San Diego’s United Artists Horton Plaza was host tonight to a very special event, premiering Marvel Studio’s Item 47, the longest and most ambitious of the “One-Shots,” set to be featured on the DVD and Blu-ray release of Marvel’s The Avengers on September 25th.
As reported this morning, viral S.H.I.E.L.D. agents made appearances throughout the Gaslamp District (including at a viral shawarma restaurant), guiding select fans to the screening itself.
The presentation opened with a special introduction by Robert Downey Jr., shot on the North Carolina set of Iron Man 3. Sitting in a bathroom, Downey joked that he’s filming the movie’s “toilet escape” scene and that he’s sorry to miss the Comic-Con crowd.
The short itself runs 12 minutes and stars Jesse Bradford and Lizzy Caplan as Benny and Claire, Marvel’s answer to Bonnie to Clyde. They’ve recovered one of 47 Chitauri weapons left behind after “The Battle of New York” and have decided to use it to go on a bank-robbing spree. Maximillano Hernandez returns as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Sitwell and we’re introduced to Titus Welliver’s Agent Blake. They’ve been tasked with bringing in the fugitives.
Without delving into heavy spoilers, it’s safe to say that Item 47 is the most fulfilling of the “One-Shots” so far and manages to explain a lot of the questions fans have already been asking (e.g. there’s a reason this one Chitauri weapon is still working) but connections to other Marvel Studios projects are few and these new characters are not necessarily being set-up for anything further down the line.
During a brief Q and A after the film, however, there was an interesting hint about the future of the Marvel cinematic universe. One young fan asked about Ant-Man making a big screen appearance and was told that he better head to tomorrow’s Iron Man 3 panel. The odds are more likely than ever that we’ll be seeing some of Edgar Wright’s test reel. Check back tomorrow as we’ll have live updates from Hall H.
In the meantime, EW has released a video look at today’s scavenger hunt and also offers a brief scene from Item 47. Check it out by clicking the image below!
