It is hard to overstate just how big of a deal The Avengers was to the climate of superhero movies. While hints of a big, connected Marvel Cinematic Universe were in place since Iron Man (2008), here is where it official came to fruition. Now that these characters from separate solo movies were now all appearing together in the same film with their storylines all intersecting, it was clear that the superhero movie would never be the same.
In this film, Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleson) comes to Earth and finds the incredibly powerful Tesseract. With this new power, he tries to take over the Earth. Earth's Mightiest heroes, Captain America (Chris Evans, Black Widow (Scarlett Johannsson), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), must reluctantly team up to save the day.
This is everything a superhero movie should be. It is action packed, exciting, funny, larger than life and just incredibly entertaining. This movie is simply a blast to watch from start to finish. Even with all the has come after in the MCU, this movie has not lost any of its luster.
Yet as exciting and action packed as this movie is, what really makes it so great is the characters. Each of these characters are very well defined on their own. Even with the number of characters, not one of them is wasted. Each of the Avengers get their own chance to shine. Still, it is how these characters interact with each other that really stands out. Each of these characters has a well-defined relationship with each of the other characters. This makes each of them feel all the more real to us and makes us even more invested in these already great characters. Many movie fans have talked a lot about the humor in this film and quote comedic lines from this movie regularly. However, what makes this humor work so well is that it all comes so naturally from the characters. Through a lot of the funny moments, we even get a greater understanding of who these characters actually are. As funny and quotable as the humor is, it is never simply comedy for the sake of comedy but plays a role in telling the story.
The story itself is a rather simple affair. It is a basic good vs. evil superhero story that we all know. However, there is a reason that these types of stories have remained popular for so long and that is that they work. Sometimes a simple story thar is well told is exactly what we want from a movie and that is exactly what this film offers.
Another great asset to this movie is Alan Silvestri's score. Silvestri had previously scored Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and he even tops himself with The Avengers. His score is appropriately heroic and inspiring perfect for Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The main theme he uses throughout has almost taken on the same legacy as John Williams' Superman theme and Danny Elfman's Batman theme. It is easily recognizable and captures the characters perfectly. About working on this film the composer stated, "I've worked on films where there have been a number of stars and certainly worked on films where there have been characters of equal weight in terms of their level of importance and profile in the film, but this one is somewhat extreme in that regard because each of these characters has their own world and it's a very different situation. It's very challenging to look for a way to give everyone the weight and consideration they need, but at the same time the film is really about the coming together of these characters, which implies that there is this entity called the Avengers which really has to be representative of all of them together."
Plans for an Avengers movie started as early as 2003. Movie producer, Avi Arad, first announced these plans in April 2005. By 2006, it was announced that individual characters would appear in solo films before the big crossover event would happen. With the success of Iron Man, a July 2011 release date was set for the movie. By March 2009 the release date was moved to May 4, 2012.
In July 2010, Joss Wheadon was officially assigned to direct the movie. At this time Wheadon was best known for his television work. He was the creator of the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. About this casting decision Marvel Studio head Kevin James stated, "I've known Joss for many years. We were looking for the right thing and he came in and met on it [...] we want to find a director that's on the verge of doing something great, as we think Joss is." Wheadon himself was drawn to the film because of the dynamic between these characters. At the 2010 San Deigo Comic Con Wheadon stated, "these people shouldn't be in the same room let alone on the same team—and that is the definition of family." He elaborated on this elsewhere by stating, ""It goes back to the very first incarnation of The Avengers, it goes to The Ultimates, it goes to everything about it. It makes no sense, it's ridiculous. There's a thunder god, there's a green 'id' giant rage monster, there's Captain America from the 40s, there's Tony Stark who definitely doesn't get along with anybody. Ultimately these people don't belong together and the whole movie is about finding yourself from community. And finding that you not only belong together but you need each other, very much. Obviously, this will be expressed through punching, but it will be the heart of the film." Wheadon however was very unhappy with Zak Penn's (who wrote The Incredible Hulk (2008)) original script, which he felt lacked any real connections between the characters. Wheadon re-wrote much of the script. Though Wheadon ended up sharing a co-writing credit with Penn, Wheadon had fought for having sole writing credit.
This movie premiered on April 11, 2012 at Disney's El Capitan Theatre. The film earned $1.519 billion worldwide, making it the highest grossing movie of 2012 and what was the third highest grossing movie ever at the time. Not only was it a finical success but it was also a critical one.
Resources Used
https://gizmodo.com/joss-whedon-says-captain-america-and-iron-man-wont-be-p-5595293
https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/the-avengers-battle-of-new-york-joss-whedon
https://variety.com/2005/film/news/marvel-touts-par-s-hero-worship-1117921854/
https://www.superherohype.com/features/96489-marvel-studios-sets-four-more-release-dates
https://web.archive.org/web/20101008211821/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1644849/20100730/story.jhtml
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/box-office-milestone-avengers-number-three-332331/
https://www.marvel.com/news/story/17069/alan_silvestri_to_score_marvels_the_avengers
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