Superhero Collage

Rating: Null/10 (7 June 2012)

Joss Whedon is a nerd treasure, after having earned his geek street cred with some of the most iconic TV shows and characters around. My favourite of his creations remains "Firefly", an all-around extraordinary show, at the same time my deep dislike for Fox after the cancellation of said show, also remains intact. It was the popularity of the show and the loyalty of the fans which brought Joss Whedon back with his fond and well deserved closing act (?) to the Firefly saga, in the form of the excellent but oft overlooked "Serenity". It was through directing "Serenity" that Joss Whedon showed that he can easily and comfortably venture beyond TV land and into feature films. His colleague JJ Abrahms (and his gang) also made that same successful leap.
It thus came as no great surprise that "The Avengers" turned out to be such a fun ride, not to mention an insanely profitable one. It speaks to the vision and talent of the man who helmed the project, and what that imagination and talent can do when given the appropriate resources.
Whedon managed to take the several superhero movies which served as interconnected instalments or prequels of sorts to this movie, "Iron Man" 1 and 2, "The Incredible Hulk" "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Thor", and successfully and quite masterfully bring them all under the umbrella of "The Avengers", a fitting conclusion (though I'm sure based on the end-credits that a sequel is in the works) to this whole Marvel Universe enterprise.
I am not as floored with the movie as the audiences apparently are, but given the number of actors and characters populating the screen, Whedon did an admirable job letting them all share the spotlight, while keeping the story rolling. He was able to imbue the story with enough substance and gravitas so as to prevent the movie from becoming just another unremarkable, brainless, big-budged popcorn dud (yeah, yeah "John Carter" and "Battleship" you're what I had in mind)
"The Avengers" does not come close in quality to the quite unfairly overlooked "X-Men: First Class" (or any of Nolan's Batman flicks), but for what it was meant to be, a summertime season opener, it more than achieved its purpose (and probably set the standard, at least money-wise, too high and potentially out of reach for the other big-budget releases of the summer).
If nothing else, I can say I had fun watching "The Avengers", but with Joss Whedon at the wheel you do get something extra in terms of quality over quantity.
Bravo Whedon! I'm looking forward to you spreading your wings even further.