The Avengers (2012): NASA Plum Brook as Project Pegasus S.H.I.E.L.D. Research Facility?

The NASA Plum Brook Space Power Facility, located in Sandusky, Ohio, will be used as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Research Facility in The Avengers.

The Plum Brook Facility is being used to portray a research facility that’s a joint project between S.H.I.E.L.D. and NASA, reports the Sandusky Times.

Samuel L. Jackson, who plays S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury, took a tour of the facility on Wednesday, as well. 

It is suggested that the Space Power Facility will only have a brief appearance in the movie as “Producer Jeremy Latcham said he expects the Plum Brook sequences to wind up in ‘several minutes’ of the final film.”

This could actually be Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., a research facility from the Marvel Comics Universe.

P.E.G.A.S.U.S. stands for “Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States,” with Pegasus initially designed to research various forms of energy — unusual, extraterrestrial etc. It has also been used as a prison to house super villains.

What is interesting to note, is that Project Pegasus has been seen in previous Marvel Studios movies — Iron Man 2!

Here is an image from the IM2 Blu-Ray DVD bonus material featuring Pegasus. I also believe a crate was shown in the movie with either “Project” or “Pegasus,” as well.

And here is a shot of the test chamber in the Nasa Plum Brook Space Research Facility: