The Avengers (SPOILERS BEWARE0

[Mercutio01]

My wife and I both swear that we saw Coulson, briefly, at the very end, after Fury tells Maria that the Avengers will come together if necessary, and she walks away as the camera lifts up to give a broad view of the helicarrier's bridge.

I watched it again, and I still see a guy in Coulson's standard MIB attire, wearing sunglasses the way Coulson did.

 

[fanboy2000]

I was thinking about this possibility as well. Coulson didn't really strike me as anything but an utterly disposable character, but he seems to have gained sufficient traction to perhaps warrant a return.

His roll in Thor helped a lot. Competent, but funny, is a good combination. And since he wasn't one of the main characters, he never had any of the flaws writers add to main characters to make him interesting. So we had an unflawed, competent, and funny character. I think that is a big part of his appeal.

Add to that the scene early in The Avengers in Stark Tower with Tony and Pepper, and I think it's easy to see why people cared about him. I think that, even for people who had never seen a previous Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Coulson quickly became a character to care about. I certainly cared more about him than Hill. (Not to knock Hill or her actress, Smulders, but Hill just didn't get any character development.)

 

[billd91]

It is unlikely that Stark builds Ultron - the third Iron Man movie is expected to be based on the Extremis story line, and that may well be the last for him for now. And, I don't think Marvel fans would put up with that departure from canon.

Stark may not have invented Ultron, but he has reassembled him on more than one occasion. So if they can establish some kind of idea that there's a history of a virtually indestructible, sentient, megalomaniacal, Oedipal robot made by someone in Stark's past, it's not a stretch to have Stark reassemble him.

 

[Felon]

The main reason it was Hank Pym who built Ultron and not Stark is that the latter wasn't on the team when Roy Thomas came up with the villain. Tony Stark is the engineer with a specialization in computers, robotics, and weapon systems. Up until the day he built Ultron, Hank Pym was a scientist specialized in biochemistry and entomology. In the good ol' days of comics, with a target audience comprised of kids, this "Gilligan's Island" notion that "science is science" passed muster, but now...?

This is one retcon that would just make good sense. Btw, in my mind's ear, Ultron is voiced by Chris Latta (Cobra Commander, Starscream). How about you guys?

Regarding Pym, like I've said this in other threads, I think Marvel (and its various licensees) really missed the boat by not doing some Pixar/Dreamworks 3D adaptations of some of their characters. "Ant-Man, Giant-Man" would make a great light-hearted film for young audiences.

 

[El Mahdi]

His roll in Thor helped a lot. Competent, but funny, is a good combination. And since he wasn't one of the main characters, he never had any of the flaws writers add to main characters to make him interesting. So we had an unflawed, competent, and funny character. I think that is a big part of his appeal.

Add to that the scene early in The Avengers in Stark Tower with Tony and Pepper, and I think it's easy to see why people cared about him. I think that, even for people who had never seen a previous Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Coulson quickly became a character to care about. I certainly cared more about him than Hill. (Not to knock Hill or her actress, Smulders, but Hill just didn't get any character development.)

I agree. Unflawed, funny, and competent sums him up perfectly.

Personally, I hope he's not really dead. There are quite a few sites pointing out how we didn't necessarily see him die, and that Fury could be lying (again) as motivation for the hero's. There were negotiations with Clark Gregg to play Coulson in Iron Man III, though nothing about whether he will be. It's also possible that even if he is in Iron Man III, it may just be in the form of a flashback or somesuch. I would imagine that now, no matter what, they're going to keep this secret as long as they can because of the buzz the character has. Maybe with enough buzz though, they might decide to keep him around.

Clark Gregg is really good in that role, though he pretty much had that character down long before the Marvel movies. His Agent Casper from The West Wing was very similar: a competent, nice, by-the-book fan-boy. He's only in like 8 episodes or so, but he's one of mine and my wife's favorites from the show (well, he's one of my wife's favorites because he's married to Jennifer Grey).

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oambrQGdLjg"]West Wing - Allergy medicine and tractor fluid - YouTube[/ame]

 

[fanboy2000]

Clark Gregg is really good in that role, though he pretty much had that character down long before the Marvel movies. His Agent Casper from The West Wing was very similar: a competent, nice, by-the-book fan-boy.

Hadn't seen that before, I never watched the West Wing. I did see him a few months ago on The New Adventures of Old Christine when my wife was watching reruns in syndication. It was weird hearing his voice saying things that weren't MiB like.

 

[Nellisir]

Just saw it for the first time (I've been busy!). Loved it. Reviews are generally spot on: good character building, particularly for the Black Widow - I could see a movie there. Less so for Hawkeye: the character was great, just not as fleshed out.

Hulk/Banner was spectacular, though I think it might get old over the course of a whole movie. The Hulk really works best in an ensemble, IMO. Iron Man was Iron Man, Thor was Thor, and Cap was Cap (still looks like a babyface to me; would've liked to see an actor with a little more maturity).

I liked how the power levels were portrayed. Black Widow & Hawkeye can go toe to toe. Captain is above them, but below Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. IM can go toe to toe with Thor, but it's hard and he wears down. Thor and Hulk can go toe to toe, but it's hard on Thor. Black Widow vs Hulk...she gets the heck out of the way. No fancy tricks, just evasion and running like hell.

Hulk vs Loki was priceless.

 

[MarkB]

Just saw it for the first time (I've been busy!). Loved it. Reviews are generally spot on: good character building, particularly for the Black Widow - I could see a movie there. Less so for Hawkeye: the character was great, just not as fleshed out.

I'm generally not keen on prequels, but I think I could actually enjoy a Black Widow / Hawkeye: Origins movie.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

It is unlikely that Stark builds Ultron - the third Iron Man movie is expected to be based on the Extremis story line, and that may well be the last for him for now.

Ah.

Don't know that one. Likely too recent for me to have read - I pretty much gave up on Marvel throughout the 90s and the 00s. The reset/renumbering of the Avengers and Heroic age had a few stories I wanted to read with the Avengers but that was pretty much it.

I'm one of those that considers the Dissambled/Mutants killed/Civil War/Skrull series of events to be less palatable than Liefeld Artwork.

one of the things I loved about the Avengers movies - the Heroes get to be Heroic, not anti-heroes or dark reflections - but out and out heroic, even the Hulk (I character I normally don't care for at all).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Saw the movie tonight, in 3D.

Enjoyed myself, but while the 3D was effective, it didn't move me enough to justify the added cost.