'The Avengers' Will Be On Blu-Ray September 25, With New Short And Copious Extra Footage

By Russ Fischer/May 18, 2012 4:30 pm EST

Some of you might remember that a few weeks back, one interview with Joss Whedon gave up some details on his first cut of The Avengers, mentioning the amount that was trimmed from the film, with promises for an eventual DVD release. His first rough cut ran almost three hours — and don't get delusions of some ideal director's cut here, as it was likely never intended to be screened at that length — with a good half hour trimmed before the film was pounded into final shape.

Now, as the film breaks and re-sets more box office records, Disney is keeping The Avengers afloat and already talking about the DVD/Blu-ray release. The discs will hit on September 25, and for the Blu-ray release there will be a solid suite of extras on board.

Those are the various edition covers, above. DVD buyers get only a commentary from Whedon as a real special feature. But the Blu has quite a lot, including bookending alternate opening and ending scenes featuring Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill.

Here's the feature list, via JoBlo:

AVENGERS 4-Disc BD Combo Pack, 2-Disc BD Combo Pack and 2-Disc DVD Combo Pack Special Features:

• AUDIO COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR JOSS WHEDON

• MARVEL ONE-SHOT: ITEM 47

• SECOND SCREEN

• GAG REEL

• DELETED SCENES

- Alternate Opening – Maria Hill Interrogation

- Extended Scene – Loki & Barton Strategize

- Steve Rogers – Man Out of Time

- Nick Fury & World Security Council

- Extended Viaduct Fight – Raw Footage

- Fury & Hill Discuss the World Security Council

- Extended Scene – Banner and Security Guard

- Alternate Ending – Maria Hill Interrogation

• FEATURETTES

A Visual Journey

- Assembling the Ultimate Team

• SOUNDGARDEN MUSIC VIDEO – "Live to Rise"

AVENGERS DVD Special Features:

• AUDIO COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR JOSS WHEDON

• FEATURETTES

- Assembling the Ultimate Team

And for those who are just now getting on the Marvel train and don't yet have disc copies of the other films, there's rumor of a ten-disc set featuring The Avengers along with Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger. Given the fact of different distributors for the theatrical versions of those films (Paramount, Disney, and Universal) don't take that too seriously just yet.