Development of The Avengers began when Marvel Studios received a grant from Merrill Lynch in April 2005. After the success of the film Iron Man in May 2008, Marvel announced that The Avengers would be released in July 2011. With the signing ofScarlett Johansson in March 2009, the film was pushed back for a 2012 release. Whedon was brought on board in April 2010 and rewrote the screenplay that was originally written by Zak Penn. Production began in April 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio and New York City. The film entered post-production at the conclusion of filming in September 2011.

The Avengers is scheduled for release on May 4, 2012 in the United States.

The film, set during the 1960s, will focus on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto and the origin of their groups, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. The film stars James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. It also stars Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, the antagonist of the movie. Other cast members include January Jones, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence and Lucas Till. The film is mostly being shot in England and parts of the United States. Fox envisions this film as the first in a new trilogy.

The film is a prequel to the first three movies,^[2] set during the 1960s, with John F. Kennedy as president of the United States. X-Men: First Class parallels the history of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. The villains of the film will be the Hellfire Club.^[3] The plot is as follows:

“Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.”^[4]

• James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier: Leader and founder of the X-Men and one of Magneto’s best friends until conflicts of opinion create a rivalry between them and their teams.^[5]
  • Laurence Belcher as a young Charles Xavier.^[6]
• Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: Leader and founder of the Brotherhood of Mutants and one of Professor X’s best friends until conflicts of opinion create a rivalry between them and their teams.^[7]
  • Bill Milner as a young Erik Lehnsherr.^[8]
• Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw: Leader of a secret society bent on taking over the world called the Hellfire Club.^[9][10]
• January Jones as Emma Frost / White Queen: A mutant telepath who can also change her body into diamond form and member of the Hellfire Club.^[11] Alice Eve was originally announced to play Emma Frost.^[12]
• Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert: A scientist and an authority on genetic mutation and love interest of Charles Xavier.^[13] Rosamund Pike was previously up for the role.^[14]
• Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast: Beast is a former scientist who transformed into a frightening looking mutant, but is kind at heart. In the film X-Men: The Last Stand he is shown to turn out to be a political activist.^[15] Broadway actorBenjamin Walker was previously cast as Beast, however he dropped out of the role to star in the Broadway musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.^[16]
• Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme / Mystique: A dangerous shapeshifting mutant.^[17]
  • Morgan Lily as a young Raven Darkholme.^[18]
• Oliver Platt as “The Man in Black”: A character who is not a mutant.^[19]
• Ray Wise as the United States Secretary of State^[20]
• Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore: A mutant with insectoid physiology.^[8]
• Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy / Banshee: An Irish mutant with the ability of sonic screaming.^[15]
• Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok: Cyclops‘ brother who has the ability to absorb cosmic energy and discharge blasts from the energy.^[21]
• Edi Gathegi as Armando Muñoz / Darwin: A mutant with the power of “reactive evolution.”^[22]
• Jason Flemyng as Azazel: Nightcrawler‘s father who has the ability to teleport.^[23]
• Álex González as Janos Quested / Riptide: A mutant with the ability to spin his body at an incredibly fast rate.^[24]
• Andy Callaghan as a member of the Hellfire Club.^[25]
• Tony Rich as Thomas: A mutant with the ability to duplicate other mutant powers within a specific range.^[26]

Singer tried to cast Taylor Lautner in a role, but the actor was unavailable due to other commitments.^[27]

Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro are set to reprise their starring roles, with Peter Cullen returning as the voice of Optimus Prime. Ehren Kruger, who collaborated in the writing of the second film, was said to be again involved in the writing. Despite having initially been confirmed for the film,^[2] and with the film already into principal photography, it was announced that Megan Fox would not be reprising her role from the previous two films. With Fox’s character Mikaela being dropped, Sam was assigned a new love interest, who will be played by English model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Also, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, having written the first two films, will not return for the third installment in the series,^[3]which Orci had earlier somewhat anticipated, fearing the duo would “risk getting stale”.^[4] Bay has stated this would be his last installment in the series.^[5]

Director:

Joe Johnston

The film was released in Japan on January 12, 2011, and North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland on January 14, 2011, in versions including RealD Cinema and IMAX 3D.