How many people do you think are going to get a copy of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers as a gift over the holidays? In fact, if you have a superhero fan in your family, it’s so easy to grab a DVD or Blu-ray of either The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man or Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises to make their holiday. And if you love Whedon’s blockbuster, the good news is that it's a gift that keeps on giving.
Comic-book artist Andy Park posted a ton of concept-art sketches for The Avengers to his personal website (unearthed by ComingSoon), helping to illustrate how costume, hair and makeup decisions were tested on paper before they were applied to Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson. Here’s a sample:
(PICTURES NO LONGER AVAILABLE HERE)
Click over to Park’s site to see the rest. My favorite of the bunch might be the Nick Fury design that’s a lot closer to the comic than the simple, sleek black trenchcoat costume Sam Jackson sports in Whedon’s film. As you can see, Park also helped mapped out such crucial moments as the Thanos reveal, and the Iron Man-Thor battle in the woods that helped solidify the team chemistry.
The team gets a chance to do it all over again … and soon. Whedon has already begun mapping out the steps that will take all of us to The Avengers 2, which is due in theaters in 2015. In fact, don’t be surprised if Park isn’t working up sketches for the sequel right now. Too bad he didn’t share those too.
