Ever since it was leaked that a short-film called Item 47 had been announced, Marvel Comics fans went on a speculation rampage as to what it could mean. Most believed it to be Agent Coulson's gun that he used against Loki before his tragic death, but now we have the answer.
The short-film will star Lizzy Caplan -- playing Claire -- and Jesse Bradford -- playing Benny -- as a couple who will find one of the guns from the Chitauri after the ending events of The Avengers and proceed to make some very negative decisions with it that they think could better their lives.
Lizzy Caplan holding the item
These special Marvel "one-shot" films such as
The Consultant and
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer have been attached to the Blu-Ray releases of
Thor and
Captain America. This film is no different as it will be featured on
The Avengers Blu-Ray which will release on September 25th. However, if you are lucky enough to attend San Diego Comic-Con the short-film, in it's entirety, will be screened.
Two S.H.I.E.L.D agents played by Maximiliano Hernández (
Thor and The Avengers) and Titus Welliver (
Lost's Man in Black) were given the assignment of stopping the crimes committed by Benny and Claire and retrieving the Chitauri weapon which SHIELD has designated
Item 47.
The Chitauri as pictured in Marvel's The Avengers.
Marvel Studios co-president and
Item 47 director Louis D'Esposito talks about the state of the earth as well as what we can expect from Benny and Claire:
“The world is topsy-turvy now. There’s been an alien invasion, and things are crazy, So when this gun literally fell into their lap, this is a sign: We’re going to rob a few banks, we’re going to buy a boat, we’re going to the Caribbean, and all our problems will be solved.”
So what exactly is the mission Marvel wants to achieve with
Item 47? The screenplay writer of the Marvel one-shots, Eric Pearson, had this to say about the new short film.
“Anything that expands the world and shows you the more human elements of it, that just makes the world more colorful and fun for the average viewer,”
The newest Marvel short film,
Item 47, is said to be on a much bigger scale than the previous films which focused around Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Phil Coulson in a couple of action scenes. The previous films with Gregg were only about 5 minutes long. You can expect
Item 47 to be almost 12 minutes long.
If
Item 47 proves to be a big success, could Marvel do short films with their heroes as well? Imagine a short film to introduce lesser known heroes for audiences to get familiar with a character. Think about what DC has done with their showcase of animated short films on their DVDs and Blu-Rays. D'Esposito certainly doesn't think it's an impossible idea to introduce new heroes with the short-film format.
“There’s always a potential to introduce a character. We have 8,000 of them, and they can’t all be at the same level. So maybe there are some that are not so popular, and we introduce them [with a short] – and they take off. I could see that happening.”
“Let’s say we wanted to introduce Ant-Man [in a short], and that would mean we have to cast him prior to having a filmmaker. That’s difficult and something we wouldn’t want to do,”
A reality based scavenger hunt for Comic-Con attendants starts on Friday with
The Avengers Second Screen app which will become a free download on the iTunes store Friday night which will eventually lead them to a screening on July 12th. Those who are unable to attend San Diego Comic Con will still be able to access a clip of the film using the iTunes app.