So much info comes out of Comic Con about comic-related projects that it sometimes takes a couple days to filter through. Collider and CHUD have posted interview bites with Marvel Studios prez Kevin Feige, who reveals some interesting things about both the The First Avenger: Captain America and Avengers films. First up is the roster for The Avengers, not that it really takes rocket science to figure it out. Feige says:

I think we know. It’s going to be Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Nick Fury. I think it’s safe to assume that there will be some members of the Hulk universe in the film as well. In terms of the additional, I think Black Widow for sure. SHIELD’s organization for sure. And, again, what’s exciting to me about the Avengers movie are seeing those four characters together and interact with each other.

He hedges on whether or not the Hulk will actually be part of the team, so the rumor/suspicion that the Hulk would be the initial villain in the film is still hanging. But Devin at CHUD found that Marvel still owns the rights to shape-changing alien race the Skrulls, and supposes that they’ll be the real villain in the film. As he explains, that makes the scope of the movie truly huge, and allows for all sorts of screenwriting fun. What if one incarnation of the Hulk was revealed to be a Skrull (the sort of thing that often happened in the comics) or if a character from an earlier Marvel film (say…Terrence Howard’s Jim Rhodes) had been a Skrull? Regardless, it’s good to see that Marvel seems determined to keep the team from becoming a sprawling organization. At least at first. Zak Penn is outlining The Avengers now. More details on Captain America after the break.

I’m equally intrigued about the Captain America ideas, which suggest that he might be fighting alongside some form of the Invaders in the period piece story. The Invaders were a WWII-era supergroup that included Cap’s sidekick Bucky (who we know is likely in the film), Union Jack, the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch. We’re not likely to see that exact lineup in the film, since Fox owns the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner as well. But the original Human Torch was an android, and Marvel owns the rights to that character (confused yet?) so there’s plenty of room for Marvel Studios to create a non-Human Torch. Here’s what Feige said to CHUD:

Setting it in the Marvel version of WWII is going to open it up [to an international audience] in a big way. It’ll actually end up being our most diverse and our most international film. In terms of the cast there’s a group that [Cap] works with that will have an opportunity for much more international casting.

There’s been the question of how to sell Captain America overseas, and an international supergroup fighting alongside the main character is obviously a good way to go. Feige also mentioned a couple of other possible inclusions in the film: the organization Hydra, which is the classic foe of Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. and Howard Stark, father of Tony.

Introducing Hydra in this movie could also open them up for inclusion in The Avengers (where they could always be making a deal with the Skrulls) and Howard Stark could also tie into Iron Man 2. In the clip we saw at Comic Con, Mickey Rourke’s villainous Whiplash is heard calling Stark’s family ‘thieves and butchers’, so events in the flashback story of Captain America could come to bear on the creation of Whiplash. Could Marvel Studios really be making a set of films that are as intricately tied together as their classic comic book plotlines? I hope so.