The summer movie season is basically over, but if you still need a shot of superhero adrenaline, Marvel has got you covered, as they drop their record-breaking "The Avengers" on home video next month with a boatload of extras. And that material continues to make its way online and after a deleted scene featuring Mark Ruffalo and Harry Dean Stanton, another with Loki and Hawkeye and a gag reel, now comes an alternate opening to the movie itself. And it's a bit of a downer.
This version has Joss Whedon's film kicking off with a glimpse of a ravaged Manhattan after the "Tesseract event," with Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) filing a report about what happened, and sounding off about Nick Fury and his reckless ways. There's a sorta 9/11-ish vibe from the start, and it's a bit of a dour way to start the film which in general doesn't fit with Marvel's more broadly appealing approach. It also seems to set up a flashback format which wouldn't have jibed well, at least with the version of the movie we saw in theaters.
Give it a spin below. "The Avengers" hits home video on September 25th.
