AVENGERS (Speculation)

• AVENGERS VS LOKI AND WHO????

Are the Skrulls in The Avengers or not? The rumor has been floating around for some time now, but Marvel has given no indication that the green-skinned, shape-shifting baddies will be joining Loki in his battle against the mighty ones in next summer's film. And yet…

The Avengers (Concept Art)

Bleeding Cool is pointing out that IMDb's listing for the movie has Cobie Smulders playing S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill as well as "Anelle," and that Anelle is in fact a Skrull in the comics.

But we all know that IMDb isn't the most reliable source. But then there's the leaked artwork and footage that's purportedly from a would-be game tie-in that has since been cancelled. The footage has already been taken offline, but Bleeding Cool says it showed Thor fighting an "oversized Skrull" as well as glimpses of a female Skrull.

Loki (Concept Art)

So what's the deal? We've all seen the spy photos of stuntmen in mo-cap suits fighting the Avengers -- they're obviously playing non-humans of some kind (sure they could be mo-capping for mech suits or the like, but again, they're working with Loki so that seems to indicate otherwise). But are they Skrulls? I'm not so sure…

Sources tell IGN that the Skrulls are not in the film. That could mean several different things, however: First, the Skrulls could quite simply not be in the film at all. Two, our sources could just be bluffing (which is a lame thing to do if you're a source!). Or three, and I think this most likely, the Skrulls as we typically know them aren't in the film.

Smart money is on Loki's allies being the Chitauri, the Ultimate Universe's version of the Skrulls (or one version, anyway). This isn't a new theory. Less cheesy than the scaly-faced green guys from mainstream Marvel, the Chitauri are nonetheless an advanced inter-dimensional race of shape-shifters who also happen to be pretty scary. They even first showed up fighting Cap during World War II as the secret power foundation behind the Nazis! And they are known by many names across the galaxy, including "Skrull."

If this is the direction Marvel's going with these characters, it would track with their other films' tendency to straddle both mainstream Marvel and the Ultimate universe, cherry-picking the best aspects of each. Plus, it probably helps them avoid any sticky legal issues they might have with Fox, since the classic Skrulls are kind of the domain of the Fantastic Four (who, of course, remain safely ensconced in Tom Rothman's version of the Baxter Building).