The MCU has a lot of mysteries in it. Some have been revealed and become major plot points for the whole universe, like the ultimate fate of Tony Stark’s parents. Others have been hinted at and probably won’t get full explanations. Two of these minor mysteries have become questions for the fan community and revolve around the non-powered Avengers, the Black Widow and Hawkeye. 

The first is “What happened in Budapest?” Stemming from a seemingly throwaway line, this question has made the Avengers community speculate as to whether this was a battle the two took part in during their S.H.I.E.L.D. days or if it was something more personal.

The other question is how the two met. In The Avengers, Black Widow recalls, “I got on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call.” And that was it. Needless to say, it leaves a lot to the imagination as to what could make a top agent like Hawkeye defy orders from the top brass.

Con Season 2016 has begun! With everything from PAX East this upcoming weekend all the way to Comikaze in October, the best half of the year is underway. In an effort to best cover these, The Flickcast has made sure I have appropriate credentials to get on the floor (or at the least, a map of where all the best bars and parties are) at each convention.

First, I headed to WonderCon as a part of The Flickcast team and Whiskey & Waffles. At the event, I had four very important ‘jobs’:

1. Speak on the SKYBOUND panel about digital video creators

2. Take the Mighty Wallet Challenge

3. Snag one of Loot Crate’s 2016 Convention Exclusive Crates

4. Cosplay as Hawkeye

There’s no doubt the Avengers are pretty cool. From comics to movies and back again these heroes take on the tough assignments and make things happen.

And this March, they’re back. Here’s more (including previews):

The Earth is in danger. And only the world’s most effective secret squad can save it. Too bad that’s NOT the Secret Avengers! Three missions kick off at the same time: one in the air, one on the ground, and one in…space?! And no one is ready for what comes next – except the attackers!

Now, Fury, Coulson, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Maria Hill, and even the villainous M.O.D.O.K. must work together if they hope to achieve the impossible. But first, they’ll have to survive!

Check out the previews after the break. Look for Secret Avengers #1 to hit stores on March 12.

With E3 just around the corner, the news cycle doesn’t start a few days early as publishers and developers look to get their smaller bytes out just before the flood gates open. It starts a week out. And with that first wave comes a look at LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. In the horde of stories coming out in the E3 before the next generation of console launches, Traveller’s Tales and WB Games were smart to get us these screens early.

The latest shots from LEGO Marvel Super Heroes shows some characters we already knew were coming to the game like Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man and Thor in the staple of Marvel locales New York City and the newly announced Asgard. The crazy thing is Asgard and especially its rainbow bridge look pretty darn beautiful in LEGO. But with all the new visual glory coming soon from the PS4 and XBox One, it’s probably for the best we see these graphics now rather than after the Microsoft and Sony press conferences.

Back in January we reported on the breaking news that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes was coming. Yes, we know it was kind of a no brainer but it was great to see it was actually happening! Now we are proud to bring the first official trailer to the Flickcast faithful.

In the trailer below, check out the first official look at LEGO Spider-Man, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, Deadpool and Black Widow who will be amongst the “more than 100 memorable characters to choose from, each with their own unique powers and abilities, players are in for a brick-smashing adventure”. Those actual gameplay isn’t shown, one can assume it will probably be similar in style to that of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. The trailer also gives a pretty good indicator who one of the game’s big bads is going to be.

Like much of the news in the gaming world, this bit was broken to everyone through Game Informer. Despite the fact that a print magazine is getting exclusives still amazes us, it is still exciting news none the less. It looks like Traveller’s Tales is already well underway to make the LEGO Marvel franchise a reality with the official announcement of a LEGO Marvel Super Heroes game.

Spider-Man. Hawkeye. Wolverine. Hulk. Magneto. Iron Man. Thor. Loki. Deadpool. Magneto. Captain America. From the looks of the early footage from Game Informer behind the scenes at Traveller’s Tales, it looks like this full list will be getting the LEGO treatment. It is worth noting that all these guys have already had LEGO figures made and there is potential for hundreds more Marvel characters to be brought into this brick world.

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.

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! 

Yesterday in select cities nationwide, thousands of people were treated to a back-to-back marathon screening of all six Marvel Studios films. From Iron Man all the way to the midnight premiere of The Avengers, this epic, butt-busting extravaganza was sold as THE best way to celebrate the arrival of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

The roster of films was impressive, but the time commitment was daunting. For true Marvel movie fans was this celebration a good thing? Is the act of subjecting yourself to hours upon hours watching these films worthwhile? Does it diminish the quality or enhance the context when you watch them all back-to-back?

These were all questions I had to ask myself before settling in on my seventeen hour quest through the Marvel Movie-verse, and they were all questions that were answered quite emphatically by about the fifth hour.

OK, so we know it is coming, we know The Avengers looms just a little more than a week away. The early critical reception is very high, the buzz couldn’t be better and many of you already have your tickets in hand for the midnight shows.

That is a lot of anticipation, and we are certainly feeling it here at The Flickcast. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to the most is the score by Alan Silvestri, as the resident film music nerd here, his take on an Avengers theme tickles my fancy way more than most.

When a film of this magnitude is on the horizon, it is hard to keep things like it’s soundtrack under-wraps, and as such the entire score has already leaked online. I am happy to say it is quite great in what little I have allowed myself to listen to, but it only makes my jonesing for the movie that much more intense.

So to alleviate a little of that pressure, here is a video of the main theme by Mr. Silvestri, cut together as a music video featuring all of the as yet released Avengers footage. This video lets you experience the kick assery of the main theme in the context of actual Avengers footage.

Check it out after the jump.

Whenever some one tells you some idea is unfilmable, some concept too complex to work properly on the big screen. You really ought to show them these behind the scenes pictures from The Avengers. Proof positive that large and unfilmable ideas can see the light of day.

To help get the world jazzed up for the upcoming release, Marvel has released several really amazing behind the scenes pictures that are just reeking of cool. Not only do you have geek god Joss Whedon appearing in most of these shots, but you also get to see him directing the icons of the movie.

It really feels like Joss is helping Bruce Banner find his motivation, or that he is sharing a new perspective on a scene with Thor. These actors fit the roles so well that they are transcending their own persona’s and have become the heroes themselves.

Sure that may be a bit of little hyperbole, but these awesome production shots are among the coolest officially released pieces yet and do more to jazz us for the film than 1,000 badly photoshopped one-sheets.

You can enjoy the whole set of six shots after the jump, The Avengers hits theaters May 4th.