Captain America<\/em> in return for an army to conquer Earth. We humans aren\u2019t too big on that and we fight back as usual, this time relying on The Avengers, a hodge podge team of superheroes led by Nick Fury and SHIELD, a super secret agency. Loki uses that brilliantly deceptive tongue of his to divide our heroes before they see the big picture and come together to save mankind and Manahattan (with the help of some real life Army Reservists by the by).<\/p>\nNow, I\u2019m going to be nitpicky for just a second and point out a few things that differ from the comics. Nick Fury\/SHIELD did not assemble The Avengers. We don\u2019t get to see Avengers founding members Ant-Man (Henry Pym) and Wasp (Janet van Dyne). Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye are later additions to the team. The Chitauri are a race of history-meddling shapeshifters and we never really see their true form. This shapeshifting ability was apparently tossed for the movie.<\/p>\n
And I am completely OK with all of those changes.<\/p>\n
Avengers assemble!<\/p>\n
Iron Man (Tony Stark):<\/p>\n
Tony (Robert Downey Jr) got most of the best lines in the film.\u00a0 His nicknames for the other heroes were HI-larious.\u00a0 The ones that immediately come to mind are Legolas (Hawkeye) and Point Break (Thor) but there were so many others that I can\u2019t think of off the top of my head. He had a great bromance going on with Bruce Banner and I was happy to see the two wunderkinds drive off together at the end of the film. I thought it was interesting that they chose to completely ignore Rhodey (War Machine) since he would probably only skip this fight if he were trapped in an underground bunker somewhere, but I can\u2019t say that I\u2019m surprised.\u00a0 There was already so much going on and you can only say \u201cwe sent them halfway around the world for their own safety\u201d so many times. They did feature Pepper Potts quite prominently though. I\u2019m not a big Gwyneth Paltrow fan but I do enjoy her as Pepper so that was fine. Anyone else notice that Tony wore a Black Sabbath t-shirt for a large chunk of the film? A nice little reference to their song \u201cIron Man\u201d that I found amusing.<\/p>\n
Hulk (Bruce Banner):<\/p>\n
Mark Ruffalo is officially my favorite Bruce Banner. He was positively adorkable. His shy, soft-spoken good naturedness (is that even a word?) was so appealing that I never want to see anyone else play him ever again.\u00a0 It was a very good call to model Hulk after Ruffalo using the same technology used for Avatar<\/em> as opposed to having him be pure CGI. I read \u00a0that Hulk was a combination of Ruffalo and a male stripper from Long Island which is awesome. At the end of The Incredible Hulk<\/em> it seemed like Bruce was working on controlling his alter ego. It appears that he succeeded. Much like his evolution in the comics, we see Hulk being uncontrollable when he\u2019s caught off guard and in control when it\u2019s his choice to change. I\u2019m not surprised that we didn\u2019t see Betty Ross but I was expecting some kind of reference to General Ross, especially after watching the Agent Coulson one-shot \u201cThe Consultant.\u201d Hulk had so many great moments in this film but my favorite is probably when he picked up Loki and started smashing him back and forth before calling him a \u201cpuny god.\u201d Harry Dean Stanton had a funny little cameo as a security guard that witnesses Hulk\u2019s plummet to Earth and solemnly informs Bruce that he has \u201ca condition.\u201d<\/p>\nThor (Thor):<\/p>\n
How they planned on getting Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to Earth after the destruction of the Bifr\u00f6st was something I was very interested to see. Loki comments that it must have taken a lot of dark magic on Odin\u2019s part to make it happen. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing the repercussions of that in Thor 2<\/em>. Now that the cosmic cube resides in Asgard, Thor should be able to return to Earth and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) at will until the Bifr\u00f6st can be remade. Jane was one of those \u201cwe sent her far, far away\u201d quickies and that\u2019s too bad. I would have liked to have seen her go up against flying monkey Erik and her (sure to be hilarious) reaction to Loki in all his Asgardian finery. This ordeal was so much more personal for Thor.\u00a0 Within a very short time he lost his kingship, was betrayed by his brother, changed his whole mentality, fell in love, lost his brother, and had to save Midgard. The fact that he has an \u201conly I can be mad at and deal with my brother\u201d attitude in the beginning is certainly understandable. And his comment about Loki being adopted made me LOL. It was fun to see Thor duke it out with Hulk. It\u2019s made clear in the movie that he\u2019s one of the few individuals who CAN be a match for Hulk. Go figure that it would take a god. The best part; however, was the conclusion of that fight. Having been interrupted by a fighter jet distraction the first time around, Hulk took the opportunity of punching Thor across Grand Central after they worked together to bring down a Chitauri mega monster. Brilliant.<\/p>\nCaptain America (Steve Rogers):<\/p>\n
Poor Cap. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is such a smart and instinctive guy but the fact that he\u2019s a fish out of water and placed next to two of the world\u2019s foremost geniuses, makes him seem a bit dense (his excitement at understanding the flying monkey reference was endearingly adorable). But his leadership skills and strategic ability are never questioned by his fellow heroes once the fighting begins. This is a guy whose entire world has been flipped upside down and yet he doesn\u2019t even flinch. People need saving and by God, he\u2019s going to save them. This includes a cute blonde waitress (Ashley Johnson). Anyone else find it interesting that her nametag said \u201cBeth\u201d which is a nickname for Elizabeth? You know what else is a nickname for Elizabeth? Betsy. As in Betsy Ross aka Golden Girl, Cap\u2019s onetime partner and girlfriend. I can\u2019t help but wonder if that is a coincidence. Considering it\u2019s Joss Whedon, I\u2019m thinking it had to be intentional.<\/p>\n
Black Widow (Natsha Romanoff) \/ Hawkeye (Clint Barton):<\/p>\n
I seriously want to see more of the Hawkeye\/Black Widow relationship.\u00a0 I think they should give the two of them their own Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. There is plenty of history (and sexual tension) between the two of them to make it interesting and entertaining. I don\u2019t know what it is about Jeremy Renner, but there is something very appealing about him. He\u2019s not your stereotypically handsome action star but I kinda wanna jump his bones anyways. I think I\u2019ll add him to the runners up list. I\u2019ve always been told that Scarlett\u00a0Johansson is a bit of a bee-yatch but I\u2019ve seen her perform on Broadway (in Arthur Miller\u2019s A View from the Bridge<\/em>) and she is a fantastic actress. I also think she\u2019s one of the sexiest actresses\u00a0working today (Geek Outlaw thinks so too). She certainly holds her own with the boys in this movie. Considering Black Widow and Hawkeye are ordinary humans (albeit with extraordinary skill sets), you have to suspend belief a bit when watching them survive falls and body slams that would normally kill a person instantly but barely leave a scratch on them. And yet, I didn\u2019t care about the improbability of it all. The awesomeness outweighed the practicality for me.<\/p>\nSHIELD:<\/p>\n
Samuel L. Jackson is having way too much fun playing Nick Fury, creator and director of SHIELD (sorry, I don\u2019t like putting periods between the letters, I think it looks weird) and I\u2019m having way too much fun watching him. It\u2019s nice to see him have more to do than scold Tony or show up in the end credits. Nick Fury started SHIELD after WWII (he mentions his friend Howard Stark as a fellow founding member during Iron Man 2<\/em>) so if you\u2019re not a reader of the comics you might be wondering why he looks 45 years old. They don\u2019t explain it in any of the movies but his aging has been slowed by the Infinity Formula. Just so you know.<\/p>\nI started getting nervous when they got personal with Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) at the beginning of the movie. That never bodes well for someone as cryptic as him. My psychic movie skills kicked in and I figured out what was going to happen to him pretty quickly. I\u2019m in mourning. Even though his character was manufactured purely for the screen and doesn\u2019t appear in the comics, I\u2019m going to miss not seeing him weave in and out of the various individual films. If you haven\u2019t seen it, watch \u201cA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor\u2019s Hammer.\u201d It\u2019s Agent Coulson showing off more than his wit for once. RIP Phil.<\/p>\n
Had Joss Whedon\u2019s Wonder Woman<\/em> flick taken off, Cobie Smulders would most likely have been cast as Diana. But that project was shelved and instead she won the role of Agent Maria Hill (beating out Firefly <\/em>alum Morena Baccarin). Boy, is she a looker. Wow. She also stars on How I Met Your Mother<\/em> with Alexis Denisof\u2019s wife and Whedon regular, Alyson Hannigan. Cobie wasn\u2019t given a trainer for the movie so she hired one herself to teach her how to act like an agent. I like a girl who does her homework.<\/p>\nThe 12-person SHIELD Council should be more in shadow, we shouldn’t be able to see their faces. No one knows who they are, not Nick Fury, not even each other. If we can see their faces, we can use facial recognition software to find out who they are. But that\u2019s me being nitpicky.<\/p>\n
The guy on the bridge playing Galaga? Classic.<\/p>\n
The Helicarrier is a character in its own right and plays a huge part in the film. It exists because a mobile headquarters is much more difficult for an evil organization *coughHYDRAcough* to find and destroy and protects any potential host nations from being a target. They took it one step further in the movie and gave it cloaking technology which was totally badass and a nice little treat for this Trekkie.<\/p>\n
Loki:<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very quickly becoming a huge fan of Tom Hiddleston. I had never seen him before Thor<\/em> but he\u2019s perfection as Loki. And this is coming from someone whose way into anything related to Norse mythology. In the comics Loki is the first villain The Avengers go up against so I was happy to see that they kept that. It would have been much easier to pick a different villain and avoid the whole magic vs. science conundrum. The various directors, producers, writers, Marvel Execs, etc. did an excellent job of making the magic scientific and the science magical so it didn\u2019t feel forced and it made sense to the laymen. They get an A+ for teamwork.<\/p>\nAnyone who leaves the movie theatre before a Marvel movie\u2019s end credits are over is an idiot. There\u2019s always some little nugget of awesomesauce just waiting to delight our senses. In this case we got two of them.\u00a0 The first one shows The Other talking to a mysterious master about the fact that humans are not to be trifled with.\u00a0 They don\u2019t say who this master is but I\u2019m thinking its Thanos. If anyone has another theory I\u2019d like to hear it but I\u2019d bet money that I\u2019m right. The second one has our heroes sitting around eating shawarma just after the battle while the employees clean up debris in the background. No one speaks (although Bruce does start chuckling) and it\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a massive Whedonite so I\u2019m probably totally biased but I have to give Joss Whedon mad props for this movie. It\u2019ll probably go down as one of my top 5 favorite movies ever and a lot of that is due to him.\u00a0 He rewrote the script and had a vision that wove together four different franchises into one seamless and elegant package.\u00a0 The combination of action, drama and humor is classic Joss. I think that one of the other directors would have made an excellent film as well but Joss made it magical and I hope they are smart enough to keep him as the director of all future Avenger films.<\/p>\n I hope so, Joss. I hope so.\n
“These people shouldn’t be in the same room let alone on the same team\u2014and that is the definition of family” \u2013 Joss Whedon<\/p>\n
5 out of 5 Sci-Fives!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OMFG. I don\u2019t know how else to adequately describe how much I loved this movie. I saw The Avengers\u00a0twice in 2 days.\u00a0 The first time after an epic all-day Marvel Movie Marathon with my NBFF Geek Outlaw. And the second time on Sunday morning with my Mom and SO. Afterwards we went to Smash Burger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28,11],"tags":[49,50,81,91,149,179,217,360,442,447,465,591,623,700,853,943,945,965,978,996],"class_list":["post-3239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie","category-reviews","tag-agent-maria-hill","tag-agent-phil-coulson","tag-asgard","tag-avengers","tag-captain-america","tag-chitauri","tag-cosmic-cube","tag-geek-outlaw","tag-hot-nerd-girl","tag-hulk","tag-iron-man","tag-loki","tag-marvel","tag-nick-fury","tag-shield","tag-tesseract","tag-thanos","tag-the-incredible-hulk","tag-the-other","tag-thor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}