# OK, I've seen The Avengers - open spoilers! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234 "2012-05-08T01:37:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/441 "2012-05-25T16:21:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > IIRC, the Avengers movie has Cap get brought up to speed early on when someone explains how Banner figured – mistakenly – that gamma radiation was the key to duplicating how the serum worked back when. > > If we grant that Erskine for some reason never actually wrote down the formula (but it got correctly deduced, decades later, from his notes), then I guess it’s _ **equally** _ easy to grant that Stark – for the same reason – never wrote down what he meant by “vita rays” (and Banner incorrectly deduced “gamma rays” from Stark’s notes). Yeah, but if they still had serum left, wasn’t that pod thing that Cap was put in still kicking around somewhere? NB I know I’m picking holes a lot, but you don’t get a no prize unless you come up with a workable explanation, so thought it would pass the time on a Friday afternoon 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/442 "2012-05-25T16:25:49Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Dr. Erksine also makes the statement that the PERSON you use also affects how the serum works. It achieved the results it did with Steve Rogers because he was an overall good person who hated bullies. Same reason it turned Johann Schmidt into Red Skull and not into “Captain Nazi”. If the subject was not the right person you would not get the same results even using the same techniques and formula. For bonus points, note that Erskine tells Steve that right when they’re about to share a drink the night before our hero will get dosed with the serum and the rays; at the last moment, Erskine’s eyes go wide and he grabs the drink back upon remembering that, _oh, crap, it slipped my mind: you can’t drink anything the night before._ What did Blonsky and Banner drink the night before their treatments? Beats me. What are the odds that Erskine wrote down the warning he half-forgot? Probably zero. [QUOTE=Bakhesh] Yeah, but if they still had serum left, wasn’t that pod thing that Cap was put in still kicking around somewhere? [/QUOTE] Hey, you’ve got to set the dials to the right wavelength. Banner thought it was the “gamma” wavelength. It’s actually – ultraviolet? Maybe x-ray? Who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/443 "2012-05-25T17:37:15Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > Yeah, but if they still had serum left, wasn’t that pod thing that Cap was put in still kicking around somewhere? It’s being studied by “top men.” ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/444 "2012-05-25T17:39:22Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hey, you’ve got to set the dials to the right wavelength. Banner thought it was the “gamma” wavelength. It’s actually – ultraviolet? Maybe x-ray? Who knows? Was Steve Rogers the first go at the Super Soldier process, or is there a room next door full of bony, but tanned, earlier attempts? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/445 "2012-05-25T17:43:24Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > Was Steve Rogers the first go at the Super Soldier process, or is there a room next door full of bony, but tanned, earlier attempts? Now that you mention it, the guy who went through it before him looked awfully sunburnt. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/446 "2012-05-25T19:54:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Was Steve Rogers the first go at the Super Soldier process, or is there a room next door full of bony, but tanned, earlier attempts? In the comics, there was a storyline for a while that Rogers _wasn’t_ the first subject of the final formula, that it was (in the spirit of the Tuskegee Experiment) tested on a black guy first. When Rogers finds out, he immediately finds and befriends the other guy, and he even covered for Rogers with the star-spangled suit and shield on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/447 "2012-05-25T20:53:15Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > It’s being studied by “top men.” Who? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/448 "2012-05-25T21:00:47Z")
Top. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/449 "2012-05-25T21:02:01Z")
Men. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/450 "2012-05-25T21:39:11Z")
Those guys are the _best_! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/451 "2012-05-25T23:57:45Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > That’s how I’d remembered it, but he goes and gets it from a storage room, where it has clearly been mothballed. Apparently, there you can also see a label marked “Dr. Reinstein”, which is apparently an alias of Dr Erskine… > > [cite](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800080/trivia) According to wikipedia, Reinstein was the name used in the original Cap’n America comics, which was later revealed to be an alias. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/452 "2012-05-26T02:54:33Z")
Forgot to mention, when I saw it again last night, I paid close attention to Hulk’s expression in the scene where he knocks Thor off-camera. He has sort of a wry, satisfied smile that was just perfect. Also noticed that, at least in the 3D version, you sometimes see grit and debris stick to the “camera lens” during the NYC street action scenes. The guy playing chess with Stan Lee in the park at the end is not Ian McKellen or anyone else I recognized. Just some extra or character actor, as far as I could tell. And for those who’ve seen _I Am Legend_, a question: When Iron Man is stretched out on the pavement and thought to be dead, and Hulk roars at him, isn’t that almost exactly the same spot outside of Grand Central Station where the Will Smith character in _I Am Legend_ is caught in a zombie trap and his dog is injured by the zombie dogs in saving him? I’m not a New Yorker, but it looked like it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/453 "2012-05-26T02:59:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > When Iron Man is stretched out on the pavement and thought to be dead, and Hulk roars at him, isn’t that almost exactly the same spot outside of Grand Central Station where the Will Smith character in _I Am Legend_ is caught in a zombie trap and his dog is injured by the zombie dogs in saving him? I’m not a New Yorker, but it looked like it to me. Dunno, but it might also be the exact same spot on the same back lot movie set they’ve used in 147 other movies. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/454 "2012-05-26T03:06:41Z")
I’m pretty sure they didn’t film anything in New York. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/455 "2012-05-26T06:33:04Z")
Just got back from FINALLY seeing it, and there was a ‘New York Crew’ listing in the credits, so…might have been a wee bit of it actually filmed…somewhere…in…New York…state…I guess. Anyway, loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Really makes me wish I liked comics, 'cause I really really want the backstory on what are considered characters too ‘minor’ to really expound on. I want more Hawkeye. I want to know Fury’s story. I want to know the Hawkeye-Widow story hinted at in conversation in the movie. Lots of stuff that apparantly didn’t even warrant a lot of comic space, much less bringing it into a movie. Also, Loki was just damn hot this time 'round, rawr! And yeah, with all the man-meat floating around, I’m fixating on the cranky, angst-filled goth-wannabe and the equally angsty, but quieter about it arrow-slinger. Rawr! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/456 "2012-05-27T04:03:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m pretty sure they didn’t film anything in New York. That’s as may be, but as it appears on screen, I’m pretty sure that particular spot - right next to Grand Central Station - appears in both _Avengers_ and _I Am Legend_. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234/457 "2012-05-28T19:39:38Z")
They did. Not much, but they were definitely there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-ive-seen-the-avengers-open-spoilers/621234.md?page=22)