MCU Rank & Review: Part Nine: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Runtime: 02:15:51

Total Runtime: 18:43:28

I'm back after another brief hiatus, only about a week this time. I'd like to promise these will come faster, but I'm dealing with a mild case of depression that is dampening my drive to get these out there despite the next couple of movies being really good.

This will probably be a bit more detailed than Thor The Dark World's discussion because this movie isn't a total slog to get through. Before I get into it, I've been watching WandaVision as well, first three episodes are out, and the reviews of those will come out once I finish these TWENTY-THREE movie reviews. Those will be a review per episode, I think, either that or since it's 9 episodes, I'll break it down into 3 episode chunks. I haven't decided yet. But we're only on Part Nine of this series, and Black Widow will probably be out before I get to Part Twenty-Three anyway. We'll see.

Let's Begin.

We open with Cap (Chris Evans) doing laps on our first new character, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) - soon to be known as The Falcon. Sam does not like that Steve keeps passing him on his left.

Following the destruction of Sam's Ego, he and Steve meet and discuss their respective military services. Sam gives Steve the knowledge that the "Trouble Man Soundtrack" by Marvin Gaye will tell him everything he missed while under the ice. 

Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) shows up to pick Steve up for a mission.

Their mission is to infiltrate a boat and rescue SHIELD agents held captive aboard. They rescue Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández) among others, Steve fights Georges Batroc (George St-Pierre) and Natasha had a secret second mission to steal some info.

Steve confronts Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) about Natasha's secret mission, he states that everyone has secrets and "the last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." Later revealed to have been done by a cat, sorry, Flerken. Fury shows Cap "Project Insight" and reveals that the mission he went on was a cover for Natasha to steal info regarding this project. The project involves three very large "next-gen" Helicarriers.

We are also introduced to Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), a secretary of the World Security Council. discussing the events of the mission with other World Security Council members. Fury interrupts the meeting and asks for a delay in the initiation of Project Insight.

Understanding each other Steve leaves and visits the Smithsonian to reminisce about the good old days of World War II, and then visits Peggy in the hospital. She is now much older as she wasn't also trapped in ice for 70 years, and suffers from Alzheimer's. 

We are then shown that Sam helps veterans struggling with PTSD, and then transition to Fury now under attack by an unknown organization that is obviously Hydra. We get our first image of the Winter Soldier (Sabastian Stan), looking super bad-ass. Fury escapes certain death through a manhole. The hit on Fury was ordered by Pierce.

Steve arrives in his apartment briefly talking to his neighbor (Emily VanCamp) in the hallway. Noticing his music is on in the apartment, Steve enters cautiously to find a wounded Fury. Fury warns the apartment is bugged and they must speak cryptically. Fury is shot through the wall, Steve's neighbor arrives revealing herself to be a SHIELD agent, and Rogers gives chase to the shooter - The Winter Soldier. 

Fury is shown to die in the hospital, Steve and Natasha are sad. Steve hides the drive that Fury gave him in his apartment in a vending machine behind some gum. Steve runs off to SHIELD Headquarters and meets with Pierce. Steve is attacked by undercover Hydra agents in an elevator. They stood no chance, stating "Before we get started, does anyone want to get out." Captain America is then named a "fugitive of SHIELD." Natasha bought the drive from the vending machine, leaving with Steve she tells him of the Winter Soldier. 

They go to a mall and masquerade as a couple to hide from Hydra agents looking for them. They use the drive at an Apple Store and get coordinates to a secret bunker at a military base.

they head to the bunker knowing which is correct through Steve's military expertise. "This building is in the wrong place." In the bunker, they are trapped by a now computerized Dr. Zola who attempts to blow them up to cover up his secret Hydra scheme. Pierce is revealed to be Hydra, but if you didn't know that by now, you need to work on your movie analysis skills. They escape the explosion.

Sam shows up and recruits himself to the team assisting Steve and Natasha. They run off to interrogate Sitwell, Sam mentions knowing where to find a suit. Meanwhile, Senator Stern (Gary Shandling) from Iron Man 2 is revealed to be Hydra, what a shock.

Steve and Natasha interrogate Sitwell, he doesn't play along so they kick him off a building. Sam catches him in his fancy Falcon suit and Sitwell proceeds to spill all the beans about Project Insight.

It's a secret Hydra plan to eliminate all potential Hydra threats, though I doubt it'd kill Bruce Banner, considering Bruce can't even kill himself with a bullet. Though the best part of the scene here is the Stephen Strange reference confirming the future Dr. Strange movie yet unannounced upon release of this film.

They head out to stop Hydra's plans and the Winter Soldier kills Sitwell via delivery truck.

A big fight ensues with some of the best choreography in the MCU to date.

The Winter Soldier picks up Cap's shield, a potential foreshadowing if they decide to have several Captain America's moving forward. But also, his mask is removed revealing him to be Bucky, to the shock of only Steve and the six-year-old in the theater watching the movie behind me.

Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) saves the three of them from The Winter Soldier and takes them to a very much alive Nick Fury. 

They infiltrate SHIELD again, and Steve outs Hydra's plans. Hydra Agent Rumlow, otherwise known as Crossbones (Frank Grillo), over-rides their attempts to stop Project Insight, activating the helicarriers. Natasha infiltrates the council disguising herself as one of the councilors.

The Winter Soldier comes to stop Cap and Team from preventing the success of Project Insight by changing the targets from millions of people to just the three helicarriers. Fury has one up on Pierce cause he has two different eyes.

Steve and Bucky fight, Steve breaks Buckys arm and chokes him out so they can complete their mission. Meanwhile, Falcon fights Crossbones and the building collapses on Crossbones while Falcon is saved by Fury via helicopter. Steve and Bucky go down in one of the helicarriers. Bucky pulls him out of the water, visibly unsure of why.

 

Cap wakes in the hospital with Sam "on [his] left." Fury goes into hiding, pretending to be dead - gravestone and all. Natasha gives Steve a dossier on The Winter Soldier and drives off. Sam and Steve remain, Sam willing to help with the search for Bucky asking "When do we start?"

Mid-credits Hydra are revealed to be performing tests on Loki's scepter. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) is revealed. He confirms Hydra is bringing about "the age of miracles" revealing the twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson respectively. Our first tease for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Post-credits Bucky goes to the Smithsonian exhibit from earlier to find out more about himself presumably.

The Winter Soldier is by far, without a doubt the best MCU movie put out to this point. While a simple script, all the MCU movies are not exactly complicated, this is by far the best narrative put out by Marvel Studios. The political intrigue of the film allows the MCU to continue to shift into multiple genres, up to this point primarily having focused on similar feeling films. Though for the most part, they won't go far from the comfortable feel they've grown accustomed to. The announcement of Deadpool 3's R rating leaves me hopeful that the MCU can continue to grow and be more than it is currently.

Steve's questionable devotion to Bucky begins here. Expanded further in Civil War, we begin to see Steve struggling with what to do with his friend, turned war criminal, and the only remnant remaining of his previous life.   

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
2. Iron Man 3 (2013)
3. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
4. The Avengers (2012)
5. Iron Man (2008)
6. Thor (2011)
7. Iron Man 2 (2010)
8. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
9. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) is next. Coming Soon™.

MCU Rank & Review: Part Eight: Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Runtime: 01:52:02

Total Runtime: 16:27:37

I'm back. I took a month or two off to decompress cause 2020 was a shit-show, and I watched like 80 movies in the span of three weeks to finish my "must watch movies of 2020" list. I still have two left. "News of the World" and "One Night in Miami" and I'll be getting to those shortly, with my annual best and worst of lists following shortly after.

The other, more prominent reason for the delay was this movie. It sucks.

Not in a "this movie is bad" way, but more in a "this movie is boring" way. Needless to say, This will be a relatively short review in comparison to the previous seven parts.

Jumping right in we start with narration for Odin, just like the opening of the first film, this time he explains the history of the Dark Elves and the Aether, the MacGuffin of this film, eventually revealed to be the second Infinity Stone - the Reality Stone.

Loki is arrested and sentenced to the dungeons for his crimes in New York and Thor obliterates a rock being.

After his battle and back in Asgard, Odin advises Thor to forget about Jane, but she's played by Natalie Portman which makes doing so impossible until she isn't in the movies anymore after this film. Though she will return in 2022. 

We go to London where Jane is on a date with boring man, Richard, played by Chris O'Dowd who I wish had way more screentime, along with a better character to play. Darcy interrupts, shows Jane some readings and they ditch Richard finding a place with weird gravity and portals. Jane enters a Portal, for some reason touches a glowing obelisk of doom, and is infused with the Aether - Heimdall sees this with his magic eyes. Also, an intern throws their car keys in a portal and they don't come back.

Thor returns to Earth, and Jane promptly slaps him, twice. Thor takes her to Asgard to treat the Aether problem. 

Thor believed the aether had been destroyed long ago, Odin reveals he lied. Meanwhile, Frigga visits Loki in a touching scene, though heartbreakingly it's revealed that she was an illusion the whole time created by Loki. He just wants to be loved.

Thor explains the Convergence to Jane, where all the universes align and the Aether can be used to destroy them? or unite them? or something evil that the Dark Elves want to do. A prison break occurs by some Dark Elves and Loki tells them to use the stairs to the left.

Heimdall crashes one of the invading ships which he could see despite it being invisible, but for some reason couldn't see the hundreds of other ships. They invade after the shields are deactivated through the Prison Break. Frigga tries to hide Jane, Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves kills her to get the Aether from Jane, Thor strikes him with lightning.

The best scene in the movie happens. It's the funeral scene, it's sad and beautiful.

Odin has Jane locked up to use her as bait for Malekith's return, Thor prefers to bring the fight to him. Thor asks Heimdall to help him commit Treason, but to do so he needs Loki's help. Loki puts on the facade that he is fine, but he isn't. Thor asks for help, he accepts.

Jane slaps Loki. Which causes him to like her.

Heimdall admits his treason to hold off Odin while Thor, Loki, and Jane escape to confront Malekith - decapitation their grandfather['s statue] in the process. They use Loki's skills of description to trick him hoping to destroy the Aether when he removes it from Jane. It doesn't work. Malekith takes the Aether into himself, they fight, and Loki is stabbed and dies.

Thor and Jane hide in a cave, they find their stuff from earlier they threw into the portal and take the portal to London. Thor charmingly hangs Mjolnir on a coatrack. 

Loki is revealed to be not dead, Thor still believes him to be though. Malekith arrives on Earth, they use devices to help them find portals caused by the convergence, the battle has them flying all over the place and myuh-myuh tries to keep up.

 The heroes win, obviously.

On Asgard again, Thor refuses kingship from Odin, stating Earth needs his help. Thor leaves and Loki is revealed to have disguised himself as Odin - No word on what he has done with the All-father. 

The team on Earth are having breakfast, Thor arrives, he and Jane kiss, roll credits. Mid-credits the warrior three bring the Collector the Aether stating "it's unsafe to have two Infinity Stones in one place. 

The collector accepts. Post-credits a creature from Jotunheim is on Earth chasing some birds.

I'm not entirely sure why this one is so hard to get through. What I do know is the first two Thor films are incredibly weak in the villain department. So much so the first film doesn't really have a "main antagonist" that is defeated by the hero. Loki is the central villain, and his plan fails and he falls into space. This movie has Space Elves that want to return the universe to its natural state of darkness by destroying it. which would leave them without a home, but Evil be Evil I guess.

The fight scenes here are far more impressive than those of the first film, but the plot lacks focus and sense to make the film enjoyable. Everything on Asgard is incredibly boring, and everything on Earth is the typical MCU comedy. Luckily the third Thor film fixes the tonal issues. But God, this movie's a mess. I also left out the Selvig goes crazy storyline, cause it's literally pointless. The end.

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Iron Man 3 (2013)
2. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
3. The Avengers (2012)
4. Iron Man (2008)
5. Thor (2011)
6. Iron Man 2 (2010)
7. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
8. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Coming up next are two of the best movies in the MCU, followed then by one of the worst. But first, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."

MCU Rank & Review: Part Seven: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Runtime: 02:10:32

Total Runtime: 14:35:35

And so begins Phase 2. "Iron Man 3" sees the completion of the first trilogy of MCU films, It's also the best film in the trilogy. I said it. Fight me.

This is one of the most highly contested movies in the Marvel Studios franchise. The most notable reason is the film's apparent lack of a convincing villain, which, while that isn't entirely true, I do agree to some extent - but not likely in the way you think I will. 

We open with a brief narration from Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) over the images of his suits being destroyed one by one. "We create our own demons," he states and we transition to New Year's Eve 1999, where Tony is a douche to a decrepit Aldrich Killian (Guy Peirce) who pitches Tony his company, AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics). Tony lies to him, agreeing to meet him on the roof, and leaves Killian up there hanging - choosing instead to remain with his date, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), whom he leaves after sleeping with her.

We now move on to the "present," it's Christmas time - it's a Shane Black film after all - and Tony is testing his Mk.42 armor. In the previous film in the MCU, "The Avengers," he was only on Mk.7. The suit up sequence here is cool, complete with superhero landing, and also serves to set up a lot of the film's future gags.

We then get our first look at the Mandarin (Ben Kingsly). Historically an arch-nemesis to Iron Man, the Mandarin was an inevitability in the MCU, unfortunately, we have yet to receive the real Mandarin, despite what this movie wishes to tell you. The real Mandarin is slated to appear in 2021's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" on July 9, played by Tony Chiu-Wai Leung (source). Kingsly's portrayal of this Mandarin was fantastic and rather chilling - he would have made a great Mandarin, but what Marvel chose to do with this movie serves better. More on that later.

We then see that the US Government has taken the War Machine armor and rebranded it as "Iron Patriot," James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) still serving as pilot. This portrayal of the suit is very much in line with the Iron Patriot suit that Rhodes used in the Comics. The original Iron Patriot, however, was Norman Osborne, the suit he used was much more akin to Iron Man's - it didn't have the shoulder cannons. I like the suit, despite the hokey name, which the movie thankfully makes fun of consistently.

Rhodes and Tony meet up and make fun of the name. Some kids ask Tony to sign a drawing they made of him. The boy asks him about the New York attack and Tony has PTSD flashbacks, has an anxiety attack, and flees. 

Tony has been building suits since the New York attack to protect the world incessantly. He has developed thirty-five new suits in the year since the events of "The Avengers." Tony's ego has always gotten the best of him, and that is what's going on here. He always has felt like it's his sole mission to save the world, even when he was in the weapon selling business. But that weight he feels, under the threat of a greater foe, is becoming too much for him to handle.

Pepper (Gwenyth Paltrow) meets with Aldrich Killian, now fit and attractive - at least more than he used to be - thanks to AIM, and their project he calls Extremis. Killian states that Extremis is a "DNA re-coder," and can save lives, Pepper responds with its weaponizability and turns the pitch down. Happy (Jon Favreau) follows a shady guy (James Badge Dale) who was with Killian.

After Pepper catches him tinkering for the millionth time, Tony reveals his PTSD to Pepper, stating he's a mess and that "Nothing's been the same since New York."

Happy is caught in an explosion when the shady guy gives another person an injector and he's hospitalized. Kingsly's Mandarin takes credit for it and Tony calls him out, giving his home address.

Maya shows up and warns them that they may be in danger. No shit, he called out a terrorist on the news. His mansion is blown up, he saves both of them utilizing the Mk.42's “autonomous prehensile propulsion" capabilities and falls into the ocean beneath his house. The suit turns on and flies him off into the distance.

Tony crash lands in Tennessee waking up from his unconsciousness when the suit reaches below 5% power.

Tony drags the suit - now out of power - and calls Pepper on a payphone to tell her he's alive. He brings the suit to an abandoned garage, where he starts to charge it back up. He is confronted by a kid with a Potato Gun named Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins). The kid reveals that his father left him and his mother a while back and that he is bullied. Tony gives him a non-lethal stunning weapon to help deal with the bully problem. The kid tells him about the attack in Tennessee

 

Killian reveals that he is working for the Mandarin. Tony and Harley visit the site of the attack. Tony has a PTSD episode when the kid brings up New York.

Tony meets with the woman of a soldier that blew himself up in Tennessee similar to the attack that injured Happy. He tells her he didn't voluntarily blow himself up and that her son was used as a weapon. Tony is attacked by an Extremis user, he blows her up. He's attacked by the shady guy, another Extremis user, who Tony is able to defeat with the help of Harley and the stun weapon. Tony continues his search for the Mandarin and leaves Harley behind.

The third Mandarin broadcast occurs - a direct message to the President. He chooses to negotiate with a terrorist, the terrorist goes back on his word. 

Tony infiltrates a van, owned by Gary (Adam Pally) who is a Tony Stark fanboy complete with a cheap Tony Stark tattoo on his forearm. Gary lets Tony use his van so he can learn more about the Mandarin. Tony finds the Extremis trials and links Maya and Killian to the Mandarin.

Maya is revealed to be on Killian's side the whole time and lured Pepper away to kidnap her. They tell Pepper of their plan to give her Extremis and to steal the Iron Patriot armor. Tony on a call with Harley talks to Jarvis who gives the best line in the movie. Tony says he can't confront the Mandarin without the suit and stresses out cause he isn't able to protect anyone without it. Harley tells him to just build something. So he goes to a hardware store and builds stuff to go after the Mandarin.

Tony breaks into the hideout taking out a lot of guards with a suped-up nail gun. He finds the Mandarin who in the twist of all MCU twists is actually an actor named Trevor Slattery.

I get why people take umbrage with this, but I love it. It's one of the only twists in the MCU that is impossible to see coming. The main complaint about this moment is that Iron Man's main antagonist, his actual arch-nemesis is now a punchline. The movie goes on to - sort of- retroactively fix this by naming Killian as the Mandarin, but that doesn't go well because Killian is a terrible villain copy of the two previous Iron Man solo film villains. Just a smart guy scientist. The real Mandarin has magic powers in his alien-tech ten rings, and people wanted to see that fight. 

The bottom line, people felt betrayed. I didn't. I'm also very appreciative that they didn't white-wash the Mandarin, even though Killian states himself to be the Mandarin, he isn't. Marvel released a "one-shot" called "All Hail the King" it's in the special feature of "Thor: The Dark World" if you haven't seen in. In which Slattery goes to prison, is confronted by a member of the ten rings and tells him he's pissed off the real Mandarin. Who we'll see on screen in about a year. Unfortunately, though, he won't fight Iron Man.

Fast-forwarding a bit through the Plot now. Tony is captured after the reveal along with Rhodes. Killian reveals he gave Extremis to Pepper and shoots Maya. Killian can breathe fire and they steal the Iron Patriot armor. They kidnap the President. Tony and Rhodes escape, they go to save the President, and then the climax happens following the "House Party Protocol" bringing out all of Tony's suits.

The climax sees Tony fighting other Extremis users including Killian by jumping between his many suits while Rhodes frees the President. Tony tries to save Pepper but fails - the one thing he has been stressing over the entire movie happens, and he loses the fight to Killian because of it. Only the Extremis saves Pepper, and she kills Killian. Tony completes his character arc and initiates the "Clean Slate Protocol" and blows up all his suits as a Christmas gift to Pepper, finally realizing that he can't shoulder the burden he's put on himself alone.

He is able to cure Pepper of the Extremis somehow, he's smart and has done/will do crazier shit so I buy it. He built an arc reactor in a cave with a box of scraps after all; and will discover how to travel through time. He then officially has the surgery to remove the reactor and scraps of metal from his chest. Then the movie ends with him throwing away the old reactor into the waste of his old house.

Post credits reveal that the movie all happened at least a little in the past, as we are now in the present as we now see Tony finishing the narration of the story. He's having a Therapy session with Bruce who fell asleep, as he's "not that kind of doctor."

"Iron Man 3" is in my opinion the best-told story in the MCU, so far - that we've gotten to. The twist is only offensive if you let it offend you. If you don't you can rest assured that the real Mandarin is yet to come, so this was never the real Mandarin, despite all the promotion claiming as such. But hey, that's how twists work you dingleberry. They aren't going to tell you in the first five minutes that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time.

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Iron Man 3 (2013)
2. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
3. The Avengers (2012)
4. Iron Man (2008)
5. Thor (2011)
6. Iron Man 2 (2010)
7. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Next, the actual worst film in the MCU (Spoilers for the ranking): Thor: The Dark World (2013)

MCU Rank & Review: Part Six: The Avengers (2012)

Runtime: 02:22:56

Total Runtime: 12:25:03

We've made it. The first official team up-movie. It's also the smallest, in terms of members, by about a mile. Of the four Avengers movies, this one is the second-worst. Not because this one is bad, but because "Infinity War" and "Endgame" are way too good, and "Age of Ultron" is not so great.

We open with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) being handed a scepter by the Chitauri, The Other, a middle man between his master and Loki. That master sits in a chair facing away from the camera. Loki makes a deal he will retrieve the Tesseract for this master in exchange for a Chitauri army to conquer Earth so he may rule. They accept his offer.

Loki arrives on Earth after the Tesseract turns itself on. Hawkeye, Clint Barton, (Jeremy Renner) states this as being possible stating that "doors open from both sides" to Fury. Loki brainwashes both Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård)  and Hawkeye using the gifted Scepter.

The lab implodes in on itself as Loki escapes with his new minions and the Tesseract. Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), and Maria Hill (Cobie Smolders) escape narrowly avoiding the destruction.

We cut to Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) being interrogated by some Russian mafia members. One of the gangsters receives a call from Coulson, for her, who then explains the situation. She puts him on hold and takes them out. Coulson states "I have Stark. You get the big guy," to which she responds "oh joy."

Here is the first and only lead actor change in the MCU so far. Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Ruffalo was the original choice of "The Incredible Hulk" director Louis Leterrier, and according to him, Marvel wanted Norton in the role, because "he just does smart, intellectual movies" (source). He inevitably got his way as Marvel Studios fired Norton from the role "not based on monetary factors, but instead... in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members" (source). The whole situation was a mess, with Norton stating other reasons, and his team stating that the real reasons were the opposite of those posited by Marvel. At the end of the day, however, we now have a superior Banner. 

Norton's Bruce was lacking character, he did nothing for the character to add interest to him. Utterly devoid of charisma and chemistry with his female lead. Ruffalo, on the other hand, adds a distinct vulnerability to the role that serves to the development of the character in later films. It definitely would have been interesting to see how the first film would have gone with this Bruce on screen.

Fury recruits Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), this is the scene from the end credits of "The First Avenger" only extended and has Cap make a bet with Fury that he won't be surprised by anything that happens. Tony (Robert Downey Jr) turns his new Stark Tower into a clean energy beacon, stating that it is "like Christmas, but with more [him]." Phil Coulson arrives, only "his first name is Agent," and has Tony consult for the team. On a Quinjet, Coulson fanboys over Cap telling him of his trading card collection, and mentions the suit, stating, "People might just need a little old fashioned."

Loki communes with The Other again, who asks of Loki, "You Question us? You Question him?" Loki does not. Banner arrives on a SHIELD carrier ship and meets Cap. Natasha tells them to head inside, they assume it's a submarine, with Bruce stating, "They want me in a submerged pressurized ship?" only to state "No this is worse" when it begins to fly.

Inside the Helicarrier, Cap pays Fury ten dollars from their earlier bet. Loki and Hawkeye discuss a plan to stabilize the Tesseract with Iridium to bring about the army invasion. Hawkeye needs "a distraction and an eyeball." Loki goes to Germany and gets the eyeball allowing Clint to get the Iridium. Lokie has the people of Germany kneel before him, one refuses and is saved by Cap. Iron Man comes in, and they capture Loki. 

Thor arrives and takes Loki from the jet. Tony and Steve give chase, and Thor begs Loki to return to Asgard with him and give up his foolish pursuits. Thor is tackled by Iron Man. They land in the woods and exchange banter.

Tony and Thor fight, Cap intervenes to stop it but ends up fighting too. Thor "Puts the hammer down."

Following the three-way fight, we return to the Helicarrier. They talk about what to do with Loki. Thor, wanting to take him back to Asgard, states that Loki is his brother, but that he's adopted when Loki's crimes are brought up. Tony comes in and in typical grandstanding fashion manages to use his distracting words of "That man is playing Galaga" and plants a bug. Fury states that Loki was able to turn some of his best men into "[Loki's] personal flying monkeys," a reference that Cap understood. 

Bruce and Tony work in the lab studying the scepter. Cap comes in and the two of them convince him that SHIELD is hiding something, and Tony will soon know all through his plant. Black Widow performs her same style of interrogation used on the Russians on Loki and learns his plan to unleash the Hulk. It's implied that Loki is still able to use the Scepter to manipulate the team in the lab. Everyone bickers.

Everyone calms down briefly when Banner unknowingly picks up the scepter. Loki had a backup plan, however, and Hawkeye attacks the Hellicarrier. The explosion brings out the Hulk. Hulk chases Natasha who is rescued by Thor. Tony and Cap run off to repair the engine destroyed in the attack. Natasha goes to fight Hawkeye while Thor and Hulk duke it out. Hulk can't lift the hammer and is eventually distracted by a jet which causes him to fall to the ground after destroying it. Thor goes for Loki.

Loki tricks Thor into entering his cage, which he drops with Thor inside. But first, he kills Agent Coulson using his illusions. Natasha knocks out Clint freeing him of the mind control, and Thor breaks out of the cage before it makes an impact with the ground. Loki escapes in the ship Hawkeye arrived in. Fury fakes that Coulson had Cap's trading cards on him when he died to give the team "a little push" that they probably didn't need. Cap asks Tony, "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier" to which he receives "We are not soldiers" in response.

Tony leaves and arrives at Stark tower, where Loki is waiting for the invasion to begin with Selvig working on the tesseract on the roof. Loki has an army, they have a Hulk.

Tony argues further with Loki that if "we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." Loki tries to brainwash him but fails thanks to the arc reactor. Tony falls out of the building suiting up into the Mk.7 armor. There's one more person that Loki pissed off.

Selvig unleashes a sky beam and the invasion begins.

The Avengers arrive and Bruce reveals he's "always angry" and punches a big worm. This here is a point of contention with me. The end of "The Incredible Hulk" argues this exact point, that Banner has full control over transforming. But up to this point has not stated his control over it to the team, especially considering most were fearing a transformation, his lack of control was a key part of Loki's plan, and it worked. It's just poor script writing so that the moment is cooler. Nothing major, just disappointing. 

Anyway, Bruce is always angry.

The Avengers assemble in a circle and the camera pans around them giving one of the best action shots of the first phase. A shot they've tried to replicate in almost every other team-up movie, in some form or another.

Cap gives the team orders, and tells the Hulk to "smash."

The action is fairly easy to follow. There is admittedly, a lot happening, which inherently is a detriment, but you're never really confused as to what is happening at any given moment. Most of this is brief sequences of two of the avengers working together to kill some Chitauri. Eventually, Hulk punches Thor and it's hilarious.

The Council overseeing SHIELD meets with Fury they want to nuke New York, which according to Fury is a "stupid-ass decision." Which is very much is. The portal is still open. Nuking New York might not close the portal, it could destroy the device the tesseract is being focused through, but may not shut down the tesseract which has been stated countless times to have a mind of its own.

Loki catches an arrow from Hawkey which explodes and conveniently lands him back on Stark Tower. In the tower Hulk confronts Loki.

Selvig awakens from his brainwashing and tells a nearby Black Widow that the Scepter can close the portal, lucky for them it's on the Tower where Loki had just landed not long ago. The Council sends the nuke anyway and Fury warns Tony. Tony carries the nuke into the portal. It explodes against a large ship whose hive mind kills the whole army, so convenient. Nat closes the portal and Tony falls through at the last possible second betraying the laws of space physics. Hulk catches him on his way down and yells at him to stir him out of unconsciousness. After joking about one of them possibly kissing him, he asks, "You ever try Schwarma?" The team arrests Loki still in the Tower, now with only the "A" left on it.

Thor takes Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. Tony and Bruce ride off together and everyone else goes their separate ways. Mid credits we are back with The Other talking to the man in the chair, his master. He turns around and grins looking into the camera. It's Thanos.

Post credits the Avengers eat Shwarma. 

The original comics Avengers team was different. Much different, but the villain was the same. The first team, in 1963, consisted of Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk, but also included Ant-Man and The Wasp. Captain America joins the team in 1964 in issue #4. Former Iron Man villain, Hawkeye, joins the Avengers first in issue #16 alongside former X-Men villains Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Black Widow doesn't join the Avengers officially until issue #111, she is considered an ally however from issue #36 on. All the while team members come and go throughout the issues, including most of the original line-up.

Loki was still the original comic team's villain and the best choice the MCU had. It would have been cool to see Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne come in as Ant-Man and The Wasp, too, but that may have been too much of an undertaking for Joss Whedon to handle considering how poorly "Age of Ultron" went with how few characters it added.

"The Avengers" when it came out in 2012 was one of my favorite movies of the year. It didn't make my top 10 movies, but it was an honorable mention. This was also 2012, and I was 20, a young boy compared to my now decrepit 28. Though that would still be the case now, my tastes have changed a lot in the past eight years.

This film is rather concise, as it needs to be with all that goes on in the narrative, so it doesn't have much breathing room once the plot picks up. The brief moments we get do relieve tension, but they are exceptionally brief, and once the climax is over the remaining five minutes feels like twenty. The action is paced exceptionally well, giving purpose to the action as each scene weaves into the next. 

All of that being said. The movie is really just more of all the characters we've come to know, with the exception of the new Hulk. There isn't much more to it than that.

Phase One complete.

 Official MCU 23 film ranking:

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

Soon to be reviewed: Iron Man 3 (2013)