The conclusion to our trilogy of columns looking at the Avengers Big Three, and the best actors to portray, them is here, and I’ve saved my favourite for last. Regular readers will be aware that I do love Captain America. Even wrote a whole piece about why a little while back. Cap’s put in more screen appearances than Iron Man or Thor, thanks in part to the fact that he precedes them in the comics by a good couple of decades. There were also two attempts at live action Cap movies before the recent effort with Chris Evans in the title role (winner of your vote for best Cap, by the way). In the seventies there were a couple of made for TV movies starring Reb Brown as a rather lacklustre, one-note Captain America. Then, the early nineties gave us Matt “son of J.D.” Salinger in the title role in a disastrous movie in which Salinger did his best impression of… Well, Reb Brown. And wore rubber ears as part of his costume. Who thought that was a good idea?

Neither of these efforts were ever going to make this list, and are now mostly regarded as, at best, curios. However, leaving them aside, I was more than ready to bombard you with a Super Soldier Serum charged column featuring one awesome live action Cap, and four awesome animated Caps too.

Then I discovered one more live action version...

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This week’s column presented a challenge. When I decided to write the next three columns on the Avengers Big Three (Iron Man, Thor and Captain America), I hadn’t really factored in that they haven’t actually been played by as many actors as, say, Batman or Spider-Man. Until their recent movie adventures, the characters didn’t have the same level of popularity as their slightly more famous friends, and they just haven’t clocked up as many screen appearances.

Of course, all that changed with the release of the first Iron Man movie, but it’s only really been in the last few years that the general, non-comic reading public (or Flatscans. Maybe Muggles) have become aware of the Armoured Avenger, et al. This means fewer (though by no means a total shortage) animated or computer game outings in which actors can portray them, and a distinct lack of great Iron Man performances.

In fact, and I’m aware that this is a controversial statement that may well generate some backlash, for my money, while there have been several good Iron Men, there are only two performances who stand out as great. But let’s visit some of the good ones first...

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Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a 90lb weakling from Brooklyn who wants nothing more that to fight for his country in WW2. Unfortunately, he’s a 90lb weakling, which is not exactly a quality high on the list of your average Army recruiter. However, what he lacks in brawn, he more than makes up for in fight and spirit, which is what catches the eye of Emile Erskine (Stanley Tucci), an enigmatic German scientist with a Super-Soldier serum that should be right up Steve’s alley. It is a resounding success, but while Steve is put to work as a USO sideshow, selling war bonds and socking “Hitler” in the jaw up and down the Eastern seaboard, Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) and his ultra-Nazi offshoot Hydra are harnessing the power of an ancient artefact with an aim to make Hitler’s plans for world domination look positively anaemic. A punch-up between the two seems more than inevitable.

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You will believe that when Captain America throws his shield every Hydra scumbag he comes into contact with will indeed yield. America, Fuck Yeah! You know the rest.

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So here it is, your first look at the movie version of The Avengers. Underwhelmed? I know I am.

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Link: http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=31051

In an interview with Empire magazine whilst at Cannes film festival, Stellan Skarsgard let slip that the now standard post-credit sequence in Thor was actually directed by upcoming Avengers director, Joss Whedon.

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Expectation seems to be everything with the new Thor movie. Whether it be the expectation of what has come before (Iron Man, Hulk) or what's next (Captain America or the Avengers Uber-movie). That being said, although Thor can be seen as bridging some gaps in the cannon continuity of the new Marvel-Film Universe(lets ignore Hulk for now), it comes alive by just being it's own thing.

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Link: http://marvel.com/news/story/15733/marvels_the_avengers_begins_production

Yeah I know, I got excited when I saw the headline too, what we've got is a little less than mind blowing; four chairs and CGI SHIELD logo but wait those chairs say Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Hulk, characters we already knew were in the movie!

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Link: http://marvel.com/news/story/14785/behold_new_thor_movie_poster

What can I say about this image other than it is beautiful and now adorns my screen-saver. It's not much of a look at Thor but I'm happy, added to that there's a trailer out today and in (U.S) cinemas this weekend, Thor fans should be jumping for joy. I don't think I've evr met a 'Thor fan'. Check back for that Thor trailer as soon as it goes up.

The first proper pictures from Captain America: The First Avenger. I like the look of it so far, looks somewhere between The Rocketeer and a more modern production like Hellboy. It seems Cap's uniform will be going through several incarnations throughout the movie.

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