We'll be providing a full review of Thor on Blu-ray as we get closer to the Sept. 13 street date, but since we got the combo pack in the office today we thought we'd share with you some of the content we're most excited about – the special features.

Of course, besides the commentary by director Kenneth Branagh, The Avengers material is what caught our eye. The first thing we did after opening the box and popping in the Blu-ray disc into our PS3 is go right to the extras screen. There, we found the short "Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant" (which we previously previewed here ).We'd already seen a clip, but the full version provides even more background on the bureaucracy behind the creation of the team. It features Agent Coulson and Agent Sitwell of S.H.I.E.L.D. sitting in a diner in New Mexico discussing a directive from the World Security Council that directly affects the "initiative." It also gives us a new perspective on the pre-final-credits scene in The Incredible Hulk between Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and General Ross (William Hurt). It runs less than four minutes, and includes some footage we've seen before, but it is intriguing, and the snappy dialogue seems to fit right in with what we expect from a Joss Whedon-ized Avengers movie.

The other Avengers-related piece is "Road to the Avengers," a new three-minute montage including clips from all the films so far, along with brief interviews with Whedon and some of the cast members. There's also footage from the official introduction of the cast to the world at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2010. A good primer to get excited for the new movie, although a bit of a disappointment if you were hoping for new footage or a longer trailer.Next, we dove into the 11 deleted and extended scenes, first without the optional commentary by Branagh and then again with it. It's always nice when the director takes the time to explain the merits of the scenes in the first place, and then why they were cut out of the film. There's a lot of additional footage from Asgard (unfinished, so the effects look rough) that adds to the relationships between the characters, including Thor and Loki, Thor and Frigga, Frigga and Odin and Frigga and Loki (Rene Russo gets quite a bit of additional screen time here). There's also more of the Warriors 3 and Sif, both in Asgard and on Earth. Of all the scenes, probably the biggest loss is the bond between Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Stellan Skarsgård's Selvig. In a continuation of the bar scene, they sing a traditional drinking song together, later on, we see Thor heal him after a life-threatening injury using a bit of Asgardian magic.There are seven featurettes included: "From Asgard to Earth," "Our Fearless Leader," "Assembling the Troupe," "Hammer Time," "Creating Laufey," "Music of the Gods" and "A Conversation." The longest of these is the first one, running at just under 20 minutes and covering the wide scope of the production design. The rest range from two to six minutes and deal with everything from Branagh's directing style to casting, to music. Comic fans will especially appreciate "Hammer Time," which, as you might guess, deals with one very specific prop but also features an interview with co-creator Stan Lee while on set to film his cameo. Lee gets even more screen time in "A Conversation," in which he's captured on set having a casual discussion of the character and the movie. He gives the production his seal of approval, stating unequivocally that it improves on the comic by "a million percent."And that's pretty much what we get. As mentioned earlier, we'll have a full review of the title the week it comes out, and possibly a video review as well. So if you want to know how the movie looks and sounds in 3D and on Blu-ray, stay tuned!