The Avengers

The whole fun of The Avengers is seeing these characters joined together as one fighting force, but for now Marvel Studios has unveiled solo portraits of the six superheroes.

Read more about the May 4, 2012, movie in this week’s issue of EW, on stands tomorrow. But in the meantime, here’s a little online exclusive with the actors discussing their high-powered alter-egos and working with writer-director Joss Whedon (the geek demi-god who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly.)

BLACK WIDOW: “The other day we were doing this big reveal shot of all the Avengers. Thor has got his hammer, Cap’s got his shield, Hawkeye has his bow and arrow, and Hulk is huge. Then it pans over to me and I’ve got guns. Iron Man’s like, hovering above all of us, ready to go,” says Scarlett Johansson. “I was like, ‘Joss… um… do I look okay holding these guns?’” Whedon’s response reassured her: “She’s a total badass. She’s a killing machine.”

IRON MAN: What were Robert Downey Jr.’s first meetings like with Whedon when the script was being developed? “Well, I said, ‘I need to be in the opening sequence. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but Tony needs to drive this thing.’ He was like, ‘Okay, let’s try that.’ We tried it and it didn’t work, because this is a different sort of thing, the story and the idea and the theme is the theme, and everybody is just an arm of the octopus. But what was I like?” He laughs. “As usual, just f—ing aggressive and hurtful; whatever. The usual.”

CAPTAIN AMERICA: Chris Evans says the Steve Rogers we see in The Avengers is a much darker, more cynical version after awakening for the first time since World War II. “It’s just about him trying to come to terms with the modern world. You’ve got to imagine, it’s enough of a shock to accept the fact that you’re in a completely different time, but everybody you know is dead. Everybody you cared about,” Evans says. “He was a soldier, obviously, everybody he went to battle with, all of his brothers in arms, they’re all dead. He’s just lonely. I think in the beginning it’s a fish out of water scene, and it’s tough. It’s a tough pill for him to swallow. Then comes trying to find a balance with the modern world.” bruce-banner

THE INCREDIBLE HULK: Mark Ruffalo says his Bruce Banner really wants to join The Avengers, but because of his past and the group’s sort of overall fear of him, he’s the outcast among outcasts. “He’s the most mild-mannered guy, but a total loose cannon. No one wants to set him off except for Iron Man, except for Downey, who just wants to see him pop,” Ruffalo laughs. “It’s funny, there’s a really cool dynamic between Tony Stark and Banner. Banner actually enjoys it, and finds it really refreshing. They’re a lot alike in a strange way. They’re both these kind of scientists who are mavericks, kind of renegades. Banner, for all his mild-mannered mythology, he’s still the dude who was testing some pretty crazy s–t on himself, so he has that rebel streak in him.”

THOR: Chris Hemsworth says his hammer-pounding god is not just once again fighting Loki, his villainous brother from Asgard, but also secretly trying to protect him. “I think [Thor’s] motivation is much more of a personal one, in the sense that it’s his brother that is stirring things up. Whereas everyone else, it’s some bad guy who they’ve gotta take down. It’s a different approach for me, or for Thor. He’s constantly having to battle the greater good and what he should do vs. … it’s his little brother there,” the actor says. “I’ve been frustrated with my brothers at times, or family, but I’m the only one who is allowed to be angry at them. There’s a bit of that.” hawkeye

HAWKEYE: Like Black Widow, he’s one of the only regular humans in The Avengers, which gives him a working-class-superhero pride. “The only sort of thing I cling to is the relationship of past experiences with Scarlett’s character, with them both being human. I can cling to that,” says Jeremy Renner. But there’s no insecurity. “Quite the opposite,” the actor says. “He’s the only one who can really take down The Hulk with his tranq tip arrows. He knows his limitations. But when it comes down to it, there has to be a sense of confidence in any superhero.”