There's a hoary old legend, famous in fanboy circles, that sometime in the spring of 1961 Martin Goodman, publisher of tiny, struggling Marvel Comics played a friendly round of golf with some of his rivals over at DC. No one remembers who won on the links, but allegedly Goodman got a chapped ass from hearing the DC brass boast about how great the sales numbers on their new Justice League of America book, which teamed up old faves like Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, with newer versions of Green Lanten, etc. Goodman's response was to haul his frazzled young editor Stanley Lieber (Stan Lee), and charged him with creating a superhero book of their own, to pair with the lineup of goofy giant monster titles they were know for at the time. Lee took the challenge,and alongside brilliant artist Jack Kirby, created? The Fantastic Four. But that book was such a smash, that it ignited a superhero explosion, and a year later , Marvel's heavy hitters like Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk; were lumped together in The Avengers #1 (Sept 1963)

Well, it only took 48 years, but Marvel has finally gotten a jump on the competition, and assembled the starts of numerous summer comic book movie franchises, into one ginormous, mega epic popcorn blockbuster, destined overwhelm us marketing overload, and with the raw power of media hype, come May 4th 2011

This brand spanking new, snazzy trailer gives us a hint of what spandex insanity director Joss Wheedon will be bringing to the multiplex masses next spring. We enjoyed the snappy patter dropped by Robert Downey's snarky, badass party boy Tony Stark, and seeing the destruction wrought upon downtown Cleveland, which would have been Detroit, if our brave film incentive forces hadn't been defeated by the evil, penny pinching governor.

Face front true Believers!