Before fans pile into theaters for the latest and possibly greatest Marvel flick, Avengers: Endgame, the original Avengers cast teams up one last time (we think... no spoilers) for the long-awaited movie's premiere in Los Angeles. And one of the saga's most recognizable stars, Robert Downey Jr., rolled up to the theater in a concept car appropriate for Iron Man himself: the new Audi E-Tron GT. This isn't the first time we've seen Downey with of the E-Tron GT. Soon after the concept debuted, Downey was one of the first people outside of Audi to drive it (of course, it was all captured on video), and instantly geeked out over the E-Tron GT's sharp design. But he'll have even more time with the concept in Avengers: Endgame, as Tony Stark swaps out his iconic R8 for the electric sedan instead. The car itself is far from science fiction. Audi unveiled the E-Tron GT last year at the Los Angeles Auto Show with a 90 kilowatt-hour battery pack and 582 horsepower (434 kilowatts) on tap. With fast charging (zero to 80 percent in 20 minutes) and wireless charging capabilities (at 11 kilowatts), Audi gives the E-Tron GT an estimated range of 250 miles (400 kilometers) on the WLTP test cycle. It's not just about range, though. With dual-motor (PMSM) all-wheel drive with torque vectoring, the E-Tron GT can hit 62 mph (100 kilometers per hour) in 3.5 seconds, 124 mph (200 kmh) in just over 12 seconds, and continue on to a top speed of 149 mph (240 kmh). That said, the E-Tron GT is the perfect ride for Tony Stark. It has all the tech you'd expect, and the performance to match. We expect plenty of other Audi vehicles in Avengers: Endgame, too; the company just released an ad with Tony Stark teaching Captain Marvel about modern tech, and showing off the new E-Tron crossover in the process. Source/Photo Credit: The Avengers / Twitter Via Dupont Registry<doc-sep>It's a movie event most of us have been waiting over a decade to see. Avengers: Endgame is upon us (read our CNET spoiler-free review here and our spoiler-packed review here) and with it, comes an avalanche of press, collaborations, merch and more. You may not have realized it, but Audi is one of the longest-running Marvel Cinematic Universe partnerships. The German automaker has been involved since the first Iron Man in 2008. Tony Stark drove an Audi R8 supercar in that movie, but he trades that in for the all-electric E-Tron GT concept in the newest Avengers film. For Endgame, Audi released a new ad spot that gets Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) up to speed on the progress she's missed on Earth during her absence, including the company's newest electric SUV -- the E-Tron -- which is due to arrive in reservation holders' driveways in the next few weeks. Roadshow had the opportunity to sit down with Larson this week, to find out more about why she's such a fan of Audi's new EV. Roadshow: Your "Debriefing" spot was a fun way to get Carol up to speed with the times. But Carol can fly. So I have to ask, what features in the E-Tron would entice her to stay on the ground and drive? Brie Larson: Well, the car can actually go really fast. I think that's the key point, is if the car couldn't go super, super fast-paced and have great pickup, then I don't think she would be as interested in it. But it's a great way for her to transport friends; you know, she can only carry one person at a time. So being able to drive around with a car full of people I'm sure would be an important aspect. Now playing: Watch this: The best moment from every Marvel Cinematic Universe... True. I guess you would need to take Goose to vet appointments too, maybe? Of course, exactly. Goose I'm sure needs lots of checkups, being a Flerken and all. Have you gotten a chance to drive the E-Tron? And if so, what do you think? I haven't. I have not had a chance. I mean, I've been in the car, because I sat in the back of it. But I haven't had a chance to drive it myself. It [the ride] was really zippy and super smooth. Have you driven any other EVs? Or have you had any experience with other electric vehicles so far? Do you own one? I do. I have an electric car right now. And I'll be getting this car [the E-Tron] pretty soon. But it's really, really important to me. Once electric cars were available, I did my research on them. And I just found it to be undeniable: The importance on the impact of the planet, from an environmental standpoint -- and also just from a human being standpoint -- to get out of the way of fossil fuels and the things that we're arguing over on a global scale. It feels really right to me, and there are so many perks that go along with it. Like, the fact that I got my electric car almost three years ago, and I've never had to get it serviced? That's something that I always like to tell people. There are so many aspects of gas-fueled engines that need a lot of maintenance that electric cars don't need. And we're just not used to that. We're not used to the fact that you can just have a car, drive around and not have to deal with like, continually bringing it into the shop to be serviced. What do you find the most interesting about EVs, aside from the obviously important environmental impact? Are there any features you hope to see added someday? I mean, there are a lot of small features that I really love, like I the help that I get when it comes to parking. Parallel parking in particular, especially in Los Angeles, it's like a huge, helpful feature. And the other thing I think is interesting is how quickly the cars charge, that it doesn't really take very long at all to get charged back up. People I think have the misconception that not having access to gas stations will be a hindrance to them; but in fact, at least for me, for many years, it's never been a problem. In fact, it's been a huge convenience that I can just charge my car at home. And it doesn't really take very long at all. And you can go pretty far. I think this car [the E-Tron] is what, like 200 and something miles per charge? [204 miles is the official EPA estimate of the E-Tron's range.] It's surprising how far you can go on one charge. The other thing is just the cost of it as well. It's so much cheaper to charge your car yearly than it is to buy gas. I don't know if people really understand that fully. You're doing good for the planet. And it's good. It's good on your pocketbook, too. I also talked to Brie about her time playing Captain Marvel, which female hero she wants to see star in a future MCU film and if she's interested in directing a blockbuster superhero movie someday. Look for that interview to hit CNET in the coming days. Avengers: Endgame is scheduled to open in theaters worldwide April 26. In the meantime, you can watch every other Endgame trailer and teaser right here.<doc-sep>Captain Marvel catches up on life since the ’90s in Audi promo for Endgame It has been more than 20 years since Captain Marvel left earth, but now she’s back to help the remaining the Avengers defeat Thanos. But, before Carol Danvers gets to join the other heroes, she first needs to catch up on all the things she’s missed over the years, starting with getting to know her new teammates. Check out the new Audi promo for Endgame in the player below! RELATED: Avengers: Endgame Clip Features Captain Marvel at Headquarters Last year’s Avengers: Infinity War saw the titular superhero team take the fight to Thanos in order to stop his attempt at exterminating half of the universe’s population with the Infinity stones. But it was to no avail, as he was able to successfully collect them all and snap his fingers, wiping out half of all life from existence in a cloud of ash. The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios’ grand conclusion to twenty-two films, “Avengers: Endgame.” RELATED: Avengers: Endgame Tickets On Sale, Plus Special Look with New Footage! Confirmed cast members for the fourth Avengers film so far includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Sean Gunn, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Katherine Langford and Josh Brolin. Marvel Studios’ highly-anticipated film will hit the theaters on April 26.<doc-sep>
Photo : Getty Images Sorry for spoiling such a major element of Avengers: Endgame for you with that title, but we have to talk about the noises the Audi E-Tron GT made in the movie. If you do not want to be spoiled by even the most minor of details in Avengers: Endgame, stop reading now. Calm Down About Spoilers Spoiler culture—the capital-D Discourse surrounding how much of the plot you should know before… Read more Anyway, the Audi E-Tron GT is the sedan that Tony Stark aggressively arrived to the Avengers headquarters in before the second act. The scene is meant to evoke Stark’s boisterous personality, having him get the attention of Captain America by speeding through the Avengers compound, tires squealing, engine seemingly roaring, as one normally drives. But the problem with this scene is that the E-Tron GT is an electric car, so it’s not supposed to have any sort of engine roar, because electric motors don’t really combust anything to generate motive power. The Chevy Bolt, Jaguar I-Pace, Nissan Leaf, and no Tesla make any sort of noise that the E-Tron makes in this scene. They’re all mostly silent, save for the occasional tire squeal or electric motor whine. But in Endgame, the car makes a rumbly noise that seems to grow in volume as the car accelerates and die off as it decelerates, and it’s an awful lot like a combustion engine that sounds like its being driven underwater, or something. It’s like me trying to gargle Listerine. It hurts. I don’t like it. Bothered by this, and knowing Hollywood’s tendency to misrepresent what cars actually sound like, I reached out to Audi to figure out why the hell the E-Tron GT was making any noise at all. Here’s what an Audi spokesperson told me: The filmmakers requested a sound for a specific scene in the new Avengers movie, a sound that actively supported the drama of the scene, including the gag when Tony Stark deliberately drove by. On the basis of this request from the filmmakers, Audi experts developed a digitally-generated sound for the car. This sound was then further developed together with the sound experts from the filmmakers in order to fit perfectly into the scene. As well as teasing the series production version of the E-tron GT in the movie, Audi is also teasing the topic of sound for its up-coming electric cars. In the near future, regulations will require that electric cars make a sound in many markets around the world. The sound that Audi developed for the E-tron GT concept in the new Avengers movie is not the actual sound of the E-tron GT series production version – which goes into production in 2020.﻿ Now, immediately after seeing the movie, I had a conversation with my colleagues about this controversy, and it was pretty obvious to all of us that the noise the E-Tron GT was making wasn’t meant to sound like a combustion car. I figured the sound engineers for either Audi or the movie studio wanted a noise that was familiar, though, and that would add to the comedic effect of the scene. And to be honest, outside of the movie and knowing it was intentional, I think they pulled it off for real-world applications. The noise is rumbly and intuitively reflects the actions of the car, and it’s an interesting solution to the challenge of developing noises for electric cars in the interest of pedestrian safety. I don’t want a world full of silent cars, and I think the result Audi and the filmmakers came up with is unique and futuristic, while appropriately invoking the noises we all recognize as being uniquely automotive. It’s just too bad Tony won’t be driving the E-Tron again anytime soon.