The Avengers

(M) WDHE DVD/BD

With The Avengers, director Joss Whedon has pulled off Marvel’s ultimate mash up with his excellently-directed, ultimate assembly movie.
Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye and the Black Widow — all in the same film.

This was always going to be a kick for fans of the comics. The story in some ways is almost inconsequential because what you want from this is for the heroes to interact in the way that befits their characters and super egos. This is achieved with humour, camaraderie and full-tilt action sequences that are unrelenting.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has the unfortunate problem of his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) wanting to enslave humanity and must do all he can to thwart his efforts. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) has been designing a fuel source that will ensure there is no need to use fossil fuels and is in charge of finding a way of locating the tesseract in time.

Avengers assembler and S.H.I.E.L.D. head Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) along with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) must assemble this egocentric lot in order to stop Loki enslaving the planet.

This 142-minute romp between gods, monsters, men and supermen packs so much crowd-pleasing colour and humour that it’s impossible not to walk out grinning.

Just don’t walk out too soon. Like every other film in the series, there are a few tantalising post-credits seconds, revealing a villain who’s ready for the sequel(s).

Extras across the many formats and multi-disc releases, as befitting such a global hit (1.4 billion and counting), are vast and extensive for the Marvel fans.

Special features

Features across all formats include, deleted scenes ( including an alternate opening- Maria Hill Interrogated by the World Security Council, extended scene- Loki and Clint Barton Strategize, Steve Rogers- A Man Out of Time, Nick Fury and the World Security Council, Extended Scene- Black Widow & Hawkeeye Viaduct Fight (Raw Fight Footage), Nick Fury and Maria Hill Discuss the World Security Council, Extended Scene- Bruce Banner and the Security Guard Alternate Ending- Maria Hill interrogated by the World Security Council, gag reel, Marvel One Shot: Item 47- Marvel is proud to present a new original short film that exists within the continuity of the Marvel cinematic universe and Assembling the World of Marvel’s The Avengers

Adrian Drayton