Detailed Description Of The Avengers D23 Footage; More Details Revealed!

The footage began with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in prison on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) addresses Loki through the clear panels of the cage: "In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, you so much as tap on the glass..." Fury then flicks a switch and the floor of the cage almost completely drops away, revealing a 30,000 foot drop to certain doom (or as certain as doom can be with someone like Loki).

Loki simply observes, "It's an impressive cage", and he notes that it was clearly built for someone else. Fury says that it was - it was built for someone even stronger than him. Loki knows they're talking about the Hulk, calling him a mindless beast and wondering how desperate Fury must be to ally himself with the likes of such a creature. At this point we see all the various personnel who are listening into this conversation, including Hulk's human alter ego Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders).

Loki wonders what it must feel for Fury to have been so close to wielding the power of the Cosmic Cube, and how devastating it must be for all that to have slipped away. Fury accuses Loki of talking about peace and then killing for fun, and he tells Loki, "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Loki asks him what it must be like to be in the presence of real power - to which Fury simply replies, "Let me know if real power wants a magazine or something", and walks away from the cage. The Avengers look at the prisoner on the video monitors, as Bruce Banner caustically observes, "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

The footage then shows a bunch of action sequences, including a fighter jet flying over a city, an explosive truck chase, and - most intriguingly - a shot of Captain America and Thor apparently fighting each other, with Thor about to bring the hammer down on Cap's shield. All the while, we hear Nick Fury explain the mission statement of the Avengers: "There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable, to see if they could become more. To fight the battles we never could."

But the most epic exchange comes at the end, as Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is behind a bar counter, mixing himself a drink. He describes his teammates: "Let's do a head count. We've got a couple master assassins, a demigod, and a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend" - that'd be Black Widow and Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America. It's then that we learn Stark is talking to Loki: "And you, big fella, have managed to piss off every single one of them."

To this, Loki responds, "I have an army." Stark's eminently quotable and awesome response? "We have a Hulk." We then see the Hulk roar, and the footage ends. While it's still early days - indeed, filming is still two weeks from completion - this is looking very, very good so far.

While much of the plot remains under wraps (look for an EW cover story next month to reveal First Look photos and exclusive details of the story), D23 attendees got to see snippets of two tense scenes between Nick Fury and Loki, and Iron Man alter-ego Tony Stark and the god-gone-wild.

The first sequence featured an imprisoned (or is he still somehow in control?) Loki, locked in a cylindrical glass and steel cell on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. hellicarrier.

“You try to escape you so much as scratch that glass …” Fury says, throwing a switch that opens a gaping vortex into a gray rainstorm. “30,000 feet, straight down in a steel trap.”

Loki smiles. “It’s an impressive cage, but not built for me.”

“Built for something a lot stronger than you,” Fury snaps back.

We cut to Smulders’ Agent Maria Hill watching the exchange on a monitor. The cage is meant for Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) when he Hulks out and needs a time-out. Loki seems to know all about this, and smirks: “How desperate are you, to call on such lost creatures to defend you?”

“How desperate am I?” Fury growls. “You threaten my world with war. You steel a force you can’t control. You talk about peace, but you kill because its fun… ”
Loki is unaffected. “It burns you to be so close,” he says. “To have the tesseract (that cosmic cube from Odin’s court that was the source of all the fighting in Captain America). To have power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share.” Loki’s smile fades: “Allow me to remind you of what real power is.”

Fury waves him off and descends some steel steps, leaving Loki alone in the empty chamber. “Well, let me know if ‘Real Power’ wants a magazine or something.”

Loki glowers at a camera monitoring him, and the movie cuts to Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner. “He really grows on you doesn’t he?”

The second scene is a conversation between Tony Stark and Loki, apparently… in Stark’s private bar? In any case, Tony’s having a drink.

“Let’s do a head count,” Stark says, as the camera cuts to shots of Renner and Johansson as Hawkeye and Black Widow. “Two world class assassins …”

Cut to Thor: “A demigod …”

Cut to Captain America: “A living legend who actually lives up to the legend …”
Now we’re back with Loki and Stark: “And you, big fella!” Stark says. “You’ve managed to piss off every single one of them!”

“I have an army,” Loki snarls.

Stark gets right in the villainous god’s face. “We have a Hulk.”

Boom! Commence cheering!