Yet, here we are, on the brink of the release date, and here I am, a forty-plus year old fan of Earth Mightiest Heroes, and I reiterate – I never thought such a day would come. A little background on where I’m coming from – some folks say I am one of the leading authorities on the Avengers online. I don’t believe it for a second. That said, I did review the Avengers comic on a bi-weekly, sometimes weekly, basis at the Avengers Forever website for almost a decade. I was also one of the loudest voices in the forum there. Just for the record the AvengersForever.org community can still be found here on Facebook, and yeah, I’m still there too. Back on topic, the movie is finally here, only days away, and here’s what I hope will, and won’t be in it.
No exposition and telling us what we already know. Please don’t waste my time retelling everyone’s origins over and over again. This is a sequel, technically a sequel to six movies that has been building for several years. We know who’s who, let’s get right to the action. Similarly, let’s not have them fight each other (though we have seen the big three going at each other in previews) for
That’s part of what I want to see. I want to see them work together, I want to see the teamwork the Avengers in the comic books are known for. Unlike the Justice League, a group of solo superstars put together as a team, the Avengers are a fighting unit that trains together. I hope to see this, as well as the character interaction that will come from it. Witty banter in the midst of battle, another Avengers hallmark.
That said, this is a fine line. Stay away from camp. So far the Marvel cinematic universe has walked that thin line between realistic superheroism and camp. And it’s very difficult to walk that line when you introduce costumes like Captain America’s. It worked
Marvel’s The Avengers has the potential to be the greatest superhero movie ever made, and also if it’s not very careful, it could be a box office disaster, setting the genre back for decades. I’m thinking positive. When I have folks who don’t read comics excited about it and talking about the movie, talking about Loki and Hawkeye, about quinjets and helicarriers, I get excited. This could be the real thing, folks.
What would I want to see in my dream Avengers movie? Melodrama. At its core, the Avengers comic is all about melodrama. Comic books in the 1970s and beyond are the bastard stepchild of soap opera and modern mythology. I would want in my perfect Avengers movie some of that good old-fashioned melodrama, after all, that’s also what Hollywood thrives on.
Movies, unlike comics, which are serial fiction seemingly without end, tend to tell one story from start to finish, with a theme flowing throughout. Nothing fits the Avengers like that than Ultron. I know I have said here on Biff Bam Pop! before that Kang is the Avengers’ ultimate foe, but one thing pushes Ultron to the top of the heap. With Ultron, it’s personal, he’s ‘family.’
Try this on for a movie plot. Hank Pym, Avenger and scientist, builds an artificial intelligence that calls him father, and the Wasp mother. This AI, calling itself Ultron turns against him and tries to destroy the Avengers. To do this he builds a son, the Vision, to infiltrate and defeat them from within. This son in turn changes sides and becomes an Avenger for real. Later Ultron builds a bride, Jocasta, based on
That story (or stories) is right from the comics and would entrance and creep out movie audiences right out of the box. The magic is that it’s all in the family, an internal threat that endangers the world. How’s that for melodrama? Maybe I’ll get my movie in the sequel…
So take that, Hollywood. That’s what I would want to see, as well as what I hope we’ll see (and not see) in the real movie. I can’t wait! It’s only days away!