Watch: Heroes face the enemy and each other in new ‘Avengers’ trailer

It’s here, true believers. With the release of Marvel’s “The Avengers” only two months away, the marketing machine is heading for the home stretch. The new poster popped up yesterday, and now we have a brand new trailer, unleashed this morning on Apple, to further whet fans’ appetites.

We knew that in the film, The Avengers — Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) — would be up against Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and there have been rumors of Skrull (or at least Skrull-like) aliens, but just what exactly are they fighting in the last shot? Between that entity’s look and the slick, slo-mo ka-booms at the beginning of the clip, this really is starting to resemble a Michael Bay flick. But it’s hard not to get excited when the teams forms a defensive circle amid the rubble of the battlefield.

The new trailer explores a bit more of the team dynamic. In a scene in the woods, Iron Man and Cap both take turns fighting Thor. Either he is under some sort of Loki spell, as previously suggested, or Dr. Banner is right when he says, “This isn’t a team…it’s a timebomb.” The Hulk effects are looking pretty top-notch, especially the eye-popping scene where the not-so-jolly green giant catches Iron Man in mid-air and uses the side of a building to break their fall. Banner (the always-dependable Marvel newcomer Ruffalo) also gets a brief shot in which he meets Cap, and a nicely awkward minute alone with Black Widow, who doesn’t get much to do in the new trailer as far as action goes.

The action is mostly reserved for Hulk and flying heroes Iron Man and Thor, although we see Hawkeye and Cap temporarily airborne as well. The only problem is that so much of the effects-heavy action looks to be interchangeable with a dozen other movies from the past year or so.

Interestingly, for a Joss Whedon film, there seems to be little humor, save for a few Tony Stark/Iron Man lines. Likewise, Jackson seems to be getting all the heavy, dramatic dialogue, especially in his brief scene with Loki, who appears to have the public bowing at his feet. It’s scenes like that that will hopefully help further invest fan interest in the characters, in order to render the big, climactic NYC-set battle more interesting.

“The Avengers” opens in 3D May 4.

What do you think of the trailer? Grade it at the top of the story.

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