Obviously I think a lot of the criticism levelled at the MCU is valid, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't think 2012's The Avengers is a great movie. Writer/director Joss Whedon so perfectly captured the tone and characters of Marvel comics and delivered them in such a perfectly paced ballet of dynamic action and dialogue it's little wonder the franchise can still run on fumes now.
I don't tend to re-watch a lot of 21st century blockbusters so when I see a new MCU movie or series I probably don't appreciate the experience a lot of people have, watching Secret Invasion, for example, with The Avengers fresh in their minds. But surely the diminishing audience for the MCU shows this juxtaposition doesn't always benefit the newest entries.
The Avengers is a film unburdened by many of the infamous issues facing big budget genre fare to-day. No writers more intent on pushing a message than on crafting a good story. No bottom of the barrel, inexperienced writers because Disney incredibly still thinks it can make profits off brand recognition alone. No sense of the intrusive tampering that gives us tonally bizarre moments like the "Boner" joke on WandaVision or the Wasp's nonsensical insertion into scenes in Quantumania. Whedon reportedly cut ties after too much interference on Age of Ultron and tiffs between the studio and Edgar Wright and others are well known. The Avengers, the culmination of that momentum that began to build with Iron-Man, was maybe the last time the studios thought they might as well let people with proven talent drive a franchise.
Whedon knows these characters and he doesn't just pop in character traits like infoboxes that pop up over the action. He knows who they are and how they would interact with each other and the environment. Of course, Thor, as a god, is not going to ask permission to extradite his brother to Asgard. Tony Stark is too arrogant to spend much time reasoning with him--though he's smart enough to spend a little, even raising his visor before two fight. Steve Rogers, who told Stanley Tucci in the previous movie that he didn't want to kill anybody, not even Nazis, is of course the guy who can mediate and make peace.
Black Widow got the short in the of the stick in most of the MCU movies. She seemed like a different person in every movie. Here, Whedon seems to be channelling Buffy, making Natasha someone whose everygirl reactions, like her shrug of acknowledgement when Tony points out to Steve he's still a pretty impressive guy when he's not wearing the metal suit, contrast and augment her hypercompetence. When she shows her hand with the interrogators in her first scene, she shows the talent and skill of someone who's spent years studying psychology and combat, and delivers casual lines with the provocative insight of a precocious teenager. Definitely Buffy, but with more psychology. It occurs to me now Whedon's Dollhouse series may have been originally conceived as a Black Widow movie.
Whedon knows we're waiting on tenterhooks for Banner to turn into the Hulk, and he teases us in almost every scene. Tony prods him, half-jokingly, trying to see if he'll change, a moment that also conveniently puts Tony in our point of view. At the same time we're being teased, it's also valuable for making us focus on Banner as a character. Is he angry? How's he holding it in? Is he holding it in?
Now with Disney's financial woes, do you suppose they're nearing the breaking point of hiring real talent and giving them free rein? We could quote from a DC movie here--Why do we fall? So we can rise. The marvel here is that the people in charge of these massive companies can be so stupid.
The Avengers is available on Disney+.
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