Apple.com has the first concrete look at Joss Whedon’s Marvel ensemble, The Avengers. Fans no longer have to grasp at 30 second preview snippets or shaky phone cam location footage. The trailer hits audiences with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and finally the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in action, being led by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). The trailer also contains some serious scenes of destruction along with shots of Thor’s villainous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) wreaking havoc on New York City.

Nothing more to say about the reveal other than that I believe it justifies my anticipation. Whedon looks to have done a commendable job so far.

The Avengers hits theaters May 4, 2012.

I should preface this review with one caveat: I’ve never read or watched — or heard of Thor at all, really — before seeing the film. As you can probably guess from the preceding sentence, I don’t even know what format of text or media from which its story originates. Was Thor a comic book? Was it a television show? Cartoon? Movie from the 1980s? Colour me uneducated and largely incurious. Instead of attempting to hide this gaping hole in my nerd credentials, I’m sure that highlighting my lack of Thor knowledge will make for a pretty interesting review.

Spoilers ahead.

After watching Shakespearean-stalwart Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation, I have come to understand that the character of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a “God of Thunder” who lives in the “Realm Eternal”, otherwise known as Asgard. The people who live there — Asgardians? — are unimportant in the long-run, assuming importance correlates with the amount of screen-time the average Asgardian citizen is provided. There are maybe three or four scenes with larger groups or crowds and almost all of them are scenes of war. I’m sure these scenes were filmed during those short moments when Branagh remembered he wasn’t directing a play and could have more people in a scene than just the essential cast.

Thor, the aforementioned God of Thunder, has a father named Odin (Anthony Hopkins) who appears to be dying, despite the Asgardian’s apparent claim to immortality. Because of this — never quite explained — confusion about supposed immortality, Thor’s father decides to abdicate the throne of Asgard, naturally choosing to give his crown to his smug first-born, Thor. Thor’s younger brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), is rebuffed by this decision but appears to accept being overlooked by his father well enough. However, Thor has blonde hair and wears red; Loki has dark hair and wears green. Any costume designer (or reader of any fantasy novel series) could tell you that, yeah, Loki is probably the villain of this piece.

Rounding off the Asgardians that you actually get to see in the movie are the all-seeing, all-hearing sentry Heimdall, Thor’s mother and his gang of ruffian warriors. These warriors include “the female one”, “the Asian one”, “the one who looks like Thor but isn’t Thor — wait, no, he’s just blonde” and “the fat one” (Ray Stevenson, in a role that made me weep for this wasted Rome talent). They fight and are loyal to their friend Thor. That’s basically it.

Because Thor isn’t content with the universal admiration of his people, his chiseled abs, (questionable) immortality, upcoming coronation and overall blondness, he decides to confront Asgard’s greatest enemies, the Frost Giants, defying both his father and logic in the process. Unsurprisingly, these Frost Giants are very large people who wield ice powers. They are a very literal people, apparently, and they live their lives on a planet of ice, spending most of their time being blue — both in colour and temperament — while hating on Asgard and its king.

The aftermath of Thor’s decision doesn’t go so well and, after some hammer-throwing and war-provoking, Thor’s father banishes him from Asgard. Thor is then teleported from their planet — and ends up on ours. Branagh, much to the audience’s probable content, decided to spend as little screen-time as possible on Earth. The film’s greatest moments — from its fantastical origins to its inevitable fight to the death — are set on Asgard. While on Earth, the banished Thor meets astrophysicist Jane (Natalie Portman) and the members of her research team, played by the horrifically underused Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings. With the exception of some “stanger in a strange land” physical humour, most of the Earth scenes are largely forgettable. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy some of the Earth scenes, but after a battle with insanely-blue, gigantic aliens, immortal gods and rainbow bridges, it’s more than a little funny to see see Thor incapacitated by an undergraduate with a taser. There is also a very memorable barbecue featuring a cameo appearance from the father of Marvel comics, Stan Lee.

Halfway through the film, Thor’s brother Loki discovers something about himself that reshapes his worldview, adding numerous layers to a character already overshadowing everyone else in regard to development and personality. This new development should have been the lynchpin of the entire narrative arc of the film, but the screenwriters pass on this opportunity. Instead, they revert the character of Loki into a caricature of the jealous usurper, depriving the audience of more screen-time with the stellar Tom Hiddleston in order to add more Natalie Portman. Sad to say it, but Hemsworth and Portman have absolutely no chemistry and share only a handful of scenes together. Thus, it appears that Thor and Jane fell in love after a trip to the hospital, a cup of coffee and a rooftop conversation about constellations. If you’re sensitive to this underdeveloped relationship, you’ll be questioning Thor’s behaviour at the end of the film much like I did.

Overall, I felt that Thor was an enjoyable and much better film than expected. It benefited from an ambitious depiction of Asgard, both in terms of scope and visuals. Unfortunately, Natalie Portman’s character and the use of 3D are largely superfluous. The film also suffers from a bland, unforgettable protagonist, Thor; as well as a deformed development of its antagonist, Loki.

For those unfamiliar with the Thor universe — like me — there will be a few moments which will pull you out of the film, as the script does a poor job establishing the rules of the universe. Examples of this include:

• How can you be immortal and potentially die?
• How can Loki duplicate himself?
• How can Loki teleport to Earth and appear suddenly invisible?
• Wait, Thor can fly?

Despite these flaws and questions, Thor is an admirable installment in the Marvel universe of films, and I would be ecstatic to see Tom Hiddleston return as Loki. Also, the bonus scene at the end of Thor with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is worth the excruciating wait through the very, very poor end-credit song choice.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A very big thanks to Mr. Granov for taking the time to speak with us.

You can see more of Adi’s work at his official website AdiGranov.net

Will, Jeff, Lucas and Noah sit down to discuss the Oscar nominations, the return of Lost, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online and its effects on social lives, Iron Man’s suit redesign and what people can expect from Iron Man 2.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 16 (44 MB, MP3, 64:54)
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Listen:

Programme:

• 0:00 — “The CN Tower can work it out (Final Fantasy ft. Q-Tip)” by Tor
• 2:26 — Academy Award nominations
• 19:20 — Lost Season 6 Premiere
• 24:49 — Dorky television and franchise cross-pollination
• 28:42 — “Royal Flush (Instrumental)” by Big Boi ft. Andre 3000 & Raekwon
• 29:26 — Mass Effect 2
• 42:31 — Star Trek Online and Martin Luther King Jr.
• 52:43 — Iron Man redesign, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers
• 46:15 — “Cousins” by Vampire Weekend

Discussed:

• Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online
• The Avengers, The Invincible Iron Man, Captain America
• Lost, The Hurt Locker, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Avatar, Star Trek, Iron Man 2

Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2

Apple has posted the first trailer for Marvel’s upcoming Iron Man 2.  We finally (legitimately) get a glimpse of completed shots with Mickey Rouke‘s Whiplash and Don Cheadle‘s War Machine in action. The last scene of the trailer shows some heavy action with both Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Rhodey against a group of androids.

Hats off to the production, it’s insane to see two heavy hitting comic book heros go nuts on screen at the same time.  I keep watching War Machine’s huge shoulder cannon go back and fourth drilling enemies.  Check out the Iron Man 2 trailer embedded after the jump.

Iron Man 2 is due in theatres May 7th 2010

Image thanks to Crazy Critics

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 ,the sequel to Activision’s 2006 hit game Marvel Ultimate Alliance is due out this Fall.  The game follows the recent Civil War storyline that rocked the main Marvel universe.  The U.S. government enacts a superhuman registration act after an incident caused by a third-rate Superhero team results in the death of hundreds of innocent people.  The heroes of the Marvel universe become divided over the superhuman registration act, with those against it being led by Captain America and those that are for it led by Tony Stark/Iron Man.  Civil War changed everything in the 616 universe and is an amazing starting point for the game.

The Civil War storyline certainly has a lot of potential, and the new gameplay mechanic of combining the superpowers of multiple heroes looks promising. I thought the first Ultimate Alliance was a blast to play, all of the recent gameplay videos and trailers seem to indicate that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 will be just as fun.

Hit the jump for a list of announced playable characters and the latest trailer for the game.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – New York Comic-Con 2009 Trailer

List of Announced Playable Characters

* Captain America
* Daredevil
* Green Goblin
* Hulk
* Human Torch
* Iron Fist
* Iron Man
* Invisible Woman
* Luke Cage
* Mister Fantastic
* Mockingbird
* Songbird
* Spider-Man
* Storm
* Thing
* Thor
* Venom
* Wolverine

More characters will be announced as the game approaches release.  Activision announced that Spider-Man’s Aunt May would be a playable character last week, but thankfully it was an April Fool’s prank.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Both long rumoured to be in talks for roles in Iron-Man 2, news broke today that Scarlett Johannson and Mickey Rourke have officially signed on for the Marvel sequel. Johannson will play S.H.I.E.L.D agent Black Widow, while Rourke will be playing the villain Whiplash.

John Favreau returns to the director’s chair and Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark. Scarlett Johannson replaces Emily Blunt, who had to pull out due to contractual obligations. I think Scarlett is a good choice for a variety of reasons I am of course talking about her acting ability, and nothing else!

After being low-balled and offered a measley $250,000 for the role, apparently Rourke and his people have settled on a more reasonable deal. Pretty shameful that Marvel would offer to pay Rourke so little for the sequel to a movie that grossed over half a billion dollars. Rourke is a talented guy and a hot commodity these days: pay the man! Iron-Man 2 is due out next year.

Scarlett Johannson & Mickey Rourke Help Raise Iron Curtain @ E! Online

Not satisfied with making two terrible Fantastic Four movies, 20th Century Fox is once again poised to ruin Fantastic Four: this time from scratch.  IESB.net is reporting that in addition to rebooting the Daredevil franchise(oh goody.) Fox will be going in a different direction for the next Fantastic Four.  In the wake of serious comic book films like The Dark Knight and to a lesser extent Iron Man, the studios are now convinced that darker is better.  Whether this will actually pay off by giving us a particularly good film is highly doubtful since 20th Century Fox is seemingly only interested in raping every decent Marvel franchise they can get their grubby little hands on; leaving a bloated, dead corpse of a film that only superficially resembles the source material.  Sorry for the graphic analogy, but that’s how I feel.  You saw X-Men 3, right?

I for one will pass on the new Fantastic Four film.  As much as a brooding Reed Richards and psychpathic Doctor Doom sound interesting(it doesn’t), there is no way Fox will get it right.  They’re merely riding the tide of post-Dark Knight morally ambiguous superheroes.  I didn’t see the first two Fantastic Four films, and I sure as hell am not going to give a new Daredevil film a chance if 20th Century Fox has anything to do with it.

Fantastic Four is Getting a Reboot @ IESB.net

As a side note, this new tone and direction for superhero films bodes well for the Wolverine film, also produced by Fox.  Principal photography had wrapped on Wolverine and it was pretty much in the bag, when Fox decided they needed to reshoot large portions of the film.  I guarantee this decision came from some Fox suit who stated that “Yeah it’s pretty good I guess , but it needs to be more like the Dark Knight!”

Thanks to Raj for the heads up.

Hard to believe that little old Marvel Comics is celebrating its 70th Anniversary this year.  To celebrate Marvel.com is counting down the Top 70 Marvel Comics as voted by their readers.

Some great books on the list so far, but let’s be honest:  the company may be 70 years old, but the only Marvel Comics worth mentioning debuted less than 50 years ago.  No one ever mentions the characters of Timely Publications or Atlas Comics in the same breath as Marvel’s Fantastic Four, X-Men or Spider-Man.  One would expect to see at least some mention of Timely or Atlas in the Top 70 list, but they have yet to make an appearance in the countdown.  Silver-Age bias maybe?

Marvel Top 70 Comics Countdown @ Marvel.com