.  Downey Jr. naturally took control of the mic and got the crowd all riled up even more.  After seeing the footage once, the cast made us aware that they had not seen this before and asked if we wanted to see it again.  The answer was obviously yes, and the footage was played again.  Feige stated that this footage would not be available for a while, so it was certainly a good way to show some exclusive footage and build the buzz on what looks to be a pretty kick ass film.  The Avengers assemble May 4, 2012.