SFX Magazine has a preview for an article done for their magazine on their site talking to former 'Avengers' writer Zak Penn.
On what the character dynamic should be for The Avengers:
“When you look at what The Avengers should be, the kind of story you’re looking at is much more like The Magnificent Seven or The Dirty Dozen. Even the recent reboot of Star Trek I thought did a really good job of bringing a bunch of different characters together on a mission.”
How important the villain is the central plot of the film:
“In general the idea of ‘What would bring all these people together and how is that a problem?’ and ‘How are these people gonna work together?’ is what that story is about. But I can assure you that the movie will not be about Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and all the rest getting together to beat up some regular guy. It’s gonna be a big movie. The story is big.”
As said on the site, the full interview will be made available tomorrow when the magazine ships to stores.
Marvel's The Avengers will be in theaters May 2012