The next Hollywood superhero blockbuster to hit the silver screen is The Avengers, which is due for a 2012 release.

The movie brings together Marvel Studio’s greatest superheroes like Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and more.

And what does the movie have to do with an automotive site like Carscoop, we hear you ask? Well, we’re getting there. You see, following recent filming in Cleveland, Ohio, the movie set moved to New York City and Central Park this week.

In the Iron Man franchise, Tony Stark, the billionaire weapons technology manufacturer and playboy rolled around in his signature Audi R8, but in The Avengers film, he will be using a never before seen Acura roadster concept as the Japanese carmaker is an official partner of the movie.

During the Central Park filming, Robert Downey Jr. was scooped in a burgundy-colored Acura roadster prototype the lines of which are reminiscent of the 2007 Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept.

After the reveal, an Acura spokesperson told Autoblog in an email that the vehicle is a one-off study developed exclusively for the movie. The statement could be interpreted in many ways none of which is to Acura’s benefit (i.e. while Audi captured the spirit of Tony Stark with a production model, Acura had to resort to the creation of a concept study…).

Here’s Acura’s statement:

“As you may know, Acura has been in the Marvel Comics Universe films as the official car of their fictional law enforcement agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. That relationship continues for The Avengers.

The open-top sports car that was photographed yesterday is a one-off, fictional car that was made just for the movie and will not be produced.

That said, as you may also know, our CEO has said publicly that we are studying the development of a new sportscar, but we can’t say any more about it at this time.”

Along with the one-off roadster, a matte black Acura TL wearing a front bull bar can also be seen in the movie set.

Scroll down to watch all video clips from the NYC filming as well as the official trailer.

Hat tip to Jordan B.!

Story sources: Youtube, Superherohype & Autoblog

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