FROM SPLASH PAGE: The Internet damn-near gave Robert Downey Jr. a standing ovation when news broke last month about the actor not only signing on for "Iron Man 2," but also officially joining the cast of the absurdly-anticipated "Avengers" movie. Naturally, we had to get Downey's take on the upcoming film that's destined to be the Holy Grail for Geekdom, and you can rest assured knowing that the actor is well-aware of how important the film will be to not only Marvel, but the comics community as a whole.

"If we don’t get it right it's really, really going to suck," said Downey. "It has to be the crowning blow of Marvel’s best and brightest because it’s the hardest thing to get right. It’s tough to spin all the plates for one of these characters."

Read more about Robert Downey Jr.'s thoughts on the "avengers" movie on SplashPage.MTV.com.

FROM MTV.COM: While news of Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle coming back on board for 2010's "Iron Man 2” has been talked about for the past few months, today, Marvel Studios made it official via press release.

However, the big news which should delight fans everywhere is the studio has also confirmed that the three will be involved in 2011's sure-to-be-mega-hit, "The Avengers," with Downey and Cheadle reprising their roles as Tony Stark/Iron Man and James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine, respectively, and Jon Favreau signed up to executive produce.

Read more about these breaking "Iron Man 2” and "The Avengers" announcements over at MTV.com!

FROM SPLASH PAGE: Everything in the Marvel Film Universe is leading to the eventual superhero tag team-up, “The Avengers,” with Iron Man, Ant-Man, Thor, and Captain America all fighting side-by-side. What possible villain could compete with that?

“The Incredible Hulk” director Louis Leterrier told MTV News this past June that he didn’t think any villain could, and suggested that they use a hero instead: his.

“Iron Man” writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, who themselves may be writing another Marvel movie in the near future, couldn’t agree more, they told MTV News, insisting that everything is building towards making The Hulk the villain in the eagerly anticipated 2011 movie.

Read more about Hulk as the villain in "The Avengers" movie at SplashPage.MTV.com.

They join forces to fight enemies no single hero can battle alone. So what possible villain could be big enough, strong enough, or crazy enough to go against the combined powers of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, and the rest of The Avengers? How about no villain at all, "Incredible Hulk" director Louis Leterrier wondered, but a hero?

[Spoiler Warning for those who don’t wish to know anything about "The Incredible Hulk"]

"I would love to see [the Hulk become the villain that fights the Avengers] because I think the best villains are always the ones whose agenda you understand," he enthused. Read more...

This weekend, when “The Incredible Hulk” finally SMASHES his way into theaters, Marvel will sit with its fingers crossed, hoping he demolishes not just expectations (and half of Harlem), but lingering memories of the character’s previous big-screen incarnation as well. And why not? As cast and crew members, including Tim Blake Nelson, Stan Lee and director Louis Leterrier told us, this could be the start of something big (read their thoughts on what they want to see in the sequel).

But while Leterrier is positively thrilled at the prospect of a “Hulk 2” and “The Avengers,” of which Hulk will be a part, he can’t help but wonder: Will the superhero genre start to drown itself in its own excess? Or, to put it more simply, when will enough be enough?

“I actually got a little scared while I was making the movie. I saw the slate of the movies that were coming out this summer: ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Hulk,’ and then you have ‘Batman’ and ‘Hancock,’ and later you'll have ‘Watchmen.’ It's getting a little oversaturated in superhero films, and at one point they're probably going to get boring,” he contended. “Especially if it's the same type of story — either the defender of the earth, Superman kind of superhero or self-doubting Spider-Man, Hulk kind of superhero. Read more...