Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Without the stabilisation equipment that's built by Erik Selvig, the portal opened by the Tesseract is unstable (demonstrated when the residual energy from the portal completely levels the Project Pegasus installation). Passage through it can therefore be reasonably assumed to be a pretty rough trip, even for an Asgardian.

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Chosen answer: Because the Tesseract is a powerful energy source and only by understanding that energy can they hope to harness it to create the weapons that they need. And there are other applications other than weapons. For example, SHIELD's Helicarrier clearly requires an insane amount of power to keep running; mastering the Tesseract and the potentially unlimited power it provides could give them a whole new range of options there. Likewise their ground installations, vehicles, equipment, all of these need power too. There are plenty of good reasons why SHIELD would look into non-weapon-based uses for the Tesseract's energies.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: During the end sequence of The Incredible Hulk Banner discovers that he can aim the Hulk in the right direction, give it a goal, which he uses to defeat the Abomination in that film. Key to that appears to be willingly accepting the transformation into the Hulk, which he does by choosing to jump from the helicopter. On the Helicarrier, Banner doesn't want to transform, it's caught him by surprise, he's fighting it, which is why it takes ages, is seemingly very painful and, as an involuntary change, the Hulk is out of control. In the final battle, Banner chooses to make the transformation, to "suit up", as it were, and thus the change is swift, painless and results in the cooperative Hulk capable of working with the others towards a goal.

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Chosen answer: The Tesseract is described in Captain America as being "the jewel of Odin's treasure room", so clearly it has significant links to the Asgardians, making it perfectly reasonable that it was located in Norway. Whether its presence there is directly linked to the battle in some way is unknown.

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Chosen answer: As she was extremely pregnant at the time of shooting, which would have been impossible to hide, it's likely that her participation was never considered seriously. Given the desire to get the film out on their chosen release date, there would have been no question of delaying shooting to include her in what could only have been a minor supporting role at most.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: The arrows in Hawkeye's quiver are very tightly packed - promotional shots of scenes immediately prior to the final battle seem to suggest that he has several dozen arrows in there. The number does visibly decrease as the battle progresses, although the initial tight packing makes it less easy to tell. A number of the shots he takes are also at close range, allowing him to potentially retrieve the arrows for re-use - it's only once he's atop the building, mostly sniping at long range, that he finally runs out. As for precisely how many arrows he fires in the course of the movie, watch it and count 'em.

Tailkinker ★