Notes on 'The Avengers' Blu-ray

I finally got the chance to watch the recently released The Avengers Blu-Ray Disc (released on Sept. 25) and this is my 4th viewing of the film (5th counting the viewing of the disc’s commentary track.) I’m still amazed at how tightly the film’s narrative is wrapped and how well this movie was made on so many levels. It truly is the greatest superhero movie ever made and I wanted to share a few of the things I learned after sitting through both the movie (again) and the commentary by director Joss Whedon – as well as all of the special features included on the disc.

While lackadaisically waiting for the credits to finish scrolling, so I could see the hilarious “Shawarma” scene at the end of the movie, I noticed a name I recognized slowly slide by. I hit the remote and reversed to see that sure enough, Jenny Agutter was in The Avengers. Now you may ask, “Who is Jenny Agutter?” She played the female lead, Jessica-6, in the science-fiction classic Logan’s Run, back in 1976. She was on the “run” from the Sandmen, together with actor Michael York (Logan). In The Avengers she is easy to miss because she plays one of the silhouetted World Security Council members that you see Nick Fury arguing with on a couple of occasions. Powers Boothe (Sin City) also plays one of the Council members.

Joss Whedon took great pleasure in knocking the Norse gods completely out of frame. I never noticed when originally watching the film, but on at least 3 occasions Thor and Loki are suddenly and without warning pulled, pushed or punched completely off of the screen and Whedon mentions in his commentary how much fun he had doing this with those characters.

There was an extended sequence regarding Steve Rogers (Captain America) that was deleted from the final cut of the film, but it is included in the special features on the disc. The scenes are a lead-in to the Rogers character and depict a lonely and isolated man who is out of touch with the new world he finds himself in. I can imagine the upcoming sequel to the Captain America solo movie will probably have a similar intro of some type, but it was fun to see this deleted footage from The Avengers.

If you ever wondered what happened to all of the alien weapons that surely littered the streets of New York City after Loki’s Chitauri Army was defeated … well the Avengers Blu-ray disc has a short film, a “Marvel One-Shot,” called Item 47, that shows what happened with at least one of the alien blasters. This is a very fun little epilogue to the film and a great original addition to this disc.

I absolutely loved The Avengers, but watching it on disc made me realize that half the fun was seeing this film together with a big audience that was “into it.” The movie still holds up on the TV screen of your living room, but nothing will ever beat the uncontrolled euphoria induced by seeing Loki rag-dolled by the Hulk on the big screen with hundreds of people who were just as excited as I was.

Read more of Nerdvana’s extensive Avengers coverage: