It’s no secret that this weekend’s debut of Captain America: The First Avenger is almost more notable for what follows the film—namely a teaser trailer for next year’s The Avengers, a glimpse of which you can catch right now in grimy, bootlegged form somewhere on the Internet if you go looking for it. On a personal note, at the Captain America screening I attended last night, the Avengers teaser was nearly drowned out by spontaneous cries of fanboy ecstasy, obviously provoking some sort of cathartic release from the many months of hearing about this project. (It definitely got a way bigger response than Captain America.)
Anyway, compared to the feelings stirred up by that footage, this just-released one-sheet is necessarily going to fall short. It’s beyond teasing, offering only the word “Assemble” and a giant “A” as a hint as to what it’s even advertising; those unfamiliar with the Marvel superteam probably could be convinced that it’s for some sort of futuristic update on The Scarlet Letter featuring a robot Hester Prynne. But of course, we’ve got a year of promotions like these to come before the film itself arrives, with all its impossible-to-live-up-to expectations, so maybe savor this early anticipation.