The Avengers Movie is a rollicking good battle-fest that left this
view cheering in his seat at multiple points in the show. The full
review is still in my head as opposed to on the web, but here are a
few points that need mentioning, especially if the reader is not a
huge fan of the "source code," also known as the actual Marvel comic
books the Avengers came out of.
Obviously, what follows contains significantly massive SPOILERS,
and is intended for those who saw the movie already, but need more
explanation as to some things seen in the Avengers film. Ok? Ok, here
we go…
1. As rumored before the American opening of the
Avengers, the film contains two, count them, two ending scenes.
Fans of the recent Marvel Studios films, from Iron Man onward, are
now accustomed to staying through the credits for an extra scene
that sets up the next movie in the pre-Avengers chain of films.
So, in the new Avengers flick, we DO have two scenes. One sets up
the next Avengers adventure/challenge/threat, and the second, is,
frankly, hilariously dead-spot on as to what Earth's Mightiest
Heroes do after saving the planet and smearing dead aliens across
the New York landscape.
The first scene shows the head alien, the one who provided Loki
the alien army (they are the Chitauri, by the way. More info on
them later), speaking with another alien who appears to be his
boss. As the conversation ends, the boss alien turns, and we get a
look at his craggy countenance. It is none other than that old
Death-lover, Thanos. In the comics, Thanos is a rather ugly,
purple-faced alien who literally is in love with Death, who is
personified as a woman. Thanos' goal is to kill all life in the
universe as a gift to his beloved lady friend. To accomplish this,
Thanos needs some powerful cosmic bling, and is on a perpetual
quest to find toys like the Cosmic Cube (the shiny Tesseract in
the movie) and the Infinity Gems. Since the Chitauri's deal with
Loki involved them getting the Tesseract, we can infer that they
were working for Thanos to acquire it for him in the movie.
Another quest by Thanos, in both the comics and in the fun
Saturday morning Marvel cartoon The Super-Hero Squad, is to
acquire the Infinity Gems. These gems, when collected and used
together, provide the user with almost unlimited power. Other
reviewers, (not sure who now, sorry), believe that the glowing gem
in Loki's power spear/stick, is an Infinity Gem. This makes
perfect sense. It sets up a future Avengers movie with Thanos as
the baddy, and the Infinity Gems as the source of conflict. Also,
the Thor movie in 2011 showed an Infinity Gem in an Asgardian
vault, and Marvel unveiled a prop Infinity Gauntlet on the show
floor at the 2010 San Diego ComicCon.
And, in a piece I found at another review site, the Thanos
character in the closing scene is portrayed by Damion Poitier, and
actor who worked with Joss Whedon in both "Firefly," and
"Dollhouse." Whedon is famous for using actors from previous
projects, so this makes sense.
2. In the "final" closing scene, which is the one Robert
Downey, Jr. disclosed at a press briefing at the Avengers
premiere, the Avengers, having just saved the world from Loki and
Chitauri, are seen at a small hole-in-the-wall New York restaurant
eating a Middle Eastern/Greek dish called shawarma, which is a
meat, usually lamb, roasted on a spit all day long, and served in
a Gyro-type wrap. This is set up by Tony Stark, who just saved the
world and says "I know a great shawarma place up the street." This
scene is only a minute or so long, and shows an exhausted-looking
group of Avengers, all in full uniform, (except for Stark, who is
de-armored, and Banner, who is de-Hulked), sitting around a table,
not saying a word, just eating and looking very, very tired.
Ok, some more on the Chitauri: They are, in the comics, part of
Marvel's "Ultimate" line of comics that were produced to attract
younger readers with a more modern, 21st century version of the
Marvel Universe, without the 40 years of somewhat cumbersome
continuity and baggage found in the regular Marvel Universe. In these
comics, the Chitauri are the equivalent of the Skrulls,
shape-shifting aliens who are the first alien race to appear in the
regular Marvel Universe back in the 1960s. The movie version of the
Chitauri aliens do not shape-shift, but are very much a warrior race.
It is believed that this alien race was used in the movie, rather
than the Skrulls, to avoid any conflicts with 20th Century Fox, who
controls the rights to the Fantastic Four movies, and presumably, any
characters associated with that franchise. The Skrulls first appeared
in Fantastic Four #2, in 1962.
So, there you have it: some details on the extra scenes in the
Avengers Movie and a bit on Loki's alien army. Go see the movie. It
is, by far, the BEST comic book-based movie yet.