8 Things We Learned at ‘The Avengers’ Panel at New York Comic Con

For the last ten minutes I’ve been trying to think of a clever way to open this piece other than “The Avengers assembled Saturday night at New York Comic Con,” but I couldn’t. So that’s what’s you get: The Avengers assembled Saturday night at New York Comic Con and, yes, Moviefone (i.e. me) was there. Well, at least some of The Avengers – which included Chris Evans, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston, Cobie Smulders, unannounced guest Mark Ruffalo, and Marvel head Kevin Feige. But! The big draw: New footage! Which I will do my best to describe to you here, as well as share with you the eight things we learned at ‘The Avengers’ panel at New York Comic Con.

New Footage: Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner Hasn’t Turned Into the Hulk in Two Years

The majority of the new footage focused on Ruffalo’s non-Hulkish Bruce Banner. Banner is hiding out somewhere in the Middle East (I think) and is approached by a local child who asks Banner to tend to her sick parent. That was a ruse. When Banner arrives at the child’s home, Scarlett Johansson’s Agent Romanov appears and explains to Banner that Nick Fury really needs Banner to come in. It’s during this exchange that we learn that Banner hasn’t had “an incident” in two years. At one point Banner screams at Romanov! Still no Hulk! (In a later scene, Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark tests his luck with Banner, too, with no Hulk.) It seems that Banner is much more in control of his alter ego these days. After, this led into a montage of clips that ends with the much-ballyhooed Tony Stark, “We have a Hulk” scene that was shown at D23 back in August and a sorta bitchy confrontation between Captain America and Stark — “Is everything a joke to you?” asks Cap’, “Funny things are,” answers Stark.

Chris Evans Really Didn’t Look Like He Wanted to be at New York Comic Con

And, to be fair, when he’s asked questions like, “Do you have a favorite between The Human Torch and Captain America,” it’s hard to blame him. Affable enough, but wearing a baseball cap pulled low (that drew the ire of the crowd at times), Evans picked Captain America. Of course, considering that Evans openly trashes ‘Fantastic Four,’ this isn’t too big of a surprise. What was a surprise is that he compared Cap’ and Human Torch to two of his children and that it’s hard to choose between two children. Um, sure.

Clark Gregg Is Taken For Granted by Pretty Much Everyone at Marvel

During the panel, Gregg shared his surprise that his role as Agent Coulson in the first ‘Iron Man” led to a larger role in ‘Iron Man 2.’ And when he asked Kevin Feige why, in the second film, it was so urgent that his character had to go to New Mexico, it was then that he was told, “Oh, you are in ‘Thor.” And it was equally as much of an “in passing” moment when he was told that he would be in ‘The Avengers.’ Come on, Marvel, you could at least ask Clark Gregg if he wants to be in these movies? I mean, yeah, he probably does and it’s probably in his contract – but it’s always nice to be asked. (Like when my editor asked, “Hey, want to cover the ‘The Avengers’ at Comic Con on your one day off this week?” I said “yes!” I really had no choice, but it’s nice to be asked!) Later Gregg sang what he feels should be ‘The Avengers’ theme song. Also, of anyone associated with ‘The Avengers,’ personally, I’d love to hang out with Clark Gregg. He seems so nice!

Edward Norton Feels Hamlet and Hulk are Similar Characters

At least, according to Norton, when you consider the amount of actors who have played both. Ruffalo, who is good friends with Norton, relayed Norton’s quip that Hulk is our generation’s Hamlet, now that he, Ruffalo and Eric Bana have all played the character over the last eight years. Also, when discussing his personal take on the character, Ruffalo coined the term, “Ruffalized.”

Mark Ruffalo is the First Actor to Play Both Bruce Banner and Hulk

Meaning that in the last two movies, Bana and Norton had nothing to do with Hulk’s mannerisms once the CGI took over. And, of course, Bill Bixby’s Banner became Lou Ferrigno’s Hulk. For ‘The Avengers,’ Ruffalo wore a CGI suit to bring life to what would become Hulk.

Kevin Feige refers to ‘Iron Man 3’ as “Phase 2” and There Will be an After Credits Scene

When the subject of a third Iron Man movie was brought up, Feige referred to the project as the first part of a “Phase 2” for Marvel. Meaning that the individual hero movies will, like we’re seeing now, eventually lead to a second Avengers movie. Also, a fan asked if there will be a n after credits scene, to which the moderator joked, “Why don’t you just ask what happens at the end of the movie?” Feige answered by spouting off some nonsense about continuing traditions, which is code for “yes, there will be a scene after the credits.”

The Ladies Love Tom Hiddleston

Once the floor was opened for fan questions, pretty much every single question was directed at the film’s villain, Hiddleston – as were most of the catcalls. Come to think of it, most of the male contingents’ questions were directed at Hiddleston, too. So, yes, everyone loves Tom Hiddleston. This became such a problem, at one point, the moderator asked that people please ask someone other than Hiddleston a question — which the fans ignored.

Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth Like to Talk About Muscles When They Are Out Drinking

Hiddleston (while answering one of the 200 questions directed at him) relayed that on a drunken night on the town in Albuquerque, while the rest of the cast was dancing up a storm at an Albuquerque nightclub, Evans and Hemsworth were chatting in the corner, talking about triceps. Also, Gregg relayed that on this very night, Evans put the night out in motion by sending a text that read, “assemble.” Cute.