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[Magnetic_North]

When I started watching it in the cinema with my mates and we saw Cap v Iron Man v Thor in the forest I was so hyped I was just like "this is my comic book fantasy come to life!" Then the film just kept rolling

Also my favourite part is the one long shot you see in Manhattan with Iron Man blasting a beam at Caps shield destroying some chitari then it swoops to Thor on the big space whale etc it was one of those massive fuck yeah moments

It's a love letter to comic books

 

[y2dvd]

Reading the OP had me going "WooOOOOoo, eff yeah!" Amazing breakdown to one of my favorite CBM. The fact that it was able to juggle so many pieces and make it work is a testament.

 

[Dominator]

I love the film, worst part is Cap's suit. It's truly horrible after what we've gotten since and I can barely look at it lol

 

[Escape Goat]

Whedon said he never realized it but its so obvious its hard to believe it wasn't planned, but the last line of dialogue in the Captain America intro was that "You should have left it on the bottom of the ocean." and then the very next scene is Iron Man using his laser underwater.

It rhymes. Its poetry.

 

[inky]

Whedon said he never realized it but its so obvious its hard to believe it wasn't planned, but the last line of dialogue in the Captain America intro was that "You should have left it on the bottom of the ocean." and then the very next scene is Iron Man using his laser underwater.

It rhymes. Its poetry.

"War isn't won by sentiment, Director"
"No, it's won by soldiers"

*Cuts to Captain America*

 

[LosDaddie]

Up there with TDK and Spider-Man 2 as the best superhero movies of all time.

 

[Loxley]

The characters were fun, I just wish the overall story was more engaging. I never really felt any tension since the characters were constantly quipping and cracking one-liners. That said, not every comic book movie needs to be The Dark Knight. I think The Avengers represents the epitome of the fun and light-hearted superhero film as much as TDK represents the epitome of the grounded, serious take. Marvel hasn't really been able to match that tone since, in my opinion. Parts of Age of Ultron almost felt like a parody of the tone of The Avengers.

I still think The Winter Solider is far and away a better film than The Avengers, it has the fun and interesting characters, but it also had a much more well-realized story.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Whedon said he never realized it but its so obvious its hard to believe it wasn't planned, but the last line of dialogue in the Captain America intro was that "You should have left it on the bottom of the ocean." and then the very next scene is Iron Man using his laser underwater.

It rhymes. Its poetry.

weird, I would have thought that was totally planned, considering who helped create Cap and who found the tesseract in the ocean.

 

[SolidSnake9]

Its still dumb fun but it has aged badly though. Looks straight out like a tv show movie. The plot is pretty dumb too with all the chitaru aliens just attacking NY.

 

[Nerdkiller]

I tried, I tried like hell to enjoy this movie when I first saw it, but I just couldn't. All it really did was leave me with a "that's it?" impression. Which is really disappointing, because I actually liked most of the movies that Marvel did before this one (especially Cap 1, which I feel is really underappreciated as a superhero movie). I can't deny how important of a feature it is though, proving that intercontinuity film series can work, but as a movie...yeah, Spiderman 2 continues to be my gold standard for how a superhero movie should be done.

 

[Cafeman]

Excellent, well thought-out writing by OP. This is the kind of article I love reading, but they are few and far between across the various popular pop culture film sites.

I love the Avengers. Saw it multiple times at the theater; bought my first BD player when Avengers BD was released; have watched it at least 10 times in total so far. I still can't believe Whedon & gang pulled it off! Coincidentally (although maybe many of us do this type of thing), after watching BvS I had to get it out of mind, or at least compare it to early super-hero films, so I watched Age of Ultron and then The Avengers over the past week. I truly enjoyed Avengers all over again, and OP mentioned many of the reasons.

Lots of GIFs on 1st page, I bet my mobile chokes if I try to load it.

 

[TheFuzz]

It's a great movie, I just hate Whedon's version of Steve Rogers.

 

[MrRudiMentary]

This movie has a shit load of problems but I will never stop loving it. I didn't know who Thanos or Hawkeye were when I saw this. I didn't care about Captain America or Thor or Black Widow or the MCU. But this movie was so great because it made me want to know who Thanos was, and it made me care about Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow, and it made me watch every subsequent movie in theatres. This movie is so great because despite being the culmination of five movies, you can still have a great time without having seen any of them.

 

[AMUSIX]

Never even thought a pure unapologetic SUPER hero film like this was possible until The Avengers did it. Absolute delight that will never be replicated, even by Whedon himself. Proved the "cinematic universe" concept, and has changed cinema forever.

Bonus: Really That Good: THE AVENGERS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSAp-QCHj_A

Finally watched this. Such a good breakdown of why Avengers works so damn well. And certainly doesn't hold back on the movie's faults, which is nice.

 

[Anth0ny]

Awesome write up. As I've said before, Avengers is one of the three comic book movies I place into my "God Tier" alongside The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 2, and I don't say that lightly. I think the film is an absolute masterpiece, an absolute JOY to watch and rewatch, and still the best MCU film (though, having seen Civil War once, that might change after a couple more watches!)

I don't have much to add that the OP hasn't already covered or this great video:

Bonus: Really That Good: THE AVENGERS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSAp-QCHj_A

touches upon, but I'd like to mention a few things.

As the OP went over, I loved the introduction to the film, and then the introduction of each character. This is the first thing of many that Age of Ultron COMPLETELY fails at. Like Whedon forgot what made the first film great. In AoU, the Avengers are just... assembled and attacking a snow base? Why? What exactly about that situation necessitated the fucking Avengers? Cap could have probably handled that situation by himself with ease.

Now look at the Avengers. Mother fucking Loki (who has already been established in Thor, but whether you saw that film or not it really doesn't matter) comes in and steals the tesseract from Samuel L Jackson, creating a wormhole that fucking destroys a massive SHIELD building. fuuuuuuuuuuuck. there hasn't been a better MCU intro scene since, nor a better MCU villain.

and then you get this scene:

"As of right now, we are at war."

"What do we do?"

BOOOOOOOOOOM

And then the music hits.

Fucking perfection right there. The hype and excitement hits a high there and continues for the rest of the film. Shit is about to get really real.

The writing and humour in the film is great. You have your expected quips and lines from Robert Downey Jr,

but also now classic lines from Cap (I understood that reference!) and Thor (He's adopted...)

We also get the most memorable fight scenes in the MCU (until you all see Civil War!) with the awesome fight in the park, the fight on the helicarrier and the fight in NYC. If there's one word I could use to describe The Avengers, it's memorable.

You have this:

and this:

You have the perfect "theatre cheering" moment (to this day the loudest reaction to a film I've ever heard in a theatre. the place ERUPTED for at least 10 seconds and we couldn't even hear the "puny god" line):

And you have the perfect payoff to not only a single film, but multiple films:

ahhhhhhhh soooooo good. It's all so good. There are few films like it that have managed to have me smiling throughout the entire thing.

compare that to age of ultron, where the only scenes I legitimately remember are... Cap almost lifting the hammer (HOLY SHIT) and vision lifting the hammer with ease (because FUCK THAT CAP DESERVED THAT MOMENT). quite a difference...

I also want to mention the music. While it's no Superman theme, or Elfman Batman theme, or Elfman Spider-Man theme... The Avengers theme is probably my favorite and most memorable piece of music from a superhero movie in the modern era, alongside the Batman theme from the Nolan trilogy. I like it a lot, but it especially stands out in an era that really lacks awesome themes for their superhero movies.

Last but not least, you have the two scenes that has forced any comic book film fan to sit through the entire credits just in case something awesome happens, like...

HOLY SHIT

and...

lel


Fucking love this movie.

 

[Currygan]

mediocre movie, but Hulk and Thor looked cool when destroying the Chitauri fleet I guess

 

[guek]

stuff

You touched on a lot of great stuff I passed over in the OP, though I'm kinder to AoU than you are. If it were better edited (some of the jokes need to be cut) and had a key action scene with Ultron, I'd probably like it more than Avengers. I really love Vision in that movie though and you clearly didn't care for how he was used.