Avengers Assemble.

All credit to Joss Whedon’s writing and direction on what amounts to his first Hollywood blockbuster, a sequel to the proceeding five Marvel Cinematic Universe movies Iron Man (2008),  The Incredible Hulk (2008)  Iron Man 2 (2010) Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Avengers Assemble (2012) is an absolute dynamite adaptation of a comic book action adventure and one certainly worthy of the description of ‘action movie’ with CGI that is more than impressive with its post 9/11 imagery and references. It also includes, in abundance, one of the most important ingredients of any comic book movie: humour.

Natasha Romanoff AKA The Black Widow.

Hawkeye.

The plot involves our collective superheroes, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America and the lesser known Hawkeye and the ultra sexy Black Widow, battling a supervillain, well actually a Norse God, who has stolen an energy source resembling a blue translucent cube called a Tesseract, which is powerful enough to destroy earth.

The Norse God Loki.

One of the great strengths of this movie is its villain Loki, played brilliantly by Tom Hiddleston, who you will remember from Thor as the crown prince of Asgard’s adopted renegade brother. The cast’s commitment to their particular character’s help to conjure up a totally realistic Marvel world, Robert Downey Jr as the heir to the Stark dynasty giving the role the eccentricity it deserves, all American hero Captain America is again portrayed by Chris Evans, with Chris Hemsworth reprising his role as Thor and Mark Ruffalo finally giving the kudos that the role of Bruce Banner deserves. Jeremy Renner plays Hawkeye a S.H.l.E.L.D agent whose skill with a bow and arrow gives him the title of the world’s greatest marksman. Scarlett Johansson brings superspy Natasha Romanoff, better known by her code name Black Widow, to life. Also involved is Samuel L. Jackson who plays the director of S.H.l.E.L.D Nick Fury responsible for bringing the superheroes together to help fight world domination by the evil fascistic Loki. To all Marvel Cinematic Universe virgins I challenge you to watch this film and not fall in love with the whole comic book concept.

Commander Nick Fury.

Will the Hulk save the day?