The Avengers 2

‘Avengers 2’ graced the cover of Empire Magazine this month, and while there are two covers featuring new looks at Ultron and the team’s new lineup, it’s something on the inside of this issue that caught our attention. Director Joss Whedon spoke to Empire and dropped this bomb: “I’ve come to the conclusion that Ultron is right. The Avengers need to die.”

In case you hadn’t heard, the new ‘Avengers 2’ trailer is here. If you haven’t yet, you should watch it—it’s quite entertaining. If you have already, good you’re in the right place. We’ve gone through this trailer a few times and pulled out some of the more interesting elements to dissect and discuss. We’re not literally going to screencap every single moment (no one needs to see a shot of Tony Stark walking with our commentary of, “Here’s Tony Stark walking…”), just the ones that need highlighting and could reveal some things about the secrets of ‘Avengers 2’. Ready? (Spoilers ahead, obviously.)

The last ‘Avengers 2’ trailer was pretty fantastic, but like all good teases, it left us wanting more. One cannot subside on a single Hulkbuster GIF alone! Well today our Marvel overlords have granted us the sweet release we so desperately need in a brand new ‘Avengers 2’ trailer and it was well worth the wait.

Jeremy Renner would not make a very good spy. The guy can’t keep his mouth shut! If you’re doing something secretive, you’re supposed to keep quiet about it. But earlier today Renner teased something he’s doing for Marvel as Hawkeye, the master archer of the Avenger. And, really, Renner should know better because he works for S.H.I.E.L.D. (and as Jason Bourne’s replacement in ‘The Bourne Legacy’!)

A new ‘Avengers 2’ trailer is coming in less than a week (airing on January 12 during the College Football National Championship on ESPN) and when it arrives we’ll start to know a little bit more about the very secretive plot. As a little tease before the new trailer, we have a new photo from the film that gives us some insight as to how the Avengers deal with Ultron’s nefarious plot.

As major movie productions keep on getting more secretive, even the best laid plans keep on getting foiled by one thing: merchandising. Yes, hide you costumes and characters and plot points all you want, because when the toys arrive, all bets are off! The latest casualty in this very silly war is Iron Man’s new armor (the Mark XLIII), which was supposedly going to make its debut at some point in ‘Avengers 2’ but can now be clearly seen, examined, and salivated over in toy form.

Everyone has assumed that, at some point towards the end of this current Marvel Cinematic Universe, the paths of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers would cross. Yes, one superhero team is busy protecting Earth, and the other occupied in outer space, it makes too much sense to not have them meet up in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ right? Never mind the “it makes sense” part, we just really want this to happen. Well, we might never happen according to ‘Guardians’ director James Gunn who warns fans about making such assumptions.

The ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ trailer just premiered online last week, but if you’re already starved for new footage (and, who could blame you after that teaser), we’ve got word on when you can see the next ‘Star Wars’ trailer. The bad news is you’re going to have to wait a while. The good news is, you were going to see ‘Avengers 2’ anyway, so now you have the added bonus of seeing a new ‘Star Wars: Episode 7' trailer before Iron Man and Captain America start punching on some evil robots.

Much was made about how the ‘Avengers 2' trailer broke online viewing records for 2014, shattering the previous record by ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. But, records were made to be broken and it took just over a month for the ‘Avengers 2’ trailer to be surpassed, not surprisingly by the ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ trailer, which, if it keeps up at its current pace, could set the all-time record for trailer views.

‘Avengers 2’ director is reassembling almost his entire cast for two weeks in January to film reshoots for ‘Age of Ultron’ and this, in and of itself, is not particularly interesting. It used to be that reshoots were indicative of a larger problem—”the movie isn’t working, so we need to go back and fix it”—but that simply isn’t the case anymore. Every big-budget blockbuster budgets time and money for reshoots into the original production schedule these days. But, what’s interesting in the case of ‘Avengers 2' isn’t that they’re filming something, it’s what they’re filming and who is involved.

When the 'Avengers 2' trailer leaked online almost a week ahead of its planned debut during an episode of 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.', Marvel made light of the issue, joked about Hydra being responsible and, wisely, just uploaded an HD copy and let the leak continue. But, that doesn't mean behind closed doors that Marvel wasn't very upset and very concerned. The studio is moving aggressively to track and catch the person responsible for the leak.

For the past two weeks, there has been a deluge of 'Avengers 2' footage - clips, trailers, extended trailers, future trailers! - and we were promised one last reveal last night. While 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' had the night off, ABC ran the Marvel TV special 'From Pulp to Pop,' which looked at the history of Marvel and Marvel Studios. It was mostly a rah-rah, pat-yourself-on-the-back kinda deal, but if you stuck around to the end, we not only got a look at 'Avengers 2' but also our first look at 'Ant-Man' footage.