The Avengers: It’s All Coming Together
Remember: this is only the first movie, guys. Spoilers for that movie, but not the other Avengers movies, Age of Ultron and Infinity War.
Speaking of which, did I tell you that I’ve been challenged to watch all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies before I see Avengers: Infinity War (in theaters, hopefully)?
And here we go again.
Dear V,
I was right — I had indeed seen this movie before, but it wasn’t until this time that I actually understood what was going on. However, this movie also made me feel a tiny bit guilty that I didn’t watch The Incredible Hulk because you said I could leave it out. I may just have to resolve that guilt before the next Avengers movie (Age of Ultron, remember — this is only about the first.)
So we and Eric — the scientist in Thor — discover that the ‘tessaract’ — the blue cube retrieved from the ocean by Howard Stark, long before Captain America flew his plane into… erm, Greenland? (I didn’t quite get where he was.) Well, it’s actually a power source for a cross-universe portal. As Loki shows when it brings him to Earth.
Loki — being, well, Loki — takes the tessaract and puts some of the scientists under some kind of hypnosis (using the blue crystal connected to the blue cube), taking them with him, including Eric, as mentioned before, and one of Nick Fury’s assassins, Hawkeye (whose real name I can’t remember).
Every one of the “superheroes” we’ve met so far is called into S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, a flying aircraft carrier (which is very cool and I now wish I was a child so I could get the toy for Christmas). And every single one of them have personal issues they all deem greater than why Nick called them in.
Mr. Stark has a superiority complex that goes far beyond anything I can think of. Richard Dawkins tends to be the most egotistical man I can ever think of and Stark blows him right out of the water. But then, this is a very human trait. Sometimes if you understand certain subjects easily, it’s also easy to think that people who don’t understand them the same way or who have a harder time understanding the subject, well, aren’t very smart at all. This is why I am not a teacher, period. I had professors in college who were like this — and I never want to be like that. It’s not very nice, nor is it always true. But Tony is all about that. The only person he accepts equality with is Bruce Banner (whose first name isn’t even mentioned in the movie, is it?), who is also a scientist.
Banner, who is probably more familiar to most people as the Incredible Hulk, tried to make a super soldier serum (replicating the same serum that gave Cap his powers) and ended up failing miserably — or at least, he believes it’s miserably. He’s truly tortured by the fact that he turns into this huge green unstoppable thing — and does everything in his power to keep “the other guy” under wraps. So much that the people who do know about the Hulk have a tendancy to whisper it when talking to him. And being this huge green unstoppable thing is completely and utterly dangerous to everyone around him.
Cap is tortured by the fact that everyone he knows — everyone he knew — is dead now, except him. We don’t learn if he ever tried to commit suicide like Banner tried (and failed), but honestly, that’s not how Cap thinks. He doesn’t want to move on — he doesn’t know how to move on or where he’ll fit in this new crazy world. And being the honestly ‘nice’ guy, Stark gets on his nerves. The interplay between the two is very interesting because I’m pretty sure that we’ll be seeing more of this in Captain America: Civil War. Yes, the image on the posters and the box kinda gave it away, but at least, I’ll be able to watch as the tension (yeah, not the good kind, sorry) between Cap and Stark grows.
Thor is just… well, Thor. He’s there because of his brother, wants to take him brother back to Asgard, and here are a bunch of mortals standing in his way (who actually can put up a decent fight against him as well).
And Natasha — erm, who I believe to be Black Widow unless I’m completely on the wrong track — and Nick and Coulson (remember him?) all have to deal with these three children at the beginning of the movie. Because that’s exactly what they are.
They capture Loki and put him in a cell designed to save everyone from the Incredible Hulk. And this is what Loki’s got to play with — time for a plan.
Through the blue stone in his scepter, somehow, Loki is able to use their differences against them. Everyone starts to argue and try to get Banner out of the room at the same time — in case… well, in case, he gets angry too.
The Hulk comes out at nearly the same time as Loki’s, erm, slaves(?) and we get a big huge attack on the ship, Loki’s people trying to crash it and rescue Loki while Loki slips out of his cage and Thor ends up inside.
So, big action scenes where superheroes have to work together — Cap and Stark have to keep the engines going or the ship will crash. We know where Thor is — with Loki.
Natasha is trying to keep away from the Incredible Hulk. When he first looks at her, there’s fear in his eyes. How much of the Hulk and Banner’s reaction to him is fear? I mean, Banner doesn’t mention him without showing some fear of him. This is why I’m considering going back and watching the origin movie because I want to see what happened the first time the Hulk comes out. Being that Ed Norton plays Banner instead of Mark Ruffalo, I’m not quite sure it will still be there, but it’s worth going to go look for … later.
Once Loki escapes and the Incredible Hulk is taken care of, the rest learn about the death of Coulson. He wasn’t a big role, but he was a big role in all their lives. To them, he was the face of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not Nick Fury. Even Cap who had never met him before. For us, the audience, he played a small role in each of the movies, but to them, to Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Thor, he played a large role in their lives.
Stepping outside of the movie a moment, I like what the writer and the director have done here. If there was any doubt as to why Coulson had to be a big fan of Captain America when Cap would have been before his time, it was to grab Cap’s heart — to give him that reason to care — so when Coulson died, Cap had a reason to care. A tad heavy-handed, looking back at things, but honestly, it doesn’t matter because it worked.
Coulson’s death gives the Avengers the reason to come together as a group and face the threat that Loki poses to the rest of the world. So they do.
It only takes a spark to get a fire going. And by the end of the movie, the fire was set and burning. Even Nick Fury realized that — he knew that when they needed the Avengers again, they would be back. Again and again.
Okay, damnit, now on to Iron Man III.
NB: It’s Bruce Banner, not David Banner. Now I’m trying to figure out where “David Banner” came from. But, really? Of all of the names to get wrong here, I have to get the Incredible Hulk’s name wrong??
