Marvel's amazing Avengers Assemble is out in UK cinemas today. And what better way to celebrate than with super-cupcakes?

Now, anyone who's spoken to me for more than 10 minutes is probably all-too-aware of my obsessive baking habits. From this James Bond birthday cake to the annual OscarNomnomnom Challenge, I love me some edible film goodness. So here you go: some freshly made Avengers cupcakes.

But rather than just post a picture and be all smug and fat about it (yes, I ate them all), I thought: why should I get to have all the fun? So read on for the full recipe and instructions to help you assemble your very own Avengers cupcakes. (Note: get an adult to help you with Arc Reactor part - or at least a robotic arm.)

Oh, and by all means send me pictures of yours if you think they're better (they probably are.) Bonus points if you come up a cupcake design for Black Widow that isn't just two massive balls of marzipan in a black icing jumpsuit. Mmmm.... Scarlett Johansson and marzipan...

Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston
Certificate: 12A
Trailer

You could easily spend an Avengers Assemble review just quoting endless lines of dialogue. That's how good the script is. Yes, Marvel, the folks who brought us Iron Man 2, have just been praised for their astute screenwriting. Because Avengers Assemble is a superbly written film.

Throughout this colossal marketing campaign - and that's what The Avengers franchise has mostly been - Marvel have (Iron Man's bloated sequel aside) consistently beaten my expectations. And now expectations are actually high? They've gone and topped them again. Because rather than let producer Kevin Feige dictate the dialogue, the Marvel demi-god hired geek king, comic nerd, writer-extraordinaire and all-round love of my life Joss Whedon to make a movie. And holy purple shorts, he assembles the heck out of it.

Earlier this week, Marvel released a new character poster for Avengers Assemble, entirely devoted to one man: Clark Gregg - or, when he's not giving his name to popular chain of sausage roll vendors, S.H.I.E.L.D's Agent Coulson.

Yes, Agent Coulson. The guy who popped up in the background of almost every film released in the past three years has been promoted to leading star status. 

It's good for him, really - I'm quite a fan of Clark's tight-lipped, deadpan delivery in things like (500) Days of Summer and Mr Popper's Penguins - but if it can happen to Agent Coulson, why not the other background players of Marvel's epic Avengers franchise? The robotic arm in Iron Man surely deserves a poster? Or how about that scene-stealing lamppost in Thor? Or that random soldier guy who walked past Captain America that one time in a field?

Then I stopped procrastinating in Photoshop and started thinking. A bit-part cameo player, brought to the foreground to tie together an endless string of sequels, prequels and other entries in a colossal franchise that will never end? We've seen that before...

And so I present to you, Agent Coulson: The Jim's Dad of Marvel's Avengers:

If Agent Coulson doesn't do it for you, feast your eyes on the Stifler's Mum of Marvel's franchise: a Scarlett Johansson Avengers clip is this way.

Marvel Avengers Assemble is out in cinemas on Thursday 26th April. Head this way to watch the official Avengers Assemble trailer.

Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson
Certificate: TBC
Release Date: Thursday 26th April

Marvel Studios presents “Marvel Avengers Assemble”—the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel Avengers Assemble” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when “Marvel Avengers Assemble" hits UK cinemas on April 26, 2012.

In “Marvel Avengers Assemble” superheroes team up to pull the world back from the brink of disaster when an unexpected enemy threatens global security.

It's official. The Avengers Super Bowl trailer has been released by Marvel - and Joss Whedon's superhero flick is full of action, CGI and Mark Ruffalo in full-on green mode. "I have an army," scowls Tom Hiddleston's Loki. Tony Stark's reply is short: "We have a Hulk."

Here it is:

The Avengers is out on Friday 27th April - and continues to look surprisingly good. There's more stuff on the official Avengers Facebook page.  

If you've seen David Fincher's Dragon Tattoo, the opening credits probably blew you away with their angry, sub-Bond style and loud cover of Led Zeppelin's The Immigrant Song by Trent Reznor and Karen O. At the very least, they should have made a strong impression, presuming you don't already think that it was the best title sequence of the whole year.

Now, you can watch those Dragon Tattoo opening credits online - thanks to Tim Miller and Blur Studio's superb design, it's 154 seconds of your life that you won't regret losing.

Yet to make your mind up about your favourite titles from the past 12 months? Read on for the top 5 opening credits of 2011. 

Captain America was released on DVD yesterday - and most fans of the comic book (and non-fans) received Joe Johnston's film pretty well. Even I grudgingly admitted that Marvel's evil campaign to take over Hollywood has remained consistently decent (Hulk movies and Iron Man 2 aside), with both Mr. USA and Thor proving a heck of a lot of fun.

But if you want to see a really impressive interpretation of The Avengers' most patriotic member, try this:

The trailer for JOSS WHEDON'S The Avengers is here - and I hate the fact that it looks rather awesome.

They've even managed to avoid spoilers from all the other Marvel films, which is quite impressive. 

With all the "Captain America this", "super soldier whatever", and "Chris Evans I'd do that", people seem to be under the impression that Marvel's patriotic Avenger is the strongest, hunkiest, most awesomest superhero ever. (He is actually pretty good - here's our Captain America review.)

But there's a better superhero on the block now. Why? Because I came up with THIS at 1am last night:

As you can see, he's got telepathy, teleportation, flight - all the top superhero powers. Plus Wonder Woman's breasts. And a can of Duff beer. And a shovel. What's not to like? (Sadly, I couldn't think of any superheroes that were dinosaurs.)

I expect Marvel to be in touch shortly. Either to sue me, or to add Professor Mega-Super-Wonder-Beast-Cy-Crawler-ine-with-Breasts to the line-up for The Avengers next year. I bet it's the latter.

Director: Joe Johnston
Cast: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Hayley Atwell
Certificate: 12A
Trailer

Captain America: The First Avenger proclaims the title in Marvel’s typical Avengers-promoting fashion. After all the films advertising the 2012 blockbuster, it's a wonder Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) hasn't become bored of getting the band back together and gone home to polish his eye patch.

Fortunately, Captain America is worth the wait. But now he's here, everyone wants to know two things: How many Nazis does he kill? And how many times does Chris Evans take his shirt off? The answer to both: not enough.