It has all lead to this.
The culmination of several years' worth of successful films since Marvel began self-financing their own pictures, The Avengers, hits theaters May 4th of this year and I, for one, could not possibly be any more psyched.
The Avengers is a film I always wanted to see, but never thought I'd be able to. As a young teenager, I first began collecting Captain America and Avengers comic books after being introduced to them by way of Data East's spectacular 4-player arcade beat 'em up. Though I eventually branched out into collecting Spider-man and X-Men books, Cap and his team always remained my favorite, but the sheer logistics of a film adaptation seemed nigh impossible.
Somehow, some way, Marvel pulled it off, though actor Edward Norton has been replaced by Mark Ruffalo after Norton's notorious creative differences while filming The Incredible Hulk. Speedbump aside, Marvel has assembled an outstanding cast including Robert Downey, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and relative newcomer Chris Hemsworth for the ultimate superhero flick.
There's so much to be excited about for fans of Marvel's classic heroic team. All but Ruffalo are reprising roles they originally brought to the screen in separate films, and they did so with aplomb. Even Renner's brief cameo in Thor was enough to send shivers of pure nerd joy down my spine (particularly because Hawkeye was always my favorite Avenger). After his brilliant performance in the same film, I'm anxious to see what Hiddleston's Loki has up his sleeve, and how the team will put aside their differences and work together to thwart him.
Sure, the team may not mimic that of the original comic books, with Ant Man being conspicuously absent despite word that British actor Simon Pegg was attached to a project. Sure, Hawkeye may not don his familiar purple costume and mask. And sure, there are always other heroes and villains fans would love to see, though word has it a certain friendly neighborhood wall-crawler will have a brief cameo in the film (if the set reports are true). But really, are any of those enough to detract from the pure awesomeness contained in the two three trailers you can see below?
The first is the full-length theatrical trailer that has been around for a few weeks now, but the second is an extended version of the spot that aired during last night's Super Bowl. Finally, we have the brand new trailer, just released yesterday, that shows even more of characters like Black Widow, Bruce Banner, and ends with an utterly amazing, jaw-dropping flythrough sequence with Iron Man that will leave you breathless.
The Avengers is, without question, my most-anticipated film of 2012 - even edging out The Dark Knight Rises. It's a childhood dream come true.
