"Marvel's The Avengers" (2012)
It felt like we had been waiting forever. We had been patient. We watched as each one was introduced, some in their full length feature, while others just made appearances in said features. Then, on May 2, 2012, four years and two days after the premiere of "Iron Man," the Avengers assembled.
The movie brought together Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlet Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. Mark Ruffalo replaced Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/the Hulk. Cobie Smulders joined the cast as high ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Maria Hill. Tom Hiddleston reprised his role as big bad, Loki and pretty much solidified his claim as the best Marvel villain of all time. Joss Whedon made his MCU debut, writing and directing the movie.
Before we get too far into this, I feel like I should make a confession. "Marvel's The Avengers" is my favorite Marvel movie and I don't see anything happening that will change that. So, if you are looking for harsh criticism of the movie, I would probably move along. I don't have any to offer.
The plot of the movie is pretty straightforward. Loki returns to Earth with a staff he can use to control men's minds. His goal is to use the Tesseract to open a portal and release the alien Chitauri who will help him conquer Earth. To stop him, Nick Fury finally enacts the Avengers Initiative.
This simple premise is probably what helps the movie be so great. Since there is no real convoluted plot to work through, we can just sit back and watch as these heroes who would rather fly solo, fight and laugh and eventually become some semblance of a team. Whedon does what he does best and boils each character down to their basic levels and it really works. He especially works his magic on Black Widow. From the first moment she is onscreen, you can tell that this is a completely different character than the one we first met in "Iron Man 2." She is three dimensional and a badass and her friendship with Hawkeye is one of the many high points in the film.
You have some classic first time team up moments. When Marvel's big three first meet, shields fly, repulsors go off and lightning strikes as they clash before eventually realizing they all want the same thing and need to work together. It's a cliché as old as comics books, but it works so well here and is so visually stunning that it works.
This could go on forever. Every moment works. Coulson's sacrifice to bring the team together. The whole "Battle of New York." Every time I see that shot of the Avengers for the first time after Banner shows up and Hulk's out gives me chills. Every. Single. Time. Each Avenger gets a moment to shine. It's just so good.
This is also the MCU movie that introduces the mid-credits tease. Loki has been working with a mysterious figure. He hooked him up with the Chitauri and gave him his scepter with the mind control jewel. We find out that person is the Mad Titan Thanos. This is pretty huge, because it also helps set up Phase 2 and beyond. Thanos is after the Infinity Gems and there are two in "Marvel's The Avengers." The first is the Tesseract, which is the space stone. Thor takes that back to Asgard for safekeeping. The second is the mind stone, which is at the end of Loki's scepter. It will be a couple of movies before we find out what happened to that.
The after credits scene is a fun throwaway gag of the team eating shwarma which is a call back to Iron Man suggesting it after closing the portal. The scene was actually filmed a couple of weeks before the film's release. Chris Evans had a full beard so that is why his face is pretty much obscured during the scene.
The Marvel One-Shot released with the blu-ray is the biggest one yet, fitting for Marvel's biggest movie yet. "Item 47" tells the tale of two thieves played by Jesse Bradford and Lizzy Caplan finding the last Chitauri artifact and using it to commit bank robberies. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell is interested in these two since they were able to get the item to work. It's pretty high budget for a one-shot, but it's still kind of just entertaining fluff that doesn't have any deeper meaning or connection the the MCU at large.
So, that's it. Phase One is complete. Do you love "Marvel's The Avengers" as much as I do? Is it anyone's least favorite. I'd be interested in finding out why and telling you why you are wrong. Let me know in the comments.
The movie brought together Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlet Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. Mark Ruffalo replaced Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/the Hulk. Cobie Smulders joined the cast as high ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Maria Hill. Tom Hiddleston reprised his role as big bad, Loki and pretty much solidified his claim as the best Marvel villain of all time. Joss Whedon made his MCU debut, writing and directing the movie.
Before we get too far into this, I feel like I should make a confession. "Marvel's The Avengers" is my favorite Marvel movie and I don't see anything happening that will change that. So, if you are looking for harsh criticism of the movie, I would probably move along. I don't have any to offer.
The plot of the movie is pretty straightforward. Loki returns to Earth with a staff he can use to control men's minds. His goal is to use the Tesseract to open a portal and release the alien Chitauri who will help him conquer Earth. To stop him, Nick Fury finally enacts the Avengers Initiative.
This simple premise is probably what helps the movie be so great. Since there is no real convoluted plot to work through, we can just sit back and watch as these heroes who would rather fly solo, fight and laugh and eventually become some semblance of a team. Whedon does what he does best and boils each character down to their basic levels and it really works. He especially works his magic on Black Widow. From the first moment she is onscreen, you can tell that this is a completely different character than the one we first met in "Iron Man 2." She is three dimensional and a badass and her friendship with Hawkeye is one of the many high points in the film.
You have some classic first time team up moments. When Marvel's big three first meet, shields fly, repulsors go off and lightning strikes as they clash before eventually realizing they all want the same thing and need to work together. It's a cliché as old as comics books, but it works so well here and is so visually stunning that it works.
This could go on forever. Every moment works. Coulson's sacrifice to bring the team together. The whole "Battle of New York." Every time I see that shot of the Avengers for the first time after Banner shows up and Hulk's out gives me chills. Every. Single. Time. Each Avenger gets a moment to shine. It's just so good.
This is also the MCU movie that introduces the mid-credits tease. Loki has been working with a mysterious figure. He hooked him up with the Chitauri and gave him his scepter with the mind control jewel. We find out that person is the Mad Titan Thanos. This is pretty huge, because it also helps set up Phase 2 and beyond. Thanos is after the Infinity Gems and there are two in "Marvel's The Avengers." The first is the Tesseract, which is the space stone. Thor takes that back to Asgard for safekeeping. The second is the mind stone, which is at the end of Loki's scepter. It will be a couple of movies before we find out what happened to that.
The after credits scene is a fun throwaway gag of the team eating shwarma which is a call back to Iron Man suggesting it after closing the portal. The scene was actually filmed a couple of weeks before the film's release. Chris Evans had a full beard so that is why his face is pretty much obscured during the scene.
The Marvel One-Shot released with the blu-ray is the biggest one yet, fitting for Marvel's biggest movie yet. "Item 47" tells the tale of two thieves played by Jesse Bradford and Lizzy Caplan finding the last Chitauri artifact and using it to commit bank robberies. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell is interested in these two since they were able to get the item to work. It's pretty high budget for a one-shot, but it's still kind of just entertaining fluff that doesn't have any deeper meaning or connection the the MCU at large.
So, that's it. Phase One is complete. Do you love "Marvel's The Avengers" as much as I do? Is it anyone's least favorite. I'd be interested in finding out why and telling you why you are wrong. Let me know in the comments.
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