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Into the MCU: "The Avengers" (2012)


This week as we travel through the MCU, we stop off at the movie that changed comic book movies- and franchises in general: 2012's "The Avengers".

This movie completed the evolution of Marvel's concept of a shared movie universe that would bring multiple franchises together under one franchise.  This would lead to studios from trying to look for franchises that could potentially share a universe and interact together (like Legendary's successful incorporation of the Godzilla and King Kong franchises, or Universal's failed Dark Universe bringing the "Universal Monsters" together).

But as a movie itself, it's a moderately good film.  The story is certainly interesting, and engaging.  The little twists, turns and threads coming together to the grande finale kept me watching.

For me, the flaw was the characters.  I loved the development of Captain America, Black Widow, and Bruce Banner/Hulk.  I was a little disappointed in how little Thor, Hawkeye, and Iron Man were developed- though Iron Man did get more than the other two.  As much as I enjoyed Loki's role in it, I was also disappointed by his rather contrived importance to Thano's plot.

The acting though, was great.  All of the performers put such energy and life into their roles that I couldn't help but get involved in the movie.  I only wish that Jeremy Renner got a bit more screen time as Hawkeye to really show what he could do.

"The Avengers" is THE most important movie in the MCU due to it's role in bringing the shared universe to fruition.  As a movie itself?  I would absolutely recommend it, but I wouldn't necessarily watch it more than once.  I'm going to have to put it in "The Bad".

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