Cavalcade of Awesome

Countdown to Avengers is a blog crossover between Nerd Lunch, To The Escape Hatch and the Cavalcade of Awesome. Together we are reviewing all of the solo Avengers movies as well as some of the comics and cartoons. It’s all leading up to the release of The Avengers on May 4 where we will all review the new movie.

So, by this point we have talked about our thoughts on most, if not all, of the movies that lead up to The Avengers.  Now,  I want to look at some of the ancillary promotions for The Avengers.  I’m “the soda guy” of the group so I’m a complete sucker for any big pop culture movie/soda promotion (see my write ups on Star Wars soda promotions here, here and here).  So today, I’m going to discuss the big Marvel soda promotions that have happened from all of the Marvel movies including Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and the upcoming The Avengers.  Unfortunately, there were no soda promotions for the original Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk in 2008.  So, let’s start with the current Avengers promotion going on with Dr Pepper.

Currently, Dr Pepper has a promotion called “Assemble the Team”.  The promotional packaging is starting to show up en mass at retail locations everywhere.  The promotion consists of 8 collector cans featuring the principles of The Avengers (Nick Fury, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Hulk) as well as one can featuring the film’s villain (Loki).  Here’s an official picture of the set.

The promotion is spread among the four main Dr Pepper brands.  The character/brand breakdown (as shown in the right image above, click to make bigger) looks like this:

Dr Pepper – Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor
Diet Dr Pepper – Hawkeye, Black Widow
Dr Pepper Cherry – Nick Fury
Diet Dr Pepper Cherry – Loki

Up to today, I have found five of the eight cans so far; Capt America, Nick Fury, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow.  However, since Iron Man 2 came out in 2010, most of these characters have already shown up on several soda can promotions.  Let’s take a look back at these other Marvel movie can promotions.

Well, I mentioned Iron Man 2 was the first in 2010 to get soda treatment.  However, technically, in 2003, the Hulk was featured on a Mt Dew can.  It was promoting Ang Lee’s Hulk.  And since Hulk was/is a part of the Avengers, I will mention this can.

Next, in 2010, like I said earlier, Iron Man 2 received 7 character cans on Dr Pepper.  There were actually about 14 different cans, but only 7 unique characters were featured.  This set would feature the Avengers Iron Man, Nick Fury and Black Widow.  Here’s the full set.

The hardest to find?  Nick Fury on Dr Pepper Cherry.  Amongst the character cans you’ll notice there was one special Iron Man “helmet can” (top center).  The can was decorated to look like Iron Man’s Mark VI helmet.  It was probably the second hardest to find.

Then, in 2011, Thor also received a Dr Pepper collector can promotion.  Thor’s set featured 6 unique cans showcasing the characters Thor, The Destroyer, Heimdall, Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three.  Unfortunately no Jane or Odin.  Here is the full set of six cans.

In addition to the six regular cans there was a bonus Thor “Hammer” can.  The “Hammer” can was similar to the Gold Yoda can in that you won something if you found it. Here’s a picture of the Thor “Hammer” can.  Notice it’s decorated to look like Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir.

In Canada, there was a Mega-Size Thor Dr Pepper can that was decorated the same as the Hammer can. See it here.

Then, in Summer 2011, Captain America would get the collector can treatment. However, instead of Dr Pepper, the Capt America cans were featured on 7-Up and its brands like Sunkist and A&W Root Beer. It featured 5 character cans; Capt America, Howard Stark, Bucky Barnes, Peggy Carter and Red Skull.

The Red Skull on Cherry 7-Up is my favorite. But the Cap on Regular 7-Up is also cool.

So those are the breakdowns of the modern Marvel movie character cans. Hopefully they will continue to do this moving forward after The Avengers.

I assembled the majority of the Avengers team from already existing collector cans. Check it out:

Previous Countdown to Avengers articles:
Before the Avengers Initiative (Nerd Lunch)
Review of Iron Man (Nerd Lunch)
Review of The Incredible Hulk (To The Escape Hatch)
Review of Iron Man 2 (Nerd Lunch)
Review of Thor (Cavalcade of Awesome)
Review of Captain America (To The Escape Hatch)

This entry was posted on April 25, 2012 at 9:00 am and is filed under comic books, Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew, movies, soda with tags Dr Pepper, Marvel Comics, Mountain Dew, movies, pop culture, soda, sodapalooza, The Avengers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.