People have been pretty impressive with the camera the iPhone 4S is packing, but some of those people are influential enough and in the right station in life to show just how impressive the camera is. According to TiPb, Seamus McGarvey, cinematographer director for the upcoming Marvel romp, The Avengers, shot some footage for the film using the iPhone 4S, and the footage was good enough to leave in the film. Not only that, but the footage filmed with the iPhone 4S appears in the trailer as well.

The beauty of photography or cinema is that you make every choice based on the content at hand. On The Avengers, I did a couple of shots on the iPhone and they are in the movie. In fact, they are in the trailer! I understand that sometimes there is no choice and you have to go for the cheapest option, but if you are limited for choice, you can still make poignant decisions that will effect the look of the film.

Check out the trailer after the jump and see if you can spot the footage.

A group of comics fans going under the YouTube username of AvengersWeb have put together a series of videos (so far three) where the Avengers themselves sort through the thorniest issues of the day. First on the docket? Health Care Reform.

Not exactly an easy thing to work through when your empoloyees are citizens, non-citizens, and gods; some of them not only qualify for Medicare but were around when it was created; and pre-existing conditions include things like gamma radiation, alcoholism, and cryogenic freezing.

At least, somewhere, Spider-Man is excited about student loan reform, and Wolverine, as always, gets the best punchline. Watch it below.

Joss Whedon, as you may be aware, is not only writing and directing the Avengers movie, he has also been given the script of Captain America: The First Avenger for editing.

In an interview with Earth’s Mightest, he explained what that actually means:

Mark Ruffalo is a fantastic actor — most recently in Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right — but that doesn’t make his usurpation of Edward Norton‘s Hulk role for the upcoming Joss Whedon-directed adaptation of The Avengers any less unfortunate. In an interview with the NY Post, Ruffalo said, “We feel like it’s our generation’s Hamlet, and we’re all going to get a crack it.” As for smoothing any patches with his friend Norton, he noted, “We’re copacetic; we’re cool.” Looks like Ruffalo is already taking Marvel’s Shakespearean pedigree seriously. David Mamet provides an excellent definition and etymology of “copacetic” here. [NYP; pic via adherents]

Like usual, the first 15,000 tickets to San Diego Comic Con 2011 come with a pass to attend Preview Night (a four hour block full of retailers and presenters that takes place on Wednesday night, the day before the con opens). Those 15,000 full weekend tickets go on sale during Comic Con, and last year they sold out in October.

This year, they were gone by the end of the weekend. Wondering why? We decided to take a look at some movie schedules.

We can’t all be at Comic Con. I mean, think of the overcrowding! And so for all of us who graciously refrained from attending so that everyone else might be more comfortable, here’s the footage of the Marvel Studio’s panel, where the entire cast of The Avengers debuted with their director, Joss Whedon.

Let the poster photoshopping begin!

It wouldn’t be Comic Con with out some major news about the big bad comic book movies coming out in the next couple of years, and this year Marvel is ruling the roost. When it’s not displaying the throne of Odin for anyone to get their picture taken on, it’s letting Joss Whedon do what he does best:

Get people excited.

Spinoff Online has a provocative article chronicling Marvel Studio‘s frequent clashes with its talent, not only asking whether this policy is intentional, but whether it will become a problem for the studio later on.

The most recent manifestation of this trend is of course the outright dismissal of Edward Norton from the cast of The Avengers, despite a performance as Bruce Banner that was motivated by a real personal love for the character. Other examples include Terrence Howard being replaced for Iron Man 2, and Samuel L. Jackson nearly walking from the same production over salary arguments.

According to Hitfix‘s Marvel sources, the House That Stan Built is not going to ask Edward Norton to reprise his role as the Hulk for The Avengers, and will instead be casting an unknown in the role. This has confused many people who have been following Marvel’s ambitious project of injecting universe continuity into its movies, because, by all accounts, Norton was very interested in the role.

From Hitfix:

I sat down with Norton at SXSW this year, and one of the things we discussed was this exact scenario. At the time, he seemed to me to be interested in being part of “The Avengers” if the script and the director came together in an interesting way.

[Joss] Whedon‘s been meeting the cast, laying out his plans for the film, and so far everyone seems incredibly excited by what they’re hearing. One of the people who Whedon met with was Norton, and I’d love to know what they talked about. What I do know is that both Whedon and Norton reported their enthusiasm back to Marvel, and according to some calls I made today, it even sounds like Norton was making serious plans with his agency to keep his dates clear.

Read on...

Robert Downey, Jr. went out to buy some comics the other day and was captured in the act by people with cameras. This is not normally something we’d spend a lot of discussion on, but there was one picture in particular that caught our eye.

One that reminded us of the days when we found comic stores somewhat overwhelming, but at the same time desperately didn’t want anyone to think we needed help.

This one: