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(#1) The Shawarma Post-Credits Scene Was A Last-Minute Addition
At one point, Iron Man crashes in front of a restaurant called Shawarma Palace, and it must have given him a craving for Mediterranean food. In a post-credits scene, the Avengers relax at the restaurant, but it wasn't in the original script. The cast and crew filmed the scene quickly a day after the global premiere.
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(#2) Robert Downey Jr. Hid Food All Over The Lab Set
You must work up quite an appetite being a superhero, and Robert Downey Jr. definitely did on the set of The Avengers. The actor reportedly hid food throughout the lab set of the movie. When you see him offer a snack he was munching on, it wasn't scripted.
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(#3) Hawkeye Is Ambidextrous But Jeremy Renner Is Not
In the comics, Hawkeye is usually ambidextrous, which means he's proficient with both his right and left hands. In real life, actor Jeremy Renner is left-handed. Still, you can see Renner shoot right-handed in Thor.
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(#4) Mark Ruffalo's Hulk Was The First Big-Screen Hulk Created By Motion Capture
Mark Ruffalo's performance as the Hulk in The Avengers was the first time an actor used motion capture to portray the character. On the TV show from the '70s and '80s, two different actors (Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno) played Banner and Hulk, respectively. In the big-screen versions, The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk, the green guy was key-frame animated.
The CGI Hulk body in The Avengers was modeled after bodybuilder Steve Romm, while the Hulk's face was modeled after Ruffalo.
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(#5) Chris Evans Doesn't Eat In The Post-Credits Scene Because He's Wearing A Fake Jaw
Did you ever wonder why Captain America isn't eating in the post-credits scene at a shawarma restaurant? It's because by the time this scene was shot, Chris Evans was filming Snowpiercer and refused to shave off his beard. Instead, the crew created a prosthetic jaw, but he was unable to eat or talk during the scene. This is also why he is covering his face with his fist.
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(#6) Joss Whedon Didn't Like Iron Man's Tinkerbell Pose
Director Joss Whedon reportedly didn't like Iron Man's "Tinkerbell" pose from the previous movies, so he insisted that his suit come equipped with a jet pack in The Avengers. This allowed Iron Man's hands to move freely and to strike some fun cowboy poses.
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(#7) Tony Stark Is A Black Sabbath Fan
Tony Stark can be seen wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt on the Hellicarrier. Black Sabbath is known for their song "Iron Man," and Stark quotes the lyrics of the song at the end of 2008's Iron Man when he says, "I am Iron Man."
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(#8) Joss Whedon Didn't Know What To Do With Thanos
Joss Whedon decided to include Marvel supervillain Thanos (Josh Brolin) in a post-credits scene, but he didn't have a plan for the character. “Honestly, I kind of hung [Thanos] out to dry,” Whedon told IGN. “I love Thanos. I love his apocalyptic vision, his love affair with death. I love his power. But, I don’t really understand it. He’s had a lot of power, and he was cool in the comics. And I’m like, Thanos is the ultimate Marvel villain! And then I was like, I don’t actually know what I would do with Thanos."
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(#9) Harry Dean Stanton Plays On His Classic Role In 'Alien'
When the Hulk crashes into an abandoned warehouse, the security guard, played by Harry Dean Stanton, asks, "Are you an alien?" This is likely a nod to Stanton's role in the sci-fi classic Alien.
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(#10) Tony Stark Is The Master Of Nicknames
Tony Stark assigns nicknames to Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor, and Hawkeye that are based on other movies. He calls them "Reindeer Games," "Point Break," and "Legolas" (from The Lord Of The Rings).
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(#11) TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno Contributed To The Voice Of The Hulk
Bodybuilder and actor Lou Ferrigno, who played the TV series The Incredible Hulk from 1977 to 1982, contributed to the voice of the Hulk in The Avengers. Sound editor Christopher Boyes said the voice is a combination of "Mark Ruffalo, some Lou Ferrigno, and a little bit of me and two people from New Zealand."
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(#12) The Monitor Setup On The Helicarrier Bridge Is Supposed To Resemble The S.H.I.E.L.D. Logo
In a commentary track on the DVD, Joss Whedon said the monitors on the bridge of the Helicarrier were arranged in a way to resemble the wings of the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo.
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(#13) Robert Downey Jr. Suggested The Gwyneth Paltrow Cameo
Joss Whedon originally didn't want any of the supporting characters from the individual Marvel superhero films to appear in The Avengers, but he changed his mind after Robert Downey Jr. insisted Gwyneth Paltrow appear as Pepper Potts.
"He really thought Gwyneth would bring something great to the table, and we all thought so as well," Whedon said. "But he was the one who convinced her to come and do it."
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(#14) Real Military Police Appeared During The Attack Of New York City
In a movie that relies on a ton of CGI, there's at least one very authentic element. During the Battle of New York, 25 members of the Ohio-based 391st Military Police Battalion served as extras.
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(#15) Samuel L. Jackson Makes His Fifth Appearance As Nick Fury
Although The Avengers marks the first time the entire team assembles, audiences had already seen plenty of one character. Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury for the fifth time after appearing (sometimes briefly) in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger.
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(#16) Pepper Potts Has Bare Feet For A Reason
Why is Pepper Potts walking around barefoot in Stark Tower? It's reportedly because Gwyneth Paltrow, who is 5'9", is slightly taller than Robert Downey Jr. Having Pepper be barefoot allowed Downey to appear taller.
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(#17) Tony Stark References An 'Avengers' Comic Tag Line
Tony Stark describes his team as "Earth's mightiest heroes," which is a phrase that's appeared in some form on the Avengers comic books since Marvel released the first issue in 1963.
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(#18) Hawkeye Was Originally Going To Be The Avenger Interrogated At The Beginning
When Joss Whedon signed on to direct, he made a lot of changes to the original script, and we see one of them almost immediately. Early in the movie, we see three men interrogating Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) while she's tied to a chair. Zak Penn, who wrote a draft of the script, said that was originally supposed to be Hawkeye.
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(#19) The Hulk Is Literally Under Pressure On The Hellicarrier
When Black Widow and Bruce Banner are blasted to a lower deck of the Hellicarrier, Banner begins to transform into the Hulk. If you look on the floor, you'll see: "Warning Contents Under Pressure" with small arrows that happen to be pointed at Banner.
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(#20) Joss Whedon Thought Introducing Ant-Man Would Be Confusing
Although Ant-Man is one of the founders of the Avengers in the comics, Whedon said there wasn't room for him in the movie. That's partly because it wasn't yet clear which version of the hero would enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the comics, scientist Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas in Ant-Man) is the original Ant-Man and ex-con Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) takes over later.
But with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner already in The Avengers, Whedon thought another scientist would be too much.
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(#21) The Chitauri Have Four Thumbs
According to 1000 Facts About Superhero Movies Vol. 3 by James Egan, the Chitauri have four thumbs (two on each hand) in order to give off an otherworldly vibe. You can see this up close when Loki is speaking with the Other.
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(#22) Stark Tower Stands Where The MetLife Building Should Be
The Stark Tower stands where the MetLife Building is located in New York City. The bottom third of Stark Tower retains the shape of the MetLife Building, but production designers digitally reimagined the top of the building.
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(#23) Agent Coulson's Death Scene Almost Earned The Movie An R Rating
It took Joss Whedon three tries to finally get a PG-13 rating instead of an R from the MPAA, and the death of Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) had a lot to do with it. Originally, we would've seen Loki's staff bursting through Coulson's chest, but Whedon made it less gruesome.
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(#24) It's Not The First Time Hulk and Thor Have Appeared On-Screen Together
While The Avengers features the meeting of Hulk and Thor in the MCU, the characters go way back. They were both in the 1988 TV movie The Incredible Hulk Returns (played by Lou Ferrigno and Eric Allan Kramer, respectively) and they've been in several animated flicks including 2006's Ultimate Avengers.
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(#25) One of Agent Coulson's Trading Cards Features Captain America's First Comic Book Appearance
No one has a man crush on Captain America like Agent Coulson does. He has a collection of vintage trading cards, and one of them features an iconic comic book cover. It shows Captain America punching out Adolf Hitler, and it comes directly from Captain America No. 1, released in 1941.
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(#26) Jane Foster Isn't In 'The Avengers'
Thor's leading lady Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is noticeably absent from The Avengers. After appearing in Thor and Thor: The Dark World, the character is only shown in a picture that flashes on-screen.
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(#27) Hulk Actors Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo Are Buds
Edward Norton played Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk) in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, and he was originally supposed to come back for The Avengers. But negotiations with Marvel Studios broke down and his close friend Mark Ruffalo took over. "The way I see it is that Ed has bequeathed this part to me," Ruffalo said. "I look at it as my generation’s Hamlet.
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(#28) Black Widow Replaced The Wasp
Although we didn't get formally introduced to The Wasp until 2018's Ant-Man And The Wasp, Evangeline Lilly appeared as her alter-ego Hope van Dyne three years earlier in Ant-Man. But we almost met her in The Avengers. Whedon said he wrote a draft of the movie that was about the character when producers weren't sure Scarlett Johansson would be aboard.
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(#29) Need More Marvel In Your Life?
Officially Licensed Marvel Collector's Chess Set
The Marvel Age of Comics 1961–1978. 40th Anniversary Edition
Womens Marvel Spider-Man Red Spider Logo V-Neck T-Shirt
Marvel Encyclopedia, New Edition with Introduction by Stan Lee
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