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The Avengers: Superhero Character Profiles - The much-anticipated Marvel superhero film is FINALLY in SA this week (26 April to be precise). Meet the formidable - and photogenic - cast of characters that make up one of the most exciting ensemble superhero movie events in recent memory!
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Iron Man - Robert Downey Jr - Iron Man was the first of the Avengers to star in his own movie - two of them, to be precise, with a third already in the works. An industrialist, philanthropist and cocky to boot, he may be THE perfect superhero.
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Iron Man - Robert Downey Jr - As Tony Stark (full name Anthony Edward Stark) he heads Stark Industries and is a billionaire playboy who built his own suit of armour of nearly dying from a severe chest injury.
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Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow - Scarlett Johansson - Natasha made her first appearance in Iron Man 2. She is a highly trained spy working for the international peacekeeping organisation S.H.I.E.L.D. who does not have a particular superpower, except her amazing strength and agility. Not just eye candy.
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Thor - Chris Hemsworth - The exiled prince from the planet Asgard hit the big screen in the movie Thor last year. Thor is also the god of thunder based on the Norse deity of the same name.
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Thor and Black Widow - The Avengers gives characters from a number of Marvel superhero films the opportunity to finally come together and form a unified force against evil.
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Steve Rogers / Captain America - Chris Evans - The very first Avenger, Steve Rogers is a World War II veteran who gained his strength from an experimental procedure invented by Tony Stark's father. His weapon of choice is a star-spangled Vibranium-steel alloy shield.
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Steve Rogers / Captain America - Chris Evans - Captain America found himself transported to modern-day New York at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, and now comes to the realisation that the world and the people he knew in the 1940s no longer exists.
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Nick Fury - Samuel L. Jackson - The figure tying all of the Avengers together, Nick Fury has been a regular presence in nearly every Marvel universe film to date. He is also the de facto boss of the gang as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
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Clint Barton / Hawkeye - Jeremy Renner - Hawkeye was glimsped briefly in a particularly tense scene in Thor. He is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and master archer known in the comics as the "World's Greatest Marksman".
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Clint Barton / Hawkeye - Jeremy Renner - Along with Black Widow, he has no superhuman abilities, and these two characters have a long history working together on numerous missions for S.H.I.E.L.D.
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Bruce Banner / The Hulk - Mark Ruffalo - A genius scientist who, because of exposure to gamma radiation, transforms into a monster when enraged or excited. In the movie, the voice of the Hulk will be supplied by Lou Ferrigno, who played the character on TV in the 1970s and 80s.
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Bruce Banner / The Hulk - Mark Ruffalo - This is the third approach to the Hulk character, with a new actor taking on the role of the green, angry giant. Mark Ruffalo takes over from Eric Bana and Edward Norton.
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Loki - Tom Hiddleston - Every superhero story needs a villain, and in Loki, the Avengers have a shared nemesis who is also related to one of their own. Loki is Thor's adoptive brother who discovered his true identity in the movie Thor.
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Loki - Tom Hiddleston - Loki arrives back to Earth with a view to subjugate it and rule the human race as their king. In the comics, Loki is a shapeshifter and has had extensive training in magic.
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Agent Maria Hill - Cobie Smulders - A new character to the Marvel films, Agent Hill has had a long history of coming up against Nick Fury for the role as S.H.I.E.L.D. boss.
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Agent Maria Hill - Cobie Smulders - She is a crack strategist and operative, but it also helps that she looks great in a skintight catsuit.
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Agent Phil Coulson - Clark Gregg - Coulson appeared in the Iron Man movies before popping up in Thor. A by-the-book agent, a running gag in the movies is that he prefers to use the agency's full name - Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
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