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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Fans of the Marvel franchise had a pretty big feast this year with Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger hitting theaters back to back this year. Now that those stories have been established, it’s time to look forward and see what the sequels have in store for us.

The first getting ready for production is Thor 2, which has already lost original director Kenneth Branagh before the film even went into pre-production. Now we’re getting word from THR that the film is losing its second director in Patty Jenkins (The Killing).

The filmmaker was to have been the first female director of a Marvel Studios movie.

Alas, “creative differences” are being blamed.

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Those who are glued to what Marvel Studios is doing with their story leading up to next year’s Avengers film know that Agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) is the glue that ties all of the films together.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is the man that find’s Thor’s hammer, babysits Tony Stark, and helps wake up Captain America is the one who is able to hold our hands as we get ready for things to get heavy in Avengers next year.

Attached the the Blu-Ray and DVD release of Thor next week, Marvel is taking Coulson’s “glue” to another level with a series of shorts titled Marvel One-Shots in which Coulson literally ties the films together in short and comical scenes.

In the most recent short, titled A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thor’s Hammer, things get a bit violent for Coulson as he treks through the desert of New Mexico.

Take a look at the teaser for the short after the jump, and catch the full thing on the Thor Blu-Ray and DVD, out next Tuesday.

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Now that this year’s superhero season is safely in our rear view mirrors, it’s time to look forward…to next year’s superhero flicks! One of the big ones is obviously going to be The Avengers which hits mid year.

With that, Marvel is getting us ready for the epic flick with an awesome series of shorts to connect films like Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger to the upcoming film about the superteam. We heard a while back about these shorts, titled Marvel One-Shots, in which S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) helps tie all of the films in together.

Now that Marvel’s first of two films from this year, Thor, is hitting DVD and Blu-Ray on September 13th, we’re getting a first taste of the release’s One-Shot in which Coulson has to enlist “The Consultant” in order to get Gener “Thunderbolt” Ross to help out the Avengers.

Now we’re getting the tie-ins that we’ve been making up in our heads since Marvel’s strategy to tie all of their films together began, and you get a first glimpse right now!

Check out the clip from the short after the jump, and catch the full mini-movie on the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Thor, in stores on September 13th.

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Marvel and Disney have been on a roll this year with their films Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Both films have pulled in three quarters of a billion dollars in the worldwide box office, and that number is still growing. So what’s the plan now?

Joss Whedon’s Avengers is already half in the can, and films like Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 are already in the works for a 2012/2013 release, but Disney has just inked a deal for two Marvel films to get 2014 releases on May 16 and June 27. What could those films be?

Popular opinion states that the June 27th release will likely be a sequel to Captain America, which makes the most amount of sense, as it’s a good amount of time after the first round of sequels hits. Another thought is a possible Hulk sequel/reboot as Mark Ruffalo is progressing the character’s story in next year’s Avengers.

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Every time we hear about an announced comic book movie being tied in to a game, we get a little nervous. There have been so many failed attempts with it in the past. Between Iron Man 2 and most recently Thor: God of Thunder, SEGA hasn’t had the best track record with them. Knowing they’d be publishing the action adventure based Captain America: Super Soldier, the cringing was understandable.

Fortunately, Next Level Games, the people who brought us Super Mario Strikers for both the Gamecube and Wii as well as Punch Out!! for the Wii, tossed a mighty star spangled shield at us and bucked the trend to produce a fun classic beat ‘em up that fits well into the Captain America mythos and uses the movie signature in a positive way.

Gameplay:

Captain America: Super Soldier takes place in an “open world” much like that of the classic Metroid. We use the term loosely because players have the option to back track and explore the European castle to find hidden collectibles but the majority of the game can be done without ever needing to turn back. The size of the level is fairly impressive too with both a castle to explore and the underground workings below it.

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There has already been two high profile takes on the incredible Hulk, both with their own sets of problems, and neither quite getting it right. Joss Whedon’s The Avengers hopes that the third time will be the charm, as yet another skilled actor takes on the role of Bruce Banner.

Of course, all of this change leads to some very natural questions about what will set this Hulk apart, and luckily the chaps at LA Times Hero Complex talked to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to find out.

It will be as different as ”The Incredible Hulk” was from Ang Lee’s “Hulk” in terms of its look and design, but it is Hulk.” said Feige when asked how different the two Hulks will be. “Hulk is Hulk. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel.

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With Comic-Con set to start tomorrow, Marvel has taken this opportunity to release the barebones first teaser poster for their upcoming Avengers film. With not much to go on except a giant “A’ the poster is minimalism at its best.

Of course, the “A” stands for Avengers and we also have the obligatory tagline (or tag word as the case may be) “Assemble.” If you’re not a fan of this poster and were expecting a lot more, don’t worry – you’ll get more soon enough.

Until then, you can always hit the Marvel booth for the signings by Joss Whedon, Chris Evans and Clark Gregg. That is, if you happen to be at Comic-Con this week.

Either way, you can expect a lot of new marketing stuff to come out soon enough. Count on it.

The Avengers, which opens May 4, 2012, also stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. Check out the full sized poster after the jump.

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With anticipation for the start of Comic-Con 2011 at a fever pitch (It’s tomorrow!) one of the things we’re really looking forward to is some Avengers news and appearances by some of the cast and director. To help us, and those of you attending the Con, Marvel has released it’s signing schedule for the upcoming film.

Keep in mind that each signing is a ticketed event, which means that attendees will have to make their way to the Marvel booth as soon as the convention opens on Thursday to secure their free (but limited) tickets. So, in other words, if you want to get something signed by one of these guys, get their early and be ready to wait in line.

Here’s the schedule:

Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Chris Evans (Captain America)

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson)

Saturday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Joss Whedon, writer/director

The Avengers, which opens May 4, 2012, also stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. Obviously, they were too busy to come to San Diego from New Mexico for the Con. Sad, but true.

With Captain America: Super Solider coming out next week, SEGA brought forth one last set of character dossiers to look at before the game’s release. From what we can see, Captain America: Super Solider is already visually more impressive than Thor: God of Thunder, which is a huge plus. Maybe because Chris Evan’s face is more obscured than Chris Hemsworth’s was in the Thor game but this title doesn’t leave us cringing when we see the trailers on TV.

What we are most curious about is the actual gameplay of Captain America: Super Solider since we haven’t gotten any advance hands on time with it. When we get our review copy next week, just in time for Comic Con, we will find out if developer’s promises live up to the hype they have given us for the game. While Thor: God of Thunder was a poor God of War / Dante’s Inferno ripoff, Captain America: Super Solider looks to be more of an action platformer instead of just a simple beat ‘em up.

We are looking forward to giving you our full review of it next week. Until then, enjoy the final look at the characters coming to Captain America: Super Solider for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Nintendo DS on July 19th.

In this all new behind the scenes feature for Captain America: Super Soldier, Game Director at Next Level Games, Brandon Gill, talks about the balancing movie, comic and video game in the creation of Captain America: Super Soldier.

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Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• Just because they seem to be running out of ideas that aren’t hand-delivered to them by either Marvel or Pixar, Disney is now working on a feature length film based on their Matterhorn ride. Let’s hope this one doesn’t spawn as many sequels as Pirates.

• Both No Strings Attached starring Ashton Kutcher and Friends With Benefits starring Mila Kunis are eerily similar. How similar? Here’s a mashup trailer to prove it.

• Diablo Cody is stepping away from her hamburger-shaped typewriter and behind her hamburger-shaped camera as she takes on directing Lamb of God.

• In honor of his newest masterpiece hitting theaters, here is the premise to every Michael Bay film in under 60 seconds.

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The Marvel movie machine just keeps on chugging. With Thor released earlier this year, Captain America set for next month and Joss Whedon’s Avengers on the way, Marvel has now set its sights on a sequel to Thor.

The studio has reportedly set a Summer 2013 release for the sequel to the film which featured Chris Hemsworth as the title character. He is expected to return for the sequel but, good or bad depending upon your thoughts about the first film, director Kenneth Branagh reportedly will not be back for the second installment.

According to the report, the director’s exit from the production was “mutual and amicable. ” That’s nice, Of course, if it wasn’t, nobody would ever say anything. People gotta keep working in Hollywood after all so you don’t want to burn any bridges . . . if you can help it.

Marvel has already set Iron Man 3 with Robert Downey Jr. to open on May 3, 2013 so expect Thor 2 to hit theaters more like July. No word yet on other cast members from the first film such as Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings or Tom Hiddleston returning for the sequel.

However, for big movies like this actors usually are contracted for at least two films, with an option for a third, so I would expect those actors to be back as well. We’ll keep an eye on this as it develops.