Thanks to Iron Man 2, S.H.I.E.L.D's presence in the Marvel movie universe is now well established. We've seen the leader, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and we've seen a couple of agents, Black Widow and Agent Couldson (Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg). What we have yet to see, however, is the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, one of the coolest bases ever made. Essentially a floating city that houses all of the secret government organization's operations, it was only a matter of time before the flying Goliath made its way to the big screen. That day is coming with the release date of The Avengers and now, thanks to concept art, we have an idea of what it will look like.

Russian website Spidermedia (via Comic Book Movie) has posted two pieces of artwork from the upcoming Joss Whedon film, designed by artist George Hull. According to the site, the helicarrier was originally going to appear in Iron Man 2 before it was scrapped and pushed back to the superhero team-up movie. The article also says that Marvel reps and President Kevin Feige are making plans to build a model and place it on top of the San Diego Convention Center for Comic Con 2011. Considering the size of that thing, the building process alone would be a site to see, let alone watching them try and get it on to the roof of Hall H.

Check out the art below and head over to Spidermedia to see them full size.