"Avengers" videos and Marvel's first short

It's been longer than I'd like since my last post, but I'm writing that off to a busy week and rectifying the situation with some stuff about The Avengers. First off, there's some sweat promo art featuring the entire team and Loki. You can look at them here, here, and here (Spidermedia via /Film). Next, the first Marvel short film, titled "The Consultant" has been released. It features the estimable Agent Coulson and ties The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man to The Avengers. The full short is embedded after the jump, and there's a couple of other videos too, so click ahead.

[Edit: Nevermind, it looks "The Consultant" has been taken down for now]

Since Mark Ruffalo is replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, I wasn't sure whether Marvel would keep Norton's film as part of their cinematic continuity, but this short not only acknowledges the film, but even takes pains to point out that the Abomination survived the film and is ready to make a return.

Thirdly, if you haven't already seen it (and why haven't you?), here's the teaser for the sneak peak that comes after the credits of Captain America. The complete after-the-credits scene is about a minute long, and significantly more awesome (and I'll totally post it the minute it's legitimately online) but this at least shows off the team and reminds you to go see Captain America.

And I've saved the best for last. Here's a "Road the Avengers" featurette that'll be included with the Thor DVD. It shows clips from the previous films and shows Joss Whedon talking a little about the film. It gave me major nerd chills.

So there you have it. We've already seen the entire team in the previous films (counting the Hulk, if not Ruffalo), and we know that Whedon is a more than competent director (see: Firefly, Serenity, Buffy) so the signs point to this film being awesome. Not only that, but set pictures and rumors suggest that the storyline will be based of Mark Miller's The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2, and those books were great.