So here we are, the big blowout, the ultimate culmination of Marvels efforts and their big bad gamble. We've had two Iron Man movies, the Hulk, Thor and Captain America so then it was time to bring them together. The Avengers directed by Joss Whedon and staring almost all of the actors from the solo movies. And this was the first of the MCU movies distributed by Disney though they still kept the Paramount logos and credits in the film. You all know the drill here's the review of the original comic where the avengers first formed and I'll go over the differences.
http://atopthefourthwall.com/the-avengers-1/
http://atopthefourthwall.com/the-avengers-1/
Instead of Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow there was Hank Pym and the Wasp since Cap was still on ice at the time and Hawkeye and Widow didn't exist yet. Also no Fantastic Four since Fox still owned the movie rights to them at the time, granted the FF were basically given a cameo role but still. Finally we sure as hell didn't find the Hulk trying to be conspicuous at a Circus of all places! But enough of stating the obvious it's time to talk about the big bad popcorn blowout already.
As the movie opens we see Nick Fury and his #2 Maria Hill (played by Cobie Smulders and nowhere near as much of an asshole as her comic book counterpart) checking up on Dr Selvik and his research on the recovered Tesseract when Loki returns with a new magic scepter, a sadistic, smarmy new attitude and a desperate need for the box. So he uses the Scepter to enslave Selvik and several Shield Agents, including the aforementioned Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner) and secure the Tesseract. However he's on a ticking clock as his new benefactors will give him the Chitauri army to conquer Earth. But only if he activates the Tesseract and its ability to open wormholes, and these are people you do not want to disappoint.
As the movie opens we see Nick Fury and his #2 Maria Hill (played by Cobie Smulders and nowhere near as much of an asshole as her comic book counterpart) checking up on Dr Selvik and his research on the recovered Tesseract when Loki returns with a new magic scepter, a sadistic, smarmy new attitude and a desperate need for the box. So he uses the Scepter to enslave Selvik and several Shield Agents, including the aforementioned Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner) and secure the Tesseract. However he's on a ticking clock as his new benefactors will give him the Chitauri army to conquer Earth. But only if he activates the Tesseract and its ability to open wormholes, and these are people you do not want to disappoint.
In the meantime Fury is bringing the Avengers initiative to its culmination, first with Black Widow securing the cooperation of Bruce Banner (now played by Mark Ruffalo) after finding him in Calcutta. Next is Tony by Coulson giving him Selvik's Tesseract research, and finally Steve Rogers. Loki allows himself to be caught by Steve and Tony in Stuttgart, but before he can be brought into custody Thor frees him and attempts to convince Loki to come home, but Tony catches up and the two fight it out before Steve intervenes, breaking it up.
But this was one of Loki's traps, one to allow Bart to steal iridium to stabilize the energy of the Tesseract and 2, with all of these big personalities together and various unsavory revelations being brought to light along with the Scepter's influence the heroes would destroy themselves.
But this was one of Loki's traps, one to allow Bart to steal iridium to stabilize the energy of the Tesseract and 2, with all of these big personalities together and various unsavory revelations being brought to light along with the Scepter's influence the heroes would destroy themselves.
But with his brainwashed forces tracking him down to retrieve him once the energy was stabilized Loki did at least manage to get Bruce to lose control of himself, setting the Hulk loose, nearly destroying the Helicarrier and killing Agent Coulson before he left, I mean sending him to Tahiti! Yeah, yeah that's the ticket. Anyway with a little bit of a pep talk from Fury and Widow literally knocking the sense into Hawkeye the Avengers take down the Chitauri, Loki is brought back to Asgard by Thor to answer for his crimes and everyone decides to go out for Schwarma. And all's well that ends well, right?
Now for some personal trivia, this was the very first of the MCU movies that I've seen in theaters on the big screen and this was honestly one of the best experiences I've had in a theater. Everyone was cheering, laughing and I was right along with them. Now this movie is light on plot but heavy on action, character interaction and witty dialogue. Though after going through the five previous movies which while good set up was still set up, we just wanted to see them all cut loose on some jabronies, fighting side by side and giving us a big comic book blow out and by Jack Kirby's jawline we got it.
Now for some personal trivia, this was the very first of the MCU movies that I've seen in theaters on the big screen and this was honestly one of the best experiences I've had in a theater. Everyone was cheering, laughing and I was right along with them. Now this movie is light on plot but heavy on action, character interaction and witty dialogue. Though after going through the five previous movies which while good set up was still set up, we just wanted to see them all cut loose on some jabronies, fighting side by side and giving us a big comic book blow out and by Jack Kirby's jawline we got it.
Though the story for this is minimal but honestly after five story heavy movies we needed something a little lighter on plot. A light Crème brûlée after a staggering and filling meal if you will. But just because we had a lighter story doesn't mean we were denied set up for phase two. We had Captain America adjusting to the new world, Bruce after finally getting some control over the Hulk, Asgard now that Loki and the Tesseract were back in custody and Shield and their shady as hell counsel who were itching to fire a Nuke at New York to try and contain the Chitauri. Also some unforeseen but logical situations that might pop up after an actual alien invasion on this earth.
So now we end Phase one of the MCU and it did what it set out to do. It introduced these iconic (not Ubisoft Iconic) characters in a modern setting (mostly) to new audiences. We got their backstory, motivations, personalities, skillsets and their dynamics. All culminating to a big bad boom! Though if I had to rank the Phase one movies from best to not as good (can't say worst since most of them are really high quality) here's what my rankings are.
#1 The Avengers (light on plot but at least we didn't have Sean Connery trying to take over the world with a weather control device that he got from meeting with a cabal of evil Teddy Bears.)
#2 Iron Man (the movie that started this whole thing off and by god did it set this thing off right, first impressions are always the most important.)
#3 Captain America: The first Avenger ( Iron Man just barely won this out but nevertheless it was a fun pulpy action movie)
#4 Thor ( Looked amazing but not a whole lot of Thor being Thor and the stuff in New Mexico dragged out a bit too long)
#5 The Incredible Hulk ( Much better then the Ang Lee version, though still missing Edward Norton)
#6 Iron Man 2 (Still a decent movie but damn, that Birthday Party scene)
But now that we've got the exposition out of the way it was time to proceed to Phase 2. And when we continue the March to Infinity by wrapping up the solo adventures of Tony Stark.
So now we end Phase one of the MCU and it did what it set out to do. It introduced these iconic (not Ubisoft Iconic) characters in a modern setting (mostly) to new audiences. We got their backstory, motivations, personalities, skillsets and their dynamics. All culminating to a big bad boom! Though if I had to rank the Phase one movies from best to not as good (can't say worst since most of them are really high quality) here's what my rankings are.
#1 The Avengers (light on plot but at least we didn't have Sean Connery trying to take over the world with a weather control device that he got from meeting with a cabal of evil Teddy Bears.)
#2 Iron Man (the movie that started this whole thing off and by god did it set this thing off right, first impressions are always the most important.)
#3 Captain America: The first Avenger ( Iron Man just barely won this out but nevertheless it was a fun pulpy action movie)
#4 Thor ( Looked amazing but not a whole lot of Thor being Thor and the stuff in New Mexico dragged out a bit too long)
#5 The Incredible Hulk ( Much better then the Ang Lee version, though still missing Edward Norton)
#6 Iron Man 2 (Still a decent movie but damn, that Birthday Party scene)
But now that we've got the exposition out of the way it was time to proceed to Phase 2. And when we continue the March to Infinity by wrapping up the solo adventures of Tony Stark.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Marvel's The Avengers is owned by Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Joss Whedon and Kevin Feige. Based off the comic by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
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