'The Avengers': Best Quotes From The Set

Last June, a handful of journalists headed out the New Mexico set of "The Avengers" to sit down the with the actors and filmmakers and watch filming for a couple of days. They all participated in long roundtable interviews with the key cast members, as well as director Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

We've gone through the massive transcripts from those interviews and distilled the most interesting bits for you.

» There was a time, there was a moment a couple weeks after I had taken the job when I suddenly went, 'Agh,' and my wife just turned to me and said, 'Honey, it's just the next story." I went, "O.K., thanks. I'm back." That was it, because ultimately it is. The financial burden is not on me. As I have said many times, "The first weekend is [the audience's] job. The second weekend is mine." If the story is compelling, if I got it right, if people want to come back to it, yay! - Joss Whedon

» It's a complicated universe, as you guys know, and there's a couple different versions of this universe, so it's interesting. We find reasons to make it work, but I think the general overall assumption is that we all at least have an understanding of each other... or a misunderstanding of each other is probably better. -Jeremy Renner

» And so there's this kind of nice ironic wryness [with] Banner. He's not sulking and miserable, you know. I think that's sort of a throwback -- we had talked about it being a throwback to Bill Bixby, which was the Banner that I grew up on basically. He had kind of a charm about it him, and this world weariness. -Mark Ruffalo

» The Loki of Thor is a confused and damaged prince. Meanwhile, the Loki of The Avengers is somebody who understands his own power. -Tom Hiddleston

» Could you imagine if you met your long-lost brother that was, at one time, your Dad's favorite and all of a sudden you sit down together? And he doesn't really want to hang out, but there's business? -Robert Downey Jr.

» It's not definitive how much time has elapsed since Iron Man 2 or since Thor or since Cap, but we're saying it's probably six months to a year. -Kevin Feige

» I think the most important stuff, Civil War, Ultimates… They've amped up the undercurrent of tension between The Avengers and that makes it really interesting to write. -Whedon

» So in a lot of ways, we're looking at it as a disaster movie. -Feige

» Thor is obviously here on earth now, because things are unsettled and … Am I allowed to talk about this? We could do this the whole time. He's returned because his brother is involved in the chaos that's happening on Earth, so there is some family business to take care of. -Chris Hemsworth

» There are all sorts of different masters that you're serving. I guess first "Do no harm" is now the screenwriters' creed. And the second is 'F--- s--- up.' -Whedon

» There's no time for romance. We've got s--- to avenge. -Scarlett Johansson

» That was fun actually. I think you're going to see a side of Stan Lee you haven't seen before. A dark side. -Whedon

» I actually called Ed, because I'm friends with Ed, and I wanted it to be copasetic. I didn't what to step on his feet, and he said, "Do it, buddy." He bequeathed it to me and we have a joke that it's our generation's Hamlet. We're all going to get a crack at it. -Ruffalo

» I told [Samuel L. Jackson] how I saw Nick Fury and how I saw his role in the movie. "Anything you're looking for or anything you particularly want to avoid?" He was like, "Hell no. Thank you for asking. I don't want to run. Don't make me run a lot." Then on set he pointed to the page, "It says 'Fury runs.'" "I know, it's just this one time." -Whedon

Thanks to Collider for the transcripts.

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