Harley-Davidson has entered a promotional partnership with Marvel Comics in which the recently launched Softail Slim plays a role in the soon to be released film, The Avengers.

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios, The Avengers will premiere in theatres on May 4, 2012 and is based on a Marvel comic book that assembles several superheroes. Included in the cast is Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow; unfortunately, Captain Canuck didn’t make the cut.

Promotional collaborations such as these often involve giveaways, and for The Avengers, Harley-Davidson has launched an “Assemble Your Freedom” contest in Canada (sans Quebec). The online contest runs until July 1 and requires that contestants create their own superhero character and design a custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The main prize winner will be immortalized in print by having their character drawn into a future Avengers comic. But wait, there’s more; they will also win the Harley-Davidson that they’ve designed online.

  

Sounds cool – so you can deal us in. After signing up for the contest we were presented with a seemed to be a daunting task: “Harley-Davidson and Marvel are assembling a team and the battle for freedom needs YOU. You may not have super powers but you do have a super motorcycle. Tell us your story – who you are, what Harley-Davidson you ride and how you’d modify your motorcycle to give the team an edge.”

In response to the challenge we created The Mojo Masher and opted for the “Shockwave Annihilator” from the armoury that was presented to us. Selecting a bike was easy; the Forty-Eight has been a staff favourite since its debut. Next we used Harley-Davidson’s online bike builder to through a few H-D goodies on the Forty-Eight to make it an even more imposing presence in the face of villains. The only thing left to do now is wait for the contest to close – and get ourselves measured for a cape.