Issue #6: Alex's Reflections on Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

When this film is historically contextualized to its release date, the plot of the film revolves around a literal box. This box (called Tesseract or Cosmic Cube) has magical properties that yield immeasurable power, but it is still a box. It is strikingly similar to the Allspark Cube in Transformers (2007), a film which also culminates in a city-wide battle. If one can ignore the fact that the Tesseract is part of the Infinity Stones which will come into play years later, The Avengers’ first foray into the major public consciousness is fighting over a box.

 

I will admit it is a bit cavalier to generalize the maguffin in this film as merely a box, but it serves the point that this film acts as an All-Star Game. In sports, the All-Star Game has the best players from each league or conference faceoff in an exhibition game. That is what Avengers feels like: a film that is an All-Star Game. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye (no idea why he’s in this) defend the world from Loki’s attempt to conquer all of humanity with the help of the Tesseract and the Chitauri (a race of aliens). The culminating battle in the heart of New York City is well done, and having seen it in its entirety for the first time in years, it was a refreshing and entertaining action scene.

 

However, the All-Star Game analogy still holds true despite the quality of the action sequences. When Nick Fury speaks with the captured Loki, Loki asks Fury, “How desperate are you? That you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?” The heroes in Avengers are, indeed, lost, and the entire narrative arc of the film gives them a purpose to strive toward together. This cause feels artificial, though. For all intents and purposes, the Avengers are thrown together simply to push a larger narrative arc forward. This film is necessary for future events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it feels like an exhibition.

 

The brevity of this reflection is conspicuous, but as I told my fellow reviewers this week, I had a difficult time thinking of something to say about The Avengers. The other films in this series before The Avengers may not have been as good, but there was a lot to deconstruct. With The Avengers, it feels like the 2002 Major League Baseball All Star Game…which ended in a tie.