Ok. Confession time. While I had seen Sam Raimi's Spidermans 1 and 2, Singer's X-Mans 1 and 2, Fantastic Four 1 and Iron Man 1 and both Ang Lee's and Ed Norton's Hulks in theatres, by the time the MCU had formally rolled around I wasn't really doing the movie-watching thing much anymore. The band was doing pretty well, we had our cross Canada tour in late 2007, we were practicing twice a week, playing shows every 2-3 weeks, recording, partying and going to punk shows every weekend. We weren't really watching movies or talking about movies with the exception of The Garbage Pail Kids Movie which we were also watching every weekend, mostly to get the people sleeping on our couches to go home.
So I completely missed what was happening with the MCU. I missed Thor, I didn't even know about Captain America; and The Avengers wasn't remotely on my radar. And as I pointed out in the first article of this series, I'm not much of a TV watcher; so if there were ads for all these movies I didn't see 'em.
Source: The Avengers (2012)
Eventually things settled down a bit, as things do, and by late 2015 it was just me, my fiancée, and a Netflix subscription which I had pretty much ignored. Finding myself at odds on a day off and home alone I decided to give it a whirl and see what kind of stuff was on there. Some Marvel options popped up, and as I had no idea of the ordering of anything I actually started with Winter Soldier. I made it about halfway through before I realized what I was actually seeing, and jumped onto Wikipedia to get the straight goods: twelve whole shared universe movies had been released already, with me only having seen the first two.
Yikes. And I called myself a superhero fan. Ironically, my home office at the time was actually decorated My Secret Identity style, with all my best comics very delicately pinned to the drywall via their backboards, completely covering two of the walls.
Needless to say, I dove in with both feet, rewatching Iron Man and Hulk, and then smashing through the rest of the films in order. Civil War would have been the one where I was 'caught up' and Doctor Strange was the first one I would see in theatre, eight years after The Incredible Hulk.
Source: The Avengers (2012)
Why is this relevant?
Because by now I've also pretty much read everything written on the MCU: not just a shit ton of reviews, but the full comment sections on all the reviews as well. Retrospectives, introspectives, run-the-series you name it. I just couldn't get enough. I should mention here that I've purposely avoided re-reading any of that stuff (including new reviews) since I started this series, but I'm looking forward to combing through some of those after the fact to see just how my interpretations line up.
At any rate, the media hype machine for Avengers had completely missed me, so I had no real idea that it was particularly significant, it was just #6 on my list of ones to watch. And I liked it well enough... but I liked Age of Ultron better. Ducks as tomatoes and cabbages are thrown by angry fans.
Don't get me wrong, it's still a fantastic movie, and while it doesn't fall into my Top 3 MCU films, or hell even my Top 3 Avengers films, it's still in the Top 10 of both.
Source: The Avengers (2012)
They brought Alan Silvestri back from Captain America, and he makes an immediate impact with his main Avengers theme for all of two bars during the title bumper. Big, brassy and catchy as all get out, this is exactly this kind of thing that raises a superhero movie from being just 'a superhero movie' to being a cultural phenomenon. Think of Superman (1978). I was all of 1-years-old when that came out, but I'm sure just about anyone of my generation can hum the John Williams theme from that. This is straight out of that same mold, and I don't doubt there's more than a few folks out there who can hum this one just as readily.
The first act moves like a rocket: the opening with Loki’s arrival at the Tesseract site is sharp, sinister, and serious, and more importantly introduces us to the real star of the MCU, the incredibly sexy Cobie Smulders as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill. The recruitment section move along quickly enough, with Black Widow's 'interrogation' of a Russian General the obvious highlight. And as I mentioned before Mark Ruffalo slips so perfectly into the Banner persona that it's easy enough to forget Ed Norton was ever in the role.
The second act kind of stalls out for me a bit though. The helicarrier stuff starts really strong, but kind of loses some momentum. It’s not bad, exactly, just a bit inert after the mile a minute opening, and it's very very long. I can honestly live without the whole Hulk battle there, it's a stupid plan, and really has no bearing on anything. I guess it was a distraction so Selvig could set up the device on top of Stark Tower? They could have just let these guys talk away for another few hours, they weren't going anywhere. It does give us a couple great lines though, Coulson's super-earnest "it's a vintage set" always cracks me up and Loki's "mewling quim" bit is a great way to get yourself slapped at the pub.
Then we get the epic final battle in New York, which is legendary for a reason. That iconic continuous shot that tracks through the chaos doesn’t just look cool, it’s a technical marvel (ha) and pretty much the most accurate portrayal of comic-book sensibilities since Ang Lee's picture-in-picture panel shots 10 years earlier. You got Black Widow commanding a Chitauri speeder, Iron Man blasting past her to bounce a laser off Cap's shield, up to Hawkeye who shoots an arrow that flies over to Thor and Hulk taking out a Leviathan together while soaring through the air. It's not just flashy editing, it’s a visual mission statement: this is how Earth’s Mightiest Heroes fight. Together.
Source: The Avengers (2012)
I think, really, that I'm a victim of my own expectations here. My beef has nothing to do with Joss Whedon's script or direction which are basically great, I just really think that making Loki the main villain just two movies after Thor seems somewhat lazy and uninspired. The Avengers from the comics had so many damn good villains to choose from, and I was a little disappointed that that they stuck with Loki here instead of say, the Puppet Master who could have worked just as well with a storyline where you're taking control of people's minds.
But that's just me. Realistically, Thor made $449 million worldwide; The Avengers made $1.5 billion. So a lot of people first saw Loki here, and had no idea they were going back to the well. For a good chunk of the audience, this was the first time meeting him, and Tom Hiddleston gives it everything he’s got.
And while I might not love The Avengers as much as some folks, I enjoy and respect the hell out of it. For all my bellyachin', the re-watch for this review is easily my 10th or 15th time watching it over the years. Kudos to Feige, Weadon and co, for taking all these different threads, and managing to find a way to stitch them together without making it feel like a marketing stunt. The music is iconic. The cast has actual chemistry. The script is sharp and witty. And the final image of our six exhausted heroes eating shawarma in silence is pure cinema, baby.
Source: The Avengers (2012)
Potent Quotables
"That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did."
"Are you an alien?"
"What?"
"From outer space, an alien."
"No."
"Well then son, you've got a condition."
"This is just like Budapest all over again."
"You and I remember Budapest very differently."
"I understood that reference."
"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on."
My Personal Ranking
As I go through all the movies, I'm keeping a running tally of where they fit in my personal spectrum of best and worst of all the MCU offerings. Feel free to join in the conversation down below, I love seeing other people's lists!
| Rank | Movie | Year |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Iron Man | 2008 |
| #2 | Captain America: The First Avenger | 2011 |
| #3 | The Avengers | 2012 |
| #4 | Iron Man 2 | 2010 |
| #5 | Thor | 2011 |
| #6 | The Incredible Hulk | 2008 |
Next Up: Tony’s got PTSD, Pepper gets powered up, and Ben Kingsley’s got a beer belly. Iron Man 3 kicks off Phase Two with explosions, misdirects, and a surprisingly personal story.