Marvel's Next Short Film 'Item 47' Stars Lizzy Caplan As An Opportunistic Criminal

The "short films" that Marvel Studios has made to decorate the bonus feature lineups on DVDs for Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger have relied upon SHIELD Agent Coulson, played by Clark Gregg. But that storyline culminates in The Avengers, and it's time for Marvel to switch things up a bit.

So for Item 47, the short film appearing on the home video release of The Avengers, Marvel has turned to new characters played by Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield) and Jesse Bradford (Flags of Our Fathers). They're a couple in NYC who finds something potentially useful: a cast-off alien weapon left behind during the Chitauri invasion of the city. Some pretty bad decisions are made with that item in hand, and S.H.I.E.L.D. moves to contain the problem. Get some more info below.

EW reported the details, and (as the watermark proves) provides the image above. This short is longer than the Coulson ones, running at twelve minutes.

With the alien gun in hand, Caplan and Bradford turn to crime, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents played by Maximiliano Hernández (Thor and The Avengers) and  Titus Welliver (Lost) work to stop them.

Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito directed the film, and explains:

The world is topsy-turvy now. There's been an alien invasion, and things are crazy. So when this gun ­literally fell into their lap, this is a sign: We're going to rob a few banks, we're going to buy a boat, we're going to the Caribbean, and all our problems will be solved.

Item 47 will be available on DVD and Blu-ray September 25 with The Avengers, but if previous patterns hold true it could end up online sooner than that. And EW says that this slightly longer short may set a new pattern for Marvel, with future examples having more room to explore some new characters in the Marvel cinematic universe. Make your wishlist now for characters who could show up first on DVD.