I thought this film deserved its own thread not because of what it is, but what it represents. More on that later. First the obligatory review (spoilerish):

Loki wants the Cosmic Cube. He takes it from SHIELD wielding a strange weapon that seems to channel Cube energy and can bend mortal minds to do his bidding. Hawkeye is his first lackey. He has a plan for the Cube that doesn't hatch until the third act.

Nick Fury realizes it's time to assemble the Avengers so he fetches Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark. Joined by Black Widow, Fury's fetching spy-commando-agent, Cap and Iron Man capture Loki. En route to the awesome SHIELD helicarrier, the party is intercepted by Thor, intent upon returning Loki to Asgard to face justice. Hero on hero violence ensues.

Imprisoned aboard the helicarrier, Loki plots his escape while the erstwhile heroes bicker and crack wise. Loki's plan unfolds and the bicker-ers must function as a team to avoid catastrophic consequences. This propels us to the third act, where Loki's plan for the Cube is revealed and the major conflict between Avengers and Aliens is staged.

I don't know if this film is perfect, but I think it's as perfect as it could be. When you think about it there are just so many things that could have gone wrong. Too many stars/major characters, too many egos.

The quality of the end product shows beyond the shadow of a doubt they picked the right man to write and direct. Joss Whedon is all about managing ensembles of troubled characters. His multifaceted heroes are never perfect and make plenty of mistakes. Was he born to create this film? Could be. Marvel served him up a rich vein of raw material and an all-but-insured captive audience. Failure was not an option and to his credit he delivers.

What sets this apart from a film like X-Men is that Whedon shows that, despite their flaws, the heroes can eventually come together as a team in a way that surpasses their individual skills and strengths. The climactic third act is all about teamwork - individual egos vanish as the team sets about their nearly impossible task.

Whedon retains the characters as developed in their solo films. But despite the emphasis on team, each hero has an engaging subplot that deepens his character and makes us care more.

This is especially the case with Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner. He nails Banner the way that neither Ed Norton nor Eric Bana have come close. Whedon makes it clear that Banner is someone the rest of the heroes should fear, and he ultimately becomes the seed of Loki's escape plan. But Banner himself is timid, remorseful, even embarassed at the threat posed by his alter-ego. Whedon's subplot for Banner centers around both his threat and his redemption, which comes to fruition with a vengeance in the third act.

The pacing of the film is near perfect (although some have complained about the lack of early action relative to the climax). The dialogue pops and snaps in appropriate measure. The special effects are, well, state of the art.

To me, though, it's what this film represents that is significant - a triumph of marketing and planning, it represents an new innovation in filmmaking. Two prior landmark films come to mind which also fall in this category. The first is Blair Witch from 1999, which showed the world how to take a cheap concept and leverage viral marketing to create a blockbuster. The second is Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy, in which all three installments were filmed at the same time but released over three consecutive years. This reduced production cost, maximized continuity, and created a 'snowball' effect which not only paid off at the box office but in DVD sales.

Avengers was brilliantly set up by leveraging and integrating the storylines of not one, not two, but FIVE prior films: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. Each contained plot elements essential to the Avengers plot. Each of the five films propelled the viewer towards the inevitable integration. As a result, market pressure was *tremendous* and the film was all but guaranteed to be a blockbuster.

They say that God laughs at our plans but Marvel's master plan for these integrated franchises has paid off in spades. And with Hollywood's dynamic nature, it's all the more amazing that a five year plan of this nature unfolded with nary a hitch.

To me this is the best super hero film ever, and a milestone in franchise management and production.

Hit viewing 2 tonight at near record pace. It holds up beautifully. Every piece moves perfectly. This is a true ensemble film and a truly joyous film. Most importantly, this is a true comic book on film. The film has the feeling of being set in the Marvel Universe. The singularity of comics to film has hit. This is my 2nd most passionate hobby (comics) on my first most passionate hobby (film) and I'm thrilled with the results. Then, just as the film ends we get the reminder that not only did this film deliver on its promise but hey! A cult icon also gets to claim writing and directing credit! Man do I love this film.

I saw it again last night in 3D. The post-production 3D was pedestrian but not bad.

That's how I felt. It wasn't nonexistent but it wasn't over the top. I never demanded my money back. Helped viewing it on a giant screen take 2.

The fun thing I've noticed: most people I know aren't discussing this by have you seen it but viewing count. One guy I met was at 4. I'm on my way to 3 within a month. My dad who knows nothing about the films has hinted he might go. If he does, his comic book nerd son would love to see his take.

This is the first film in years I'm willing to see in the theater more than once. In fact, I really want to see a sequel! It's hard to imagine the characters in solo films now they've worked out so well as a ensemble.

It's just a rich fun ride. A true classic summer blockbuster. I love that THIS film is this.

And Matthew Modine sets his hopes really high:

I'm pretty sure The Dark Knight Rise is going to be great and it's going to make tons of money, but it doesn't have the crossover appeal of something like The Avengers which is good for all age groups well Nolan's Batman movies aim for older audiences.

Because I, for one, can't imagine a character I could relate to more strongly than a multi-billionaire orphan who had a psychotic break when he was eight.

Joss Whedon said it best; something to the effect of "the only ticket for The Dark Knight Rises I care about is the one I'm definitely buying."

It's such a manufactured movie-press crock of 1upmushroom. TDKR will come out, will (hopefully) be incredible and most likely make what in any other year would make it the no.1 box office smash. Yet now if it doesn't take $250 million opening weekend it'll be the also-ran superhero film of the summer.

Awesome Avengers movie, (hopefully) awesome Batman movie, potentially decent Spider-Man reboot, new Ridley Scott sci-fi epic... surely this being a great time to be a geek is something to be celebrated??

It is, but tragically, geeks celebrate by getting into meaningless arguments.

Zack, you take it back-we do not!

NO! I AGREE WITH YOU MORE!

Yeah, and he totally forgot to mention the part 2 of Twilight movie

It's the last one so I think it totally counts as a good thing.

My take on the Avengers/Dark Knight geek rivalry? Who really is pro one or the other? When I was at the (incredible) midnight of Avengers, when TDKR trailer hit, fans went silent then applauded it. Then proceeded to react to Avengers like it was exactly the awesome film they were watching.

Side note: on that midnight. I planned a vacation around this. Met a friend halfway between our hometowns in Springfield, MO. We had a whole trip devoted to seeing this film. In our bones, my friend and I, who are both Whedon fans, believed this movie would justify dropping several hundred quid to make an event out of it. There are moments in your life you go back to with joy. I have one here.