This Friday the movie version of The Avengers is coming out, after a long way and much publicity building up to the day. At times I wondered if I would die of old age before this film actually hit the theaters. And no, this is not a remake of the British TV series, like the Uma Thurman vehicle of a few years back. This is the Avengers of the Marvel Universe, and while I have some problems with the choice of some of the heroes (Black Widow, come on now) for the most part they are staple superstars from the Marvel stable. And with the exception of Hawkeye, they have all starred in their own movies. Unfortunately I have a writer’s conference this weekend, but took Monday off to rest up, so Monday will be movie day.
The Hulk of course is the mightiest of Marvel’s superheroes, though he was always more in the mold of the antihero. When the Hulk became the opponent of any other super being that was basically all she wrote. Thor was almost as strong, plus had the really cool hammer that only he could pick up. Ironman was not really a superhero, but the ever evolving suit gave him all the abilities of a super being, and the movie version is just as good. Captain America was almost the Batman of Marvel. Sure, he was a supersoldier, and better than a normal human being in strength, speed and agility, but not in the class of his compatriots. He wasn’t even as mighty as Spiderman. But that was part of his charm. He fought hard with what he had (and the shield was really cool) and came out the winner. I would have liked to see some of the other Avengers featured such as Wasp and Giant/Antman. But such is not to be. I guess Wasp and Giantman didn’t have their own movie, so didn’t have the initial marketing the others had.
From what I have seen the movie looks like it is going to be really fantastic. They even have the flying aircraft carrier of shield for goodness’ sake. I followed all of these guys growing up, and even though they have changed with time, they are still essentially the heroes I knew and loved. Now I am sure that some of the critics will pan this movie, just as they did Thor and John Carter (see my earlier post, They Don’t Get It). They will rail about all the silly superhero stuff in the movie, and gush over the non fantastic parts. They don’t understand that we, the target audience, go to these movies to see Thor throw his hammer, Ironman use his repulsor rays, or the Hulk to smash. They would prefer to see Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner sitting around discussing their problems, and I don’t think they would really relate to Thor’s problems.
The times are great for the movie magic of superheroes. A friend recently posted a fan made trailer for the Avengers as set in the 1980s. Ironman looked like he was made of plastic and rubber, and was made in one of those vacuum former machines. Dr. Donald Blake (Thor) held up a hammer that looked like one of those rubber body shop instruments and turned into the God of Thunder. Captain America rode a motorcycle and had a Plexiglas shield. The Lou Ferigno Hulk was the best of the bunch, but even though that series was decent, it wasn’t the Hulk we fans wanted to see. Now we can see that Hulk, and a flying Thor and Ironman as well.
