Today's Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: ****/*****, or 8/10

For those of you who were wondering when Marvel would finally more aptly acknowledge its roots in our contemporary world politics, a hallmark that sets it apart from the likes of its rival DC (which instead has its adventures take place in an uncomfortable alternate Earth that is suspiciously similar to our own, but sticks to utilizing fictional cities and such), this second Captain America finally does just that, offering a fairly serious social commentary about the status of that wonderful thing called 'freedom' in modern (American) society. Without sacrificing the quality mix of catchy humour and solid action that characterizes all of the Marvel Studios movies thus far, Captain America: The Winter Soldier proves there is room for contextual exploration of the modern zeitgeist on the big screen as much as there is on the pages of its comic books. Forget Iron Man battling terrorists in Afghanistan, there's much deeper threats to be found on the homefront, as Cap is about to discover.

Of course the first thing this second Cap movie needs to do is re-establish the Star Spangled Avenger as a man out of time, providing much needed character exposition that was lacking in his second appearance in The Avengers, since that film's alien invasion plot and abundance of characters didn't allow much time for such additional subplots. His beloved homeland has changed much since he went missing in the Fourties and poor Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) ponders if he still fits in these more cynical times. Everyone he knew is dead or dying, as illustrated by a heartbreaking scene where he visits his former love Peggy, who has become a bedridden, frail old woman suffering from degenerative diseases. Equally deteriorating seem to be his cherished notions on freedom. Civil liberties have been sacrificed for the greater good to ensure national security and his employer, the supposedly worldwide peacekeeping organisation known as S.H.I.E.L.D., is keeping far too close an eye on everybody's private affairs to his taste. Comparisons to the N.S.A.'s shenanigans are easily drawn, but in the tradition of the great spy thrillers of the Seventies (from which this movie takes its fair share of notes thematically and stylistically), Captain America: The Winter Soldier suggests the people have slowly but surely traded in their freedom, conditioned by growing fear the government was sowing in their minds of losing it altogether. Naturally it's not wholly the fault of the executive power either – if you think Marvel joins the bandwagon of calling Obama a Great Satan, think again – as the movie identifies the good Captain's principal enemy to be at the heart of this shady matter. It turns out the former Nazi science department HYDRA has made the transition to the 21^st Century much more smoothly than the Sentinel of Liberty himself, embedding itself firmly in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s upper echelons. And so Steve must find a way to root out America's hidden adversaries and end their collective mindcontrol dominating his country, all whilst on the run, as they have successfully accused him of treason.

Enter his sidekicks and assorted allies. His gruff chief, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), reluctantly starts asking questions when he tells Steve of a black ops project that involves launching three new Helicarriers, designed to patrol the world neutralizing threats in their infancy, which Cap finds a revolting concept. It quickly makes Fury a target for an apparently successful assassination, after which Cap teams up with the lethal agent Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to find out who killed his guardian. Evans and Johansson make quite an enjoyable pair with great rapport between them, both having served as agents of the same secret organization, but carrying different views of their job and its methods; a relic of a more innocent time, Cap dislikes Widow's end-justify-the-means approach to things that the Cold War, which he never experienced, has taught her, causing the necessary verbal fireworks between the two that both provide character development and witty dialogue galore thanks to their fine chemistry. Less compelling proves Cap's relationship with the new persona of Sam Wilson, an army veteran who, as a fellow former soldier, is more in line with his more black and white line of dutiful thinking. Since an ordinary human being, military background notwithstanding, would be too dull at his side in Cap's current endeavours, Wilson soon dons a pair of mechanical wings, convenient leftovers of a secret military project. Comic connoisseurs will remember Wilson's alter ego the Falcon well before the appearance of this apparatus, which only feels a forced addition to the movie's progression.

Equally contrived an inclusion to the plot could be called the movie's subtitular character, the Winter Soldier himself. Serving as the ultimate assassin, a cyborg killer whose mind is wiped after every assignment so as to keep his human tendencies from compromising his ruthless efficiency, this man with his metal arm harbours a dark past and personal connection with his new target. Considering his limited screen time, this relationship, which turns out to be crucial at the film's conclusion, is not given its due to ensure the desired emotional impact, and considering the number of loose ends left, feels largely as a set-up for a third movie. Considering how sparingly the character is seen on screen, you can't help but wonder why this movie actually carries the subtitle 'The Winter Soldier'. Nevertheless, the Winter Soldier proves quite a match for Cap in terms of kicking ass and makes for a formidable foe to behold. The same can be said for Robert Redford's Alexander Pierce, who fulfills a similar role except on a less physical level, serving as the movie's delightfully scheming evil mastermind: an apt choice, considering the various classic Seventies' political thrillers on his resumé.

In terms of visual spectacle and explosive action, The Winter Soldier effortlessly surpasses The First Avenger, trading in the predecessor's delightfully retro WW II style for a more intimidating modern look, with advanced technology to match. Drones and missiles are all part of the package to give this movie a contemporary, actual feel, but in typical Marvel fashion the movie tops this with even bigger guns and gadgets, the most exciting aspect the three giant gunships hovering above the American capitol as they threaten to hold the nation hostage, at its own behest via security over freedom. Spectacular aerial battles are the result, while the movie also contains its fair share of impressive hand-to-hand combat scenes, car chases and gun fights. Not to mention an ample dose of links to the larger Marvel Universe, evoking previously seen characters and surreptitiously introducing new ones. Rest assured, a Dr. Strange movie is a given now, while those who are eagerly looking forward to Avengers: Age of Ultron will get a vigorous nerdgasm out of the film's mid-credits scene. You have to give kudos to Marvel's continuous method of seemlessly creating a larger whole out of separate pieces, without harming the content proper in said standalone stories.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a sequel superior to its predecessor in every respect. It couples valid, well-timed social anxieties to a good political thriller plot, while never ignoring the fun that is to be expected from a Marvel flick. Granted, not all characters come across as intriguing or convincing as ought to have been the case, which is not exactly a new flaw to Marvel's movies either. This second Cap movie successfully introduces its protagonist to the new world he inhabits and the change in concept of the virtues he has always extolled, making this overly patriotic character much easier to digest and to identify with for non American audiences, while giving domestic spectators an added value in having their nation's superhero redefine their mores for them.

Today's Review: RoboCop

RoboCop: ***/*****, or 5/10

If there's one thing the 2012 remake of Total Recall taught us, it's that Paul Verhoeven's movies are not easily redone. Nevertheless, studio MGM felt like trying with Verhoeven's first Sci-Fi spectacle, by reimagining the genre classic RoboCop (1987) for the audience of today. Brazilian director José Padilha, known for his action thriller hit film Tropa de Elite, scored this thankless job and he gets credit for trying, but the fact can't be changed the Total Recall curse is adhered to, as this new RoboCop proves yet another remake that is inferior to its predecessor.

Nevertheless, the movie opens on a strong note, when it tries to embrace the satirical touch of the original and apply it to the modern state of affairs. Set in 2028, rightwing political TV commentator Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson playing the part just right with apparent delight) publicly laments not deploying robots at the homefront for keeping America safe, while such products are otherwise keeping the peace the world over. Cut to Tehran, where the local population is intimidated into submission by robosoldiers patrolling every street. When suicide bombers protesting their presence attack the automatons, their ruthless efficiency is made clear, as is their lack of human calculation and reasoning when they gun down a boy armed with only a small knife. Novak calls it a success because no American personnel of flesh and blood died, but for the public it is clear these robots still leave something to be desired. And so the OmniCorp multinational decides to combine the organic with the mechanic to construct a more acceptable, friendlier product for keeping the American streets clean. And this is where the promising political comments on today's affairs, ever a welcome food for thought in science fiction flicks, also sadly end.

Enter police officer and family man Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), who is caught up in undercover operations and suspects his colleagues' corruption. When his car explodes and he is on the brink of death, OmniCorp sees the perfect test subject in him for their 'RoboCop' programme. Saving only the most essential of body parts, sympathetic scientist Norton (the always reliable Gary Oldman) sticks him in a high tech body armour. Controlling his body is one thing, but keeping his mind in check is another matter entirely. The corporation swiftly finds out it's not so easy to confine a man to the status of a product that bows down to its manufacturer's every whim. Eventually they opt to basically brainwash him so the software controls his behavior, rendering him every bit the robot, much to the chagrin of his wife who wants her husband back (as if that's possible when all that's left of him is his head, heart and lungs). Fortunately for her, Murphy's psyche is still alive inside, and it's determined to break out to get his revenge on those that killed him before and return to his loving wife and son.

The main problem this remake suffers from is finding the right balance between action and intelligence that characterized Verhoeven's film. Hellbent on not simply being a mindless remake, the movie spends much of its time exploring the dichotomy between man and machine. Where does the man end and the machine begin? Can the mind truly be mechanized? Such questions the film attempts to answer in more detail than feels obliged, without drawing sufficient conclusions either, as it's clear from the get-go where this RoboCop is mentally going. All the talk of the complications of mind versus matter fail to hit a chord due to the predictable progression of the plot which is devoid of surprises to make the film's philosophy reach any narrative fruition. The overabundance of talk is also the cause of the movie feeling overly light on the action which the title by association with the original film promises. Though the occasional crime fighting delivers what we hoped for, though in portions too small to satisfy, the bland battles between the 'tin man' and his fully machine counterparts just prove less than entertaining. And unlike the original it's all PG-13 stuff, only decreasing the emotional impact.

Another issue working against this film as opposed to the original is the lack of gravitas Kinnaman displays as the titular character. As a regular human being he feels emotionless already – never making you believe husband and wife care that much for each other as the movie would have us think later on – while in his later automatic shape he doesn't strike us as effectively intimidating or commanding. Though it must be said there's little to hold against the new RoboCop armor, or Kinnaman's look when he wears it, it's his performance that simply fails to deliver the right note. At least the movie fares better in terms of acting thanks to veterans like Oldman and Jackson, while decent character actors Michael K. Williams, Jackie Earle Haley and Michael Keaton also do their best to make things work, but miscasting the main character is an error not so easily remedied. At least the movie proves more convincing in the art department, the various environments and robots, including RoboCop's famous antagonist ED-209, making up a little for Kinnaman's human flaws.

The new RoboCop is a watered down version of the original that isn't as smart as it thinks it is, nor provides the amount of action it should. Most vexing is it never gets near the witty, sardonic levels of Verhoeven's satirical approach to the original, despite definitely giving it a decent try at first, too quickly abandoning such thoughts for more conventional action fare for the rest of the film, except there's just not that much notable action to speak of. It goes too far to say it's totally boring, especially for those who never bothered to see the original (which they still should do regardless). Nevertheless, it would have done well to feature less talk, more action; an argument not often heard for this type of movie. At the same time, it becomes painfully clear there's only ever going to be one RoboCop, and his name is not Joel Kinnaman.

Today's News: I'm being capped by the star spangled Avenger

Added another trailer to the MS archives:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153522/tweede_trailer_captain_america_the_winter_soldier

Another bitchin' trailer for this movie that keeps me excited despite its overly patriottic protagonist. I gotta admit, I'm posting a suspicious amount of Cap 2 stuff recently. I don't mean to give this movie preference over others just because I look forward to it (as I happen to look forward to said other movies too), it just depends on the availability of scoops and the eagerness of my colleagues to post the other news before I beat them to it. Also, with Cap 2's release date approaching fast, advertisement output for its rival superhero movies X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, due out soon after, seems to have diminished a little. Maybe it's Marvel Studios' way of telling its competitors 'there's only one true Marvel so back off', maybe it's just convenience, or maybe there's some secret deal to keep out of each other's way a little bit (wouldn't be surprised, as these three movies will be guaranteed hit films at the box office anyway so why deny each other success when we can all get happily loaded together?). That said, with America's top sports event the Super Bowl up this weekend (I really don't get what they like about that sport), be sure to see a lot of promotional campaigns for summer blockbusters suddenly picking up speed, as this is the perfect time to get the word out on such fare for audiences as yet unaware of these big budget Hollywood projects. First spots for various epic summer movies are already up a few days in advance accordingly, with the best stuff yet to come. I doubt this will be the last trailer I'll be posting this week...

Today's News: Winter Soldier is still coming

We're not rid of the star spangled Avenger just yet, like it or not:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153459/nieuwe_posters_captain_america_the_winter_soldier

Seems like the second Captain America's promotional campaign is releasing new pics and posters every other day now. Considering its rival at the boxoffice, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (a Sony release despite being a Marvel superhero too) is doing the same, there's a precedent for this. It's basically ensuring people are aware of your movie whether they care to be or not by going all-out releasing new materila in a high frequency: to put it brief, a sort of overkill. Still not particularly popular outside the US of A, Cap could sure use the help of some glorious new posters like these. Too bad his own is rather dull and overly sombre, not a particularly neat piece of visual imagery that sticks to mind. However, Black Widow's fabulously sexy poster, formidably appropriating all of Scarlett Johansson's wonderful physical attributes, certainly makes up for it (not to mention she can act too). That poster is bound to attract some audiences all by itself. Call me a sexist if you much, but please remember I didn't make the poster, I only spread the word about it by posting it online. It reminds us Cap has something Spidey does not have (yet): a superpowered (well, sort of) female sidekick riding along into battle with him, instead of cheering him on from the sidelines like Emma Stone's all too human Gwen Stacy sticks to (so Sony better introduce the Black Cat or Silver Sable into the rebooted Spider-Man franchise soon to keep up!). People who want to see a heroine kick butt as well as any hero, if not more so, will surely get what they want in this film. Nor will the movie feel the need to have its protagonists from both sexes engage in typical romance with each other, as these characters have a strictly professional relationship. So whatever personal demons continue to haunt Steve Rogers in the 21st century, Agent Romanoff will be there to make sure the threat to world peace (but mostly America) is subdued with extreme prejudice. And otherwise there's still their mutual boss to contend with. As if anybody could beat Samuel L. Jackson in whatever regard. Except for impressive feminine looks of course.

And guess what? On the heels of these new posters and set photos, Marvel released yet another new Cap 2 poster. Why do I even bother to keep up... Because that's what I signed up for is why! And in all honesty, that stunning Black Widow is not a poster I would want to have missed. I'll be sure to keep an eye out at work for that one! Hopefully not while covering me other eye with an eye patch and doing Nick Fury imitations. That would be a little too nerdy even for me.

Today's News: another Avenger down?

Another short MS scoop:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/150570/elizabeth_olsen_in_avengers_age_of_ultron

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with Elizabeth Olsen's other work (according to her resumé on IMDb, there hasn't actually been that much of it anyway). She seems a bit too young for the role of Scarlet Witch, but I reckon the hex casting female Avenger is supposed to be of a lesser age than we´re used to in this film. After all, she's a year older than Aaron Taylor-Johnson who's playing her twin brother Quicksilver, so at least that´s consistent. I'm just glad they kept the pair together as they ought to be, instead of splitting them up, as is allegedly the case in X-Men: Days of Future Past, where Quicks is present but Scarlet is not (shenanigans!). From what I've heard of Olsen, she's a capable young actress, and so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt (not that she needs mine or anybody else's of course). It'll be fascinating to see how Whedon and the writers are gonna incorporate brother and sister into Age of Ultron without referring to their mutant nature. I trust Whedon to honour the source material while being resourceful enough to work his way around such copyright issues. And I hope he'll write some kick-ass sibling dialogue (see what I did there?) between the two of them, since providing characters with credible and catchy phrases is what he does best. Nevermind the superspeed running and probability curses being thrown around, that's all secondary really.

Assembly complete!

The Avengers: Rating ****/*****, or 8/10

When it comes to superhero movies (or just movies in general), Hollywood is rarely thinking more than a few years forward these days. When a superhero movie fails in some regard, the general decision is to either ignore it for a few years or reboot it, so as to give the franchise a fresh start (which almost always neccessitates to tell the character's origin story all over again). Recent examples to the latter include the Spider-Man and X-Men series, which after a successful initial run went in the opposite direction when failure – either to make sufficient money or to please the audience – was somehow involved. 20^th Century-Fox studio executives therefore issued a semi-prequel for X-Men last year (the surprisingly fun X-Men: First Class) which both retold and contradicted its predecessors, while Spider-Man will return in a wholly new form next month after the disappointment that was Spider-Man 3. The former case showed that sometimes a new direction can spawn good results, while the latter has still to prove whether Sony Pictures' decision to simply abandon the former trilogy completely in favour of a new team of cast and crew retelling an already often told story was a good choice, when The Amazing Spider-Man hits theatres in June.

However, Marvel Studios, formerly in cooperation with Paramount, but now under control of the Walt Disney Pictures, does things differently, and shows some impressive long-term thinking for the various superhero characters they still own the movie rights to. Their strategy was simple, but effective: introduce various single characters in their own movies, then put them all together in one giant über-blockbuster the likes the audience has naught seen before. Of course, this planning proved cost-effective, since the public's interest in every character could be tested first with each film, before throwing them all in the same mix, which also gave the studio the opportunity to weed out any characters that proved disappointing at the box-office, as well as keeping open the option for sequels only to the films of certain superheroes that did prove popular, without pinning the hopes solely to the results of their group effort. And so in the last few years, we were treated to various very different superhero flicks: Iron Man (immediately proving to be the most enduring character of the bunch), The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Every one of these films contained various scenes and hints at the others and to the final Avengers product, so the studio could slowly but surely build up momentum, making the audience ever more interested and hyped for just what was in store for them. And now, after having waited and been teased for over four years, the Marvel Universe is fleshed out far more than would ever have been possible without this careful planning, due to the success of all these movies, resulting finally in the superhero-spectacle-to-end-all-superhero-spectacles, The Avengers.

And story wise, the best bit is we don't have to sit through all the characters' origin stories again, since that has all been done for us already, so we can just see the heroes we're already familiar with teaming up against a common foe. Warning: spoilers ahead! This foe, logically chosen, is of course Thor's semi-brother Loki (a wonderfully creepy and vile Tom Hiddleston), the only one of the characters' enemies to pack enough of a punch on a large scale to be a true menace to all mankind. After having fallen from the realm of Asgard, this bad guy disappeared out of the picture for a while, returning with a vengeance by teaming up with a mysterious alien race, hellbent on conquering Earth via the use of the Tesseract (a source of great energy first introduced in Captain America's private cinematic venture). This device has been in the hands of the S.H.I.E.L.D. secret service since the Thor movie, but Loki manages to infiltrate the research base and steal it, along with the minds of various base personnel, including their super archery agent Hawkeye (an agitated Jeremy Renner, so far only briefly spotted in Thor), much to the chagrin of Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, charismatic and ready for combat as always) and his other top agent Black Widow (beautiful bad girl Scarlett Johansson, who was previously seen watching Iron Man's ass in Iron Man 2), who had a personal relationship with Hawkeye. Realizing a nemesis has appeared that threatens the whole world, Fury re-recruits the various superhuman characters we've seen before. And thus Dr. Bruce Banner (newcomer Mark Ruffalo, taking over from Edward Norton and doing a good job at it, portraying the troubled doctor with both sympathy and irony) is tracked down in India, both for his knowledge as a brilliant scientist and his anger managemant problems that occassionally transform him into a huge green monster on a rampage called Hulk (never angrier); Steve Rogers is pulled out of his quiet life in Brooklyn to fight in yet another world war as Captain America, despite having been trapped in ice since 1945 and still adjusting to the strange new world of the early 21^st century; rich playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., once again with his energetic flair and nonchalance that made him so popular in his previous two films, but no drinking problems this time) is tempted into joining the team so his Iron Man armour can be made responsible use of for a change; and even Thor returns from the realm of the Nordic gods in search for his brother, who he still cares about, just to find the guy has gotten bad enough to warrant the wrath of his hammer. With the players now all on the board, they set out to defeat Loki and save the planet (and Hawkeye) from enslavement/destruction by the evil aliens, resulting in many an epic battle scene, each more grandiose and large scaled than the ones that came before.

Of course, action alone is not enough these days (eh, Battleship? Wrath of the Titans?), we need to care for these characters. It really helps having gotten to know most of them and their various traits and motivations already in their own entries into cinema, so little additional exposition is required. But the big question remained: how well do these characters play together? Do they have the necessary chemistry? The answer, thankfully, is positive. Despite the abundance of star power here assembled (how many Academy Award winners and nominees again?), all the actors are fully into this large group effort and none of them get in each other's way or display so much as hints of appropriating the movie for their own ego. The same can be said for their characters, though the plot does call for Hawkeye to be underexposed so we still don't know much about him (but at least we know enough), while the first Hulk transformation takes place well into the second hour of the film, and until that time Dr. Banner seems more aound for the techno babble, something which plays off very well against inventor Tony Stark as a fellow scientist, as well as to the simple grunt Captain America, who has no idea what both great minds are talking about.

As this scene illustrates, the strength of the characters is the way they complement each other: Tony Stark is the inventor, the loud mouth with the great ego, Banner the scientist who needs to restrain his ego, Steve Rogers is the soldier who follows Fury's orders but does a grand job himself leading the team into battle, Black Widow is the spy who offers both incredible martial arts prowess and infiltration techniques plus the obligatory feminine empowerment, while Thor offers knowledge of a mystical realm beyond comprehension of any of his team mates but necessary to defeat the villain, plus he adds the personal drama to the group since this villain happens to be his (adopted) brother. Iron Man represents technology (and a lot of money, which can also come in handy), Thor stands for supernatural power, Black Widow (and to a lesser extent, Hawkeye) offers intelligence and bodily flexibility, Captain America brings the leadership and combat experience, while the Hulk supplies the necessary raw power. And so we watch the team perform in action together, including great moments like the Captain and Iron Man fighting back to back, playing off each other's strengths like using Cap's shield to deflect Iron Man's rays to take out rows of bad guys, while Thor and the Hulk try to outdo each other in brute strength, the latter winning, when all enemies have been vanquished, by still knocking out his friend to show him just who has the bigger set of muscles.

It's safe to say it's not the action but the characters that make the movie work. Which is not surpring considering Joss Whedon has been placed into the director's chair: if anyone knows about characters, it's him, which he has proven on the small screen with his excellent ensemble casts in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, and was once again shown to be the case in the recent fabulous horror pastiche The Cabin in the Woods, which he co-wrote. And Whedon being Whedon, we get his trademark humour thrown in for free. None of this huge display of comic book power in audiovisual form would do as well without some much needed levity, telling us we shouldn't take all of this too seriously, which only increases the film's overall sense of fun. Moments of great suspense are interwoven seemlessly with superbly timed jokes, submitted by all characters, even the antagonists. By mixing humour, action and drama alike, while all the way making us root for every heroic character, Whedon proves he's well up to the task of tackling such a monumental undertaking, despite his limit experience as a motion picture director (the fantastic Serenity so far was his only foray into cinematic directorial duty, but already proved just what the guy was capable of).

Which is not to say The Avengers is without flaws, but fortunately they are but few. The role of Loki's alien henchmen and their specific identity and origins remain underexplained, making them little more than cannon fodder. Visually they look fine (as does the whole film) but they lack a soul and clearly exposed motivations other than being just mere minions. Hawkeye's lack of a character set-up was already mentioned above, while the same can be said for Nick Fury, the man who assembles this team of heroes: we've seen him in almost all of the previous separate films, pulling strings and initiating the formation of the Avengers ever since the end credits of Iron Man first ended, but we still know little about the man himself. Sure, he's in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. but just who does this organisation really answer to? This film shows him communicating with “the council” (whatever that is), a group of poorly lit, shady, nameless characters on monitors, but just who these people are and why Fury adheres to their commands remains secretive, so the audience too isn't sure what to make of Fury himself. This does add some mystery to this already mysterious man, but also feels like the writers either didn't really know or didn't care enough to explain it better. However, we may still get our answers, a Nick Fury film has already been acknowledged to be produced soon.

Fortunately for the general public, the good stuff in The Avengers far outweighs the not so good, and we are treated to 142 minutes of utter fun as we see great characters (possibly soo to be iconic) teaming up for equally great action, great comedy and great visuals, the latter ranging from enormous flying aircraft carriers to a devastated New York swarming with serpentine alien attack ships being taken down by Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Marvel Studios can sit back and relax: their four year gamble has payed off, made them billions of dollars (this movie alone is gonna break records for sure), garnered much acclaim from critics and fans alike, and paved the way for many more entries into this cinematic Marvel Universe, so we can enjoy Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, and of course The Avengers 2 in the next couple of years, with other related Marvel projects also to have been confirmed to tie in to this quickly expanding canon. After the steadily rising levels of success witnessed so far, culminating in the world wide nerdgasm that is The Avengers, we can do nothing but look forward to more Marvels, hopefully for decades to come. Preferably with Whedon involved, but we'll take them without if needs be.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/marvel/avengers/

And the Avengers' troubles have only just begun... be sure to stick around for the mid-credits scene to find out why! Or simply watch the picture below for the identity of their new archenemy.