Why is Thor in a glass case of emotion?
Every trailer needs a moment in which one of your lead characters shouts “Nooooo!”, but this one is a bit more intriguing than your usual look-at-the-camera-and-bellow-in-the-negative.
It’s all about the surroundings. Thor here appears to have been locked up in a glass prison cell.
Comic-book fans will tell you that Thor last appeared in a glass prison on the pages of Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, after Loki tricked the team into thinking the Thunder God had gone bad.
We suspect something similar is going on here. If it has, it would partly answer our next question…
Why are Iron Man and Captain America fighting Thor?
Comic-book fans will know that the Avengers could barely get through breakfast without scrapping each other, so we’re glad that’s carrying over into the film.
This is one of several shots in the trailer of our heroes squaring off against each other.
As to why it's happening here, this is pure speculation, but we’ve seen a shot in both trailers of the Chrysler building being hit by a massive bolt of lightning – the first time we saw it, we assumed the building contained big bads and Thor was frying them like frogs.
Now we’ve seen Thor in his glass case, we can’t help but wonder if it’s part of Loki’s plan to set up Thor, and this is a subsequent ruck.
Whats that in Lokis staff?
We know from Captain America: The First Avenger that the Marvel movie version of the Cosmic Cube – which according to the comics, grants any wish asked of it – glows bright blue when in use.
That crystal in Loki’s staff looks very blue to us, and quite glowy. Has the tricky bugger sneaked a sliver off the cube?
If that’s the case, who’s got the rest of it? Could it be the rumoured Red Skull?
Why does Captain America look awed?
Just before this shot, we see Bruce Banner looking awe-struck to meet Steve Rogers.
We can understand why: in this universe, Captain America would be an icon of World War 2, a legend which would have been taught in schools across America.
However, we’re not entirely sure why Rogers seems just as awed to be meeting Banner.
Has Bruce been sold to Rogers as a super-weapon? Is that why he looks a bit baffled to be introduced to a bit of a nerd?
We hope that Cap and Hulk end up having a key relationship in Avengers Assemble.
After all, in this universe, Rogers was also a nerd who became a super weapon – so they’ve actually got quite a lot in common.
Why Does Black Widow look shocked?
Black Widow looks truly disturbed here – which will be something of a surprise to comic-book fans.
What’s big and bad enough to knock the highly trained Russian super-spy (who has never had a Russian accent in the Marvel movies) off her feet and cause her to lose her trademark cool?
Whatever it is – and we’ll get to what we think it is in a moment – we’re glad Joss Whedon appears to be injecting a bit of his trademark emotion into Widow’s traditionally cool character.
Why is Black Widow fighting Hawkeye?
It’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment in the trailer, so forgive us for the fuzzy grab, but if you’ll look closely, Widow is on the ground angrily kicking Hawkeye in this shot (you can see his bow-strap on his arm).
In all the promotion we’ve seen so far, Black Widow and Hawkeye are tied together pretty closely.
In the comics, they've been romantically involved, and it appeared from some early promo shots that might be replicated in the movie.
Being forced to fight her closest Avengers ally and possible love interest could certainly cause the level of emotion seen earlier. And a love interest gone bad is VERY Whedon-esque.
But why are they fighting? Is Hawkeye a double-agent, or is this simply more of Loki’s trickery?
Or is this confirmation of the shape-shifting Skrulls involvement in the plot?
How does Hulk learn the value of teamwork?
This, for us, is by far the greatest moment in the trailer – the bit when the Hulk appears out of nowhere to rescue Iron Man from a fatal plummet.
No matter how many times we watch it, it gives us huge goosebumps.
And it poses an interesting question: Forget Tony Stark’s line about not working well with others – we saw in Iron Man 2 that he can ask for help when he needs it – the Hulk has never displayed teamwork skills in the Marvel movie universe – so just how has S.H.I.E.L.D managed to curb Hulk’s rage enough to make him a fully functioning member of the Avengers team?
We're hoping it involves Hulk bonding with his fellow superheroes, and not just a fancy serum.
What the bloody hell is that?
We’ve wondered for months what would be awesome enough to cause our heroes to gawp into the sky in the early Avengers promo shots – and the reveal isn’t a disappointment.
But what is it? Let’s start by saying what it definitely isn’t – Fin Fang Foom.
Forget the fact that there is NO WAY that Marvel, who were sensitive enough to change the title of Captain America: The First Avenger to simply The First Avenger in Russia and North Korea, would include a villain whose origin story involves busting Communists; Fin Fang Foom is a large green alien dragon, not a super cool spaceship.
However, it could be a neat nod to the character, who is part of a race of aliens – the Makulans – who can shapeshift to mimic humans.
Much like, we assume, the Skrulls in Avengers Assemble .
Whatever it is, it’s awesome – and a true threat for our heroes. We can’t wait to see how they topple it.
Who are the villains?
Even at this late stage, we still haven’t had confirmation of who the invading army actually are.
As you’ll have gathered by now, we’ve got our money on the Skrulls. But it’s still not official and could be any number of vast alien races the Avengers have fought in their long history.
But forget the aliens for a minute, who’s the big bad in this flick? The trailer states it’s Loki, a handful of toy company leaks have suggested it’s the Red Skull and internet rumour has posited it’s Thanos.
Personally, we wish the Avengers would fight Godzilla again, as they did in the short-lived Marvel Godzilla comic-book. Though we admit that's fairly unlikely.
But if we go by this trailer alone, Loki is the main villain and he has an invading army of non-descript aliens.
But we’ve got a feeling Joss Whedon has a few more surprises up his sleeve – and the identity of the Marvel Avengers Assemble main villain may be the biggest of them all.
Why is it called Avengers Assemble?
When we spoke to Joss Whedon recently, we asked him which icons from popular culture he’d invite to join the Avengers.
He replied: “I think I’d have Emma Peel and John Steed and there would be a big fight about the name.”
Well, it looks like Peel and Steed have won that imaginary fight, and UK films fans won’t have to worry about the possibility of confusing the US Avengers with the telly version.
But whatever it’s called, we can’t wait to see it. If only so we can have some answers!
Marvel Avengers Assemble is released in UK cinemas on April 26.
