6: avengers

“There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”

— Steve Rogers

Main takeaways:

• Aly: This movie – pretty swag. I’ve watched it once before, but I didn’t really remember much of it – pretty much only the intro and a few other major scenes. I thought this movie had the most coherent plot of the 5 we previously watched. Since it contained so many characters, it had a lot of different storylines and backstory going on at once, but it was fairly easy to follow. The first time I watched it I was lost for a big chunk of it, and that’s probably why I didn’t remember much of it. This time, though, I was able to follow the majority of the plotlines and I could recognize where everyone came from. Since I’ve seen some of the other Avengers movies, I’m predisposed to thinking that they’re better, but I thought that this one compared pretty well to Endgame and Infinity War. It was interesting watching this having seen Endgame first since I could recognize where some of the time travel scenes were from. In the big cinematic part where they all stood in a circle and the music played, I recognized a flashback from Endgame, so that was pretty cool. Overall, I’d say that this movie was a great – good plot, good characters (except for Hawkeye), good action, and good overall movie.
• Ally: I love this movie – it’s a classic. I’ve seen this one maybe four or five times, and it’s still fun to watch. It’s the first movie with the entire squad, and I love watching the characters interact. Once again, Loki is our villain, which is fantastic because he’s hilarious. This is one of the most important movies in the entire marathon, because everyone is involved and there’s a lot of foreshadowing for the future films. Additionally, the Tesseract is at the center of the conflict, and Loki’s Scepter has the mind stone, so two of the six infinity stones are heavily involved. The plot is exciting and the action is better than any of the previous movies. It’s interesting to see the way the original six interact with each other, especially since many of them meet each other for the first time in this film. Of course, the iconic scene in the battle of New York where the music swells and the camera circles around the Avengers will go down in history as one of the best action movie scenes.

Favorite scene:

• Aly: Taking the “favorite scene” spot this week would have to be the scene when Iron Man, Thor, and Cap are all fighting. I think it shows how they are all relatively equal. It also shows how they don’t get along immediately – the tension that it creates for the rest of the film is worth it when they all truly become a team. I like how that scene puts everyone on edge about how their relationship will turn out, but their rocky start turns into a beautiful team by the end of the film. The hard fighting that takes place culminates with a meal in the post-credit scene, showing how everything can come full circle to save the world.
• Ally: My favorite scene is when the entire group is arguing because you can feel the tension building and you can see the inherent differences between the characters. Iron Man and Captain America constantly butt heads because they have different perspectives on the world and different backgrounds. This conflict foreshadows Civil War, which is the ultimate clash between the two leaders. I also like that Nick Fury is part of the argument, because he’s an important part of the group and is the reason they’re all together in the first place. This is also where all the characters are right before Loki attacks, so it bleeds right into the climax of the film.

Favorite / least favorite character:

• Aly: My favorite character is my usual favorite – Coulson. He’s just the sweetest and so kind and so dedicated. He really gave up his life for the cause, and then when coming to terms with the idea of death, he knew that it would bring the Avengers together even more. My least favorite characters from this movie would be tied between Loki and Hawkeye. Loki is the obvious villain, and he killed Coulson, so DUH. He’s going to be on the list. But Hawkeye has always pushed my buttons, ever since he let Nat die for him. After seeing this movie, I can understand why she would sacrifice her life for him, but after he killed hundreds of people in Endgame?? Absolutely not. He also was working (though unwillingly) for Loki. I know it wasn’t under his control, but still…. The worst. Hawkeye is the worst and I will never like him. Period. End of story.
• Ally: Black Widow is the best character, obviously. When she manipulates Loki into revealing his plans to aggravate the Hulk, you really get to see her skills. In the same scene, you also get more of her backstory and you get to understand her motivations, which just makes me even more excited for her solo movie. The worst character has to be Hawkeye, because I appreciate Loki’s humor too much to ever hate him. I understand that I should like Hawkeye because he saved Nat’s life, but I also hate Jeremy Renner so…

Ranking (out of 10):

• Aly: 9/10. This movie was well written, well acted (except for Mark Ruffalo, who I think only has one voice and facial expression every single scene), and well directed. This movie hit all of the big marks for me and is probably the best of the 6 movies we’ve watched so far this series. 
• Ally: 9.5/10! That’s probably generous, but this is the movie, and it has some of the best action scenes in the entire franchise. It has all the characters, the best score (by far), and sets up the rest of the movies really well.