It was worth the wait!

Rating: 10/10 (27 April 2012)

Having cracked the problem of super-hero movies with successful runs on Spider-Man and X-Men (both franchises contracted out to major studios), Marvel went independent with assorted features based on their lesser known characters - Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America - and did very well with a series of one-off movies which were commercially and critically well received. Importantly, these movies were conceived, from the very start, as essential building blocks moving towards this film, which achieves a cinematic first by bringing together a number of characters who have headlined their own movies and who now appear together (OK, so I'm ignoring Abbott and Castello's role in bringing together Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolfman. So sue me).
The problem was always going to be how to deal with bringing together such powerful characters in a team movie when every one of them is a strong enough character to have carried his own movie - surely either they are all downgraded to sidekicks of each other? Or else the movie will be nothing but a testosterone-fulled p*ss*ng contest? It turns out that it is both these things, but the mix is beautifully judged. By entrusting the script and direction to Joss Whedon - ace script doctor, master at working with ensemble pieces, and lifelong comic lover (and excellent comic writer, one might also add), the balance - for balance was always going to be critical in this movie - is perfect.
I won't say anything very much about the content, because there is so much in this movie to enjoy. It is simply full of small touches among the bombast, which will bring delight to the average viewer who likes an action-packed blockbuster, and absolute joy to comic lovers. The characters which have been established in the previous movies are all here, and they are all the same people - they haven't been changed for The Avengers, but they have more depth and there is also character development here. The script is terrific and the action is stunning. Oh, and hang on until after the main titles have finished at the end...
By the way, thank you so much for saddling this movie in the UK with the ridiculous title "Marvel Avengers Assemble" (which communicates even less to a non-comics audience than "The Avengers") and also depriving us of the iconic Avengers logo and title on the main title screen.