On the seventh day, Joss Whedon created The Avengers.  Marvel has released a new infographic movie timeline that highlights specific super-heroic instances in time and places them in the context of The Avengers and the individual movies that built up to it.  While The Avengers franchise no doubt revolves around Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, the new infographic has made him into a pseudo-Christ figure by demarcating the timeline with BIM (“Before Iron Man”) and AIM (“After Iron Man”).  While it’s true that Iron Man had more movies than the rest of The Avengers (excluding 2003′s Hulk, which the timeline wisely forgets), I’d much rather see the scenes relative to one Special Agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) or even the beloved Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg).  Hit the jump to check it out.

It’s upfronts week, and we’ve already gotten a look at the upcoming fall schedules for NBC, Fox, and ABC.  However, we’ve now got word on a couple of comic book series that weren’t on any of said schedules.  A Hulk television series has been in development at ABC for a while with Guillermo del Toro onboard as executive producer.  ABC president Paul Lee had this to say regarding Hulk:

“Hulk is in development.  It wasn’t going to be ready this season, but we hope it’s going to be ready for next season.”

With word that Marvel might be planning a new Hulk movie with Mark Ruffalo following the stellar reaction to the character/Ruffalo’s performance in The Avengers, many wondered what this meant for the TV series.  It sounds like ABC is very much still game for the show, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a Hulk movie is held until the studio sees how the TV series fares.  Hit the jump for more, including word on The Punisher TV series.

You can breathe a sigh of relief: The Avengers has finally hit theaters.  This means that: A) You’ve probably seen it; B) You no longer need fear the spoilers; C) You only have a bit of post-opening weekend marketing to suffer through and D) You can look forward to the summer’s other big releases.  As we look back on the last few months of The Avengers news, let us look further into the past to dig up some Public Service Announcements from yesteryear.  You’d think the history of Marvel Comics and cartoons would be littered with PSAs, but I found them to be a bit on the thin side.  Worry not, I’ve assembled the best Avengers PSAs of video and print that I could find.  Hit the jump to check them out and click here to see all of our previous PSA postings.

With The Avengers opening next weekend in North America, Marvel/Disney recently held a massive press junket in Los Angeles and I was able to interview most of the cast, director Joss Whedon, and Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios President).   Every day this week I’ll be posting a new video interview from the junket.  Yesterday was Tom Hiddleston (Loki), and today I’ve got Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk).

During the interview, Ruffalo talked about his reaction to reading The Avengers script for the first time, deleted scenes, and how funny the movie is.  In addition, Ruffalo revealed he signed a six picture deal with Marvel and he’s excited to keep making movies with them after seeing The Avengers.  Hit the jump to watch.

It’s officially Avengers week, and fans aplenty are counting down the hours until the midnight reveal of Joss Whedon’s superhero team-up pic on Thursday/Friday at midnight.  Not only is this the first time fans get to see all their favorite Marvel superheroes come together onscreen, but we’ll get our first look at Mark Ruffalo’s iteration of the Hulk.  Early word on the film has had many singling out Ruffalo’s performance, and the Hulk character in general, as one of the highlights of the film.

Most critics and fans have been singing high praises of Whedon’s take on the character, yet when Steve asked Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige if a new standalone Hulk movie was in the cards, Feige claimed there were no plans at the moment.  However, it appears the overwhelmingly positive reaction may have convinced Marvel to change their tune, because another studio exec recently said we might see a standalone Hulk flick as soon as 2015.  Hit the jump for more.

With Marvel and Disney’s The Avengers opening around the world in the coming weeks, last night was the world premiere in Hollywood and it was also the first time members of the press were shown the film.  As you may have already read on my Twitter feed, I loved it and think Joss Whedon delivered a movie that both fans and casual moviegoers are going to love.  Also, it’s really funny and it has the best action of any Marvel movie thus far.

Anyway, just an hour ago I got to sit down with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.  Since I already posted an in depth conversation with him when I visited the set of The Avengers last year, I decided to use my limited time to discuss Marvel’s future projects like Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, the Avengers sequel and whether Joss Whedon is signed to come back, what movies are coming in 2014 and 2015, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, if Marvel is making an animated movie, another Hulk movie, and so much more.  Hit the jump for more.

We’re inching closer towards the release of Marvel’s The Avengers and along the way, Marvel’s been dropping images, TV spots, and trailers from the film, with a couple of high-resolution images released a few days ago. While I think most would agree that the Super Bowl trailer was the best yet, many have been eager to get a really good look at the Hulk. Today, a clearer image of Angry Mark Ruffalo popped up via a screen grab from the extended trailer. Naturally, he looks a bit upset, but I think the CG here is done really well. The character was rendered using motion-capture so Hulk should have a pretty natural feel to him. Obviously the final word will come when we see him in extended sequences in the film, but this image is a good sign of things to come.

Hit the jump to check out the image. The film also stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, and Samuel L. Jackson.  The Avengers opens in 3D on May 4th.

Lou Ferrigno will always be tied to The Hulk.  It makes sense.  The former champion bodybuilder has played the character on and off since he first wore the green makeup in the 1977 TV film The Incredible Hulk and the series that followed from 1978-82.  The 58-year-old is set to lend his voice to the superhero again for the highly anticipated feature adaptation of The Avengers.

Ferrigno filled Collider in on all of his projects at New York’s Comic Con where he’ll be signing autographs all weekend.  Hit the jump for the interview’s full audio and transcript, along with an update on The Avengers, his take on the most recent film adaptations of The Hulk, the actors who played his famous alter-ego, good news about his return to Chuck and his surprise pick to play Superman.

Here’s some cool news for everyone that’s anticipating The Avengers.  Mark Ruffalo has revealed that unlike the previous Hulk movies that featured the creature as an all CGI creation, Ruffalo will actually be playing the Hulk in The Avengers as he’s going to do the performance through motion-capture performance.   We’ve seen the technology used in such films as Lord of the Rings and Avatar, and it’ll be interesting to see a Hulk that is an actor’s creation and not made in some computer.  Hit the jump to read Ruffalo’s quotes about playing the Hulk and Bruce Banner.

Surprising no one that has kept up with the near Marvel snafu that was the nixing of Edward Norton, Deadline reports that Mark Ruffalo has signed on the dotted line to play Hulk in the upcoming mega-film The Avengers. Of course, nothing is official, but tomorrow is the day that many say we will see the full cast of The Avengers appear in a “surprise” reveal at San Diego Comic-Con. Yesterday, Joss Whedon confirmed that he will direct The Avengers during his panel with J.J. Abrams at the Con. The dominoes are all lined up for a huge event at Marvel’s big day in Hall H. For more on the story to this point, hit the jump.

Speaking with SFX Magazine [via WorldOfSuperheroes.com], Kevin Feige, President of Production for Marvel Studios, confirmed that the Hulk will be in their epic superhero crossover film, The Avengers.  Says Feige:

“Its fun now and we are introducing some new characters in these films…But its not about cramming in lots of new people…that’s sort of the cardinal sin of the sequel, adding too many characters….My only concern is that when we launch a franchise…whichever character’s franchise that may be, it should stand on its own two feet. With Iron Man being the first one out of the gate, thank goodness that’s what happened. Everyone loved it. Its our job to do the same with Thor and Captain America two years from now, so by the time The Avengers comes in 2012 its not just a team super hero movie with a bunch of characters with powers, its three people, four including Hulk, five including Nick Fury-who you have seen before in other movies, coming together for the very first time.”

The Hulk’s involvement was in doubt because both Ang Lee’s Hulk (2003) and Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk (2008) flopped at the box office.  Additionally, Edward Norton has appeared ambivalent about returning to play the character in an Avengers movie.  Now that we know we’re getting the Hulk, the question becomes who will play him and will the character smash or not (my guess: smash).

Hit the jump for what Feige had to say about bringing the fanciful Thor into the real world.

Before the credit crisis and the deal with Disney, United Arab Emirate-based Al Ahli Group and Marvel Entertainment announced a deal to bring many of Marvel’s biggest characters to Dubai for a brand new theme park that would focus on the world famous characters.  The plan was for character themed rides based on The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men, Silver Surfer, and Spider-Man.  While I have no idea if the deal with Disney has changed the deal, or if Dubai’s financial troubles will derail the park, I do know what it might look like!  That’s because concept art has hit the net and you can check out some great looking images after the jump.  With rides like “Flying with Spidey”, “Fantasticar” and “X-Men: Danger Room”, Marvel fanboys might be flying across the world to check this place out!

In the wake of Disney’s purchase of Marvel this morning, Fox is hurrying to reboot a Marvel property is still owns: “Fantastic Four”. The franchise is one of four Fox owns in perpetuity, irrespective of Disney’s $4 billion deal, including “X-Men,” “Daredevil,” and “Silver Surfer.” Thought details are scant on the new project, a few names have been dropped. Those, and why this could be a good thing after the jump.

The deal isn’t done but it’s too sensational a story to get bogged down in the corporate legalese and business intricacies when it comes to discussing one of 2009′s biggest entertainment deals of the year.  The $4 billion Disney-Marvel merger could have huge ramifications and while this is all speculation that is subject to further (and further, and further) reporting and interviews, I wanted to give my thoughts on this news because my thoughts are better than everyone else’s thoughts.  My thoughts are magic.

Hit the jump to read about my magic thoughts on the Disney and Marvel’s potential long-term relationship.

Two years ago “Iron Man” came to Comic-Con and left as the undisputed winner. While the competition was much greater this time around, most are saying that “Iron Man 2″ either won the weekend or was in the top three. Not bad when you’re up against James Cameron and dozens of other big budget Hollywood films.

Anyway, after the cast of “Iron Man 2″ kicked everyone’s ass in Hall H, they answered a lot of press questions. Thankfully, I got to participate in a small roundtable interview with Robert Downey Jr. and after the jump you can either read or listen to what he said about playing Tony Stark again and what it was like to come back to Comic-Con. It’s a great interview so check it out: