At San Diego Comic-Con this year, the traditional go-to event for studios to showcase and tease their upcoming major projects, Marvel Studios was noticeably absent. They didn't avoid the place entirely of course - that would cause a riot - but they did not host a panel presentation to talk about and show off The Avengers and other upcoming film projects, a major disappointment after bringing the entire cast on stage last year.

Instead, Marvel stuck to the show floor, handed out The Avengers character posters and brought some of the cast in to do signings for the fans. Next week, New York Comic-Con will be the place where Joss Whedon unveils his movie to the fans with new footage and the first ever full official trailer for The Avengers, a trailer which has just released online.

 

Our first look at The Avengers came attached as the post-credits "button" at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, which acted as a brief teaser to the ultimate comic book movie team-up. Then in August, Disney brought a panel and footage to their D23 event, much to the dismay of con goers who were hoping to see that same panel a month earlier in San Diego. This footage introduced the team members of The Avengers and gave a lot of screen time to Loki, our favorite antagonist from Thor, but much was held back in regards to the other villains of the film, the extra-terrestrial ones we keep hearing about.

Outside of revealing photos from the set of The Avengers which have become the main source of news headlines for the project, our last official look at The Avengers came attached to the Captain America Blu-ray release in a special featured titled 'The Road to The Avengers" which featured very brief scenes intermixed with interviews with cast and crew.

You've met Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk before and we've seen what they're capable of when put to the test. We've even been introduced to some of their friends in Black Widow and Hawkeye. But never have they faced an opponent such as this and never have they been forced to work together for a greater cause - watch and enjoy:

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Watch the high-res version at Apple.com.

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Visually it looks great and there are elements of Michael Bay all over some of the slow-motion city destruction scenes. Like the previous footage, the trailer acts as a teaser, focusing on brief snippets of the heroes and Loki, but holding back any reveals of the other villains of the film.

Here's a gallery of screen grabs from the trailer for you to scrutinize:

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The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston and Stellan Skarsgard. It is of course written and directed by Joss Whedon, opening in theaters on May 4, 2012.

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Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Source: Apple