By Tanner Smith
Continuing my series of Looking Back at 2010s Films, here’s a film that made a majority of moviegoers hella hyped and excited…and it would only be the beginning!
Who would’ve thought 2008’s “Iron Man,” as awesome as it was, would lead to one of the greatest movie franchises we could ever ask for? I mean, a lot of people hoped, but lots of movies promised future installments that never came through. This one gave birth to a cinematic universe, which back then was only a mere thought! In the three years that followed, we got “The Incredible Hulk” (which I thought was OK), “Iron Man 2” (meh), “Thor” (fine), and “Captain America: The First Avenger” (decent). It was all leading up to…”The Avengers!”
Needless to say, “The Avengers” made bank…times 10! Because we all had to see what was going to happen! And it was AWESOME!!!
Writer-director Joss Whedon and the studio execs gave us pretty much exactly what we wanted–the heroes we’ve seen in five different movies have come together, first as rivals and ultimately as allies fighting off a mega invasion. Unlike most recent action flicks where the first act is more interesting than the second, the whole film is interesting for different reasons. The first act is reintroducing all of these characters to us and introducing them to each other, and seeing them together is pretty interesting. Tony Stark aka Iron Man is still snarky and cocky. Steve Rogers aka Captain America, now getting used to being in a whole new era he was used to, feels the need to take initiative. And Bruce Banner aka Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo who took over for Edward Norton) has learned to channel his anger (which Hulk of course represents), but the bickering amongst the others is trying his patience. And then we get the second act…
It’s revealed that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) brought them all together because he knew they wouldn’t get along, but he forgot they all share the same purpose of saving the world, which he’s trying to dominate. (Even Stark states at one point, “Not a great plan.”) Along comes an army of alien beings that come to mess up New York City…and along comes who are now officially The Avengers to mess them up! We get a pretty awesome fight that you would think would be the big climax. But nope! That’s just the beginning. And we’re treated to about 45 minutes of incredible, heart-pumping, hell-yeah action that is never boring and always fun to watch! And of course, as typical for a Whedon production, there are lots of one-liners as well.
I remember seeing this flick in a packed theater, and the audience roared, cheered, and applauded at the part where Hulk throws Loki around like an insignificant rag doll, in easily the most awesome part of the film! The response was so loud that I didn’t even hear until the second time I saw the film that Hulk muttered, “Puny god.”
Yeah, this movie was pretty awesome. But little did we know that this Marvel Cinematic Universe wouldn’t end there. And the movies would get better and better (for the most part)–more questions would be raised, important issues would be discussed, our favorite characters would grow, others would be introduced and developed, and we’d have a whole universe full of fun superhero films (as of now there are *23* MCU movies!). “The Avengers” would be the end of Phase One and the start of something that would be every bit as interesting and fun.
Smith's Verdict 
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