Avenger Assemble in March

'Avengers' assembling in March

Cameras likely to roll on Marvel superhero epic next March, says star

By Don Kaye
Special to MSN Movies

There's been little said about the epic Marvel Studios superhero team-up movie "The Avengers" since the cast and writer-director Joss Whedon were introduced onstage at Comic-Con in July, but actor Clark Gregg -- who plays S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, right-hand man to Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury -- has told us exclusively that he hears shooting will begin in March 2011. "I haven't seen a script," says Gregg, on the phone during an interview to promote the upcoming "Iron Man 2" DVD and Blu-ray release. "I would love to throw out some hints, but I haven't seen anything. ... Basically some guys will show up in a hovercraft and pick me up, and I won't even be able to tell my family where I am."

Bing: Find out more about the 'Avengers' movie

Gregg's character appeared briefly in "Iron Man," had a larger role in "Iron Man 2" and will make a substantial contribution to the next chapter in the Marvel saga, "Thor," but even he wasn't sure about his participation in "The Avengers" until Marvel's presentation at Comic-Con. "I did not know I was going to be part of 'The Avengers' until Joss Whedon came up to me in the green room beforehand and said, 'Look, we want to introduce you; you're going to be in it.' So I was very pleased to be in the company of a bunch of my favorite actors."

That list of actors includes Jackson, Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Capt. America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) -- pretty formidable company, indeed. You'll have to wait until May 2012 to see them all together onscreen, but we'll have more of our exclusive chat with Gregg in next week's "Across the Universe."