'The Avengers' Already Looking Super

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are flexing their box office muscle a week before their nationwide debut.

“The Avengers,” the ridiculously hyped Marvel Comics super group film, has already sold more tickets at this point in its release cycle than “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” in their respective cycles combined.

The marketing behind the film has been nothing less than super. The aforementioned films helped tease the supergroup concept, and for months the folks behind the film have leaked trailers, movie posters, on-set photos and other teaser information to keep the project firmly in our minds.

Done and done.

In Denver, last night’s “Avengers” pre-release screening was a madhouse – far bigger than any screening in recent memory. Some movie goers arrived dressed up as their favorite Avengers characters.

Years ago, I recall some buzz about a “Silver Surfer” movie in the works. This was the early 1980s, a time virtually bereft of serious superhero fare. The “Superman” franchise was fading, and the special effects of the era simply couldn’t do much more than make a man fly.

That project never got off the ground, and we had to wait until 1989 for Tim Burton’s “Batman” to help revive the genre.

Today, everything has changed. And the trailers and teases and snippets of “The Avengers” show the time is right to bring superheros to the screen. The film’s effects appear seamless. Just watch Iron Man and Thor throw down in the above clip to see just what’s possible on the big screen.

Now, it’s up to geek god Joss Whedon, the man handed the keys to the “Avengers” kingdom, to prove all the hype was worth it.

We’ll all find out May 4.