I honestly didn't think The Avengers was great--that's not to say it was a bad film, but I don't think it's the greatest superhero movie ever made, nor do I think this is the direction superhero movies should take.

What I love about the Batman films from Christopher Nolan is that they are clearly his interpretation of the characters and he's telling the stories he wants to tell. I don't get that feeling when I watch The Avengers or any of the recent films from Marvel Studios. Sure, there are some of the director's traits in them, but they're mostly driven by what the studio wants and end up being simple popcorn films. There's nothing wrong with popcorn films, but Marvel Studios has settled on making nothing but that. I enjoyed Captain America, but there's not a lot of substance in the film to make me revisit it. And I really didn't feel invested in The Avenges as I did with the first Iron Man movie, The Dark Knight, or X-Men: First Class.

It's true The Avengers could have been a big mess and I congratulate Joss Whedon on making the film work, but everything I saw in the movie was things I've seen before with nothing new attached to it. I wasn't fond of the dialogue ("We're not a team. We're a time bomb"), thought the humor was too frequent and hit-or-miss, and felt most of the characters didn't stand out and were painfully static. Iron Man was great though, since Robert Downey Jr. was just improvising in every scene. I also enjoyed the third act, where the Avengers get to the inevitable slugfest with Loki's army, the most. It felt more naturally paced than the previous acts and allowed the characters to do what they do best. Again, I don't hate The Avengers, but I don't think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.