Advertisement

Avengers gets new UK exclusive title

Marvel change title to avoid confusion with previous TV and movie series

The title for the ‘Avengers’ movie has apparently changed in the UK, according to the new poster artwork - to 'Marvel Avengers Assemble'.

Presumably other Avengers disassemble?




The prospect of confusion with other fictional Avengers may be behind the UK name change, as many will still remember the '60s spy-fi TV series that paired agent John Steed with a series of glamorous assistants.

[Related video: Watch five minutes of John Carter]
[Related video: New Wrath of the Titans trailer]

Worse still, some may confuse it with the ill-fated 1998 big screen version with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman.

The film sees Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor, uh, assemble to take on the villainous Loki.

Last year Marvel altered the title of their Captain America film to just 'The First Avenger' in Russia, Ukraine and South Korea. They thought plastering ‘America’ all over the poster would harm it’s commercial prospects.

Title changes are more common than you’d think in the film industry. J.K Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' was changed to ‘Sorcerer's Stone' for our US cousins.

Last year blockbuster ‘Fast Five’ became ‘Fast and Furious 5: Rio Heist’ in the UK thanks to panicky executives. George Lucas’ appalling ‘Howard the Duck’ film was altered to ‘Howard: A New Breed of Hero’ in the UK.

In 2002 there were rumblings that the second 'Lord of the Rings' film’s sub-title 'The Two Towers' would be changed because of the attacks of September 11th 2001, but Peter Jackson sensibly held firm and the title remained intact.

At this rate expect Ridley Scott's Alien prequel 'Prometheus' to be renamed 'Ridley Scott presents... Alien Zero: Prometheus' sometime next week.

Marvel's superhero mash-up, whatever it’s now called, is released in the UK on 26 April.