There’s been a lot of excitement brewing over Marvel Studios’ superhero mash-up film The Avengers since Iron Man first came out in 2008 and featured Nick Fury hitting up Tony Stark to join his elite team of costumed crime fighters after the credit roll.

When geek-messiah Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) was rumored to have signed on to direct the project, mouth-breathers everywhere high-fived their moms and eagerly awaited for the news to be confirmed and for the cast to be set.

Well, the wait is over.

Marvel announced at their Comic-Con panel last night that Whedon will indeed be behind the camera and that actor Mark Ruffalo would be replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner the Hulk in the film. And, that wasn’t all.

Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury) then took the stage and introduced all of the avengers: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Clark Gregg (SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson), and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow).

Personally, I find this to be a pretty sorry group of superheroes. I mean Downey’s Iron Man is cool and, while I have no idea what the Black Widow’s deal is, Johansson in latex is a good thing. I’m even down with Ruffalo as the Hulk. But, what the fuck is a Hawkeye and a Nick Fury? Phil Coulson?

I must have been out getting laid when those comics came out. And, by laid I mean playing with my Star Wars action figures.