So The Avengers had its Hollywood premiere a few days ago at the Disney owned El Capitan Theater. The entire cast showed up for the red carpet treatment. You can see a lot of the cast interviews and such on Marvel's YouTube page if that kind of thing interests you. Seeing celebrities being gawked at while patting themselves on the back is not my thing really.
What I did see on YouTube this morning was the entire library of official Avengers videos from Marvel. I've seen bits and pieces over the last few months but Marvel has posted all 16 official Avengers videos that play one right after another. Some are pretty short so you can see them all in about 15 minutes. Go to the link by clicking HERE.
Here are some random thoughts as I prepare for The Avengers which opens May 4th. Other than Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Samuel L. Jackson who isn't one of the superheros at all as Nick Fury, most of these actors who portray superheros are pretty small in size. Ah, the wonders of the movies which years ago took a 5'7" Sylvester Stallone and turned him into a heavyweight boxer named Rocky.
I watched the first Iron Man last week including the DVD bonus. In an interview Robert Downey Jr. said he believed he had a 5 -7 year run as Iron Man with him being 41 at the time the original Iron Man was made. Seeing him interviewed on the red carpet at The Avengers premiere, he really looked like someone in their mid to late 40's. He is signed on to do Iron Man 3 but you have to wonder beyond on that. Will he just be too old for the part? He said that after his 5 - 7 year run, his appearance may depend on advanced CGI technology. So much for aging gracefully as an actor.
I wrote somewhere that it was hard for me to imagine a "sensitive" type actor like Mark Ruffalo portraying the big green fighting machine known as The Hulk. Of course, I need to remember that Ruffalo plays Dr. Bruce Banner and that the Hulk is all computer graphics. The Hulk was on TV many years ago and Bruce Banner was played by the late Bill Bixby - someone who embodied the word 'sensitive" in his acting. Prior to The Hulk, Bixby's previous TV roles were in The Courtship of Eddie's Father and My Favorite Martian. For TV's Hulk, Bixby needed the muscle bound body builder Lou Ferrigno to turn into the green monster with torn purple pants.
Even after seeing all the trailers and clips this morning, I can't say I was blown away but what I saw from The Avengers. I believe it will deliver what it promises - rousing entertainment wrapped in special effects. So why is an old guy like me excited to see The Avengers? Though I wasn't a huge comic book fan as a kid, I probably went through a year or two where I religiously read about the adventures of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk (also Spiderman and The Fantasitic Four but those are different Marvel properties not accounted for in The Avengers). I knew the characters well, their heroics as well as their frailties, so the Marvel characters are a chance for me to revisit my youth as advancing years catch me from behind. As a kid, you can imagine growing up , becoming a superhero, and saving the world. As an adult you learn that the greatest villain of all that cannot be defeated by anyone is Father Time. We all need superheros even if they come off pages of comic books or computer special effects. We all need a chance to be young again.
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