I feel bad being so late to this movie—granted this is the opening day, but it seems that for the past two weeks, everyone in the world has seen it already. And so, for the past two weeks, everyone’s been raving about it and saying that it’s the greatest superhero movie ever made; it’s the best movie of the summer; it’s better than a big sex sandwich, and so on.

The premise, if it weren’t already evident from the stingers Marvel’s added to the very end of every one of their movies for the past five years, is that a group of superheroes—Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)–need to recover the Tesseract, a glowing blue cube that generates unlimited energy and also, somehow, opens the portal to the realm of Asgard.

No sooner does S.H.I.E.L.D., a shadowy government agency overseen by a committee whose purpose in the film is somewhat tenuous, discover this than the Tesseract’s stolen by Thor’s adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who also hypnotizes Hawkeye and one of the scientists from Thor, Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) into doing his nefarious shenanigans, namely, opening a bigger portal to Asgard and invading earth.

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Much like myself, every fanboy and fangirl in the world is counting the days to May 4th when they have their childhood dreams realized on film as Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk join together in one amazing film by the man that made X-Men and a cheerleader who fights vampires cool, Joss Whedon.

Leading up to that, in typical Disney fashion, the genius marketing reps over there have managed to make every day leading up to the 4th like Christmas morning with tons of new clips and treats. First, they treated a special group of superfans to a screening across the country last weekend, and now they’re treating us all to an onslaught of clips.

Some of you have already seen the popular Black Widow clip from the film, but this new one, featuring an all-out brawl between Thor and Iron Man is probably the best one we’ve seen yet.

Take a look after the jump, and catch Avengers in theaters starting Midnight, May 4th.

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The Avengers is less than a month away, but the folks at Marvel Studios are thinking beyond to the second ‘phase’ of the Marvel shared Universe. There are already release dates scheduled for Thor 2 and Iron Man 3, and now Marvel has settled on it’s date for Captain America 2.

The second solo film staring Cap is set to release April 4th, 2014. This is an odd time to release a big budget blockbuster sequel to a well received film. Usually films like this come out in the Summer blockbuster season, or around Christmas when most people have lots of free time.

Our theory here at The Flickcast is that Marvel is hedging it’s bets with Captain America 2. The Hunger Games proved that you can still be a huge blockbuster in the spring, but expectations are limited in non-peak months. The truth of the matter is that Captain America has a limited worldwide audience, and that translated to the second lowest Marvel Studios box office performer.

Obviously the movie was a smash here in America, and Cap is an integral part of the Marvel Universe. So moving his film to the spring might help keep expectations in check, while still allowing the movie a chance for it to blow up internationally.

Whatever the reasons are, the next phase of Marvel’s shared universe is starting to come into focus. Baring a failure of The Avengers next month, all these new films should culminate in Avengers 2 some time in the future.

Now that we have Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games out of our system, I think it’s safe to say the next major release for the fan community is Disney and Marvel’s upcoming superfilm, The Avengers.

Set to bring just about a billion fans together for a solid 2 hours, the studio is hoping to shatter previous records (statistically speaking) and bring in the dawn of a new era of superhero franchise films. We’ve heard plenty of rumors as to who the main villain is in the film, what Avenger cameos we may be getting, and how much fun everyone had on set, but these images of Cap, Stark, and the rest of the crew really show why this film could be the biggest of the summer.

You get a little bit of everyone in the images after the jump, as well as the rarely seen Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill. And yes: for those who heard Whedon’s rant about how much he hates Iron Man’s triangular power supply, you’ll even see the newly designed circular one make an appearance.

Check them all out below and catch Avengers in theaters on May 4th.

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Just when you thought things couldn’t get much better than the awesome trailer fans got during this year’s SuperBowl for The Avengers, things just got a little bit better.

The newest trailer just hit the intertubes, and boy is it sexy. You’ve got everything you wanted before the May release: more Hawkeye, Hulk, Stark, and even a better glimpse at the threat that could be Kree, Skrull, or whoever. This may also be the first time we’re getting to see more of Robert Downey Jr. being the lovable jerk that he was in the first two Iron Man flicks.

The trailer just hit the interwebs now, so be sure to check out the full thing after the jump, alongside the brand new payoff poster with the whole gang looking epic and awesome in the streets of NYC.

So what are you waiting for? Behold the wonder after the jump, and catch Avengers in theaters on May 4th.

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The Avengers is one of the biggest films of all time. The culmination of five films that have been leading to this summer’s blockbuster extravaganza. So the level of scrutiny levied onto this film is enormous, and as a result even the release of two new pictures is newsworthy.

One thing worth noting about these pictures is how good Captain America looks. Up to this point there has been some consternation about how the modernization of the Cap outfit was going to work. However, Chris Evans strikes a great, iconic silhouette in full costume, helmet and all.

The other picture is a bit on the boring side, but it is great to see Agent Coulson mingling with the God of Thunder. Clark Gregg’s character has been a highlight in his brief appearances up to this point, and one of the things we are most looking forward to is a beefier role for him in the film.

The Avengers assemble this May in theaters worldwide. You can check out the new pictures after the jump.

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Last night was quite a show for the fans of commercials. We got some new favorites, a few call backs, and yea, even some full trailers of this year’s big movies. For the most part, the major films we got sneak peeks of are Act of Valor, John Carter, and Battleship. But the one that fanboys really got excited for is the extended trailer for The Avengers.

That’s right, more Hulk, more Hawkeye, the first look at the mysterious alien threat, and some pithy dialogue between Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. We got it all in this 60 second spot, and now you get it too.

For those who felt that the trailer was a bit Captain America-centric, we got the scoop in a recent interview with director Joss Whedon, where he explained that Chris Evan’s Cap will basically be the main protagonist in the film.

“So much of [The Avengers] story takes place from Steve Rogers’ perspective, since he’s the guy who just woke up and sees this weird-ass world,” Whedon says. “Everyone else has been living in it. He’s the guy that feels that sense of loss.”

Take a look at the extended trailer after the jump and catch The Avengers in theaters and in 3D IMAX on May 4th.

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As its done in the past with other big screen adaptations of its comics, Marvel has gone ahead and put together a comic book prelude for The Avengers for fans to enjoy. This one, called “Fury’s Big Week,” will be eight issues with the first released for free on Marvel’s comics app this Sunday.

Yes, you read that right. It’s going to be free. That’s nice. Too bad the rest of the issues won’t be. Oh well.

Here’s the scoop from the official press release:

“We’ve worked hand-in-hand with Marvel Studios to create an exciting story set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that sets the stage perfectly for the most anticipated film of the summer,” said Axel Alonso, Marvel Editor in Chief. “Now, for the first time. you’ll find out just what happened to some of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the road to Marvel’s The Avengers.”

What is the Avengers Initiative? And what are the secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury? The answers arrive in Marvel’s The Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week and the first issue is free this Sunday only on the Marvel Comics app!

Check out some preview pages for the comic after the break.

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One aspect of the upcoming Avengers film that people sort of take for granted is that three of it’s main cast were the leading men in four previous movies. We have been used to seeing these heroes as traditional, singular forces of good in films bearing their names in the title. How will it work cinematically when these characters have to share screen time with other prominent characters?

Well this is something that the filmmakers are also thinking about, and Joss Whedon recently talked to EW about what hero’s perspective the movie will follow.

“So much of [The Avengers] story takes place from Steve Rogers’ perspective, since he’s the guy who just woke up and sees this weird-ass world,” Whedon says. “Everyone else has been living in it. He’s the guy that feels that sense of loss.”

This makes a lot of sense, and is a welcome direction for the film to take. The recent (excellent) Avengers cartoon series focused on Iron Man putting the team together, and there was concern that The Avengers would just be Iron Man 3 based on the popularity of Robert Downey Jr.’s take on the character. Thankfully, Whedon choose to go with a more traditional angle on an Avengers origin story, which hopefully will make for a better film this summer.

Lists are fun. Lists are, at least in some cases, easy to create. In this case, the list in question for today is The Five Best Movies Adapted From Comics.

I know what you’re thinking. Why five? Well, it sorta works with the word “Flickcast” and we’re fans of alliteration around here, so that’s one reason. Of course, it also means I only need to come up with five items to fill the list, so that might have something to do with it too. I’ll never tell.

I’m also in the process of preparing a list of the worst movies adapted from comics as well because what’s a “best” list without a “worst” list, right? Right.

However, in this case, we’re talking best. And do we have a lot of great “best” ones to choose from. That’s not a question, we do.

The ones I’ve chosen are not only great examples of comic book adaptations done right, they’re also great movies too. From a clever screenplay to expert direction, exciting visuals, to compelling characters and performances, these five films deliver on many levels and also manage to demonstrate a real love for their source material.

Okay, enough setup. On with the listing of the things.

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Everyone is awaiting the upcoming May 4th release of Marvel’s The Avengers. With Joss Whedon at the helm and years of building a fan base through the individual movies, hype about the upcoming culmination is pretty strong.

This trailer comes in time to grab the attention of action flick enthusiasts looking forward to a summer of great cinematic experiences, Amazing Spider-man andThe Dark Night Rises also being unleashed this summer.

The culmination of the incredible heroes working together to save the planet from the forces of evil is just as exciting in German as I’m sure the English language trailer release will be very soon. Though the German trailer is not as cohesive as I expect the English one will be, a few blips of the action scenes are shown as well as one or three great shots of Scarlett Johansson to get everyone’s interest piqued.

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It is quite possible The Avengers is the most important superhero film of all time. It could singlehandedly set a bar for audience acceptance in multi-film, continuity heavy, comic book franchise.

Not to mention the fact that this is essentially the sequel to four different individual franchises. So yeah, people pay attention when things like two new banners are unveiled.

Yahoo! Movies and Moviefone both debuted one of the two new character banners for The Avengers. The first depicting the main four heroes from previous franchises, and the other showcasing supporting characters and the villain of the movie.

These are very standard looking character posters, but there are a few interesting things we are seeing here. For one, this is the first time I have seen Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and I see the character more so than the actor. Also, Captain America is the only one in mask and not showcasing a star of the film.

This might be some extreme over analyzation, but I think it really fits the character of Cap to stay in his mask, as opposed to the nigh celebrity in Tony Stark, who is on the poster sans helmet.

Compared to the Comic-Con connected character posters, these banners seem almost lazy. It is almost like they had a series of cool character posters and chained them together for the sake of creating something banner sized. It would have been much more exciting to see the comic style painted posters as a banner and these cut up into individual pieces.

Take a look at the full spread of posters after the jump.

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