The Avengers Movie Google Drive

[Karoline]

To some of us here at TopSpeed, the world may be all about cars -- but from time to time, the world on which we drive needs protecting from some great and cosmic evil. Be it suspension-caving potholes, rising sea levels, terrorist plots, or interstellar space gods bent on wiping out all life in the universe to win the affections of Death herself; sometimes, we just need a hero. And when that day inevitably comes, it would be nice to know what those heroes will be driving.

I'm a huge comic fan -- have been for many years. But then again, so are a lot of people these days. Thanks largely to the Batman films and Marvel Cinematic Universe, people around the world now know more (on average) about the Marvel canon than ever.

If all goes well, and the Power Cosmic is with us, this will be the first in a series of articles -- an "Ultimate Crossover," if you will, between the heroes and villains of Marvel/DC and the cars they'd drive here on Earth-616. We're starting with the MCU Avengers, on the basis that they're kind of a big deal right now; especially given the coming transition into Phase III films, and the complete print reboot slated to follow Battle World.

Wait...did none of that mean anything to you? Don't worry. Because the whole point of this Ultimate Crossover is to bring together the two most obsessive-compulsive groups on Earth (gearheads and comic fans), and smash everyone up into an overwhelming orgy of nerd-tastic nitpicking concerning details somehow both bitterly contentious and gloriously irrelevant. At this point, we're really just a few gamers short of "There Will be Blood." Though that's probably also about as inevitable as a Stan Lee cameo.

Ground rules: All vehicles have to be production models no more than 5-ish years old. They have to have at least four wheels (so no motorcycles, because who cares about motorcycles), and must be available for sale to the general public. Those are the unalterable, indisputable, not-up-for-debate rules. Now watch as I blatantly violate at least one of them in this very article.

So, if you like this bit of scribble, and our Ultimate Crossover Series, feel free to comment, share, and let me know what characters from the Marvel/DC universes you'd like to see in future installments. I'm thinking either X-Men or MCU villains next. Be sure to speak up in the comments.

Most modern fans know Nick Fury as Samuel "Furious Anger" Jackson, and there's no doubt anyone could have done it better. Mostly because Nick Fury literally is Samuel L. Jackson. When Marvel did the 2001 Ultimate Universe series, they modeled the comic version of Nick Fury after Jackson. It was only later that they contacted Jackson himself to play the live-action version of the comic book character that was modeled after him.

In the MCU, Nick usually drives some kind of undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle, notably the armored Tahoe->ke472 from Winter Soldier. That's probably fair enough. Nick's a government agent, and Tahoes are government vehicles. But it was also a pretty glaring example of product placement for GM,->ke1024 the same as Black Widow's Corvette Stingray->ke4603 in the opening scenes.

Still, it's pretty hard to imagine Nick Fury driving a Chevrolet->ke199 to and from work. He's the head of a major international spy and anti-terrorism organization based in Washington D.C. The guy's got to be making a little better than Chevrolet money; but Nick's also not the type of guy to spend a lot of time thinking about style or luxury. The living definition of "pragmatism," Nick would go for a machine that simply does what it does, without ever drawing too much attention. He'd want a car that could handle any task he threw at it reliably, competently and without complaint. His car would have to be practical and tough, high-tech yet low-key, and capable of outrunning anything HYDRA could throw after it.

True, the original Nick Fury wasn't exactly a big fan of Das Germans; despite what the MCU says, he was the original leader of the Howlin' Commandos in WWII. But, I'd like to think he'd learn to forgive, and appreciate the practicality and pure awesome performance of the most powerful sedan->ke142BMW->ke178 has ever produced.

Packing 600 horses by way of a twin-turbo V-8 engine, the Anniversary Edition M5 offers 25 more than even the competition Package. That's good for a crushingly quick 3.7-second sprint to 60 mph; down a full 0.4 second from the Competition model. It's got enough attitude to satisfy a guy with an eyepatch and a black trench coat, but still wouldn't look out of place tooling around D.C. GM product placement aside, and even at $132,000, I can't imagine Nick driving anything but.

To be clear: Everyone knows Captain America rides an old chopper.->ke2288 Depending on who you ask, in canon it's either a Harley->ke300 or an Indian;->ke3292 though I prefer to think of the latter. Either way, the bike really is integral to Cap's character as a WWII vet. However, given this series' strict "nobody cares about motorcycles" rule, we've got to look elsewhere for the modern, four-wheeled equivalent to a 1930s Indian chopper. It has to be the kind of vehicle that, no matter where it goes, just screams "historical provenance," "American," and "proud of it." Of course, there are a lot of criteria to consider, and literally dozens of different...

Granted, according to the MCU canon, Steve Rogers was frozen all through the 1960s; so the Mustang probably wouldn't evoke any real nostalgia for him. But that's only true in the movies; the comic canon has it that he was only frozen until the 1960s, when he was revived by the Avengers. So yes, he would remember the original Mustang quite well. Fun fact: Almost all of Cap's plotlines in the MCU (first movie, winter Soldier ect.) were originally written in the 1960s.

So, Cap would recall the Boss 302 as well as anyone around at the time -- and the modern car has to be about the closest thing to a "four-wheeled Harley Davidson" as exists today. Granted, the 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 is arguably even more American, and more chopper-like than the Boss 302. But Steve would almost certainly see it as gaudy and over-the-top. The 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca, just as much so, and uncomfortable. Which leaves the question: Why the previous-generation Mustang, and not the newer one? Cap would say "It looks like a space ship. I'd rather keep my boots on the ground."

Performance-wise, the Boss would feel comfortably familiar to Cap; its 444 horsepower, 5-second 60 mph time and 13-second quarter-mile isn't too far off of an old Harley chopper's performance. You can pick a used Boss for about $30,000 these days -- a reasonable price that would appeal to Cap's old-man sensibilities.

Make no mistake, though, the SHO is definitely cool in its own way -- if you're the kind of geek who likes under-rated things that were really groundbreaking a couple decades ago. Just like the Falcon himself. He was the first African American ever introduced in a comic book who didn't have "black" in his name, a la "Black Panther" or "Black Mamba." That might not sound like much of a big deal today, but it certainly was in the Civil Rights era.

Ford's->ke31 original Taurus SHO was a big deal in its own era, too. This firebreathing hellion of a car helped to bring high-performance daily drivers into the mainstream in a big way. Later versions in the 90s were also weirdly cool, if only because they looked like normal Taurii->ke2299 (yes, that's the agreed upon plural), but carried a Yamaha-built->ke301 V-8 engine under the hood. The modern SHO might not be the most visually stunning car in the world, and the "Taurus" badge probably isn't helping any; but with 365 horsepower of twin-turbo V-6 under the hood, this beast will run head-to-head with a Mustang GT at about 5.8 seconds to 60 mph.

So, the Taurus isn't "cool" per se, and it'll always be a sidekick to the Mustang; but it is high-tech, it's a lot more capable than it seems, and at $35,000 used it's something that even a military vet on a fixed income could conceivably own.

Ohhh...ahhh...Corvette Stingray. Yes, we all oogled over the Black Widow's ride, but there's just no way in Hell she'd drive a Corvette,->ke1280 Stingray, concept or otherwise. In yet another example of product placement gone wrong, Black Widow simply got the wrong car.

Those who just tuned into the MCU might not know, but Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanova (aka Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow) originally appeared as a femme fatale villain in 1964's Tales of Suspense. A primary antagonist of Iron Man, Natasha was actually a Russian secret agent sent by the Red Commies to spy, infiltrate, steal and assassinate anyone or thing required. She switched sides and joined the Avengers in the 1980s -- and only then because of her love for Hawkeye, another former villain turned superhero.

Good thing she did though, because this baddest of bad girls is one of the very few completely un-powered, completely human individuals in Marvel history to independently pose a serious, personal threat to Iron Man or the Avengers. But she's on on the "good" side now -- more or less.

Before explaining this one, it might be easier to go into why Natasha wouldn't drive a Corvette. First, because her primary assets (aside from her primary assets) are her intelligence, stealth, speed, agility and ability to slip into and out of anywhere unseen. Despite her often gunslinging role in the MCU, it's the scenes where Natasha is in disguise, sneaking around, or psychologically manipulating people that really defines her character. "I'm whoever you want me to be," she says. And she means it. So, the Black Widow would never drive anything as ostentatious as a Corvette; if anything, she's even more pathologically secretive than Nick Fury.

Second: Natasha might work for SHIELD now, but she's not exactly what you'd call an "American patriot." True, she defected to the Avengers and SHIELD, but those were always just the means to a personal end. Natasha's loyalties and predilections are her own, and she wouldn't be caught dead in anything as brashly American as a Corvette. Her tastes would almost certainly run to something restrained and European.

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