Marvel’s “Avengers”
Assemble On Big Screen
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Avengers Assemble! Those are the words that call the famous superhero
team to action in the pages of Marvel Comics. I ought to know. I used to be the
publisher of Marvel Comics. In fact, I brought the Avengers back into the fold
after their Heroes Reborn sojourn in the ’90s when the series had been farmed
out to another comic book company.
Now “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” are assembling in a blockbuster movie, simply
titled “The Avengers.” It’s currently play at the Tropic Cinema.
While members of this superheroes team have
shifted over the years, this movie version unites the lead characters from
Marvel’s recent movies: Iron Man (played by the remarkable Robert Downey Jr.),
Captain America (Chris Evans), and Thor (Chris Helmsworth). Also included are
The Hulk (this time with Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner), Hawkeye (Jeremy
Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).
Here we have Loki (well played by Tom Hiddleston)
as the villain. As I noted in my book “Comic Books: How the Industry Works,”
“At Marvel, we acknowledged that a superhero was only as good as the villain he
faced.” And IGN ranks Loki as the “8th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All
Time.”
Loki is the adoptive brother of Thor. “I think by
the time Loki shows up,” says Hiddleston, “he’s seen a few things and has
bigger things in mind than just his brother and Asgard...” Like conquering
Earth with the help of a Chitauri army.
The plot – like with comic books – is simple: a
battle between good and evil. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. assembles a team of
super humans to help save the Earth from Loki’s army. Note: If you’ve stayed
through the end credits of recent Marvel movies to watch the added-on snippets,
you’ve seen Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) recruit them one-by-one.
As Nick Fury explains it, “And there came a day,
a day unlike any other ... when Earth’s mightiest heroes found themselves
united against a common threat ... to fight the foes no single superhero could
withstand ... on that day, The Avengers were born.”
This is the big one, the movie that brings all
the cinematic storylines together (not to mention the stars). It’s a technique
borrowed from the comic books, where each separate issue takes place serially
within the “Marvel Universe,” leading up to a Big Event.
Marvel stalwarts Stan Lee and Jack Kirby get
credit for creating the Avengers back in 1963. Truth is, then-publisher Martin
Goodman borrowed the idea from his rival, DC Comics.
The late Michael Silberkleit of Archie Comics
told me the story: “They would play golf and find out what each other was
doing. Everybody copied everybody else. Martin Goodman would go back to the
office from the golf course with another idea.”
One of them was to copy DC’s success with a comic
book about a teaming of superheroes, the Justice League of America.
Disney bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion
a couple of years ago. The mouseketeers wanted some “boys” fare to match their
princess lineup for girls. Thus, “The Avengers is the first Marvel film to be
distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.
“The Avengers” is directed by Josh Whedon (the
comic book fanboy who created TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly”). The
film is greatly influenced by the early 1960s Avengers comics. A big fan of the
Avengers while growing up, he liked the family-like aspects of the team: “In
those comics these people shouldn’t be in the same room let alone on the same
team – and that is the definition of family.”
During the filming Chris Evans (who plays Captain
America) wanted to meet with fellow actor Clark Gregg (he plays Agent Phil
Coulson). So he sent a text message to Gregg that simply said, “Assemble.” The actor
says this is the favorite text message he’s ever received.
Nick Fury has a variation on that theme in “The
Avengers.” He says to the team, “Gentlemen, you’re up!”
srhoades@aol.com
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