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.  

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.

Director: Joe Johnston
Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Stanley Tucci
Release Date: Friday 29th July

Captain America: The First Avenger will focus on the early days of the Marvel Universe when Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America.

As Captain America, Rogers joins forces with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) to wage war on the evil HYDRA organization, led by the villainous Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).

One of a continuing slate of films being produced by Marvel Studios based on the Marvel characters, Captain America: The First Avenger joins Thor and The Avengers out in 2012.

After that preview at Superbowl, the lack of a full trailer for Captain America was starting to worry the Marvel crowd. We could almost have pieced it together ourselves from all the 6 second clips that kept turning up online - someone probably did. But it's here now. And it's good.

Running through the movie's basic set up (Steve Rogers is a wuss, gets experimented on, hello Mr. Buff), it's nothing revelatory in terms of plot, but it does give us a look at Chris Evans' pathetic damp squib before he gets his Super Soldier on. It's surprising how much a floppy fringe can do. That and a bucketload of CGI. It sort of works. In a weird kind of way.

It's not as exciting as Thor in my books and will no doubt wind up a lot like the other superhero flicks we've had to put up with, but Marvel's flagship Avengers preview shows no sign of dropping the ball yet. And by ball I mean shield, of course. Kudos to Joe Johnston, too - here's hoping it doesn't go all Wolfman on us.

Captain America is released in UK cinemas on Friday 29th July. Read on for the full video, and be sure to pause at 1:47 and sample the delights of a very red-faced Hugo Weaving.

The full-size submarine created for Captain America has turned up. In Liverpool. More specifically, in The Daily Post.

Yes, in a triumph for local reporting, Liverpool's Post has published exclusive photos of the sub on set in Stanley Dock, which has been transformed into 1940s New York.

Rumours of a boat being built have apparently been going round Liverpool for a while - some even thought a German U-Boat was being constructed - but now locals have got a glimpse of Marvel's heavily guarded set.

Directed by Joe Johnston, Captain America: The First Avenger stars Chris Evans as the titular superhero. It tells the origins of soldier Steve Rogers, who undergoes a series of experiments to become a super warrior.

Captain America will hit cinemas in July next year. Head over to The Daily Post for more details, or read on for the full pictures.

Right after Adrien Brody got fingered for Mr Fantastic, Fox continue to push their franchise reboot forward with a hunt for a director. First out the gates is David Yates.

The Brit helmer, who just finished off Harry Potter for Warner Bros, has proven experience with fantasy franchises, and knows how to balance effects and character. But Yates is also in competition with two other candidates: Joe Carnahan and James McTeigue.

McTeigue, who's currently working on The Raven, is best known as the Wachowski Brothers' protege who directed V for Vendetta. Carnahan, meanwhile, followed up early thriller Narc with the blockbuster fun of The A-Team.

Both have the balls for some hefty action, especially now Marvel are bringing the 3D to everything, but it's hard not to root for Yates. Especially because he gave the world State of Play. Not that anyone at Fox will have seen the original BBC TV series - they're too busy sorting out rumour from fact. And throwing money at whoever will touch Fantastic Four after that Rise of the Silver Surfer malarkey.

Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, Keiran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Mark Webber
Certificate: 12A
Trailer/Clips 

This is Scott Pilgrim (Cera). Scott Pilgrim’s precious little life involves computer games, sleeping and not much else. Unless you count his band, Sex Bob-Omb. They suck. Scott lives with his gay roommate Wallace Wells (Culkin) and is dating a high schooler called Knives Chau (Wong). She’s Chinese. Then one day into his head rollerblades the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Winstead). And every adolescent boy knows exactly what that means: awkward chat-up lines, making out and some serious Street Fighter action.