The Avengers (film)/YMMV

• Anticlimax Boss: Years of superhero movies have taught viewers to expect that a final battle between The Avengers and Loki would happen towards the end of the movie. It doesn't happen quite that way.
• Awesome Music: The score by Alan Silvestri, particularly the Avengers anthem. Try to listen to it and not feel ready to repel an Alien Invasion. Go on, try. We'll wait.
  • And, among many other moments "I Got A Ride" (for The Oner starting with Black Widow hijacking one of the invaders' machines and stopping in on each one of our Big Damn Heroes).
  • The short appearance of Loki's motif from a certain famous opera deserves special mention for being meta and super-awesome.
• Catharsis Factor: The Hulk smacking Loki around. After seeing the latter spend the entire movie being a bastard--and especially his callous murder of Agent Coulson--this was quite satisfying.
• Cliché Storm: It wasn't lost on several critics and movie goers that The Avengers, for all of its praise, hardly broke new ground in superhero movie storytelling (especially compared to The Dark Knight and Watchmen). It's more than a bit predictable, and every convenient plot twist unfolded in the way most people would expect after viewing one too many superhero flicks. Still, because The Avengers blended the best elements of superhero movies together, this is an exceptional case of Tropes Are Not Bad for many.
• Crowning Trailer Of Awesome:
  • Shown as The Stinger to Captain America: The First Avenger. It's as awesome as one would think, and then some.
  • Also the Super Bowl trailer, especially the extended cut.
  • The second official trailer. Holy effin' crap.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Go on, look at Tumblr. Search for Loki. We dare you. The fangirls have gone nuts about Loki ever since the first Thor film.
• Ear Worm: Like the sun, we will live to rise...
• Ensemble Darkhorse: The Hulk (and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. Remarkable for The Other Darrin.)
  • Agent Coulson has also become very popular. Not bad for someone who was created specifically for the movies and never appeared in the comics.
• Fan Dumb:
  • Some fans complained about Black Widow's lack of a Russian accent. She identifies herself as Russian in the film but talks about having been raised in the United States and then spending a lot of time abroad. Additionally, she's an international spy who has mastered multiple languages. So obviously, she can speak with a perfect accent. If she couldn't, she wouldn't be very good at her job. The comic character has never been described as having a Russian accent and in fact, has passed herself off as an American citizen more than once so it is safe to say that the original version speaks English with a US accent.
  • Some fans were enraged at Cap's line about Thor ("There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that"), claiming that Joss Whedon was having a case of religious Writer on Board. Putting aside the fact that Cap has always been a deeply religious Christian (and therefore such a line isn't out of character for him), Joss Whedon himself is a staunch humanist who once derisively referred to the Abrahamic God as "the sky bully."
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Thorbuster" for Coulson's unnamed BFG
  • Shawarmavengers, for the second stinger.
  • Steelix for the giant bio-mechanical Leviathan-things.
• Fanon: After it was announced that Scarlett Johansson had been Going Commando throughout filming, a belief sprung up that Natasha does the same whenever she dons her catsuit.
• First Installment Wins: Of the four movies about the Avengers, this was the best received by the largest audience.
• Fridge Brilliance: Loki gets his mouth sewn shut in the Norse myths after a trick with the dwarfs goes awry. At the end of the movie, there's a muzzle over his mouth as he's taken away to Asgard.
• Fridge Horror:
  • Considering that it took going unconscious to break Loki's Mind Control, take a look at Hawkeye and Selvig throughout the movie. This is especially true for Selvig--he never changes clothing and starts noticeably growing stubble. It's clear that Loki is forcing those he controls to stay awake constantly in order to complete his project. It also explains why Hawkeye looks worse and worse. It may also have affected him while fighting with Natasha.
• Genius Bonus: Loki exploits his infamous Leitmotif from Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung to make a dramatic entrance. He even waves his scepter around as if he were conducting the music, suggesting that he's listened to such things a lot.
• Growing the Beard: Prior MCU films had shown that lesser-known Marvel characters could headline big-budget Hollywood films. But this was the one that showed that a cinematic Shared Universe could work.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • As described in Fan Dumb, some accused the film of a pro-religious Author Tract despite Cap's line about the Abrahamic God being perfectly in character. Fast forward to Thor: Love and Thunder and that film got accused of an anti-religious Author Tract for showing Zeus as a Jerkass God despite it being perfectly in character. And for bonus points, the Abrahamic God is unseen and unmentioned in Omnipotence City. Seems Steve was dead wrong. There are multiple gods and they dress like Thor and Loki.
  • Tony mocks Loki that there's no version of the upcoming battle where the God of Mischief will win. Loki reveals that there really is no version of Loki who ever wins.
• Ho Yay:
  • A lot of the lines between Stark and Banner sound kinda flirty, and a thousand fanfics were launched in the single moment when Stark randomly pokes Banner in the stomach and Banner just puts up a mild, vaguely amused protest. Couple that with the scene where the Hulk saves Iron Man twice in rapid succession, and the fact that these two are the only two members of the Avengers to hit it off the instant they meet...
  • Perhaps it's less suspect in Asgard, but the way Thor cupped Loki's cheek and neck while asking him to come home seemed a bit affectionate (in a not so brotherly manner) to mortal audiences.
  • Cap and Thor. Seriously. That searching look Thor gives Cap when Cap goes on fighting after he's hit...it's like a light went on inside his head.
  • As in the comics, Cap even gets this with Stark. During their arguments, one can't help but think, "Just KISS already!"
    • You know it's bad when a prominent article (tweeted by director Brad Bird) singled out their exchanges as "crypto-erotic tension".
  • Agent Coulson's fanboy tendencies toward Cap is played for laughs, but the way he tells him "I watched you when you slept" can be interpreted in some ways...
• Holy Shit Quotient: As befitting.
• Hype Backlash: With so much hype, this was bound to happen to some.
• Iron Woobie: Bruce Banner.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Few people really believed that Iron Man was going to kick it.
• Magnificent Bastard: Loki zig-zags between this and Smug Snake.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "I have an army." "We have a Hulk."
    • And its variations, such as 'We have a Coulson'.
  • Also, variations of this piece of dialogue:

Steve Rogers: Big man in a suit of armor, take that away and what are you? Tony Stark: Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.

• • Many prefer "Stark Naked".
  • HAWKWARD.
  • "I still believe in heroes."
  • "I understood that reference!"
  • "Puny god."
  • Loki calling Black Widow a "mewling quim". It's produced some interesting reactions, to say the least.
  • Tony Stark & Bruce Banner: SCIENCE BROS
  • "I watched you when you were sleeping." (Usually accompanied by references to Edward and Bella.)
  • The phrase "green rage monster" to describe the Hulk.
  • This film has at least as many Female Gaze shots as Thor. Jeremy Renner only seems to be encouraging this in his downtime - and that shot from behind of Cap going at that punching bag must be the most gif'ed thing on Tumblr.
  • LOKI'D!
  • "Kids, in 2012, your Aunt Robin decided to join the Avengers...
  • Overly-Accepting Thor.
  • "His name is Agent!"
  • "His name is/was Phil."
• Music to Invade Poland To: Technically, Loki's invading Germany, and only as a distraction. Still, two seconds after he starts a buttkicking rampage set to the tunes of Richard Wagner, he's pretty accurately compared to Hitler.
• Narm: The UK's Market-Based Title "Avengers Assemble".
• Never Live It Down: Hawkeye's stint as Loki's Brainwashed and Crazy minion. As far many fans are concerned, combined with his lame choice of weapon, Hawkeye just can't cut it next to the other Avengers.
• One-Scene Wonder: Harry Dean Stanton as the random security guard. "Son, you've got a condition."
• Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: The Hulk. Two previous attempts to bring the character to the cinema screen proved somewhat lackluster (middling box-office gross, lukewarm reviews), the role got recast once again, and the character had already developed a reputation of being the most boring of the team. However, a combination of Mark Ruffalo's acting and clever screenwriting turned The Hulk into an unexpected favorite of the movie, making the possibility of a new Hulk film much more likely. Might be one of the fastest turnaround times for this ever. Shortly before release producer Kevin Feige said there were no plans for a Hulk movie.
• Ron the Death Eater: Counterbalancing Loki's Draco in Leather Pants status, how dare those mean Avengers attack Loki!?
  • Captain America was demonized by a portion of the fanbase after this film as some anti-intellectual bully given that Tony's outside the box thinking saved the day while Cap's Standardized Leader plan was mostly just Attack! Attack! Attack!
• Seinfeld Is Unfunny: In 2012, this was a completely original film. But following the more diverse entries from Phase 2 onwards some began viewing The Avengers as a somewhat bland superhero film. Even it being the film that brought everyone together is rather overlooked as other films had that right from the bat.
• Special Effects Failure: Minor one, repeatedly after the scenes once they're on the helicarrier, the arc reactor's light is not visible through Tony Stark's shirt when it should be. It comes and goes.
• Strawman Has a Point: Is Tony Stark really wrong to say one should "cut the wire" when possible? Even if you can't do it all the time, why take an unnecessary risk in a situation where there exists a safer option that would let you and everyone else live?
• Take That:
  • The album of Alan Silvestri's score (as opposed to the song album - of which exactly one track is in the film). How can a soundtrack be a Take That, you ask? Well, soundtrack fans have long complained about digital releases having extra material not on the CD (most recently with Silvestri's Captain America: The First Avenger, which doesn't have this on the disc and was only available as a download). The digital album of the score of The Avengers lasts 64:25... but the physical CD runs 76:17, and several of the tracks on the download last longer on the CD (in particular "Tunnel Chase"--not the first time Silvestri's used that title--and "Stark Goes Green"), capped with the CD having a whole extra cue ("Interrogation"). Of course, if you're strictly download-only...
• Testosterone Brigade: Quite a few men were eager to see Scarlett Johansson in a skin-tight suit. Especially when it was said to be so skin-tight that was she was Going Commando underneath.
• Too Cool to Live: Agent Coulson. He got better.
• Villain Decay: Loki isn't quite as menacing as he was in Thor, but he's still a lot of fun to watch.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: A movie about a superhero team required an equally awesome team of visual effect studios to get right, with ILM and WETA spearheading the effort.
• The Woobie: Bruce Banner.

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