The Avengers: New Images Cover Empire; Marvel President Kevin Feige Sets the Record Straight About Villains
Posted 01.24.12 by BrentJS
Popular British movie magazine Empire may have chosen The Amazing Spider-Man to kick off another year of super-movies in its "Amazing 2012 Preview," but it's The Avengers who dominate the latest issue — which is kind of funny because Spider-Man is an Avenger in Marvel comic book continuity — with four different heroes featured on five different covers, including two new images of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow and Chris Evans as Captain America.
The mag's not even on the stands yet, but Collider somehow managed to get a sneak peek at the cover story, which includes comments from Marvel President of Production Kevin Feige, aka the "Mastermind of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," who finally sets the record straight about the rumor that the Skrulls will be teaming up with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) against the Marvel heroes and that the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) may even be joining the fray.
There has been speculation that the shapeshifting alien Skrulls would be the threat that finally forces S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to bring the Avengers together since before the movie went into production, but the idea really started to catch on when "spy" photos from the set revealed motion-capture suit-wearing stuntmen wielding bizarre-looking weaponry. While Feige wouldn't go so far as to say who or what would be operating those vehicles and weapons, he did reveal that they are not Skrulls.
Who said they were aliens? ... It’s not Skrulls, I’ve been clear about that. Beyond that, we want to hide it. The identity of the alien race is not impactful. It exists in the comic books, but we’re not setting up the Kree-Skrull war or anything like that.
Another rumor that has been popular in the fan community is that the two main villains from the last two Marvel movies will do a good ol' fashioned "supervillain team-up" on the heroes in The Avengers. The theory goes that, since Loki was able to survive his journey into the void at the end of Thor, perhaps the Red Skull was able to survive his own trip into oblivion at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, and that the two have now joined forces. Sorry, fanboys, wrong again. While Feige conceded that the Red Skull might still be alive, the red-visaged Nazi won't be in The Avengers.
Was [Red] Skull vaporised at the end of [Captain America: The First Avenger], or thrust into another realm? That remains to be seen. It would be fun to see Skull in future, but he’s not in this one.
We may not know who the high-tech villains are, but at least we know who they are not. Plus, we have some cool new images to tide us over until the next trailer comes out.
The Avengers was written and directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dollhouse). The cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson, Cobie Smulders S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill, and Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig.
Next Showing: The Avengers opens May 4