This month’s issue of Empire Magazine features a healthy dose of The Avengers to whet fans’ appetite, as characters from the film grace four separate covers. We’re a little over three months away from the film’s release, and Marvel seems to be ramping up the final stages of their marketing campaign. The covers give us new looks at Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and a gun-wielding Scarlett Johansson. The Empire issue contains a set visit report for the superhero pic, and Tom Hiddleston teased a bit of what to expect from the villain Loki:

"He knows who he is now, and what his powers are. In order for The Avengers to come together, Loki has to be more menacing, and all of his malevolence is founded in a completely delusional dream."

Plot details are still scarce for the film, but we know that Loki isn’t the sole source of villainy in the pic. President of Marvel Studios production Kevin Feige set the record straight with Empire regarding what villains we will and won't see in The Avengers. Hit the jump to see what he had to say, and to check out the covers and images. The Avengers opens in 3D on May 4th.

Speaking with Empire Magazine, Kevin Feige was asked about Loki’s army in the film:

“Who said they were aliens?… It’s not Skrulls, I’ve been clear about that. Beyond that, we want to hide it. The identity of the alien race is not impactful. It exists in the comic books, but we’re not setting up the Kree-Skrull war or anything like that.”

Interesting stuff, as rumors have been swirling about the Skrulls’ inclusion in the film for quite some time. Feige also touched upon whether or not we’ll see Red Skull in The Avengers:

“Was [Red] Skull vaporised at the end of [Captain America: The First Avengers], or thrust into another realm? That remains to be seen. It would be fun to see Skull in future, but he’s not in this one.”

While I wasn’t necessarily expecting Red Skull to pop up in The Avengers, it’s nice to know that the door is still open for him to possibly return down the road. Anyway, make of Feige’s comments what you will, and head to the comments section to speculate away.

Covers courtesy of Empire Online.

Image scans courtesy of ComingSoon: