Seems like “The Avengers” movie is being hyped to death with so many sneak previews, behind the scene featurettes, short clips and pictures in the past month that there may be no movie left to watch. When that happens, the trailer will be better than the actual movie.

Someone complained on Twitter that Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) was showing her ass while looking over her shoulder in the latest movie poster. That sounded familiar. I pulled two other movie posters—“The Reaping” (2007) with Hillary Swank and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (2009) with Sienna Miller—with “The Avengers” movie poster in question into a side-by-side graphic. (If there are better examples than this, let me know in the comments.) This begs the obvious question.

Is the movie in trouble if kick-ass heroine shows her ass in the poster? Maybe.

“The Reaping” and “G.I. Joe” both scored low—8% / 53% versus 35% / 62%, respectively—on Rotten Tomatoes, being okay movies rather than good movies. I enjoyed “The Reaping” better with Hillary Swank playing the spiritually-compromised skeptic confronted with the Biblical plagues in a small Bible Belt town. Although “G.I. Joe” had its fun moments, the movie was a half-hour too long.

Being the big popcorn movie to usher in the summer movie season, “The Avengers” is supposed to blow everything else out the doors. I’m doubtful. The hype machine is going into overdrive, indicating that the studio is nervous that the movie won’t fare well at the theaters and not realizing that the hype could kill the movie long before then. No one wants to see a movie with no surprises. A kick-ass heroine showing her ass on the poster can only do so much to save the movie.