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Writer's pictureThomas Duncan

MCU Crossover Series - The Avengers (2012)



Co-Host: Adam Hitchcock, The Streaming Circuit podcast


Cast:

  • Joss Whedon, Writer/Director

  • Alan Silvestri, Music

  • Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man

  • Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America

  • Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk

  • Chris Hemsworth as Thor

  • Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

  • Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye

  • Tom Hiddleston as Loki

  • Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig

  • Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

  • Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson

  • Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill

  • Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts

  • Maximiliano Hernández as Jasper Sitwell

  • Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S.

Budget:

$220-225 million


Box Office and Ranking:

  • #4 highest grossing among all MCU films

  • Worldwide box office: $1.5 billion

  • Total domestic box office: $623.4 million

  • Domestic opening weekend: $207.4 million

Critic Scores:

  • RT: 91%

  • Metacritic: 69

  • Letterboxd: 3.6/5

Plot Summary: When Thor's evil brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), gains access to the unlimited power of the energy cube called the Tesseract, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of S.H.I.E.L.D., initiates a superhero recruitment effort to defeat the unprecedented threat to Earth. Joining Fury's "dream team" are Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).


Did You Know?:

  • Robert Downey Jr. kept food hidden all over the lab set, and apparently nobody could find where it was, so they just let him continue doing it. In the movie, that's his actual food he's offering, and when he was eating, it wasn't scripted, he was just hungry.

  • In the final end credit scene, Captain America is the only one not eating. That is because Chris Evans got a buzz cut, and grew out his beard after this movie was done filming. He was called in later to do this extra scene, and couldn't shave off his beard, due to filming Snowpiercer (2013) at the time, so they gave him a prosthetic jaw. He holds his hand over his face because the prosthetic made him look like he'd been attacked by a hive of angry bees. He also is unable to eat or talk with the prosthetic on.

  • Joss Whedon explained that two of the founding Avengers members, Ant-Man and Wasp, were cut from the script because the film had too many characters. Also, the screenwriters didn't want Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until his movie was released.

  • According to writer and director Joss Whedon, the original cut of the movie was over three hours long. About thirty minutes of the excised footage are included on the Blu-ray, most of which revolves around Steve Rogers (Captain America) struggling to adjust to the modern world. Chris Evans announced later that these deleted scenes would be used for Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).

Best Villian: Loki (100%)

Best Love Interest: Pepper Potts (100%)

Best Sidekick: Agent Phil Coulson (25%)

Best Scene:

  1. Battle of New York

  2. Saving the Day

  3. Germany

  4. Helicarrier Battle

  5. Calling in Natasha

Best Lines:

Thor: Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!

Natasha Romanoff: He killed eighty people in two days.

Thor: He's adopted.


Loki: Enough! You are, all of you are beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by...

[Hulk flattens Loki with repeated smashes into the floor]

The Hulk: Puny god.


Tony Stark: But let's do a head count here: your brother the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and YOU, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them.


Tony Stark: Uh, Shakespeare in The Park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?


Steve Rogers: Doctor Banner, now might be a good time for you to get angry.

Bruce Banner: That's my secret, Captain: I'm always angry.


Agent Phil Coulson: Mr Stark.

Pepper Potts: Phil! Come in.

Tony Stark: "Phil?" Uh, his first name is "Agent."


Tony Stark: JARVIS, have you heard the tale of Jonah?

Jarvis: I wouldn't consider him a role model.


The Stan Lee Rubric:

Legacy: 9

Impact/Significance: 9.5

Novelty: 10

Classic-ness: 8.75

Rewatchability: 8.5

Audience Score: 8.8 (85% Google, 91% RT)

Total: 54.55


Nit-Picks:

  • For a supposedly can't miss shot, Hawkeye misses a lot of shots in this film, but only when he's on Loki's side.

  • Who are the Chitauri?

  • What happens to all the Phase 2 weapons?

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