There's a cute interview quote with a couple of the Avengers saying how their sequels will be awkward, because why not just call [X] if there's a big fight to be fought?

Did Stark Tower exist in the first Iron Man movies? I thought they were set in California.

Huh. A quick Wikipedia visit tells me that was all Favreau's idea, and Iron Man is usually New York in comics.

I will admit that I know absolutely nothing about comic book canon for the Avengers and Iron Man, and only a little about Spider-Man, so in my head that's his territory. Clearly, my head is wrong. But just in movie-land, The Avengers never cam near New York until this movie.

Given the modern approach to celebrity, mutants would be equally as celebrated as they are hated, to my mind. Lots of disaffected people who want to be mutants or just want to get close to them.

But just in movie-land, The Avengers never cam near New York until this movie.

Well, the Avengers didn't exist before this movie so they weren't really anywhere. But, before the movie, Stark had built his tower, since it opens with him flipping the power onto self-sustaining.

Given the modern approach to celebrity, mutants would be equally as celebrated as they are hated, to my mind

The mutant metaphor is primarily a race/sexuality metaphor. Sure, some people listen to black music just to be cool or are LUG, but it's really a drop in the bucket when compared to everyone else.

The individual avengers existed before this movie, and we had never seen any of them in New York. And Stark Tower was built before it, yes, but we had neither seen nor heard of it, so I think I can be forgiven for associating Stark with the west coast. Therefore, to be, the uneducated audience member, it seems like Stark got moved to NYC just for this movie. I basically think Favreau was very smart to set the Iron Man movies on the West Coast, precisely because New York seems remarkably crowded comic book wise, and I wish that had continued into The Avengers, despite not being comic book Canon.

New Hobbit production video blog.

I don't see the NYC setting being a problem, honestly. Are any of the individual Avengers established as living there full time? (I assume Stark Tower NY isn't Tony Stark's primary residence...)

Captain America, I think.

we had never seen any of them in New York

I felt they drove home quite squarely how much Steve was at home in NY with his effortless directions and internal map of the city. He's a Brooklyn guy, and wakes up in New York after getting frozen.

So, given that Iron Man set up a residence there between movies, and that's where we last left Cap, is it really a big deal?

Oh right, I never saw Captain America. So he could be crossing paths with Spider-Man at some point in the mythical cross-licensing future. But there's no reason he has to.