THE AVENGERS

Joss Whedon has assembled everyone, and I mean everyone - support players from each of the heroes' individual films as well as a few new faces, namely ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star Cobie Smulders as gung-ho S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill. Despite the impressive cast of characters and the A-list actors behind them, the standouts are Tony Stark, played to perfection by the oozing-with-charisma Robert Downey Jr and Bruce Banner (the 3rd) Mark Ruffalo. On screen, the boys have most of the best lines and moments (although my all-time favourite belongs to Thor), as well as the exciting new camaraderie between their characters which proves to be very fun and something fans will no doubt hope to see more of in the future.

This is only Joss Whedon’s second time directing from the big boy's table, having spent most of his career in cult heaven as the creator of TV’s ‘Buffy’, ‘Angel’ and ‘Firefly’. Whedon also wrote the screenplay, with dialogue dripping with his unmistakable wit, pop culture references and smarts that his fans worship the man for. Whedon has proved above and beyond that he has the skills to pull off such a high-stakes project and do it well.

‘The Avengers’ is unrelenting entertainment from the get-go and fans will be beside themselves with the quality of this endeavour. But be warned, this movie is not for newcomers. A prior knowledge of the individual heroes’ films is a must in order to understand character and story origin. ‘Thor’ is a must watch followed by ‘Captain America’ - as for the other characters, you could pick enough up along the way - but either way, you’re in for one hell of a good time. The biggest superhero movie of all time is not to be missed.