The day the Avengers came to Brockley, London

Last Friday, Marvel Studios came down to film a scene at the Rivoli Ballroom in Crofton Park, Brockley in South East London. My partner and I were walking down Brockley Road when we stumbled upon a film crew filming "After Party". The Rivoli Ballroom is no stranger to film - it has featured in Doctor Who and the Muppets Most Wanted, but this one was big. We could tell by the twenty of so trucks that were lining up on Brockley Road and Marnock Road. Curiously a couple crew members had shirts with Guardians of the Galaxy printed on it.

As the filming of the Guardians of the Galaxy has already wrapped up and is currently in post production, the only logical conclusion was that (OMG, this was when my jaws dropped when realisation hit me), they were a Marvel Studios film crew filming the next Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero movie - Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron! With crews and visitors in t-shirts bearing Captain America's logo and Converse's Chuck Taylor All-Star logo (you know with the big five pointed star in the middle, you didn't need to be a genius to figure it out. The symbolism was strong. It all hinted that whatever was going on in the ballroom had something to do with Captain America.

We decided to hang around  a bit and chatted with the crew who were pretty tight lipped. But considering that the area was crawling with extras in 1940s military uniforms and rumours on the street was that Chris Evans (the Captain himself) and Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter) were spotted, there is no doubt that the scene being filmed in question is a flashback sequence. A style ballroom was perfect for a period scene. Someone else also mentioned that they were filming at the local college not too far away, and that Scarlett Johansson was spotted, presumably filming a present-day sequence.

Finally as we were about to leave for dinner, we spotted the one and only Joss Whedon walking down the road towards the Rivoli. Now I am not the kind of person who worships celebrities, but even I couldn't help turning into a little fanboy when seeing one of the greatest science fiction screenwriters and directors in the neighbourhood filming what could possibly be 2015's biggest film. Joss was a fantastic and down to earth guy, and even though he was late, he still stopped to have his picture taken with us. It made our day.