1. Whedon Ain't Stinting on the Spectacle
For most of his career, from Buffy to Serenity, Whedon has had to find inventive ways to realize his vision with a limited budget and resources. That's clearly not the case with The Avengers, which is rumored to cost in the $150 million range and that money is immediately obvious in the trailer, which opens with a shot of a city street going up in flames and closes with the all CG-Hulk doing one of his patented Hulk-outs. In between there's lots of nifty shots of our heroes flying, fighting and using their various patented weapons, from Thor's hammer to Hawkeye's bow and arrow to the Black Widow's heart-stopping skintight uniform. Heck, the tab for just one of these set-pieces could probably have funded an entire sixth season of Angel.

2. RDJ Is Still Bringing the Funny
The prospect of noted quipster Whedon scribbling one-liners for Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark is one of the things that has us most psyched for The Avengers. We got a preview of some of those bon mots in the trailer, from Stark's verbal sparring with Captain America to his meet-and-greet with Bruce Banner (now played by Mark Ruffalo). In fact, Downey nabbed more lines here than any of his co-stars besides Sam Jackson's Nick Fury... no doubt because, when it comes to box office at least, Iron Man is more powerful than both Captain America and Thor.

3. Scarlett Johansson Is Going to Have a Real Role This Time, They Swear
After mainly serving as a glorified cameo in Iron Man 2, the prominent placement of Johansson's Black Widow in this trailer suggests that she's got a meatier storyline this time around. (Certainly, if anyone knows how to write and direct strong female heroes, it's Whedon.) It's a shame she doesn't actually get a chance to speak here -- neither do her co-stars Jeremy "Hawkeye" Renner and Chris "Thor" Hemsworth -- but maybe that'll happen in the next wave of trailers.

4. Loki Has Acquired a Major Power Boost
Since his expulsion from Asgard, Thor's duplicitous step-brother (played by Tom Hiddleston) has clearly spent some time in the gym, showing off some killer moves (as well as several powerful new weapons) that he didn't have on hand when he battled the Norse god the first time. The trailer doesn't hint at the source for Loki's upgraded arsenal, so in the interests of not completely spoiling the uninitiated, let's just say that these gifts are alien in nature.

5. Bring It On
The worst thing about the trailer? The fact that it reminds us we still have half a year to wait until the movie's actual release date. If we could choose any superpower, right now we'd choose the ability to speed up time.

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