The Avengers has taken the box office by storm, smashing the domestic U.S. revenue record with a $200.3 million debut.

It’s by far the biggest opening ever, shooting past the previous record of $169.2 million for the debut of last year’s ‘Harry Potter’ finale. The Avengers added $151.5 million overseas over the weekend to bring its total to $441.5 million since it began opening internationally a week earlier.

That raised the film’s worldwide haul to $641.8 million in barely a week and a half, more than its Marvel superhero forerunners Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America took in during their entire runs.

If distributor Disney’s domestic estimate Sunday holds when the final weekend count is released Monday, ‘The Avengers’ would be the first movie ever to haul in $200 million in a single weekend.

‘There aren’t even words, to be honest. I’m running low on double takes. Every time we looked at a number, it just got bigger than what we could have hoped for in the best-case assumption,’ said Dave Hollis, Disney’s head of distribution. ‘With this film, anything is possible.’

The Avengers started with solid midnight crowds Friday, though nowhere near a record. Then it did $80.5 million for the full day Friday, second only to the Harry Potter finale’s $91.1 million first day.

The record weekend was the culmination of years of careful planning by Marvel Studios, which has included teasers for an ‘Avengers’ dream team collaboration in its solo superhero adventures.

Directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), The Avengers features Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Avengers fever has gripped the globe, with Joss Whedon’s superhero blockbuster toppling box office records the world over.

Marvel Studios has been prolific in recent years, adapting its comic properties for the big screen one by one, but it isn’t done yet. Confirmed follow-ups to Iron Man, Thor and Captain America are sure to culminate in an Avengers sequel a few years from now.

Digital Spy looked at five potential directions for the next Avengers film.

Firstly, Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet.  The villain, Thanos crops up in the post-credits sequence, dropping a strong hint that he will serve as antagonist in at least one future Marvel film. Given that the Mad Titan has appeared across decades of Marvel continuity, there’s plenty of scope for him to feature in the Avengers follow-up. A brief glimpse at his Infinity Gauntlet in Thor suggests that we could be in for an adaptation of the Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries, featuring the movie’s roster of characters. Perhaps the next slate of Marvel films will revolve around the six Infinity Gems that fuel the all-powerful artefact.

Another possibility? Civil War. For anyone unfamiliar with comic lore, Civil War was an expansive crossover storyline by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven that split the Marvel Universe down the middle. It saw the introduction of a government Superhuman Registration Act that divided the Avengers, leaving Captain America and Iron Man on opposing sides.

While it’s entirely possible that Marvel Studios will incorporate the events of Civil War into its movie universe at some point, this is likely to be further down the line. We already saw friction between the team members in the Avengers movie, and seeing this come to a head in a future sequel would certainly be a spectacle.

Digital Spy also suggests incorporating new recruits for the next Avengers movie. Given that virtually every hero in Marvel’s books has featured in the Avengers at some point, new faces in Avengers 2 is almost a given. Two characters immediately spring to mind in the shape of founder members Ant-Man and Wasp.

Ant-Man is widely tipped as the next Marvel hero to star in his own movie - with Edgar Wright attached to such a project - and he comes as a package with crime-fighting partner and love interest Wasp. Other potential recruits include Dr Strange and Black Panther, both of whom Stan Lee tipped for inclusion in an Avengers sequel.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are perhaps in with an outside chance of making the cut, following confirmation from Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige that they would be eligible for inclusion despite Fox owning the screen rights to the X-Men, with whom they are also affiliated.

The return of the Red Skull could be in with a chance. The Red Skull’s fate was left ambiguous at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, so he’s bound to crop up again and cause trouble somewhere down the line. This is perhaps more likely to happen in a Captain America sequel, but he’s battled the Avengers on countless occasions in comics.

Johann Schmidt has been affiliated with various evil organisations in the comics, including AIM, the Exiles and of course Hydra. It would be interesting to see the see the Avengers square off against a team of supervillains fronted by the nefarious Nazi, but whether there would be room for that alongside Thanos is debatable.

Last but not least, Digital Spy think The Kree-Skrull War is in with a chance. Earth and Asgard are merely the tip of the iceberg in the Marvel Universe, and we can expect to see more of it in future sequels. Adapting a storyline like the classic Kree-Skrull War would be an effective means of introducing cinemagoers to the Shi’ar Empire, the Negative Zone and other realms. The tale of an intergalactic conflict that threatens to spill over onto Earth was written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Sal Buscema, Neal Adams and John Buscema. Given that the event is considered one of the greatest of the Bronze Age, it has to be in contention for the movie treatment somewhere down the line, though concessions would have to be made given the expansive character roster.

Hunky Avengers actor Chris Hemsworth has opened up about working with Twilight star Kristen Stewart on Snow White And The Huntsman.

Hlamour magazine spoke to the star, who plays Thor in Avengers Assemble, at the UK premiere of the Marvel super hero movie in London yesterday.

When asked what it was like to star opposite Kristen Stewart, Chris said: “It was great! [She showed a] great amount of integrity and commitment to that role, and I think we all came into it knowing what the director, Rupert, was capable of, and we knew that if we did our bit it would be something special. So far, the film looks pretty impressive.”

The heartthrob also revealed what all the ladies have been wanting to know - what a girl would have to do to impress his character, Thor: “Well, what did Jane do to impress Thor? She showed an incredible amount of integrity and intelligence, and I think that caught him by surprise,” he mused.   

The Avengers is released in the UK on the 26th April, and also stars Scarlett Johnsson who has been discussing her character, and why she loved playing that role.

With the long awaited release of The Avengers movie looming, we take a look at some of the best female marvels in recent years.

Written and directed by Joss Whedon, best known for his cult TV shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly, The Avengers very much mimics the tone of previous Marvel movies, blending a wiseass sense of humour with typical comic-book derring-do.

Scarlett Johansson, 27, who plays catsuit-clad assassin Black Widow in the superhero blockbuster, has revealed that she loved her character because she was always ready for action. She said: ‘It’s nice to be able to play a female character that’s not a damsel in distress or some woman in waiting but to actually play someone who’s got a lot of conviction and who is really ready to kick some booty.’

As for strong female characters, we take a look at some of the best in recent history:

Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet in Heroes: Before the US drama Heroes turned into a confusing, meandering mess which was cancelled in 2010, it was brilliant TV. In this tale of handsome global citizens who discover they’ve got special abilities, 16-year-old Claire, played by the gorgeous Hayden Panettiere, was a super hot cheerleader with incredible healing powers.

Chloe Moretz asHit Girl in Kick-Ass: Controversial use of the c-word by this 11-year-old superhero in Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 film Kick-Ass, distracted attention slightly from a terrifically complex character. Hit Girl, played by the superb Chloe Moretz, was been raised by her semi-crazed father to be a violent superhero. As a result, Hit Girl is an expert knife-fighter and marksman, creepily cynical and knowing, despite her age. A bold and fascinating creation, Hit Girl is certainly worth a mention.

Sarah Michelle Gella as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: It took writer-director Joss Whedon a couple of goes and a 1992 film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to get his creation off the ground before he found success with this karate-kicking wise-cracker in a TV series launched in 1997. The premise was appealing: high-schooler Buffy Summers discovered she was the principal human defence against suburbia-infesting vampires. Buffy fought, slayed and fell in love with hunky vamps. It ran for seven series with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role, leading the way for the current deluge of films and TV shows about vampire-human relations.

Who do you think the best female marvel is?

Marvel Studio president Kevin Feige recently finished work on the latest Marvel movie The Avengers and is said to be very pleased with how it turned out. However, he recently got to cast his eye over The Amazing Spider-Man and admitted that he feels the movie is very encouraging at this stage.

The Avengers is expected to be one of the biggest movies of 2012 and some of the cast members, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo and Samuel L Jackson have revealed to Collider some of their most memorable moments from filming the movie.

Captain America actor Chris Evans has revealed how he once had a huge crush on one particular movie star when he was younger and even had a poster of the actress on his bedroom wall. The woman in question? None other than Speed actress Sandra Bullock.

There has been a lot said about the upcoming Marvel movie The Avengers and we have seen a lot of clips and trailers. One of the clips shows Scarlett Johansson in a fight sequence and it appears that one of the fight sequences from The Avengers really took its toll on the actress.

Mark Ruffalo is set to appear on the big screen later this month as The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers team used motion capture technology, deciding that The Hulk should resemble Mark as much as possible. Now Mark has reveal just what went through his head when he first saw his Hulk.

It seems that Robert Downey Jr. is one of those actors who likes to stay in character for as long as possible while shooting a movie, much to the dismay of his partner Susan. Robert is set to appear on the big screen as Iron Man aka Tony Stark, in The Avengers and while filming the movie, would often act like his character at home.

We reported earlier this year that there were talks of a possible reboot of The Incredible Hulk movie, with Mark Ruffalo portraying the Green Goliath in a standalone movie. Mark will be the third person in recent years to portray Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk on the big screen, when he stars in The Avengers later this month and Mark has admitted that he would love to reprise the character in the future.

The Avengers actor Chris Evans, who is set to reprise his role as Captain America for the forthcoming, Joss Whedon directed, Marvel movie, has revealed what he likes in a woman. Chris claims that he struggles to find a girl that meets his type in Los Angeles, as everyone is too la-di-da.