Avengers Assemble

Six superheroes for the price of one ticket, all with specific personalities, abilities and back stories that need to be wrangled into a cohesive fighting force. Yes - it is a task that Buffy creator Joss Whedon has taken on in bringing Marvel’s Avengers together at last with what is essentially a massive comic franchise toy box in which Whedon embarks in dollplay. And Whedon has used every toy in the box. 


Let's cut to the chase: Marvel's The Avengers is the movie comic book fans, who have been curled up in their parents' box rooms surrounded by the package bound figurines of Captain America, have been fantasizing about for half a century. The iconic six: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow and the Hulk have featured in a string of recent solo summer movies priming the pump for the film that would bring them all together. But don't be fooled by this Marvel mash-up it is no sequel to the others; it's its own thing unto itself.

The plot is merely a side line to the legends. The world is about to end because of banished demigod, Loki, and so the heaviest hitters in the superhero circuit unite with a rep bigger than the West Side to defend the mere mortals. In essence a getting-the-lads-together story, The Avengers opens with a threat and ends with happy heroes and a devastated New York. 

Each of the characters are perfectly cast, from Samuel L. Jackson's sullen performance as Laden Fury to Robert Downey Junior's sharp-tongued Stark. Captain America is as ever pleasantly retro and Johanson's Black Widow unleashes some marvellous stunts. But the stand out performance is almost indefinitely Mark Ruffalo as Banner. His depiction of a man deftly controlling the tempests of his Jekyl/Hyde reality evokes stirring poignance and his slapstick humour is flawless.

All of this is spiced up by Whedon's engaging script; from witty lines and wise cracks to unexpected moments of action, the screenplay proved to be almost as legendary as its protagonists, adding levity from an otherwise storm and stress plot. Whedon proves he can combat wrenching emotion with effervescent lightness. This thematically resonant big-screen mythmaker ticks most of the boxes.

But, this isn't to say that The Avengers is without its weaknesses. While the character of Loki is gut wrenchingly detestable he hardly compares to comicdom's more legendary villains. Loki really doesn't compare to Marvel men like The Joker. And the dark and philosophical layering of Dark Knight seems a far cry from what we see here. However, when it comes to the true clichéd superhero movie great Odin's beard this film has got it!

-ZB