The Avengers

The Avengers (2012) starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, …

The Avengers – where a group of powerful individuals must band together against a common threat. If they can put their differences aside in time …

Review

In a real sense, The Avengers begins tying together the threads of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) together. A very large threat comes, that the individual characters can’t deal with by themselves. They’re thrown together — in no small part due to Loki, the Norse god of mischief. And it’s part of a larger plan, by the mad Titan, Thanos.

There’s frankly a lot of interesting characters put together, and giving each of them time to tell their story, and grow.

• “I’ve got a lot of blood on my ledger.”
• “That’s my secret, Cap. I’m always angry.”
• Tony trying to call Pepper, just before he thinks he’s going to die — to stop the alien invasion.

There’s much more. Watch the movie for yourself and enjoy it. It’s one of those few movies that I’ll recommend unreservedly.

From the manufacturer

The Avengers Blu-ray 

When the Tesseract, a cube of pure energy with the power to destroy the Earth, is stolen by the nefarious God of Mischief, Loki, S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury embarks on a daring recruitment effort spanning the globe to assemble a team of the world’s most powerful superheroes to get it back. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and The Hulk are brought together to stop Loki. But unfortunately, it’ll take more than just assembling them to save the world from the brink of destruction. Based on the Marvel Comics characters. 

Cast of characters

Avengers

• Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) … Tony Stark / Iron Man. The arrogant, rich, technical genius. Who built an incredibly powerful armored exoskeleton.
• Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger) … Steve Rogers / Captain America. The super solder from World War II. A man out of time, who deeply feels like a fish out of water. In many ways, the heart of the team.
• Mark Ruffalo (Avengers: Age of Ultron) … Bruce Banner / The Hulk. A brilliant scientist, who turns into an incredibly powerful raging creature. Which Loki uses to try & destroy the Avengers from within.
• Chris Hemsworth (Thor) … Thor. Extremely powerful prince of extra dimensional Asgard. Despite Loki’s actions, he attempts to protect him. “He’s adopted.”
• Scarlett Johansson (Iron Man 2) … Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow. The highly trained, very dangerous secret agent. She has a lot of “blood on her ledger” which she hopes to atone for. She’s brilliant at interrogating people, without them even realizing it. Just ask Loki.
• Jeremy Renner (Age of Ultron) … Clint Barton / Hawkeye. Another highly trained secret agent, deadly with a bow and arrow. Mind controlled by Loki, and forced to murder. And he’s determined to make things right.

Additional cast

• Tom Hiddleston (Thor: Ragnarok) … Loki. Thor’s adopted brother. Seemingly a villain, it’s implied that he’s being controlled by … someone. Even when controlled, he’s highly intelligent — and dangerous.
• Clark Gregg (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) … Agent Phil Coulson. Fury’s right-hand man. Who pays the ultimate cost when trying to stop the escaping Loki.
• Cobie Smulders … Agent Maria Hill. Fury’s right-hand woman.
• Stellan Skarsgård (Thor: The Dark World) … Selvig. Brilliant scientist, and Thor’s friend. Used by Loki to open a portal across space, to let Thanos’ invasion fleet access to Earth.
• Samuel L. Jackson (Captain Marvel) … Nick Fury
• Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man 3) … Pepper Potts
• Paul Bettany (WandaVision, Agent Carter) … Jarvis (voice)