'The Avengers' to be renamed for the UK? - The Avengers

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February 28 2012

'The Avengers' to be renamed for the UK? Steed and Mrs. Peel do have prior claim. ETA: The official UK Facebook page for the movie says it's now renamed as "Marvel Avengers Assemble" and will be out on the 26th of April.

Simon | The Avengers | 18:47 CET | 28 comments total | tags: the avengers

Oh that is so silly.

faith in Angel | February 28, 19:00 CET

Hmm. There's already a bunch of posters up in my local Cineworld promoting "The Avengers". So this might do more to create confusion than avoid it.

redders | February 28, 19:02 CET

SERIOUSLY?! I think anyone who has seen the poster will either a)Not be aware of the old TV show, or b) Obviously realise that this is not the same.

Dude Meister | February 28, 19:12 CET

To be fair, whenever I mention The Avengers here in the UK, pretty much everyone thinks I mean that other Avengers.

According to their FB account, the opening date has been moved forward to 26 April also.

Cider | February 28, 19:20 CET

I must admit, the news that Joss Whedon would be directing The Avengers was very confusing for a few minutes to this UKer.

Not particular unusual though. Captain America had the The First Avenger tag line added here (and elsewhere?) There is also the infamous, possibly apocryphal, story that The Madness of King George III lost the III in the US, because they thought audiences would think it was a sequel.

Basically, advertisers think we are idiots.

[ edited by Vandelay on 2012-02-28 22:21 ]

Vandelay | February 28, 19:22 CET

The Avengers wasnt a local tv series with limited distribution; it was a phenomenom that has been dubbed in half the world, in some cases has been seen in endlsess reruns and in some they literally translated the title; i dunno why a british viewer should remember this show better than... i dunno... a spaniard.

Then of course there is the movie, with Fiennes, Thurman and Sean Connery... not really a UK limited distribution either; the movie itself is so bad, people remember it for thus the same way they remember Batman and Robin.

[ edited by Darkness on 2012-02-28 19:27 ]

Darkness | February 28, 19:24 CET

It really isn't silly at all. I don't know how the copyrights come down, but Avengers the series is from 1961, Avengers the comics are from 1963, so it really could come down to a copyright issue.

When I talk about "The Avengers" I almost always mean the television show. If I ever actually refer to the film or comics, which is rare, it gets confusing. When they announced the film a lot of us were quite confused and concerned - 'not ANOTHER American attempt at the show, seriously?' Thank the gods it was the comic not the show.

But seriously, I think it will need a qualifier on it if they want to keep "The Avengers" to differentiate the title.

stormy_daze | February 28, 19:29 CET

Interestingly, it still says "Marvel's The Avengers" in the credits at the bottom.

MichaelH | February 28, 19:32 CET

Titles are not copyrighted, allowing for the duplicates.

bobw1o | February 28, 19:33 CET

If Marvel does HALF its job at promoting this movie, NOBODY should EVER confuse the show with the comics.

Darkness | February 28, 19:47 CET

Yeah, I'm sure I've seen movies with the same titles before. It's almost impossible for it not to happen, as many titles are fairly common words or phrases. Usually when it's changed it's only so as not to create confusion. E.g. "Avatar" and "The Last Airbender".

Mitholas | February 28, 20:44 CET

Marvel registered "The Avengers" as a UK trademark in 1965, but the scope was restricted to printed materials and publications for cartoon-like comic book characters, presumably not to interfere with the TV show's prior usage. That narrow scope wouldn't apply to the current movie, however. So in 2010, Marvel registered "Avengers Assemble" and its corresponding eagle logo, specifying usage on just about everything known to man.

So it's really just a marketing decision on whether to stick "Marvel" in front of it, but "Avengers Assemble" as a title was thought out quite a while ago.

Aurec | February 28, 20:47 CET

Marvel.com listed the movie as "Marvel's The Avengers" on their site right from the start.

Simon | February 28, 20:50 CET

On behalf of the UK, I'll say... "huh".

Craig Oxbrow | February 28, 21:13 CET

Change the title by all means, but really, did they think of that for more than 10 seconds?

Worst.
Title.
Ever.

Have you seen "Marvel Avengers Assemble" yet?

ZodKneelsFirst | February 28, 21:16 CET

FWIW, Marvel just registered "Avengers Assemble" and "Avengers Alliance" as USA trademarks two weeks ago.

Aurec | February 28, 21:20 CET

I think some of you are interpreting the title a bit wrong though. The movie would probably be titled "Avengers Assemble", with the marvel logo above it. I doubt anyone would refer to it as "Marvel Avengers Assemble".

If not I'm with everyone on how horrible that is.

Mitholas | February 28, 21:22 CET

I don't think it's an official official title. At least, I hope it won't change the on-screen title? Eek.

[ edited by Jaymii on 2012-02-28 21:41 ]

Jaymii | February 28, 21:39 CET

Movie titles are not subject to copyright. This is an awful title.

Andy Dufresne | February 28, 21:53 CET

Titles aren't copyrightable, but they are subject to trademark restrictions. And with lots of potential tie-in products and merchandising, it's all about protecting trademarks.

Aurec | February 28, 22:18 CET

I prefer this title. Makes it feel more like an episode of a series - which is exactly what it is. Like the James Bond films aren't called "James Bond 4" or whatever.

daylight | February 28, 23:00 CET

Yeah, I can confirm that whenever I've mentioned this movie to someone here in the UK they have always immediately associated the name with the original TV series. So I can understand the concern about confusion. That said "Marvel Avengers Assemble" is a damn awful tongue twisty mouthful.

alittlebitbison | February 28, 23:59 CET

Perhaps they should rename it "Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury", and be done with it. I hate confusion. :)

EffulGentleman | February 29, 01:18 CET

The Marvel Avengers Assemble doesn't even make sense. I don't think the Cap and Iron Man have any idea who Marvel is. That's like releasing "Lionsgate's Cabin In the Woods." The Avengers Assemble would have worked, although it's using an overused phrase in my opinion. Alliteration is fun but... eh...

[ edited by azzers on 2012-02-29 03:26 ]

azzers | February 29, 03:11 CET

How about "Nick Fury's Avengers"? Or better yet, "Joss Whedon's Avengers"? You all know you like that last one. :)

EffulGentleman | February 29, 04:07 CET

Well, to be fair it should probably be "Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Avengers Assemble". Except there is no fair and the Kirby Estate can't claim anything and it's a really awkward mouthful and besides, the issue's a lost cause. :/

And if you want to get technical...I guess it should be "Disney's Avengers Assemble", but they're probably saving that title for the animated musical with the anthropomorphic helicarrier and the dancing robot villains.

BreathesStory | February 29, 05:22 CET

I would not want to see that Disney musical.

But "Joss Whedon's Avengers: The Musical" has potential. Who doesn't want to see RDJ singing "We-e-e have a H-U-U-U-LK!"

alittlebitbison | February 29, 09:38 CET

Nothing has changed (like Simon said above). Remember the trailer that came out this past fall? (It can be downloaded easily enough from the Apple trailer site.) The title splash has "Marvel" above "The Avengers". The file name itself is "Marvel's The Avengers".

OneTeV | February 29, 17:46 CET

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