After blasting off yesterday with The Hunger Games, we’re now in low orbit (metaphorical low orbit of course. I’m not in space, I’m at my desk in England, sadly) and it’s time for part two. Kicking off the first weekend of the feature, it’s the one with the billionaire, the angry green guy, Goldilocks (Sorry Thor) and the captain… of America. Part two, Marvel Avengers Assemble (that’s The Avengers for those of you outside the UK)!
THE GOOD STUFF
It’s Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Loki and Nick Fury all in the same movie. Sharing the same screen. All the actors involved are great, and it’s all the superheroes you’ve wanted to see together (with a few exceptions. *cough* Spider-Man *cough*).
Joss Whedon’s directing! He who directed Buffy! Okay, I haven’t watched Buffy, but it sounds awesome, and one day I’ll buy the box sets. And anyone who directs something like that deserves respect. And plus, Whedon fans who haven’t seen the previous MCU movies will turn up for Whedon. This equals more money.
Less is more, unless you’re talking about superheroes, in which case, more is more. Surely a movie with four massive superheroes in it will make way more than their solo outings.
The trailers show witty dialogue mixed in with some really, really exciting action. As someone once said, winning.
The marketing campaign is pretty… how do I put this?… full-on. 80% of the world will know about Avengers once it’s released.
THE BAD STUFF
Well, when you reduce the MCU so far to numbers, it’s not as shiny as it seems. The highest grossing is Iron Man 2 with $623 million, followed by Iron Man ($585 million), Thor ($449 million), Captain America: The First Avenger ($368 million) and The Incredible Hulk ($263 million). That’s not that much, when you think about movies like Transformers – let’s not go there. But anyway, will millions of new people turn up for a movie that stars superheroes they’ve never seen before?
Marvel might want to turn it into Iron Man & Friends Save the World, which is a rather scary prospect, as well as one that fits a demographic… of 4 years and up. There’s a chance that Hulk, Thor, Captain America and the others might be shunned in favour of some ‘LOOK GUYS, IT’S IRON MAN AND SOME OTHER RANDOM PEOPLE IN FUNNY OUTFITS FIGHTING A VILLAIN THAT DOES NOT COME FROM IRON MAN.‘ action. Don’t do it, Marvel!
The Hulk learns teamwork? As cool as Hulk saving Iron Man in the trailer was, it shows that the Hulk now knows teamwork. Isn’t that a bit too advanced for the green monster? Uh… maybe not. I’ll let this one slide.
Will it be good? Hell yeah. The good not only outweighs the bad, it crushes it and turns it into dust, which it then throws into the ocean.
How much money will it make? I’m guessing about The Dark Knight levels, so about $1 billion. Whedon + Avengers + more marketing = lots and lots of money.
Next time: Tomorrow, I go Black to the future with Men in Black 3.
S#!T Talking Central