The Avengers bad guys revealed?

Ever since a load of guys in motion-capture suits cropped up on the Cleveland set of The Avengers to do battle with the likes of Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), fans have been speculating over just who could be joining Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as the antagonists in Joss Whedon's upcoming Marvel ensemble, The Avengers. So far, the consensus seemed to be that the villains would be one of the many alien races that inhabit that Marvel Universe, but now a new rumour has emerged that suggests the Avengers will assemble against a giant sea-creature called the Leviathan.

The rumour seemed to stem from a Twitter user by the name of @JimboMont, with call-sheets from yesterday's New York City shoot seemingly adding credence to the report. In a recent interview with Total Film, Whedon confirmed that "we're definitely going to see something new" in terms of villains, and the folk over at ComicBookMovie have put together a pretty convincing argument to suggest that - should the rumours of a giant sea monster prove true - then we could also possibly see the introduction of Namor the Sub-Mariner and his army of Atlanteans.

It seems pretty obvious that Whedon and company have no intention of revealing the villains for some time yet (if at all), so I wouldn't expect any form of confirmation or denial on this latest twist, but judging by the evidence it's certainly plausible.

The Avengers is set for release on May 4th, 2012, with Evans, Hemsworth and Hiddleston joined in an all-star cast by Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (The Incredible Hulk), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) and Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig).