In an interview with Brit sci-fi mag Starburst, Hydraulx special effects supervisor Chris Wells let slip some tantalizing details about Joss Whedon’s superteam flick:

“We’re doing what essentially boils down to the prelude of the movie,” he said. “There’s a whole intro that happens before you start even getting the titles and it’s pretty big. There’s nothing small in this movie. I went to a screening with all the temporary visual effects and it was pretty fleshed out. It’s a long movie but it doesn’t feel like it. Out of all the comic book movies and franchises I’ve worked on, this is the best one I’ve seen so far.”

And asked whether the film would be action- or character-oriented, he responded:

“I think they nailed both,” he said. “I think he did a very good job of setting up the characters based on what we know from the Marvel franchise, integrating them together with all their differences and similarities and then getting on with business. And just when you think the movie is a character piece it just goes nuts.”

He went on to confirm that Captain America villain The Red Skull won’t be making an appearance, but, “I promise you it’s not going to be boring. This thing has gone so big that Marvel are dwarfing their other franchises. For people who enjoy the comics and haven’t really liked the way some of the characters were treated in other movies, I think they’re going to be a little more appeased by this one. Especially the Hulk. They let the Hulk be Hulk and that’s great. He acts more like the comic book Hulk. It’s fun. My biggest problem with every single superhero movie is I don’t think the payoff ever matches the build up. This one definitely does.”

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