The Avengers (2012)

Now that I've seen The Avengers for a second time, I feel more prepared to offer a review that sounds a bit more coherent than 'OMG!' and 'THAT WAS THE AWESOME!'


Quick word... There will be spoilers, of this I am sure.  Be warned.


To the cast!


Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark AKA Iron Man
Chris Hemsworth as Thor, God of Thunder
Chris Evans as Captain Steve Rogers AKA Captain America
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow
Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk
Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson AKA Agent Coulson
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye
Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill
Tom Hiddleston as Loki, God of Mischief
Stellan Skarsgard as Dr. Erik Selvig
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD


The movie opens with the evacuation of the Joint Dark Energies Laboratory.  Remember that glowing cube from Captain America?  Let's call it the Tesserect and oh ya, its apparently a doorway. As Hawkeye so eloquently points out, doors swing both ways.  Enter Loki.


See, Loki is a little pissed that his brother Thor cast him out of Asgard.  Loki is given the power of a Tesserect like staff and the promise of an army of creatures known as the Chitauri.  Loki gets to conquer and rule Earth, while the Chitauri gain the power of the Tesserect.  Nothing major, right?


Director Fury will have none of this.  He decides to activate the Avengers Initiative, which will bring together our heroes of the previous films.  The Council (Fury's bosses) are not pleased with this.


But, this, of course, does not go as planned.  The way in which our hero's come together is through conflict with each other.  And the conflict is good.  Thor v. Iron Man, Cap v. Thor.  Lots of smashing fun.


We all gather on the Helicarrier (spoiler: its awesome).  Loki works his devious ways and splits the team again, causing more hero on hero action.


Spoiler: Thor v. Hulk = awesome.


Its at this point the main event starts to kick off.  The Chitauri are invading.  Stark Tower is providing the source of the power for the gateway.  Time to destroy a good chunk of New York.


This last action piece of the film is superb.  One of the best parts is where ego maniac Iron Man effectively gives control of the battle to Cap.  Cap expertly doles out roles, telling Hulk to smash.  And smash he does.


Eventually, when all looks like it is lost, The Council decides to nuke Manhatten.  Fury has none of this and blows up the plane carrying said nuke.  Gotcha!  There are two planes taking off.


Iron Man grabs the missile from the second plane and takes it through the portal, blowing up the main Chitauri ship.  Portal closes, battle over, Avengers go their separate ways.  Roll credits. 


But wait!  What is this scene in the middle of the credits?  Could it be a spoilerific preview of who will be a future bad guy?  It is.  Enter: Thanos.


I know little of Thanos, but I'm sure he will be a good villain to face off against.


Summary:  I really, REALLY enjoyed this film.  I look forward to the next series of the Marvel movie universe.