Disney’s The Avengers is, by many standards, a successful film. In its honor, we present a number of interesting Avengers-related facts.
- The Avengers is projected to have larger total gross ticket sales than any previous film (according to Barks Brothers, an almost unbelievable one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-one cents).
- According to an accountant we met who was wearing Mickey Mouse ears, the opening-weekend earnings for The Avengers came as no surprise to Disney. As he puts it, “The opening weekend for The Avengers was approximately equal to the total of the opening weekends of The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, which is exactly what you’d expect.”
- Although there will not be any Avengers-related theme-park attractions at Walt Disney World (Universal Studios owns the rights to all Marvel properties in the state of Florida, which is why an alternate version of The Avengers is showing in that state), Disney California Adventure is revamping a currently unused building to rush the opening of a new “Who Wants to be an Avenger?” game show.
- For the British release of the film, Natasha Romanoff was renamed Emma Peel.
- Captain America is the oldest of the Avengers, but he was made to look young through the use of CGI.
- Hawkeye’s character’s name is a nod to director Joss Whedon’s love for the old M*A*S*H television show.
- Tom Hiddleston revealed that his performance as Loki was in part inspired by his earlier performance as Mr. John Plumptre in Miss Austen Regrets.
- The Hulk’s roar is an audio combination of the roars of Lou Ferrigno and Thurl Ravenscroft.
- Samuel L. Jackson — who played Nick Fury — came up with the idea of having “giant mother-effing alien robot snakes invade this mother-effing plane of existence.”
- In a scene that ended up on the cutting-room floor, Thor is seen casually dressed in an MC Hammer t-shirt (in the same way that Captain America is seen in the film wearing a Jimmy Buffett shirt).
- As of Wednesday, the Iron Man theme song (“Iron Man, Iron Man, does whatever an iron can”) is the #1 download on iTunes.
- Iron Man’s computer JEEVES is voiced by Stephen Fry.
- The character Black Widow has been directly responsible for more divorces, breakups, and truncated dates than any other character in film history.
- In a post-credits scene, comic-book legend Stan Lee has a cameo as Thanos.
- The success of the film has ensured that there will be a sequel. The Avengers Down Under will be released in 2015.
Tags: Avengers