Corona | Coming Attractions

So now that the geekosphere got buzzing about the possibility of The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner donning Hawkeye's purple costume from a tidbit the actor dropped at the start of last month, Movieline asked Renner for an update as to where things stand.

"That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion. It was an idea," he explained to the site. "Those Marvel guys, I'm a big fan of them. They're so smart about how they want to do these things — they have Captain America, and Thor coming around, Iron Man 2, and then I happen to know Zak Penn, who's writing The Avengers. So they thought Hawkeye is an interesting role, and asked me if I knew anything about him. I said no, so they gave me their sort of spiel on what he was, and I thought that it was kind of interesting. The only reason it came out this early, because Avengers is two years away, is that they're thinking OK, we may throw him in Thor, we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there's truth that we talked about it, but there's no truth to me doing it."

Yet.

When Empire magazine quizzed The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner about what kind of superhero he could play, they got an answer that made a small stir online. "I don’t know if I'd be right for Captain America," Renner started to answer. "I met with the Marvel guys, actually, but we didn’t talk about Captain America. But one of the writers, Zak Penn, we’ve become friends over time and he was thinking maybe Hawkeye could be interesting. He sounds like an interesting character."

It's doubtful that the purple clad archer would show up in the Captain America movie but in The Avengers. In the comic book series Hawkeye has been an on-and-off member of that supergroup. While he doesn't have any superpowers like the X-Men or Spider-Man, Hawkeye has nearly-superhuman skill with a bow. Sounds like a perfect real-world kind of superhero to stand alongside a guy like Iron Man, right?

While doing press for Couples Retreat, Iron Man director Jon Favreau flat out said that he won't be directing The Avengers when the time comes to make it.

"They'll have to [find a different director], because I'm not going to be available," Favs told MTV. "It's something I'm being the executive producer on, so I'll definitely have input and a say."

"It's going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with Avengers you're going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor," he went to say to the network. "How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it's going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we've created."

Favreau singled out Kevin Feige, Marvel's president, as the guy who will ultimately be the one that finds the right way to have a movie featuring such a diverse line-up of Marvel heroes. "You need somebody who has the perspective of all the different franchises to bring them together. I have the myopic vision of just knowing and loving Iron Man."

If Edward Norton knows something that we don't about reprising the role of Bruce Banner again in The Avengers movie he's playing it very cool and close to his chest. At the Television Critics Association panel to promote his upcoming HBO documentary about the election of Barack Obama that he helped produce, Norton was asked if he's heard anything from Marvel hinting at a job in Avengers. "I probably won't comment on that, just because they [Marvel] keep a pretty tight reign on what they are letting out," he responded. "I'll let them say." Like we said, he's playing it cool.

A scooper for Ain't It Cool News that's attending the Licensing International Expo taking place right now in Las Vegas took a photo at the Marvel booth showing logos for four of their upcoming superhero films, one of which was The Avengers movie. While the logo shouldn't be taken as the final logo that you might see on the movie's poster, right now it's an idea as to what direction Marvel is heading in terms of the logo's look.

"Zak Penn is already on board The Avengers [as writer] and he's spending a lot of his time looking into what we’re doing with Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, seeing how we’re tying it all together. And he’s beginning to outline the script now – he’ll be doing that over the summer," said Marvel's president of production, Kevin Feige, to Empire about the status of the superhero team movie.

"All of the Marvel movies leading up to The Avengers will be based in our new facility in Manhattan Beach, in LA. There will be location work that will take us out occasionally, but our home base will always be here," Feige added.

Marvel has shifted the release date of The Avengers movie from July 15, 2011 to May 4, 2012, as well as pushed back the release schedule for their Thor and Captain America films. According to the company this later release schedule will allow them to interweave story arcs that will "cumulate in a multi-character motion picture," namely The Avengers movie.

"This new schedule strongly sequences Marvel's movie debut dates, big screen character introductions and momentum," said David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios. "It maximizes the visibility of our single character-focused films, leading to the highly anticipated release of the multi-character The Avengers film in 2012."

Samuel L. Jackson has signed a deal that will see him play Nick Fury in nine more Marvel movies. While no definite plans were revealed at the time for Jackson to star in The Avengers, it's virtually assumed that he will now appear in the picture as Fury is a central character in the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics series. [Full story]

"If we don't get it right it's really, really going to suck." That's what Robert Downey Jr. told MTV's Splash Page when asked about what has to happen with Marvel Studios big-budget Avengers movie. "It has to be the crowning blow of Marvel's best and brightest because it's the hardest thing to get right. It's tough to spin all the plates for one of these characters."

"I think it's important that I do what I'm supposed to do which is keep my side of the street clean," Downey went on to add. "The danger you run with colliding all these worlds is [director] Jon [Favreau] was very certain that Iron Man should be set in a very realistic world. Nothing that happened in Iron Man is really outside the realm of possibility. Once you start talking about Valhalla and supersized super soldiers and jolly green giants it warrants much further discussion.”

Marvel Studios sent out a press release today that confirmed what all of us knew was going to happen: Robert Downey Jr. will play Iron Man in the big-screen Avengers movie. As part of his four-picture deal with Marvel Studios, Downey will reprise the superhero in the sequel as well as Avengers in 2010 and '11, respectively. Iron Man director Jon Favreau was also announced as being an executive producer on Avengers, and the recent recast Iron Man role of Col. James Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle) will also appear in the superhero team movie.

Embedded in the release was a brief summary of what storyline is being developed for The Avengers, but key to note is the direct mention of four Avengers as being in the film: "In a movie event, The Avengers will bring together the super hero team of Marvel Comics characters for the first time ever, including Irom Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and more, as they are forced to band together to battle the biggest foe they've ever faced."

Two gentlemen not mentioned as being a part of the Avengers cast (yet) are Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Edward Norton (Bruce Banner/The Hulk). With the reveal that the Hulk will indeed be a part of the group, as well as the near certainty that Jackson will also be in the film, we're assuming that Marvel hasn't yet concluded contract negotiations with these two but that every effort is being made to get them involved with the picture. It's also a virtual certainty that whoever is signed to play Thor and Captain America in those two characters' stand-alone movies will have to also play them in the Avengers flick.

While talking with MTV about the likelihood of an Incredible Hulk 2 movie, producer Gale Anne Hurd was asked to talk about where else the green behemoth might show up. "[The Hulk] is likely to appear in an Avengers movie, but that's completely up to Marvel," she answered. "It's wonderful that Marvel now controls so many of their own characters, and they can create a Marvel universe in film and populate it with so many of their characters who naturally exist together. I think an Avengers film is a very exciting prospect."

Iron Man helmer Jon Favreau has thrown his hat out into the public arena as a possible director for the proposed live-action Avengers film. While speaking with MTV Movies Blog, Favreau said "In the case of Marvel they're pretty clear on wanting to do it with the actors who've established the roles or to not do it at all. That's what they've said to me. I think it's a good idea if you use the characters established in the other franchises that then come together for an event. I don't think they would do it like they're doing Justice League where it's a whole different set of actors and a whole different take on the world."