Too Much of Too Many Good Things

Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 2015)

Primary Characters

• Steve Rogers/Captain America
• Tony Stark/Iron Man
• Thor
• Bruce Banner/Hulk
• Clint Barton/Hawkeye
• Natasha Romanov/Black Widow
• Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
• Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver
• Vision
• Ultron

Secondary Characters

• Jarvis
• Nick Fury 
• Maria Hill
• James Rhodes/War Machine
• Sam Wilson/Falcon
• Helen Cho
• Erik Selvig
• Baron Wolfgang von Strucker
• Ulysses Klaue
• Thanos

Notable Story Elements

• Iron Legion
• Avengers Tower
• Vibranium
• Wakanda
• Hulkbuster armor
• F.R.I.D.A.Y.
• Loki's Scepter/Mind Stone
• Infinity Stones

Times viewed: around 6

• Original theatrical release
• A few viewings on BluRay and on TV
• Friday Family Movie Night sometime in the past year
• 23 Days of Marvel - March 29th, 2020

Easter Eggs

• Cap recalls his shield using electromagnetic gauntlet panels, a device he had for a time in the comics but abandoned
• Black Widow's "lullaby" to ease Hulk back to his Banner identity includes the words, "sun's getting real low"; in his original gray-skinned incarnation, and later when he was believed dead and working as a Las Vegas enforcer named Joe Fixit, Banner would transform into the Hulk at sunset
• Tony's vision of everyone slain is reminiscent of innumerable times in the comics when heroes view or travel to dark futures; in the Civil War II event, a precognitive Inhuman named Ulysses is at the center of the conflict between Iron Man and Captain Marvel
• There's a "Jarvis is my co-pilot" bumper sticker on Quinjet's cabin
• Mjolnir budging when Steve halfheartedly pulls at it foreshadows one of Endgame's biggest moments, itself inspired by him hefting it as The Captain while John Walker was Captain America

• In the comics, Dr. Helen Cho is the mother of Amadeus Cho, a teenager who is "the world's sixth smartest man" and a sidekick of Hulk; he later becomes The Totally Awesome Hulk

• The water Thor enters is meant to be the scrying pool of the Norns, the Norse weavers of destiny; while in it, he learns that he will be responsible for the fall of Asgard (in a way, he will be) and glimpses the Infinity Stones and the gauntlet
• It is Captain America who welcomes Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to the team, just as he did in the comics when the founders Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and Wasp left; the fourth member of "Cap's Misfits" is another reformed criminal, Hawkeye, who in this movie has an ongoing rivalry with Quicksilver and motivates Scarlet Witch to assist against Ultron
• Ultron abducts Black Widow, similar to his comic book kidnappings of Hank Pym's wife Janet (Wasp) and Clint Barton's wife Bobbi (Mockingbird), whose brain patterns he uses to create robotic companions (Jacosta and Alkhema)
• Hulk exiles himself, similar to what The Illuminati (Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and a dissenting Namor) do to him; he lands on Sakaar, "Planet Hulk"; much of that is borrowed for his Ragnarok appearance
• Clint and Laura name their son after Quicksilver, glimpsed on his bib - Nathaniel Pietro Barton

A comparison of the number of characters, themes, and Easter eggs in this one, above, to earlier MCU movies shows just how much was packed into it. This, after almost a full hour was trimmed from Joss Whedon's weightier cut.

In the end, it's still too much.

The roller coaster rocket-launches with a battle reminiscent of the tracking shot from the Battle of New York, this time pitting the Avengers against a remnant of Hydra. It's evident here that they are a cohesive and potent unit. There's a similar shot as they defend the trigger of Ultron's doomsday device, and another of a marble sculpture in the credits. Each one is slickly framed, but like much of the action throughout, it's tough to take in all the details.

Who wore it better: MCU Quicksilver or X-Men Quicksilver? One amusing scene in Days of Future Past aside, My vote goes to Age of Ultron. He's cocksure and quippy, just like he is in the source material. He's also with Wanda, one of my favorite comic characters. They play well off one another. It's a Joss Whedon film, though, so his is the requisite heroic sacrifice.

Though still a year from release, Civil War really starts here as the team come to blows over Tony and Bruce's determination to salvage something positive out of Ultron's "vision." In the end, the core team has already tarted to splinter. Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye will all be absent from that coming conflict, just a few years after the Avengers came together. Steve and Tony's parting conversation at the new Avengers compound is amicable, but their words portend both of their futures.

Years of prior planning and set-up for the future are carefully crafted, but not everyone is up for a 1,000-piece puzzle. Even Whedon was rightfully spent after this one.

Ranking

1. The Avengers
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4. Iron Man
5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron
7. Iron Man 3
8. Iron Man 2
9. Captain Marvel
10. Captain America: The First Avenger
11. Thor
12. Thor: The Dark World
13. The Incredible Hulk

Assembled

The Avengers (May 2012) 

Primary Characters

• Director Nick Fury
• Agent Phil Coulson
• Loki
• Clint Barton/Hawkeye
• Natasha Romanov/Black Widow
• Bruce Banner/Hulk
• Steve Rogers/Captain America
• Tony Stark/Iron Man
• Thor

Secondary Characters

• Erik Selvig
• Deputy Director Maria Hill
• Agent Phil Coulson
• Pepper Potts
• Jasper Sitwell
• Councilmember Gideon Malick
• Thanos

Notable Story Elements

• SHIELD
• The Helicarrier
• Chitauri
• Asgard
• The Tesseract/Space Stone
• Loki's scepter/Mind Stone

Times viewed: Best guess - 20 to 30

• Original theatrical release (at least 3 times)
• Multiple full viewings
• 23 Days of Marvel - March 23rd, 2020

Easter Eggs

• Stark deflects Coulson's call by stating he is the "Life Model Decoy" of Tony Stark, referencing the lifelike androids that are a part of many comic book SHIELD stories
• Pepper can be overheard speaking to Coulson about the cellist with whom he was once romantically involved moving to Portland; Stark mentions the cellist to Rogers after Coulson's death*
• Coulson uses comic book condition terms to describe his trading card collection
• Banner wears a purple shirt through much of the film, the same color as the Hulk's iconic ripped pants
• Captain America deflects one of Iron Man's repulsor blast off his shield to strike multiple foes, similar to an attack they use in multiple Marvel games 

Straight up, this is a contender for my favorite movie, period. Just as The Incredible Hulk is set in last place of my ranking of the MCU films, it's fairly certain this one will remain first.

Bringing this large cast of characters into one cohesive film was no small feat. On a scale smaller than the culminating extravaganza Endgame, the impact of The Avengers depends on how invested one is in not just the heroics of its protagonists, but also in their individual foibles and personal triumphs.

We're happy to see Tony and Pepper together, as there's already 4 hours of turbulent courtship covered in Iron Man and its sequel. Thor is pained by his brother's actions, but his emotion here builds on the waves of earlier betrayals seen in their movie debut. Every blow Steve Rogers lands on the sand bag carries with it the frustration of nearly 70 lost years - and what, and who, are gone with them. The character building has already been done.

There's uncharted movie history between Hawkeye and Black Widow, but enough screen time given to dialogue between and about them to establish their characters and their relationship. He's Loki's thrall for most of the movie, and the regret and thirst for revenge he feels once freed are palpable. Her opening "interrogation" and the ass-kicking she delivers are, like so much of The Avengers, simultaneously exciting and humorous.

Hulk's origins and earlier adventures don't matter so much as that he is finally both terrifying and thrilling. His "I'm always angry" transformation and takedown of the Chitauri leviathan coincides with the crescendo of the outstanding Avengers theme and the rising stakes of the Battle of New York. Near its end, when he trounces Loki, all three different audiences with whom I watched it in the theaters cheered and laughed uproariously. The Incredible Hulk was a drag; he gets some of the best licks in here.

Makers of the previous films deserve credit for getting the heroes to this point, and Joss Whedon masterfully knits their diverse narratives together. Just as in the comics, it's Loki's schemes that unintentionally draw out a large force to thwart them, so props to him, too.

Taken by itself, The Avengers would still be well-paced, quotable, action-packed. Following the earlier MCU outings, though, it transcends what could normally be experienced through a superhero flick. It's a story of imperfect people (and well-established characters) coming together for the greater good. As paraphrased by Nick Fury following' Coulson's death*, and in the leading page of Avengers comics for years now:

And there came a day, unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat! On that day, the Avengers were born, to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand!

*Like the strong reaction to Hulk and Loki, this moment elicited one of the most genuine responses I've ever seen in a theater. The air was sucked out of the room, grave stillness settled in, and more than a few tears were shed. Damn you and bless you, Whedon.

Ranking

1. The Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. Iron Man 2
4. Captain Marvel
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. Thor
7. The Incredible Hulk