I like that within the first 10 minutes of the film, you get so much just packed in:

• Loki
• Loki stealing the tesseract and some people
• shit exploding
• Nick Fury being super badass
• Maria Hill (also super amazing)

And possibly my favourite line in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe: “And I am burdened with glorious purpose.”

It’s a line, we could all agree, would be lovely to say in a variety of contexts.

And then the other brilliant thing that happens, Black Widow’s sequence where she kicks the shit out of everyone while tied to a chair. What I noticed immediately is that this sequence is soooo much better than Iron Man 2. It’s just clean, and less slow-mo hair shots. It’s a better fight sequence overall.

She’s also got some other excellent sequences: the whole Loki chat and later, escaping from The Hulk when all hell breaks lose and then subduing Hawkeye.

I think what is also great about this film is all the brilliant one liners.

Stark: “Phil? His first name is Agent.”

Thor: “He’s my brother.”
Natasha: “He’s killed 80 people in two days.”
Thor: “He’s adopted.”

Natasha: “This is just like Budapest all over again.”
Clint: “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

Basically, there are lots of good lines.

But there are bad bits.

It’s hard to imagine the helicarrier actually working in practice. It still looked like it was made of very heavy metal. But meh. It exists in the comics.

Also, Loki is kind of mental. Which does make it hard to think that they still work with him in the later films. There’s the bit where he drills a man’s eyeball out of his head (remember that?) and he’s got this manic grin on. You know that in Ragnorok, Thor ultimately does not trust him. But it does really make you wonder how they get on at all or if he can even be redeemed.

There is also a slight inconsistency with the whole Iron Man vs Thor episode. Surely, since Coulson and Fury have talked about him, Iron Man would have had a slightly different approach that just attacking? I know we need the dramatic tension but at the same time, it’s a bit strange. As well, Thor seems terribly hot-headed, we just go through him learning not to be impulsive, and suddenly he’s all impulsive again. It does set up for the lack of being able to get along in the later films, though. So maybe some foreshadowing.

I think inevitably, there are going to be clumsy bits. As the film has to simultaneously wrap up a bunch of initial characters arcs, have a good film and then spin off a bunch of new arcs for the individual films. You see some of that in the tension raising sequence in the lab where everyone’s having a go at each other. You can see that leading directly to Winter Soldier.

As well, the rogue planes taking off from the Helicarrier also feels like insight into what will become Hydra in Winter Soldier. As well, Stark being the only one who sees the massive battle fleet, out of all the Avengers, also changes his perception for the following films. Who knows if they actually planned it like that, or if the writers of the following films just used some of the cues.

There are some absolutely brilliant sequences as well. Tony stepping off on Stark tower and having a chit-chat with Loki. Natasha and Hawkeye catching up (I love them both so much). Anytime Loki gets to put on his horn things. And of course all the crazy-ass shit at the end. I mean, I really enjoyed the crazy-ass shit at the end.

I think that is ultimately what I love about Avengers. It’s pure-comic book delightfulness. That whole end sequence is so much fun. It’s over the top and ridiculousness and it’s wonderful.

So, 6 down. 12 to go. Omg.