Soon one of the biggest, if not the biggest, comic book movie in history will have its Blu-Ray and DVD release. According to the buzz that is going around the internet, the vast majority of the viewers had great things to say about Marvel's The Avengers. While the roster and origin story was not entirely true to the 1960s' team assembly, the movie created an amazing starting point for the Avengers.

A lot of comic book fans might be bothered by the fact that Marvel Studios failed to follow the origin. Yet, after watching the movie four times already (no joke), I found a few subtle ways the movie was true to comic book history. I do have to warn you there will be SPOILERS.

Hawkeye: Villain Before Hero

Hawkeye first appeared in Tales Of Suspense #57 as a hesitant villain until he eventually joined the Avengers. As part of a traveling circus Clint learned villainous ways but Iron Man's example helped him use his amazing archery skills to fight crime. In the movie, Jeremy Renner portrays Clint Barton, a SHIELD agent who is known for his watchful eye. At the beginning of the movie, Loki uses Clint's noble heart against himself by opening his mind and tricking him into joining the wrong side of the battle. Of course, this incantation does not last when Black Widow manages to change his alliances, just like in the comics...

Chitauri/Skrulls

In the movie, Loki's army is composed of the Chitauri. In the Ultimate Universe, the Chitauri are a faction of the universe's Skrulls that have tried to take over Earth with their shape-shifting abilities for centuries. While there seems to be no relation to the Skrulls in Marvel's Cinematic Universe, the Chitauri bear small, physical resemblances to the Skrulls. The most notorious being the chin and the use of purple on their armor and technology. Whether this is because the creators of the movie wanted the army to look like the Skrulls or not, it's not clear.

Infinity Gauntlet's Mind Gem

The Infinity Gauntlet made a very brief appearance in the Thor Movie. Thanos appears at the end of the Avengers film. So when we see Loki use a blue gem to open people's minds the only thing I could think of was the Infinity Gauntlet's Mind Gem. The Mind Gem is one of six crystals that power the Infinity Gauntlet. According to the Comic Vine database, the Mind Gem "taps the user into the universal consciousness, allowing for unlimited manipulation of psionic powers including telepathy and telekinesis". While it didn't do that in the movie, it did create a sense of consciousness to those who the gem was used on. Plus, it is blue like in the comics. Whether this means we'll get to see the other five gems later on remains to be seen.

Avengers Tower

One of the biggest plot points in the movie was the newly built and powered Stark Tower. Interestingly enough, after everything that happened to New York City, only the A in STARK survived the attacks. This alludes to the present Avengers base. In the comics, originally, the Avengers spent their time in Avengers Mansion. It wasn't until Bendis' Avengers Disassembled and New Avengers that Avengers Tower came to work as the team's base. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe the team has yet to find their home, but the movie alludes to stArk Tower as the likely choice.

"Death"

The last line in the movie stated that facing the Avengers would be "courting death". Thanos has the tendency to do everything for the sake of his mistress... Could he be willing to take the battle to Earth in order to court Death in future Marvel movies?

Let me know if you found more of these "subtle" comic book consistencies when watching the movie. Also, be sure to buy your copy of Marvel's The Avengers on September 25th.

-- Geo (sora_thekey) 24/7 geek! -- Follow me on Twitter: @Geo_sorathekey

I kind of thought that Loki's weapon was the Cosmic Control Rod which would lend more to the theory that Alexis Denisof's character was Annihilus...I like your theory though

side note: I had no idea that Alexis Denisof was The Other until the other day while watching an interview with him online....so that makes two of Whedon's past television show buddies in the movie

Now was that confirmed to be the Mind Gem? For reaslies?

I loved this movie so much

@Gambit1024 said:

Now was that confirmed to be the Mind Gem? For reaslies?

Not confirmed... I am just assuming because of the final scene's reveal. It wasn't actually confirmed to be related to any comic-verse object.

Wow, never realized it until you mentioned it, but the gem inside Loki's staff does resemble the mind gem. But I wonder how the Infinity Gauntlet would've gotten out of Odin's vault or who could've stolen it.

@Deranged Midget: I was thinking that maybe each individual gem could appear later on in the other movies... and the the completed Gauntlet in Avengers 2.

@sora_thekey: Hmm, that might fit the tone of Maliketh for Thor 2.

Nice!

good article

agree with all this ! great post!

You saw it four times, I saw it three times.. well time to watch my Blu-ray download again!

@danhimself: @deranged_midget: @gambit1024: I would like to point out that I called it back in 2012.. *drops mike*

no need to brag

Thor's Hela arc, planet Hulk and Thor with a new forged 'Stormbreaker' and tanking the Sun exploding or Neutron star is directly connected to all the stories of the comics

Also the Black Order have weapons that can bounce or reflect the Infinity Gem attack

Also new movie connects with the old school Starlin's Infinity Gauntlet arc

NASA explains the hammer? A neutron star is the core of a star collapsed into compressed matter, time and space, it is the final stage before a black hole or singularity.

A neutron star is the collapsed core of a large star which before collapse had a total of between 10 and 29 solar masses. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars, not counting hypothetical quark stars and strange stars. Typically, neutron stars have a radius on the order of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and a mass between 1.4 and 3 solar masses

A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to that of the Sun, while its volume is comparable to that of Earth. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored thermal energy

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Thor's magic hammer weighs 300 billion elephants, that's 3 hundred times one thousand times one million elephants on top of each other