Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the latest post in my series covering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This one is a big post, as it covers the finale of Phase One: “The Avengers”. This movie, directed by Joss Whedon, brings all of the heroes together into one movie. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye are all in this movie as they take on Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), plus a lot of other enemies, in this movie. Let’s get into detail on how this movie went down.
After the Marvel and Paramount logos pop up, we see the Tesseract and some steps in outer space leading to where Loki is given his spear as he is ready to take over Earth. The movie then cuts to a SHIELD facility where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) lands in a helicopter alongside Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and meets Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg). They walk to see Erik Selvig (played by Stellan Skargsgard) experiment with the Tesseract. Clint Barton (played by Jeremy Renner) goes down to the floor level as the experiment somehow brings Loki onto Earth. After Nick Fury yells “Put down the spear”, Loki uses the spear (and other weapons) to kill some of the people in the room. He then uses the spear to control the minds of Selvig and Barton. Fury tries to escape with the Tesseract, but Loki prevents him from doing so. Barton shoots Fury, but Nick had a bulletproof vest on. The portal caused by the Tesseraact causes the whole facility to collapse. Fury, Maria Hill, and Coulson all escape fine. Fury shoots from a helicopter, but Loki shoots at the helicopter. Fury survives, but Loki got away. After the Avengers opening title and theme (provided by Alan Silvestri), we cut to Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) being held hostage by some Russians. Before they use a tool to take off her teeth, Coulson calls her phone to interrupt the interrogation. Natasha is given the phone before she takes care of the Russians. After that, Coulson tells Natasha to go after “the big guy”. By that, he means Bruce Banner (played by Mark Ruffalo this time). We then see Bruce take care of some sick people a little girl leads her to Natasha. She tells him about the Tesseract’s powers and gets him to go. During this scene, Banner snaps out on Natasha in a scene that still startles me to this day. His snap to anger is so sudden that she pulls a gun on him, as does everyone else outside. Meanwhile, Nick Fury talks to some SHIELD people via hologram Zoom about Loki and the Avengers. After that brief scene, we see Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) punch a punching bag while he has visions of his days in the war before he was frozen. Fury then interrupts Rogers and gives him information about the Tesseract. Rogers is then convinced to join the fight. Before he leaves, he tells Fury that the Tesseract should have been left in the ocean. We then cut to Iron Man/Tony Stark reconfigure some stuff underwater to give clean energy to Stark Tower. Stark then flies back up to the tower to talk with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). As he goes inside, the suit is taken down piece by piece. Stark says to Pepper that she gets 12 percent (lol) of Stark Tower. Coulson then interrupts the date with some information about the mission. Stark opens it up and sees clips of the other heroes before he kisses Pepper and studies the Tesseract (Space Stone).
After that scene, we see Rogers and Coulson fly to the SHIELD base. Coulson is honored to have Rogers onboard the plane and tells him that modifications were made to Cap’s suit. We then cut to the evil facility where Loki has a vision of himself in space with one of Thanos’ henchmen. Once that little visual is over, we cut to the Helicarrier where Rogers and Coulson land and meet with Natasha and Bruce. Once the Helicarrier is in flight, Rogers gives Fury 10 dollars when they are inside it. The Helicarrier is able to camouflage into the sky. Banner is then led by Natasha to a lab before we cut to Barton, Loki, and Selvig planning something bad. Rogers is then informed to go to Germany where Loki and Barton are at. Barton then kills a couple of guys before being able to get to the door. Meanwhile, Loki is at a party and gets the eye that Barton needed to steal some stuff. After that, Loki goes outside and tells all of the civilians to kneel. He tells them that they “are made to be ruled”. One guy stands up to him and is almost killed by Loki before Cap saves him. Cap then says something relating to Hitler before he fights Loki. He struggles with him before Iron Man stops by and defeats him to the tune of AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill”. Loki is then captured by them and they head to base before Thor (Chris Hemsworth) comes by and takes Loki for a not so brotherly chat. Iron Man and Captain America go down to follow him. Before Thor is able to use the hammer on Loki, Iron Man swoops in (Thor: “Listen well, brother. I ow”, Loki: “I’m listening.”). Stark says to Thor to stay out of the way before Thor throws the hammer at him and a fight ensues. Each character gets some hits in before Captain America stops it. Cap says to Thor to “Put the hammer down.” Iron Man says “Yeah no. Bad call. He loves his ..” before Thor hits him. After Thor says “You want me to put the hammer down?!”, he does that to Captain America’s shield. The result is a big shockwave that takes down some trees. They calm down and take Loki to the Helicarrier where he is kept in a jail cell that could be dropped down if he does not cooperate. After a brief chat with Loki, Fury leaves that room and goes back to where the heroes are. Stark then enters the room and roasts everyone, including calling Thor “Point Break” and says that someone is playing Galaga. We then see that guy play Galaga after Captain America says he understands a reference about flying monkeys (Wizard of Oz). Stark and Banner then play around with Loki’s spear in the lab. Rogers then enters the room to confront Stark, even when Stark offers him a blueberry. This scene is the start of the disagreements that will culminate in a few years time.
After Rogers leaves the room, Stark briefly mentions to Banner about the gamma expulsure that Banner went through. We see a few scenes after this one. Rogers finds weapons in a secret room while Coulson tells Thor that Jane Foster is safe. Meanwhile, Natasha goes to meet Loki. During this scene, Loki tells her that Barton will kill her slowly and that he will split Clint’s skull. Natasha then realizes that Loki wants Banner to Hulk out. Rogers found out that Phase Two is about using the Tesseract to use weapons. All of the characters then bicker at each other. The bickering stops suddenly when Banner grabs the spear, which causes Fury to tell him to drop it. Clint then shoots an exploding arrow that destroys one of the engines and dislocates the heroes. Banner and Natasha fall down while Rogers and Stark rush to save that engine. Banner gets angry and Hulks out in the scene, despite Natasha trying to calm him down. We then see Rogers and Stark get to the bad engine. Stark tells Rogers to get to a lever. We then cut to Natasha barely escaping the Hulk, who then fights Thor for a brief time. We then see Stark clear the debris around the propeller that powers the engine and is prepared to push it. Stark tells Rogers to wait until his signal to turn a lever that will allow Stark to escape the propeller. We see another moment of Thor and Hulk fighting before the fight is stopped by a fighter jet. Hulk jumps onto the plane and destroys it (the pilot makes it out safe) before falling down to Earth. Rogers makes it to the lever while Barton shoots an arrow that shuts down another engine. Stark is notified about this as he pushes the propeller up to speed. Loki then tricks Thor into the jail cell before we see Natasha fight Clint. Coulson stops Loki before he sends Thor down 30,000 feet. Coulson is about to shoot Loki with a big gun before he gets stabbed from behind. Loki then sends Thor down to the ground (thankfully, he escaped just in time). Meanwhile, we see Clint get knocked out by Natasha. The big gun then shoots Loki before Coulson bleeds to death (but somehow brought back to life in the “Agents of SHIELD” show, which I am not covering). Stark then powers up the engine and Rogers pulls the lever before the propeller shreds Stark. Loki escapes the Helicarrier to continue his evil deeds. Fury then reminds the heroes about the idea that was the Avengers Initiative. After the talk, we see Banner buck naked after he landed in a warehouse. He gets some clothes from a janitor before we cut to Clint waking up from his knockout punch (and the hit he got on his head). He and Natasha get ready for the fight ahead. Stark and Rogers talk for a bit about Coulson before Tony realizes that Loki is at Stark Tower with Selvig. Everyone then gets ready to head to New York for the final showdown. Stark flies to the tower and fails to destroy the machine that will send a beam to the sky. The suit is taken off as Stark talks to Loki about the Avengers. Loki tells him that he has an army of Chitauri waiting for the beam. He then tries to control Stark’s mind, but hilariously falls. He then throws Stark down to the ground. The Mark 7 suit saves Stark from certain death. Stark then flies and shoots at Loki before the Chitauri are let into Earth via the sky beam.
All heck then breaks loose as Loki’s army terrorizes New York City. Thor then arrives and fights Loki for a bit. After his fight, plus Captain America convincing some cops to keep civilians safe in the buildings, plus Black Widow and Howkeye helping as well, they all meet at the location under Stark Tower. Banner then arrives via motorcycle before Iron Man brings “the party” to them. Banner turns into Hulk and stops the big Chitauri ship before it is blown up by Stark. The iconic circle shot follows with Hulk’s roar. Loki sends the rest of the army to New York before Captain America tells the rest of the team what to do. Iron Man goes to deal with the big ships while Cap and Black Widow stay on the ground. Cap tells Thor to send some lightning to them and Hulk to smash stuff. Hawkeye is flown up to a building to shoot arrows at some little ships. The rest of this big scene involves plenty of stuff involving the heroes doing their best to save the city. A big montage scene ends with Thor and Hulk killing a big ship and Hulk hilariously punching Thor. Cap then saves some people (including a waitress that was featured in a deleted scene) from a ticking bomb before using his shield to break the fall. Fury then decides to ignore the decision by the higher ups to send a nuclear missile to New York. We then see Loki catch an arrow that explodes on him and makes him land in Stark Tower. We then see the iconic “Puny God” scene that got the biggest laughs in the theater when the movie came out. Hulk throws Loki around like a rag doll in this scene. Natasha then uses Loki’s spear to go through the force field protecting the portal from being closed. Iron Man then goes through the mouth of the big ship before struggling with some Chitauri. Hawkeye escapes danger while Hulk is shot down a building by some ships. Meanwhile, a nuclear missile is launched to New York and Stark finds somewhere to put it. Thor and Captain America fight off more chitauri while the portal is shut down, but not before Stark puts the missile up the portal. Jarvis (Paul Bettany) warns Stark about the danger of the trip and dials Pepper for him. Pepper doesn’t answer as she watches the news broadcast. Stark then gets the missile up the portal and falls down fast. The missile destroys the main ship, thus killing every Chitauri ship and soldier. The portal is closed and Stark is falling down lightning fast. Hulk breaks his fall and rips the mask out. Stark is presumed dead before a roar by Hulk wakes him up. Stark then is told that the battle is won and asks the others about Shawarma. Loki is then captured and brought back to Asgard (along with the Tesseract) while we see a montage of people celebrating the Avengers. A cameo by Stan Lee where he plays chess and says “Superheroes? In New York? Give me a break” is in this montage. The waitress says thank you to Captain America. The heroes then go their separate ways. After a brief scene with Fury and Maria Hill where Fury says that the Avengers will come back when they need them, we see Stark and Potts plan the refurbishment of Stark Tower before the movie cuts to the credits. There are two scenes: one involving Thanos and the other involving the heroes eating Shawarma.
I remember watching “The Avengers” in theaters very well. I saw it at the movie theater at Universal Citywalk in Orlando in 3D. My group (which included my dad) and I were forced to sit at the very front of the screen. The theater was that packed as it was opening weekend. I remember the laughs and the action-packed atmosphere in that theater. The biggest laugh was obviously the “Puny God” scene. 11 years later, this movie still kicks a lot of butt. I love a lot of the scenes in this movie, including the fight scenes and the funny quips that the characters say. Robert Downey, Jr and Samuel L. Jackson in particular say plenty of funny stuff. During the confrontation with Thor, Stark says “Doth mother know you weareth he drapes?” Thor has a funny line when he says to Cap: “You want me to put the hammer down” before Mjolnir hits the shield. Loki was an amazing villain in this movie. He was threatening in some scenes, especially the one with Natasha before all heck broke loose in the Helicarrier. He also had some funny moments, including when he said in deadpan “I’m listening” after Thor was hit by Iron Man. Everyone played their roles well in this movie. The score by Alan Silvestri was great, including when the Avengers theme song played in the iconic circle shot of all the heroes together.
Overall, “The Avengers” is still a blast of a movie to watch. It was a great conclusion to the first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also teased what was to come later in the MCU with the appearance of Thanos in the mid-credits scene. So far, 2 Infinity Stones have been shown: the Tesseract (Space) and the Mind stone that was in Loki’s scepter (my bad for calling it a spear). Later, we’ll see the other stones. For now, the next movie that will be covered will be “Iron Man 3”. That post will come out soon. In the meantime, I hope you all have a great day.
(Here is the video from How It Should Have Ended on "The Avengers")
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