Cable and satellite television can get to be pretty expensive. You start adding on additional channel packages and next thing you know you can be paying well over $100 or $150 so you can watch all the channels you want. Well, Arse-bot and Zombietron got tired of paying ridiculous amounts of money for our cable service so we began to look for alternatives. Apple TV seemed to be okay for what it is, but we were looking for something more than a vehicle to purchase movies and TV shows from iTunes with some Netflix mixed in. Google TV seems to have not quite gotten things with Hulu and Netflix squared away, especially since you can’t even access Hulu on it (at least, not without a little hacking), and the price tag is quite higher than we cared to pay. These are the two big name devices out on the market, and neither one seemed to offer what we were looking for in a streaming device, it was looking like we were going to have to be content with hooking up laptops to our TV’s with an HDMI cable to stream reasonably priced television – until we stumbled upon a wonderful little device called Roku.

We checked out the specs; HDMI Hookup with full 1080p support? Check. USB port to watch and listen to stuff you’ve downloaded to an external storage device? Check. Wireless and ethernet internet connection capability? Check. Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video on Demand, MLB  and a bunch of other apps to access all sorts of video and music content any time you want all with a simple little remote and a price tag of less than $100? Check, check, and double check! We placed our orders, told our cable provider we were done paying their ridiculous prices, and starting getting our TV and movie entertainment via Roku! We’ve had our Roku’s for about three months now, and we’re going to break down the pros and cons of this device for all of you out there looking for an alternative to cable or satellite TV services!

Arse-bot: I’m going to leave all the technical specs to our resident techno-geek, Zombietron (below), and just touch on the basics. I consider myself to be an “average” Roku user, I took it out of the box, plugged it in, and started streaming, and frankly, that’s what’s so great about it.

Upon receiving the Roku, setup was simple. You don’t need to be a wiz at hooking up electronics – I hooked up my HDMI cable, plugged the Roku into the outlet and I was ready to start setting it up (this is all after I happily yanked my cable box out). Upon first start-up your little Roku box will walk you through step-by-step how to set it up. “Ethernet internet connection or wireless?” Wireless. “Select your network.” Selected. “Enter password” Entered. BOOM! My Roku is ready to roll and now it’s time to download the “channels” (or “apps”) you want!

The Roku has this handy little application that lets you download what they refer to as “Channels”. I got to downloading the necessities: Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Video on Demand. You simply install the Channel, enter your login information for these services, validate your hardware online and you’re ready to start streaming! It literally took me about 15 minutes to set up the Roku before I was watching Arrested Development on Hulu Plus. The user interfaces for all of these channels are simple to navigate via the handy Roku remote, and you’re streaming your favorite shows in no time.

For the life of me, I can’t think of any cons with regards to the Roku. I’m a standard user, and aside from the Roku freezing up once or twice (afterwhich it automatically resets itself and has you back to enjoying your movie in about a minute), I have had zero problems. I can honestly say I haven’t missed cable one bit since I cancelled it and opted for a Roku – I can access and manage my Netflix and Hulu Plus queues and order newer movies on demand from Amazon. For the slightly advanced user the Roku XD|S includes a USB slot to plug in an external hard drive to watch all the content you’ve downloaded, and while the video format options are a bit limited, it hasn’t proven to be a big problem.

I can easily say I don’t hesitate in saying I highly recommend the Roku for anyone out there looking for an alternative to cable, or even just a simple, small video streaming device to enhance your television-watching experience.

Zombietron: When I gleefully opened my Roku box on Christmas day, yeah Christmas, thanks mom. I had in my head this long list of things I was gonna do with this beautiful device. I was gonna stream my media from a central server, watch Netflix, play with Amazon Video on Demand, and so much more, I’ll leave most of that for our list of top Roku apps. The technical beauty of the Roku really comes in its open source applications, with a little programming knowledge anyone can grab the SDK and begin getting their apps released to the public. Being a huge fan of open source discussion and theory myself I have to come the conclusion that any device that allows creativity from its user community has great things in store. This alone is directly key to the success of the iPhone and any Android device. I’ll reiterate Arse’s thoughts that the ease-of-use for this machine rivals that of Apple’s connectivity. As long as you know your network name, password, and how to operate a remote you are on your way to being a Roku power user. That being said, anyone who reads my tech rants knows that I can’t give a compliment without filing some form of complaint. Although there are independent media server apps available, with simple enough use for technologically minded people such as myself, they still have yet to release a solution straight forward to the average person.

Ok, griping round 1 completed let’s continue with the praise:

The HDMI out alone makes this device worth its weight, especially for us feverishly stashing blu-ray rips for our entertainment demands. You may not stream in true HD, but even in the streaming world the nerd in me enjoys the pure digital signal. If I would have written this article up a few months ago I would have complained that the independent USB reading app didn’t support enough file formats, (seeing as from the beginning it only supported .m4v). The recently released Channel that you can install through store now supports additional formats including: avi, mpg, and WMV. At first the Roku also refused to recognize my HFS+ formatted drive that I use to back up my mac book but alas, that complaint has been satisfied. Even though the media format support has grown from a dastardly 1 filetype to 5 or so, they still need to work on getting all video and audio compression types supported.  As I’ve seen stated in developer forums, “if this thing supported as many media formats as VLC Player it would be unstoppable.”  I more than agree with that statement.

With consistent updates coming I’m sure that soon the wants of its community will be satisfied, and all in all this is a great open source product that really drives home the idea that TV is no longer cable driven, those of us with an internet connection can cancel cable, and simply utilize our own media outlets to feed our addiction. There’s a reason that Roku has sold 1 million units, and i’m sure this year will be just as successful for them.

Specs:

Interested in purchasing your own Roku? You can order one online at Roku.com! And be sure to check out Arse-bot and Zombietron’s top ten Roku Channels!

Previously, I brought you the origin of that Big Red Cheese, Captain Marvel. One thing that is great about Cap is that he has a literal family of other similarly powered people. One of my favorites is the guy who first shared Captain Marvel’s powers. I’m speaking of course, of Freddy Freeman, aka Captain Marvel Jr! I wanted to tell this tale for a while, but the only copy I have of his original origin tale (it’s been re-told over the years) is from an old black-and-white hardcover from the 70’s. I was going to hold off until I got the archive or something, but man, those things are expensive! The Golden Age art looks much more crisp in monochrome anyway. Let’s get on with the show as I present, the Secret Origin of Captain Marvel Jr!

Our story opens with Bill Batson, aka Captain Marvel, reporting on the radio about the swath of destruction that Hitler’s golden boy, Captain Nazi is tearing across the nation. Or at least, he would be, but it seems Capt. Nazi has taken over the broadcast! Never one to shirk responsibilities, Billy is on the case, secret identity or not…

"I'm right here son, are you sure you want to change?"

Captain Marvel arrives on the scene during Captain Nazi’s broadcast. He’s smack talking all of America’s heroes, and that inspires Billy’s radio station pal Whitey to climb the radio tower to stop the mad Nazi. Sadly, Whitey is not superpowered in the least, and is at the mercy (read:none) of Captain Nazi. Of course Marvel saves him, but Nazi takes that time to get away, and Marvel has to give up the chase after he can’t find a trace of the Aryan evildoer. Cap knows it won’t be long until he shows his face again anyway.

Of course Cap’s thoughts turn out to be prophetic. Nazi shows up to ruin the opening of a dam/power station. A senator is on hand to push the button that turns on the juice, and he does so. That’s when Captain Nazi shows his eminently punchable face, explaining that the senator has just sealed the fates of everyone at the dam.

If his Santa Claus audition hadn't gone so bad, he may never have turned to evil.

Never fear folks! Billy Batson is on the scene! Billy says his magic word right in front of Whitey, so I guess he really doesn’t care who knows his secret. Captains Marvel and Nazi are about to have quite the fray, but Nazi, the schemer reasons with Marvel that he should save the dam rather than engage in a fight. Marvel of course has the wisdom of Solomon, so he knows Nazi is right, but I would have decked him anyway. Captain marvel manages to stop the turbines, but Nazi gets away again.

Time passes and Billy is covering the exhibition of the U.S.’ new secret fighter planes. Now, I don’t want to be snarky, but covering them on a national radio broadcast is probably not the best way to keep them a secret. Actually, given the rest of the story, Billy isn’t concerned with secrets anyway. We’ll never know the details though, because it seems the plane isn’t pulling out of its dive! Three guesses as to who is behind it! Billy changes on the air and flies up as Captain Marvel to save the plane. He manages to pull the plane out of its plunge with such forces that Captain Nazi temporarily blacks out. No word on the pilot, unfortunately. Anyway, given this opportunity to catch Nazi before he flies off like a coward. marvel grabs him out of the cockpit, saying he finally has the Third Reich-er where he wants him, and delivers quite the punch!

"You know, cause I just pulled you out of another dive, get it?"

You’d think Marvel would be happy with his little victory, and I’m sure he is, at first. Fate intervenes in an odd way though, in free fall, Captain Nazi falls into the water near where a young man and his grandfather are fishing. Not knowing any better, the grandfather saves Nazi’s life, pulling him onto his small boat.  Nazi comes to, and calls him a weak-livered Yankee and promptly kills him and dumps him in the water. The young boy, who we find out is Freddy Freeman doesn’t take too kindly to this, and shows a bravery that will serve him well later in life.

Freddy Freeman, brave, but not terribly bright.

Captain Nazi, confronted by the boy does the evil, Nazi thing to do. He takes the oar from Freddy and whacks him with it, causing Freddy to fly out of the boat at tremendous speed! Nazi gets away on the boat, leaving Freddy to drown. At that moment, Captain Marvel arrives, and rushes Freddy off to a hospital. The hospital won’t take Freddy in, being a private institution. Captain Marvel is undaunted, and crashes through the hospital wall, demanding they treat Freddy.  Cap changes back into Billy and waits for the news. The prognosis isn’t good. Freddy’s back is broken, there’s no hope. Even if he lived, Freddy would be a cripple all his life, but he isn’t expected to live through the night.  Hearing this, Billy concocts a desperate plan. At midnight, Billy abducts Freddy and takes him to a familiar subway…

Even in black-and-white, I love the design of the subway car.

Yes, Billy is taking Freddy to see the wizard Shazam! Unfortunately, Billy pleads his case and the ghostly visage of the wizard tells him even his magic can’t heal his body. All is not lost though. Shazam tells Cap that he can bestow a portion of his own power to Freddy. Shazam tells Billy to speak his name and then disappears. Freddy comes to, and seeing Cap, says “Why, it’s Captain Marvel!” with that, Freddy’s own lightning bolt comes down and transforms the boy.

"Also, you can't say your own name without changing, sorry about that."

Cap explains to the newly christened Cap Jr. that he has a responsibility to use his powers when they’re needed, but he has to live out his life as Freddy. Cap tells Jr. to change back, get well, and follow Captain Nazi into the pages of Master Comics, which is a pretty cute fourth-wall breaking line. So, Freddy wakes up in the hospital, wondering if it was all a dream, but when he tries to get out of bed, he finds out he is lame of leg, so that was definitely not a dream. The story closes with Freddy vowing to make sure Captain Nazi won’t hurt anyone ever again! The last panel encourages us to follow the story, but seeing as this is a reprint of a 60+ year-old tale, we can’t exactly do that. At least the Mac Raboy art is awesome.

So while Captain Marvel Jr.’s debut was really a Captain Marvel story, he would go on to scoop out his own niche, going on to have an illustrious career. He inspired Elvis’ look post-comeback, gave young boys a character their own age who was still a boy when powered up. He’s even become the sole wielder of the powers of Shazam in the DC Universe. (Although I don’t think those stories are that great.)

This story originally appeared in Whiz Comics #25, December 1941. It was reprinted in Shazam From the 40’s to the 70’s (pictured) and is also in Shazam Archives #4

Now, I am not 100% sure about the reliability of this spy. No offense to him, but he’s a reader and I don’t know him from Adam.

But he works at a television station in New York and got an email press release about a chance for fans to meet the cast of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the Avengers film during principal photography in 2011. Clearly, the spy wanted to remain anonymous, just in case the studio gets angry at the television station, so that’s why we’ve removed any identifying information from the release.

But this also implies that a portion of filming will be done in New York, which seems unusual. Most of the Marvel movies have had cities like Vancouver fill in for New York since it’s so damned expensive. But it’s not impossible that they could have some limited shooting there.

Additionally, this states that Quasar will be in the film and played by Kevin Pennington. Will he be in his superhero guise in the film?

I just want to reiterate that this is a spy report from an untested source, but it was interesting enough to toss out into the ether.

Here’s the press release:

S.H.I.E.L.D. invites you to join the AVENGERS initiative

Meet the cast of S.H.I.E.L.D. and join the Avengers initiative! Marvel Studios to announce an S.H.I.E.L.D. Assembly in New York City for spring 2011. During principal filming, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be out in full force in NYC to recruit and find new members. Cast members on hand include Samuel L. Jackson (Director Nick Fury), Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill) and Kevin Pennington (Agent Wendell Vaughn). Fans will get the chance to meet the stars and get their photograph taken with them at the event.

According to the spy there was no specific dates or times mentioned, but this was just a general heads up for these events in the Spring.

If you’re in New York or the industry and get more word to confirm or deny this, we’d love to hear from you. And if you’re a reader and this happens and you manage to get a chance to meet the cast during principal filming, we’d definitely love to hear from you.

UPDATE: Word from Jerk-bot is that he hasn’t heard anything to this effect, though he speculates that the Ms. Marvel rumours lend credence to the idea that this might be a Kree-Skrull war picture.

Other sources say this wasn’t supposed to hit the news until April.

What do you think?

UPDATE 2: Here’s an update with some second hand confirmations!

We have a new clip from “Ghosts of Mortis”. This arc has been tremendous so far and though this clip reveals very little, it teases a lot. How can the son show Anakin his future? Isn’t the future always in motion? And what will this do to Anakin? If he foresees the events of Revenge of the Sith, how will that shade further viewings of that film bearing this information in mind?

Interesting questions all.

Here’s the official press release about this episode:

The Jedi remain stranded on Mortis, with Anakin Skywalker caught in an epic struggle between the light side and the dark side of the Force. As the Jedi prepare for a decisive confrontation, Anakin must face some shocking visions of his own future in “Ghosts of Mortis” – the climactic chapter in an epic, three-part Clone Wars storyline, airing at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, February 11 on Cartoon Network.

With the fate of the galaxy on the line and Anakin himself tempted by absolute power over the Force, The Clone Wars continues to put a stake in the ground – firmly establishing the series as essential viewing for a full understanding of the still-unfolding Star Wars canon. The Mortis trilogy is utterly central to the maelstrom of what’s yet to come, bringing Anakin’s terrible destiny to the fore. In “Ghosts of Mortis,” we see his inevitable seduction to the dark side – in smoke-shrouded visions of the future, but also in the burning fires of the here and now. Plagued by a nightmarish glimpse of what he will become, Anakin will take up arms against his best friend amidst the fires of Mortis…

“The prophecy is finally playing out, front and center,” says Matt Lanter (90210, The Roommate), who voices Anakin in the series. “We are realizing that so many important events are being played out that will come to affect what happens in Revenge of the Sith. We see Anakin slowly becoming more independent, wanting more freedom and power. His relationships change. He has become even more of a leader, but may be questioning the Jedi leadership a little more. And it seems as if Anakin doesn’t trust [Obi-Wan] as much, and thinks he is actually holding him back.”

A transformative storyline in the trajectory of the series and the Saga as a whole, the Mortis trilogy explores wholly new ground – revealing the true nature of the Force as it’s never been seen before. At the very core of the story is Anakin – whose personal journey will ultimately define the galaxy.

“This is the Clones Wars at its best so far,” says Lanter. “These stories are such an important piece of not just the series, but Star Wars in general – and these are without a doubt the most trying and emotional episodes that we have seen Anakin deal with. He has to deal with visions of the past, saving his Padawan and risking the future all at the same time. It adds so much to the Saga and makes the events of the films that much more devastating.”

We’re back with another episode of The Big Movie Mouth-Off podcast!

The podcast features the stars and producers of The Big Movie Mouth-Off film review show, which appears here at Big Shiny Robot! and on Xfinity (Utah On Demand and Channel 6).  That lineup is: Jeff Vice from MSN Entertainment, Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine, and Bryan Young (me) and Elias Pate from Big Shiny Robot! and ShineBox Media Productions.

To download the latest episode from iTunes, follow this link .

There, you should rate and subscribe to the podcast.

This week, we talked about:

• The Superman movie
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Highest Paid in Hollywood of 2010
• James Bond Villains
• In Memoriam: John Barry

Listen! Let us know what you think! Spread the word!

The Spider-Man Broadway catastrophe musical , Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opened it’s doors to critics yesterday . . . and it wasn’t pretty. I’m not familiar with Broadway reviews, but I would feel comfortable calling it a blood-bath.

This production has been wrought with delays, injuries, and a bloated budget and has been postponed more times than I care to recall. From day one I have had zero interest in making a trip to NYC to check out a Broadway musical about my favorite web-slinger, and I can say with 100% certainty now that any miniscule part of curiosity I had to maybe check this out is now gone. Yesterday (Feb. 7) was the date the musical was originally supposed to open, it has since been moved back to March 15, but it was the date critics were allowed to come in and see what is supposed to be the final product. Let’s take a look at what the critics had to say:

The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney called the show, directed by Julie Taymor and featuring songs by U2’s Bono and The Edge, “chaotic, dull and a little silly.”

“When this amount of time and money is tossed at a show, even demanding theatergoers should be awed, not bored,” he asserted.

New York Times critic Ben Brantley wrote, “Spider-Man is not only the most expensive musical ever to hit Broadway; it may also rank among the worst.”

“I’m not kidding. The sheer ineptitude of this show, inspired by the Spider-Man comic books, loses its shock value early. After 15 or 20 minutes, the central question you keep asking yourself is likely to change from ‘How can $65 million look so cheap?’ to ‘How long before I’m out of here?” he added.

Gawker’s Richard Lawson thinks the show can’t be saved, calling it, “really, truly horrendously and unfixably bad down to its bones.”

“The book is a travesty, the music is lazy and awful—it’s like listening to the scraps left on the floor after U2 recorded “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me”—and the actors, including the voice-cracking lead Reeve Carney, are just not up to the vague, sloppy task set before them. If every flying element worked pretty much perfectly, as it did when I saw it, the show is still one of the worst things, if not the worst, I’ve ever seen on Broadway,” he added.

The Los Angeles Times’ Charles McNutly blames Taymor’s “run-amok direction” for the show’s downfalls.

“This is, after all, her vision, and it’s a vision that has been indulged with too many resources, artistic and financial… The investors of Spider-Man have inadvertently bankrolled an artistic form of megalomania. The book, by Taymor and Glen Berger, is an absolute farrago, setting up layers and subplots before the main narrative line has been established,” he wrote.

[Source: THR]

So, there you have it. What a lot of us were expecting seems to be proving to be true and this may turn out to be far and away the biggest bomb in Broadway history – taking a beloved superhero down with it.

If any of you readers out there have seen any of the preview shows and wish to share your point of view, drop me a line at tyson@bigshinyrobot.com and I’ll be happy to post your thoughts!

Do you have any desire to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark? Anyone out there surprised by these reviews?

Star Wars is all about certain points of view, and each time I watch the films I have a new lens on, shading the events, arousing new questions, and coming to new understandings about the mythology as a whole.

One of the things I strive to do is imagine what it would be like watching the saga unfold from Episode I through to Episode VI as though I’d never seen a Star Wars movie.  It’s a hard thing.

But I’ve found something as rare as a Unicorn, a person who has never seen a Star Wars movie.  And they’re willing to let me ask them questions and probe them about it and write up their first hand experience and my vicarious experience through them.

The young lady who agreed to give up her Star Wars virginity with me explained to me what she knows of them going in:

I kind of know the basic story line of the original trilogy and I’m fairly familiar with the characters. I know the basic story because I love spoofs, and because of Fanboys. I know the first one is based on either The Odessy or The Illiad, I don’t recall which. I never saw it because I’m a die hard Trekker and I think Luke Skywalker seems like a whiny little bitch. I would have rather watched the spoofs than the real thing. I absolutely loved the Ewok movies when I was little, though. I still want them on DVD.

So tonight we’re watching The Phantom Menace.  She seems like a tough audience, but we’ll see how she reacts.

Why did she agree to watch them with me? She told me, “I’m willing to watch it with you because it means so much to you. I share the movies I’m passionate about with my friends, and I know how it feels when they’ve never seen it and they end up loving it. I am also breaking down and watching it so I can answer your damn pub quiz questions. Also, so FanBoys will be even funnier to me.”

We’ll check in in the next day or two and get her impressions of The Phantom Menace and her predictions of what is to come.

This should be quite the interesting experiment.

I spend a lot of time staring at flow charts in my day-to-day job, so it was only natural that I found this appealing. The good folks over at onlineschools.org posted this flow chart to help you find your true job-path in the Star Wars universe.

Oddly enough “Ewok Chief” is the best fit for me. Actually, it’s not that odd of a fit for me.

(Click image for high-res)

So, which Star Wars “job” are you most fit for?

I wasn’t aware of this until today, but apparently there is a huge fanboy push to have Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski  play the part of Ms. Marvel in the upcoming Avengers film.

Let’s back up for a moment. I don’t know about most of you readers out there, but I wasn’t even aware that there were rumblings that Ms. Marvel would be in The Avengers. We know that Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, and Black Widow are all set to join the team under the guidance of Nick Fury and Maria Hill (rumored), but this is the first time I’m hearing the name Ms. Marvel dropped in the mix. I’m familiar with the rumors that The Wasp may be included in that cast, but that remains to be a rumor.

Apparently, there has been quite the campaign of Strahovski and Ms. Marvel fans for her to be in the film, and today, the Yvonne Strahovski fan site, Strahotski.com, received an anonymous “insider” tip:

Though it’s not often that we get the scoop on anything here, I’ve just received information from a protected source inside Marvel that points to Yvonne Strahovski being cast in the upcoming Avengers movie as Ms. Marvel.

That would be great and all, and as much as I’d like to see Ms. Marvel on the big screen along side the Avengers, there’s a little voice in the back of my head concerned about a bloated cast. Putting together an ensamble cast for the Avengers is a big task, and so far Mavel has done everything right. We have two movies establishing the character of Tony Stark/Iron Man and Bruce Banner/The Hulk, and we have movies establishing Thor and Captain America coming out this year. Using the Avengers movie to introduce a main character (or maybe two) such as Hawkeye is fine because fans want to see something new brought to the table as well, but the last thing we want is a bloated roster that takes away focus from the established characters. The problem is you start introducing a huge Avengers line-up there’s going to be a need for some character establishment and if you need to do that for more than one or two anscillary characters this film could end up losing focus.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of Chuck, and Strahovski would more than do justice to Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel, but I’d rather not see an Avengers movie that has to focus on introducing a handful of new characters into this Marvel movie universe, I wouldn’t mind a few cameos to potentially kick off some other stand-alone character movies to perhaps join up with the Avengers in a sequel, but I think it may be best for this Avengers movie to get too ahead of itself in introducing a bunch of new heroes.

I have all the faith in the world in Joss Whedon and whatever it is he plans to do with the Avengers movie, and if he feels there’s a place for Ms. Marvel and/or other heroes to be introduced in this film, then I trust it’ll make the movie better. There’s just that cautious optimism in me that hopes the writers and directors don’t feel too obligated to include five new Marvel heroes into this movie when one or two would do just fine.

For now, this story is filed under the Rumor category – with a capital ‘R’. This could just be some jokester trying to get the hopes of a lot of fanboys up.

So what do all of you Marvel fans think? Do you want to see Ms. Marvel make an appearance in The Avengers? Any concerns that this cast could end up “too large”? Sound off in the comments below!

Last week we shared that after Samuel L. Jackson mentioned he was getting a faithful side-kick for the Avengers movie – and other Marvel films going forward – there was a rumored “short-list” of actresses up for the part, along with plenty of speculation as to who this character may be.

Well, according to Deadline, Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) has been cast for the part of Nick Fury’s side-kick and that character is Agent Maria Hill. As with any of this type of stuff, nothing is official until someone from either camp makes an official statment about it.

I’m not so surprised by the character choice as I am by the casting choice. Not that I don’t think Smulders can handle the role, in fact I’m sure she’ll do just fine, but it’s not often we see an established sitcom star like this beat out other contenders! So, as much as I would have loved to see Baccarin in the role (she’s already got the short hair!), it looks like Cobie Smulders will be playing the part of Agent Maria Hill. Now the question is, what type of Maria Hill will we get? Will there be some drama about her trying to undermind Nick Fury in order to work her way to the top? Or will she just be a side-kick type character that does little more than serve as Fury’s right-hand woman? Obviously we will have to wait and see!

Production on The Avengers starts in April and is slated for a May 2012 release!

Update: Variety is reporting that this casting has been confirmed and that Cobie Smulders will in fact portray Agent Maria Hill in The Avengers!