Confession. I didn't expect to actually enjoy Marvel's The Avengers. When I heard Disney was shooting for a female audience for its new superhero flick, I thought they were being ... adventuresome. I suppose my skepticism is why you should trust me. The Avengers is good. Super good. You need to see it. Preferably on opening night.
Why should you believe me? I'm not your typical fan girl. And I wanted to plop myself back down in a theater seat to re-watch Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Evans wrest the fate of the world back out from the hands of the evil Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
Disney and Marvel have done it.
They have turned the superhero franchise that's long been the bastion of boys big and small and a faithful following of female comic fans into the kind of film that speaks to the rest of us. We all live on Earth. We all could use a hero. This is a movie for us ... all of us.
The secret, of course, is Joss Whedon. Revered by women since the wonder that is Buffy was delivered upon womankind, the writer/director is both a comic book fan who was able to give the Marvel maniacs what they wanted and a guy who speaks to women. He knew the sex appeal of the leading actors was only going to drive this movie so far into the female fanbase. He respected our intelligence. We need more than hot guys. We need powerful women like Black Widow (Johansson) and Maria Hill (played by How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders). We needed story. We needed heart.
We got the latter in no small part because of Ruffalo, whose turn as Dr. Bruce Banner and his green monster alter ego The Incredible Hulk steals the scenes away from top-billed wise-cracking Downey with a quiet dignity as a mild-mannered scientist living in fear of himself. But The Avengers delivers laughs too, in a script heavy on pop culture references that lighten the dark mood (hello, Earth is under attack here people) quickly without insulting the intelligence.
Only box office results will tell the real story, but finding a movie my husband and I can watch together is a super win in my book.
When will you be going to see The Avengers?
Image via Walt Disney
Disney covered my expenses to screen Marvel's The Avengers.