A source close to the production of “The Avengers” has let slip that a few cameos from the Whedonverse have been revealed.

Our source, who has asked to remain anonymous, confirms that director Joss Whedon has snuck in a few characters from his many shows – without the knowledge of the brass at Marvel.

“[Joss] said that since no one at Marvel was familiar with the characters, he just felt he could get away with it,” adding that they are pretty cleverly disguised and should delight fans of Whedon’s work.

So what are they?

“In a scene where there is a rush of SHIELD agents being led by Black Widow, we see “Echo” played by Eliza Dushku in “Dollhouse” and flanking her is none other than “River” Summer Glau’s character from “Firefly” – and they are kicking ass!” He adds that fanboys of Summer Glau in black leather will not be disappointed, even though the appearance is fleeting.

Other cameos:

- “Captain Malcolm Reynolds” from Firefly in a flashback scene taking place in WWII. “He’s very clearly seen in a photograph of an old SHIELD unit”.

- A one-eyed “Xander Harris” from Buffy in a humorous juxtaposition to Samuel L. Jackson’s one-eyed Nick Fury adds the source: “Nick [Harris] is in an old-style Nick Fury uniform, chomping a cigar”

- Apparently one of the characters references something like “living vampires” Mobius?? and as they go through files of potential agents to send against them, one of the images is of “Buffy Summers”. The Source says that as they are looking through the files, the agent says, “dead, dead, missing, dead” and when they get to Buffy’s picture he says, “dead to me.” HARSH! We guess things aren’t great between Joss and SMG?

It’s no secret that Joss Whedon loves to work with the same people over his many projects, so it should come as no surprise that some of his favorites have made it into his biggest movie ever.

The Avengers opens May 4th.

via “Whedonverse” Cameos in Avengers Confirmed! | Geekscape.