Marvel's big cinematic crossover The Avengers, is a big spectacle by default, since never before has a studio attempted to roll several iconic heroes with their own established franchises into one mega-movie.  The logistical challenges of putting together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk into one film are many, and as such, Joss Whedon is not, to many people, the most obvious choice to deliver a blockbuster worthy of those heroes, as he's only previously directed one feature film, Serenity. 

But with his television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Dollhouse, amongst other work, Whedon has demonstrated a deft had for character, particularly for the dynamics of large, contentious ensembles, making him sort of perfect for the material.  In a surprisingly extensive new interview, the always-loquacious Whedon discusses several of the major characters and the process of bringing them all together.

Yesterday Marvel Studios made it known that composer Alan Silvestri is definitely providing the score for The Avengers, and today Marvel and Disney followed that auditory news up with two visual treats.  A newly-released banner promoting the film is basically four character posters all lined up and ready for action, with Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., and Chris Hemsworth all striking their poses as Captain America, Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor.  Everyone looks pretty much just as superheroic as you'd expect, but the otherwise ordinary-looking Banner is given a bit of old-school green light and pupil action to let the average joe that he is, in fact, the Hulk.  The overlaying of the classic Avengers A symbol is a nice touch, and it's incorporation into the release date is pretty cute.

After three years of elaborate buildup that began with Iron Man in 2008, the culmination of Marvel Studios' elaborate crossover plans is almost upon us, and even in an age of ubiquitous cinematic superheroes, excitement for The Avengers is damn near palpable.  With principal photography long completed, writer-director Joss Whedon is busy with post-production, and he's apparently joined by Alan Silvestri, who is officially providing the film's musical accompaniment as composer on his second Marvel movie.

The full theatrical trailer for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is now available to view online.  Back in June, the third sequel to 1996's Mission Impossible practically strutted into public awareness with a first trailer that was a confident display of Tom Cruise running, jumping, and dangling that seemed to win over a lot of folks on the fence about another round of Ethan Hunt getting up to his eyes in espionage.  The second trailer does the same, providing just a little bit more plot, a whole lot less Eminem, and some global stakes.

The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building on Earth, a $1.5 billion dollar tower that stands 165 stories and 2,723 feet above the city of Dubai.  It was only a matter of time before Tom Cruise went crawling and swinging around on its exterior in a Mission: Impossible movie.  A new behind-the-scenes featurette on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol shows Cruise doing just that, under the director of animation-master-turned-live-action-action-director Brad Bird.  It's thoroughly ridiculous – and I mean that in the most impressive way possible – to see how casually Cruise dangling and jumping in a scenario that looks pretty thoroughly terrifying to any sensible person.

Paramount Pictures has released a new official poster for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, complete with Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg looking debonair with Dubai in the background, reminding us that Ethan Hunt will indeed dangle from the Burj Khalifa tower during the course of the sequel.

In August, a promotional image provided a template for what would be revealed in September as the first official poster, with both featuring Cruise glowering seriously out from beneath a hoodie.  Basically, the latter was the former, but closer-up on Cruise's face and with some code-like text running throughout.  Earlier this month, an IMAX-specific poster broke from the pattern by showing Cruise in one of the film's vertiginous action scenes shot in IMAX.  Now, we've got Ethan back in a hood, but this time, he's got company.

What, other than the obvious qualifiers such as filmmaking talent and skill, differentiates a loving, well executed homage like Shaun of the Dead from insipid nonsense like Vampires Suck or Epic Movie?  Last week, the first real trailer for The Avengers debuted online and was promptly watched a bajillion times by excited fans the world over, and a two minute video released this week can help answer that question.  The video is a fanmade, no-budget shot-for-shot recreation of the Avengers trailer; it's compulsively watchable and a whole mess off fun because Bryan Harley and his cohorts made it with love, even if there is no small amount of tongue in cheek humor involved.  For their faithful backyard rendition of that trailer, the makers of the sweded The Avengers trailer are our Rogues of the Week.

Synopsis: Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures "Marvel's The Avengers"--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's The Avengers" 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's The Avengers" assemble in summer 2012. In "Marvel's The Avengers," superheroes team up to pull the world back from the brink of disaster when an unexpected enemy threatens global security.

Since Marvel Studios announced that the first official teaser trailer for the biggest cinematic superhero team-up ever attempted would debut on Tuesday, odds are that plenty of folks have been counting down the days on one hand.  Well, it's Tuesday, and Marvel has obliged with the teaser for The Avengers in all its superheroic glory.  The trailer gives a good sense of Tom Hiddleston as Loki being thoroughly villainous, but predictably doesn't reveal the nature of the movie's larger threat.  While we get looks at every member of the SHIELD-assembled team, it's definitely Robert Downey Jr.'s trailer; next to Nick Fury, he gets almost all the lines.  This makes perfect sense, as Iron Man's the most established in Marvel Studios' stable, and it appears he's also the team member who causes the most friction.

Over the last week, we've seen plenty of official content from The Avengers getting rolled out, such as Marvel-approved stills of the superteam in action.  As for actual sanctioned footage of the film, though, that's limited to the post-credits teaser that followed Captain America: The First Avenger, which was a rapid-fire montage of images oh-so briefly showing off the likes of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Bruce Banner.  While that was basically an exceedingly-teasery teaser trailer, it looks like the first bona-fide trailer for The Avengers is set grace maonitors everywhere on Tuesday, just five days from now.