On the night of May 3rd, going into May 4th, thousands of fans across the States, and all over the world, gathered in their local theaters, eagerly awaiting the midnight release of the highly-anticipated film, the Avengers. With some fans even dressed in full on costumes portraying the superheroes, movie-goers ranging from the middle-aged comic book buffs, to the high school teenagers that fell for the action-packed Marvel film franchise, to the youngest boys and girls that pick out their favorite hero and follow their journey, no one kind of person was able to establish the target audience of the Avengers; and with the film’s main plot, it was exactly what the producers were hoping for.
Since June of 2007, Marvel Studios have been working on creating the back-story of the film, with preceding films that would introduce the individual characters of the comic book hero team, and establish their role in the film (starting in 2008 with The Incredible Hulk, followed by Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America). With each of the films having their own plot, they were all simultaneously made to create ties that would web them all together, and present how each of the characters were going to be related to the team being put together by S.H.I.E.L.D. (an agency aimed at keeping world peace) director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).
The conflict that the Avengers revolves around is the Tesseract, a powerful energy source that has exponential potential, being stolen by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the leader of an Asgardian army of aliens called the Chitauri, whose sole purpose for the Tesseract is to use it to wipe out the Earth, if its inhabitants refuse to fall before him, as he believes the people of Earth subconsciously want to be ruled by one man; himself. During the opening scene, Loki uses a sceptor with the harnessed power of the Tesseract, to take astrophysicist Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and agent Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner) hostage, and get away with the Tesseract. This being the exact conflict Fury had anticipated, he lets Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) know that the Avengers must now be assembled. From here, Agent Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson) reels in Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk, Mark Ruffalo replacing Ed Norton), Fury brings Steve Rogers (aka Captain America, Chris Evans) in, and Agent Coulson enlists Tony Stark (aka Iron Man, Robert Downey, Jr.). Together, they capture Loki in Germany. However, as they are taking the war criminal back to where they can interrogate him/keep him hostage, Loki’s brother, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) shows up to take his sibling’s faults in his own hands. The conflicts that ensue all revolve around Loki, who eventually escapes, and opens a portal to Asgard with the Tesseract, bringing his army down to earth, and wreaking havoc amongst the island of Manhattan. When Agent Barton is brought back in, the six members of this heroic team fight hard against Loki and his army, for the remainder of the film.
The main highlights of the Avengers most obviously start with the action scenes. With fights and major mechanical difficulties going on throughout the entire film, the viewer is kept on the edge of their seat. However, the most exciting of them all happens throughout nearly the entire last half hour of the film, where each and every avenger is seen displaying their best skill sets against the Chiatauri; the Hulk, smashing into buildings and ripping apart the aliens himself, Black Widow firing her lethal bullets with perfect aim, Hawkeye showing off his unparalleled skill set in archery, Captain America using his war strategies and indestructible shield, Iron Man flying around the city firing at the villains, as well as distracting Loki, and Thor calling lightening down to earth, as well as using his strong hammer against whomever he can. The six heroes use their skill sets in a perfect unison against exactly what and who they need to, which kept everyone in the theater applauding. Another factor was of course, the humor. Throughout the film, Downey Jr. continues his controversial puns, and slapstick comedy is used to lighten up the intense battle scenes. The best and most unique part of this film, however, is the hero vs. hero aspect. Many of the avengers turn against each other, when trying to put the blame on the lost Tesseract on each other; some even fight against each other, with conflicts like Black Widow vs. the Hulk, Black Widow vs. Hawkeye, Captain America vs. Thor, Thor vs. the Hulk, and Iron Man vs. Thor ensuing. This hero against hero aspect allows the Avengers to touch on something new, making it not just another superhero movie, where the hero automatically sets off on his/her journey to stop the “bad guy”, but rather, reveals the internal conflicts that can happen at any time, when a team of extraordinary people are involved.
The fans of the world obviously agreed with these aspects; on opening weekend, the Avengers grossed $392.5 million, and having been in theaters for only 19 days to date, the film has already made over $1 billion. The film has broken several records, including opening weekend for any film (exceeding the very successful Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Part 2), opening week for any film (exceeding the popular film the Dark Knight), 3D and IMAX records, second week for any film (exceeding the high-grossing Avatar), and tying with Avatar on the quickest rise to $1 billion, with 19 days each. Many fanatics, as well as people who simply enjoyed the film, have made it a point to see it more than once; and although in this economy, it might be hard to do so, and some might think it pointless to see a film more than once, I highly recommend you watch this team of avengers in action, as many times as you see fit (and trust me, you will see fit).