Marvel's The Avengers (Earth-113599)

Marvel's The Avengers is a 2012 live-action superhero film produced by Touchstone Pictures and Marvel Studios respectively. Being a culmination of the popular franchises of Iron Man, The Hulk, Black/Hawkeye, Thor and Captain America in the popular Marvel Comics superhero team. It is the eighth film of phase 1 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was released in theaters worldwide on May 4th 2012.

Production
Since the idea for the Marvel Cinematic Universe was first pitched by Kevin Feige & Avi Arad in 2005, the end-game idea was for a team up film with Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and The Hulk in an Avengers style film. It entered development shortly after Iron Man and The Hulk began official production but remained stagnant, with Disney wanting to see how the Tentpole films did before proceeding along. After there success they announced at the 2009 Comic Con Captain America and Thor solo films were in production and The Avengers was going to follow them up, with a May 2012 release date. They later announced that respected veteran media writer Joss Whedon would be directing the film. Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans all had a role within The Avengers on their contracts, in late 2010 it was also revealed many other actors did as well. Including Jeremy Renner and Scarlet Johansson, who would be reprising their roles as Hawkeye & Black Widow respectively amongst the other heroes as part of the team. Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, and Stellan Skarsgard were also announces to be reprising their roles.

In 2011 it was revealed that the Masters of Evil would be the antagonists of the film. But instead of following the comics, would be made up of past villains Loki, Crimson Dynamo, Taskmaster and The Abomination from the previous installments. With Tom Hiddleston leaking to Twitter his role in the movie with Tim Roth, Jason Statham, and Mickey Rourke following suit on his claims. There were rumors beforehand of Graviton potentially being the villain of the movie. Joss Whedon confirmed in an early 2012 interview that he toyed with the idea of using either him or Ultron, but ultimately decided that a team of previous super villains united to fight The Avengers would make the most sense for the "creative direction of the film". Principle filming was held through early and mid 2011 and The Avengers was released worldwide May 4th 2012.

Cast

 * Robert Downey Jr. as Anthony "Tony" Stark/Iron Man


 * Chris Evans as Steven "Steve" Rogers/Captain America


 * Chris Hemsworth as Thor


 * Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk


 * Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow


 * Jeremy Renner as Clinton "Clint" Barton/Hawkeye


 * Tom Hiddleston as Loki


 * Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/Abomination


 * Jason Statham as Thomas "Tommy" Masters/Taskmaster


 * Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko/Crimson Dynamo


 * Samuel L. Jackson as Director Nick Fury


 * Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson


 * Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill


 * Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S. (Voice)


 * Stellan Skarsgard as Erik Selvig


 * Selma Hayek as Katherine Waynesboro


 * Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia "Pepper" Potts


 * Powers Boothe as Gideon Malick


 * Idris Elba as Heimdall (Cameo)


 * Anthony Hopkins as Odin (Cameo)


 * Josh Brolin as Thanos (Cameo)