The Avengers

Among the many apocalyptic visions glimpsed during last night’s Super Bowl—that ad suggesting you could ride out the end times in your Chevy, M.I.A. single-fingeredly destroying any hope Madonna had for engendering world peace, Bill Belichick’s face—only one offered a glimmer of hope for our future, in the form of heroes we could believe in. That hero: Clint Eastwood, who heroically urged America to suck it up and stop whining already. But also The Avengers, the new extended trailer for which features the equally stirring sights and sounds of sassy Robert Downey Jr. dialogue, actual action shots of the Hulk, one of those exciting camera pans around a group huddle-up, and even Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury explicitly saying that he still believes in heroes. And right now, we need heroes to give our money to more than ever.