The Avengers

Loki comes across to me as an adolecent, flailing against the unfairness of the world. He's got that 12-year-old sense that he's smarter than everyone, combined with the 12-year-old sense that no one is really paying him sufficient attention/respect, and a 12-year-old complete lack of understanding/caring about the consequences of his actions. Dude clearly thinks that he's super subtle (and thus better than Thor et al) but really, he's about as subtle as Thor's fist.

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rivki8699 wrote:Loki comes across to me as an adolecent, flailing against the unfairness of the world. He's got that 12-year-old sense that he's smarter than everyone, combined with the 12-year-old sense that no one is really paying him sufficient attention/respect, and a 12-year-old complete lack of understanding/caring about the consequences of his actions. Dude clearly thinks that he's super subtle (and thus better than Thor et al) but really, he's about as subtle as Thor's fist.

Yes, "cranky pre-teen with homicidal tendencies" is an excellent summary of Loki's character.* I don't find him sympathetic at all, but I think Tom Hiddleston does (as he should; he is the guy!) and he's laid out a good case for sympathy for the devil in his interviews. I still think Loki is a great big bag of dicks, but I appreciate that he was played by someone who brought nuance to the character.

*

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Got up way too early, had nothing to do, decided to see it again. I liked it just as much. PLUS, during the trailers there was an an adorable Lego Avengers cartoon. It was seriously so cute. We got Lego posters at last weekend's show and mine's hanging up in my cubicle at work.

I'm kind of surprised that none of the major fast food restaurants are doing any kids-meal tie in toys with this movie. I should be glad since that means I don't have to eat a bunch of kids meals to get them, though.

For someone who started this thread a long time ago, it's taken me a long time to actually see the movie! I don't have much to add except that I liked it a lot, loved Bruce Banner especially, and on the shallow side am completely mesmerized by Chris Hemsworth's arms. I love Thor's way of flinging out his arm and calling for the hammer. Chris Evans as Captain America is so good: I'm basically in love with Steve Rogers at this point. The movie isn't the greatest thing ever omg, but I had a good time and it was worth every penny.

What did Natasha whisper to Clint that made him laugh at the end when they all gathered to send off Thor and Loki? I MUST KNOW. God I want a Natasha&Clint movie so bad.

Unlucky Bear wrote:Got up way too early, had nothing to do, decided to see it again. I liked it just as much. PLUS, during the trailers there was an an adorable Lego Avengers cartoon. It was seriously so cute. We got Lego posters at last weekend's show and mine's hanging up in my cubicle at work.

I'm kind of surprised that none of the major fast food restaurants are doing any kids-meal tie in toys with this movie. I should be glad since that means I don't have to eat a bunch of kids meals to get them, though.

You can buy the toys without the meals. It is so sad that I know this. The only tie-in I've seen is the Target commercials with the little kids dressed up as Avengers.

sen3 wrote:What did Natasha whisper to Clint that made him laugh at the end when they all gathered to send off Thor and Loki? I MUST KNOW. God I want a Natasha&Clint movie so bad.

I KNOW RIGHT?! I need that movie like air. They have such an interesting, complicated dynamic and I want to see more of it. I mean, everyone else got at least one! They should have their own! Barton and Romanov: Agents of SHIELD. Make it happen, Hollywood! I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if such a movie were already in the works, since apparently The Avengers is breaking records left and right (biggest opening weekend, biggest second weekend, 12th movie ever to hit the billion dollar mark, etc).

I can't stop thinking about this movie. Joss had so many things to juggle and he did it so well! It's really great how much of a team movie this was. An easy trap to fall into would have been to just take the big explosions and mayhem of the solo movies and multiply it times six. But there was such a focus on each character that neither the action sequences nor the larger plot would have been the same if you had swapped out any one of those characters.

One of my favorite recurring themes in Joss's work is the chosen family/lost weirdos coming together thing, and while it wasn't as prominent in this movie as it is in some of his other projects, it's still there and I loved it. Someone on Whedonesque called The One True b!X wrote this blog post about the importance of sentiment and empathy in the movie. I thought he said it really well.


Well, I'm off to see it for the third time!

It lived up to the hype for me. I was one of the weird kids who prefered the Avengers to the X-Men and FF. As a purist I would love Hank Pym and Wasp in A2. Although as a purist I have a hard time with the Hulk staying on with the group.

Regarding the post credits:

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Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson) talks about

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Finally saw this yesterday and really enjoyed it--definitely didn't feel like a 2+ hour movie. I liked Captain America much more in this than in his own movie--I think playing off the more comedic characters really helped, as his movie has been the least funny so far. And for a comic book movie, there was a fair amount of dialogue, which is nice.

Something nerdily awesome on the internets: the Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline.

I love the point of origin.

I like this post at Indiewire about Black Widow's awesomeness and some (usually male) reviewers' steadfast refusal to see it, much less acknowledge it.

Also, what if the Avengers went to the cafe in "Nighthawks" instead of the shawarma place?

Thoughts from screening #4...

As they flee the collapse of Sunnydale into the Hellmouth the JDEM, the look on Coulson's face appears to be, "Oh... I'm in a Joss Whedon movie. I am so screwed."

Watching Natasha cut loose in her first scene, my six year old daughter yelled, "WOW! She's GOOD!" Yes. Yes she is.

My eight year old daughter thinks Tony Stark looks like me. I won't deny it. RDJ and I could play each other in our respective biopics... if I lost about 160lbs.

Four times and I'm *still* all choked up and watery eyed as the team finally comes together. I found it very difficult to swallow around the heart in my throat when Bruce says, "I'm always angry" and then takes down the Chitauri leviathan.

I'm still amazed at how little I'm bothered by Loki's crazy assed hat. I guess the main lesson to take from the Marvel Studios films is "Go big or go home." Yeah, a lot of stuff in comic books looks silly in real life - but you can apparently get past that if you just embrace the crazy assed scope of it all instead of trying to bring it into the "real world".

Speaking of Natasha's big opening... is it me, or does it seem like she's being menaced by Bilbo Baggins? No one's going to mistake the guy for Ian Holm, I suppose, but *seriously*... the hair, the shape of the face.

After countless posts here and elsewhere, in the end, Matt Fowler of IGN says it best: "In accordance with the brand new natural order of the universe, there is no other discernible time other than 'time to watch The Avengers.'"

And the verdict on the placement of Nat's hand and Clint's leg in the shawarma scene - Clint has his leg fully extended and resting behind Nat on her chair, but Nat's hand is planted firmly on her own thigh.

I just saw it and I can't say anything that everybody else hasn't said already; I loved it, loved the ensemble and depth and nuance yada yada. I may need to see it several more times.

I've got to vote that Hiddleston was magnificent in the Loki/Romanov scene. He was absolutely terrifying in the same way Jack Gleeson is as Joffrey Baratheon--a psychotic, murderous 12-year-old with unlimited power--and he sold it hardcore and brought Johansson right along with him. I also massively enjoyed Thor saying "You don't know what you're dealing with!" and Tony replies "Shakespeare in the Park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?'" I about died. And I loved Chris Evans's/ Steve's perfect delivery of "Ma'am, there's only one God, and I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that."

I was disapointed Hulk didn't grab Loki's horns when he smashed him. the concept I like about the film and Ultimates Hulk is he's basically a walking A-bomb, it ain't just ripped purple pants and wall busting with him.

before RDJ became Iron Man the character was an A minus lister. Now he's running with the big dogs.

Does Avengers get a best picture nomination a la Avatar?

Finally got to see this last night, and holy crap did it live up to my expectations and then some.

I didn't expect to laugh as much as I did. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at all the wit given that it's Joss Whedon, but I didn't expect so much of it. And it all worked so great and didn't take me out of the story at all. The biggest laughs in my theater were:

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The cast all worked so well together and Joss balanced all the characters really well. I've never seen any of the Hulk movies or know much of that backstory, but I enjoyed Mark Ruffalo a lot.

I also loved loved loved the Black Widow/Hawkeye vibe. ScarJo and Renner were terrific together. I would definitely see a Black Widow/Hawkeye movie.

Speaking of Renner, I've never seen anything else he's been in but I left the theater with a huge crush. His arms are, uh, very very nice. (As are Hemsworth's arms, Scarlett's ass, and Chris Evans'...everything).

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The

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thing went right over my head until I read through this thread. I'll have to read more about that character to get it. My group also left before the second post-credits scene. Probably a longshot, but does anyone know if it's on the internet anywhere?

Saw this again last night and this time, I really felt like Black Widow is the emotional center of the movie. If any character could be said to be the audience's gateway into the movie, for me, it's Natasha. She's the first Avenger to appear in the movie in what is a pretty kick-ass scene (not including Hawkeye in the "cold open" because he's basically compromised immediately). She's the bridge between SHIELD and the Avengers, and she walks both sides of that line, ending up sort of loyal to both. She's the one to go get Hulk, and she leads Cap and Bruce into the Helicarrier. To me, her relationship with Hawkeye and how she deals with him being compromised is one of the most interesting dynamics I've seen in a comic book movie. As a human (with great skills), she's maybe easier to relate to in some ways (the fear she exhibits around Hulk, for example) than the superheroes. Plus, the way she just throws herself out there in the big battle is extra impressive because she is physically vulnerable in ways the others (except Clint) are not.

Her scene with Loki is one of the most effective in the movie. On rewatching, I believe that she never let Loki get to her, and was playing him from the very first moment.

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I love it.

tl;dr : I love Black Widow now, which is a huge shock to this non-ScarJo fan. I want a Hawkeye/Black Widow movie ASAP.

EDIT: I'm just reading the IndieWire article Raksha linked to, which basically makes a lot of these same points, but better? So just read that maybe.

The Importance of Pepper Potts' Pants

The daisy dukes were definitely important *to me*.

Seriously, though, I've always been indifferent to GOOP, but I have to say - particularly in her three simple scenes in this movie, only one of which includes dialogue - she has been absolutely marvelous as Pepper. And I don't think she's ever looked better than she does in her big scene with RDJ and Clark Gregg - so effortlessly gorgeous there.

In another post from that blog, the writer refers to the movie as The Tony and Pepper Potts Show and 2.5 Hours of Other Stuff. And you know, there are so many great moments in this movie, so many things that Whedon and co. got right that it's really hard to say there was a Best Moment. But in terms of scenes - whole scenes, beginning to end, not just clips or lines - I'm thinking everything from the moment Iron Man flies out of the water to Pepper asking Coulson for a ride to the airport is my favorite scene. The percentage jokes, the "can you bunk over", "his first name is agent", Tony and Pepper being *happy* together, the random reference to Life Model Decoys, GOOP never looking better, RDJ - well, maybe he's looked better, but he still looked damn fine, and of course the emotional hooks with "Phil" that will resonate throughout the movie....

Though I did notice yesterday that when Tony throws the files up on his invisible-air-screen, Cap's file says something like "US Marines ID..." on it, which doesn't make sense, since Cap was definitely Army. So, maybe there's one chink in the armor of that scene.

The funny thing is that I like GOOP as Pepper pretty much. She just does that exasperated with Tony perfectly.

And also, I thought she looked great in the shorts too. Girl's legs begin around her neck as far as I can tell. I just like how relaxes they looked.

I loved her "Booooooooooooooooo" when Phil told her the cellist moved to Portland. Pepper is maybe my favorite Gwyneth ever (Margot Tenenbaum is 2nd).

I actually love a lot of GOOP's film roles (Emma, Margot Tennenbaum, Pepper Potts), it's just her public persona that can be hard to take.

On a shallow note: keep the red hair ScarJo!

I finally saw this, and since I haven't read any of the comics or seen any of the feeder movies (except Iron Man 2), this forum has been super helpful to me. Especially that first post-credit scene, which of course I didn't get at all until I came here.

Where is the backstory of history bt Black Widow and Hawkeye (him saving her life, her red ledger, Budapest, etc.), in the comics, in a movie, or nowhere, it was just made up and implied for this movie?

I guess this is an unpopular opinion, but I can't stand Pepper Potts. Every time I saw her, she took me right out of the movie, and I don't see them as Pepper and Tony, but Gwyneth and her close friend RDJ sharing an inside joke. I guess because how Pepper is with Tony and Coulson is how I picture G is with RDJ and other people she wants to be nice to (minus romance). She did look good though in the shorts and shirt and barefoot (again, how I picture she dresses at home). That was a weird space age outfit when she was in the plane in the last scene.

I love Loki (unpopular again?). But then I didn't see Thor.

Regarding the second post-credits scene, IMDB says they filmed it after the US premiere, which explains why Cap America is covering his face, to hide a beard he had grown for another film.

[how do I spoiler tag? can't find it.]

Loving Loki is the opposite of an unpopular opinion.

In fact, at the New York Comic-Con panel, there were so many questions for Tom Hiddleston that after a more general question, Chris Evans snarked, "Oh I'm sorry, was that a question for Tom?" (The whole video is fun to watch. Clark Gregg sings his own Avengers theme.)