Hands down, Joss Whedon’s The Avengers is the best movie to come out of a Marvel comic. It’s not brilliant, but it’s mighty entertaining. And, dammit if Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, Dr. Horrible) doesn’t make it hard to hate him. His fingerprints are all over this epic superhero tale with an ensemble cast of superheroes, and you’ll love him for it. As goofy as the action and actors on the screen should be, each character — even the crap ones like Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) — feel real, likable and relatable. The dialogue and the action is sharp and often funny bordering on hilarious.
A handful of Marvel films over the past five years back have paved the way for The Avengers. Whether you’re just getting into the universe now or need a brief refresher, here’s a (mostly) spoiler-free recap of what came before.
Thor — The god of thunder lives with his dad/king Odin in a galaxy where science has become so advanced there is no discernible difference between technology and magic. (Plus, Stringer Bell is still alive.) Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the heir to the throne, gets exiled to Earth thanks to his jerk-hole adopted brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Thor bumps into and befriends a group of scientists (Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård). Quickly learning the ways of our planet, Thor takes up the goal of every Earth male and attempts to bed Natalie Portman. Back in bizarro space world, Loki tries to do bad stuff and Thor stops him. Along the way we get our first peek at the definitely-not-a-real-super hero Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), an archer who plays a big role in The Avengers. Should you watch it? Sure, but is it necessary? Depends. It does lay the groundwork for The Avengers main nemesis Loki, but it’s nothing the uninitiated won’t be able to follow.
Captain America: The First Avenger — Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a scrawny, Small Town, USA, kid determined to serve his country in World War II. While he’s barely strong enough to hold up a rifle, his quick wits and ferocious loyalty make him the perfect candidate for a secret U.S. super soldier program. He gets strong, gets an indestructible shield from Iron Man’s pops, takes out some Nazis and steals their magical space cube, which is later recovered by the senior Stark. Things go down, and Rogers wakes up 70 years later, where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him he has a job for him. Should you watch it? Do it. It’s good all-American fun and basically ends where The Avengers starts off.
Iron Man — Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a smart-ass,, over-sexed billionaire genius — think a less emo Bruce Wayne/Batman — who creates a robot suit and becomes Iron Man. He has a magnet in his chest that keeps shrapnel in his blood stream from hitting his heart and killing him. Should you watch it? Hell yes. Iron Man is the stuff of summer blockbuster gold.
Iron Man 2 — We pick up where the first film left off: Tony Stark announcing to the world he’s Iron Man, but now, instead of being all fun and super-cool, he’s just a whiny prick who drinks too much. The Black Widow is an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who poses as Stark’s assistant. Stark cleans up his act and saves the day, but he hears from Nick Fury that he isn’t making the cut for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s superhero team. Should you watch it? Nope. Even RDJ’s charm, the addition of Don Cheadle and a bunch of shiny special effects can save this sorry excuse for a sequel.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer — There’s a minor connection to The Avengers here with a bunch of the trippy space crap that Marvel did in the ‘60s: Silver Surfer and Galactus, who appears in this — the worst (or second worst if you want to pull the Ghost Rider card) of the worst Marvel comic book films — as a cloud. Should you watch it? Dear me, no. This is a connection that will probably remain unconnected in the Marvel film universe.
The Hulk — Ang Lee’s take on the not-so-jolly green giant was pretty much universally (probably more so than is deserved, really) hated. Should you watch it? Egh... And there’s no good reason to if you’re prepping for The Avengers. The only bits of Hulk backstory relevant to The Avengers are in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which rebooted the character for the current Marvel film universe.
The Incredible Hulk — Just five years after Ang Lee’s take, we get an lighter reboot of the Hulk. Here, we learn the Hulk is born out of a military experiment to create a super solider. Living in hiding, Banner struggles to control the Hulk through meditation. Important note: When he turns all big and green, he’s not just strong — he has limitless physical strength. Should you watch it? If you like seeing Hulk smash shit, go for it. It’s big and dumb and there’s not much you need to know here for The Avengers unless you want to see how Norton stacks up to his Hulk replacement Mark Ruffalo. (Ruffalo is way better.)
Everything else Marvel-ous — While they could very easily be made to fit in the same world, there’s no explicit connections made to X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, or any of the other Marvel properties turned into films.
So there you have it. That’s everything you could possibly need to know. Now go see The Avengers. It’s as good as superhero movies get this side of The Dark Knight.
--Eric Pulsifer
A handful of Marvel films over the past five years back have paved the way for The Avengers. Whether you’re just getting into the universe now or need a brief refresher, here’s a (mostly) spoiler-free recap of what came before.
Thor — The god of thunder lives with his dad/king Odin in a galaxy where science has become so advanced there is no discernible difference between technology and magic. (Plus, Stringer Bell is still alive.) Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the heir to the throne, gets exiled to Earth thanks to his jerk-hole adopted brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Thor bumps into and befriends a group of scientists (Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård). Quickly learning the ways of our planet, Thor takes up the goal of every Earth male and attempts to bed Natalie Portman. Back in bizarro space world, Loki tries to do bad stuff and Thor stops him. Along the way we get our first peek at the definitely-not-a-real-super hero Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), an archer who plays a big role in The Avengers. Should you watch it? Sure, but is it necessary? Depends. It does lay the groundwork for The Avengers main nemesis Loki, but it’s nothing the uninitiated won’t be able to follow.
Captain America: The First Avenger — Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a scrawny, Small Town, USA, kid determined to serve his country in World War II. While he’s barely strong enough to hold up a rifle, his quick wits and ferocious loyalty make him the perfect candidate for a secret U.S. super soldier program. He gets strong, gets an indestructible shield from Iron Man’s pops, takes out some Nazis and steals their magical space cube, which is later recovered by the senior Stark. Things go down, and Rogers wakes up 70 years later, where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him he has a job for him. Should you watch it? Do it. It’s good all-American fun and basically ends where The Avengers starts off.
Iron Man — Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a smart-ass,, over-sexed billionaire genius — think a less emo Bruce Wayne/Batman — who creates a robot suit and becomes Iron Man. He has a magnet in his chest that keeps shrapnel in his blood stream from hitting his heart and killing him. Should you watch it? Hell yes. Iron Man is the stuff of summer blockbuster gold.
Iron Man 2 — We pick up where the first film left off: Tony Stark announcing to the world he’s Iron Man, but now, instead of being all fun and super-cool, he’s just a whiny prick who drinks too much. The Black Widow is an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who poses as Stark’s assistant. Stark cleans up his act and saves the day, but he hears from Nick Fury that he isn’t making the cut for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s superhero team. Should you watch it? Nope. Even RDJ’s charm, the addition of Don Cheadle and a bunch of shiny special effects can save this sorry excuse for a sequel.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer — There’s a minor connection to The Avengers here with a bunch of the trippy space crap that Marvel did in the ‘60s: Silver Surfer and Galactus, who appears in this — the worst (or second worst if you want to pull the Ghost Rider card) of the worst Marvel comic book films — as a cloud. Should you watch it? Dear me, no. This is a connection that will probably remain unconnected in the Marvel film universe.
The Hulk — Ang Lee’s take on the not-so-jolly green giant was pretty much universally (probably more so than is deserved, really) hated. Should you watch it? Egh... And there’s no good reason to if you’re prepping for The Avengers. The only bits of Hulk backstory relevant to The Avengers are in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which rebooted the character for the current Marvel film universe.
The Incredible Hulk — Just five years after Ang Lee’s take, we get an lighter reboot of the Hulk. Here, we learn the Hulk is born out of a military experiment to create a super solider. Living in hiding, Banner struggles to control the Hulk through meditation. Important note: When he turns all big and green, he’s not just strong — he has limitless physical strength. Should you watch it? If you like seeing Hulk smash shit, go for it. It’s big and dumb and there’s not much you need to know here for The Avengers unless you want to see how Norton stacks up to his Hulk replacement Mark Ruffalo. (Ruffalo is way better.)
Everything else Marvel-ous — While they could very easily be made to fit in the same world, there’s no explicit connections made to X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, or any of the other Marvel properties turned into films.
So there you have it. That’s everything you could possibly need to know. Now go see The Avengers. It’s as good as superhero movies get this side of The Dark Knight.
--Eric Pulsifer
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