100 Greatest Superhero Stories Ever
By Steve Lam
Image Courtesy of Marvel Studios
#18. The Avengers
Medium
Live-Action Feature Film
Release Dates
April 11, 2012 (El Capitan Theatre)
May 4, 2012 (United States)
Credits
Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Cast: 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 Kiddleston as Loki, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Maximiliano Hernández as Jasper Sitwell, Paul Bettan as The Voice of JARVIS, Alexis Denisof as The Other, Damion Poitier as Thanos
The Reason It’s Great
Ensemble films are the most difficult to make. Well, let me rephrase that: Ensemble films are the most difficult to make … great. You’re dealing with multiple protagonists who each need their own arcs along with a common goal or goals that will intersect. That’s a lot of things to juggle. This looks like a job for … Joss Whedon.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe closed out Phase One with a team-up involving Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. Loki, working in conjunction with the Other, gains access to the Tesseract to launch a full-scale invasion of Earth. Nick Fury, seeing the daunting threat, activates the Avengers Initiative—assembling Earth’s mightiest heroes.
The Avengers don’t come together smoothly, and the team is initially left devastated after one of Loki’s attacks leaves Agent Coulson dead and has the Hulk almost destroying the Helicarrier. However, the team comes together in the final battle, realizing their strength as one unit.
At the time of its release, The Avengers set various box office records and received critical acclaim for it directing, writing, and characterizations. The film would cement Marvel Studios as a leader in the superhero film genre and make shared universes a mainstay of moviemaking.