Heroic effort to join forces

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This was published 11 years ago

Heroic effort to join forces

The Avengers has been a team-building exercise on a truly superhuman scale.

By George Palathingal

It all started in 2008, after the credits of the blockbuster Iron Man, with a cameo from a black-clad and eyepatch-wearing Samuel L. Jackson telling Robert Downey jnr's eponymous hero that he was ''part of a bigger universe'' and mentioning something called ''the Avenger Initiative''.

Four years, four more features - The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger (both 2011) - and a couple of billion dollars in worldwide box-office grosses later, all the character introductions have been made.

The world is finally ready for The Avengers: a dream team of superheroes comprising Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Australia's Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) (see below).

As well as the charismatic performances of the likes of Downey jnr, Evans and Hemsworth, the movies leading up to The Avengers excelled thanks to savvy writing, dynamic direction and a sound understanding of the world of Marvel Comics, where the team and its characters first surfaced. So there was no one better to bring the Avengers together than writer (of various Marvel titles as well as modern cult TV classics Buffy and Firefly) and director Joss Whedon. The 47-year-old has long been used to working with less well-known ensembles on his television shows - but how did he wrangle the starry likes of this impressive, in some instances Oscar-nominated, cast?

Time for heroics … Joss Whedon (second from left) and his stars on set.

Time for heroics … Joss Whedon (second from left) and his stars on set.

''I feel like they sort of had to sniff me out and I had to earn their trust,'' Whedon says. ''But it ended up being just the same.''

If anything, given the egos of a bunch of superheroes used to saving the day on their own, any tension could have worked in Whedon's favour. ''Well, I told the guys at Marvel, 'Look, if these guys hate each other, I'll put it on screen.' They didn't but, luckily, they're all very good actors, so I was able to get some tension out of them while they were still giggling in between takes.''

The characters' personality clashes mean it takes a little while for them to gel and become more than the sum of their formidable individual parts - but therein lay what Whedon describes as ''the mission of the team and the movie''.

''Ultimately, it's making sure that all those parts are in service of a narrative flow that makes the characters relatable and then elevates them to truly heroic status, so that what you come away with is a feeling of the necessity of this team - and not just that they seem cool,'' he says.

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They are cool, of course. But don't think you have to be a comic-book geek or to even have seen the lead-up flicks to appreciate their heroics in The Avengers.

''I always try to make these movies for people who have never embraced the genre, as much as for people who have lived for it their whole lives,'' Whedon says.

''The thing has to transcend the genre in the sense of being everything the genre has to offer but on a human-enough scale that people who just want to see a good, old-fashioned epic and don't really care about the franchises and all the noise and explosions will come away as satisfied.''

Joss Whedon explains The Avengers

All those parts are in service of a narrative flow.

Iron Man

Also known as the billionaire playboy, philanthropist and scientist Tony Stark. Played by Robert Downey jnr.

As seen in Iron Man (2008, worldwide box office: $563 million) and Iron Man 2 (2010, worldwide box office: $601 million); cameo in The Incredible Hulk (2008).
Powers/skills His big brain helped him make the high-tech armoured suit that gives him strength, the ability to fly and weapons galore.
Joss Whedon: “He’s the only one of them who’s a bona fide celebrity superhero – you know, he went ahead and said, ‘There are superheroes, I am one of them, I am Iron Man.’ He tends to be the smartest person in the room and he likes to be in charge.”

Captain America
Also known as Steve Rogers. Played by Chris Evans.
As seen in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011, worldwide box office: $355 million).

Powers/skills Was transformed from a short, skinny weakling into a tall, buff super-soldier after an injection of a revolutionary serum, to fight the Nazis during World War II. Crashed a plane in the Arctic while fighting the villain Red Skull and was frozen in ice for 70 years before being defrosted by Nick Fury. Has a lethal shield and knows how to use it.
JW: “He’s a grumpy old man! He’s a little bit at sea in the modern world but very, very grounded in what he believes, what he thinks is right and getting it done. Even though he’s a captain and a leader, he thinks of himself as a team player.”

Thor
Played by Chris Hemsworth.
As seen in Thor (2011, worldwide box office: $433 million).

Powers/skills He’s a God from the realm of Asgard and possesses a magical mallet called Mjolnir, so Thor has heaps of powers – such as the ability to fly, mess with the weather and, um, bash stuff.
JW: “Like everybody in the Avengers he doesn’t fit in at all – which is sort of how they work as a team. Thor and ‘Cap’ have a real bond – not that we got to explore in that much detail because we were busy throwing opposites at each other more than we were throwing similarities. They’re both soldiers, warriors.”

The Hulk
Also known as Bruce Banner. Played by Mark Ruffalo.
As seen in The Incredible Hulk (2008, worldwide box office: $254 million).

Powers/skills Genius scientist Banner’s investigations into gamma radiation went awry when he miraculously survived being exposed to an enormous dose. Ever since then, whenever he gets angry he gets big, green and superhumanly strong.
JW: “He’s just super pissed-off all the time. The Hulk is a difficult character because he’s part monster and part hero. [His] arc in the movie is really about discovering the connection between one and the other.”

Black Widow
Also known as Natasha Romanoff. Played by Scarlett Johansson.
As seen in Iron Man 2 (2010).

Powers/skills Spy extraordinaire, superlative martial artist and one-time assassin. Nick Fury talked her into being one of the good guys for the organisation he runs, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division).
JW: “She has been working at S.H.I.E.L.D. but is ultimately a darker character than a heroic [one]. Espionage, assassination … she’s an unlikely hero.”

Hawkeye
Also known as Clint Barton. Played by Jeremy Renner.

As seen (briefly) in Thor (2011).
Powers/skills The world’s sharpest-shooting archer but also handy with fire-arms. Has a close bond with fellow former assassin Black Widow and was similarly swayed to the side of the righteous by Nick Fury.
JW: “He has got a great deal of darkness that perhaps doesn’t sit comfortably with the guy in the flag suit [Captain America] and the guy with the cape [Thor]. It makes things interesting.”

Nick Fury
Played by Samuel L. Jackson.

As seen in Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger (both 2011).
Powers/skills A master strategist and a skilled, experienced soldier, Fury is technically not an Avenger – he’s the persuasive, tough-guy director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and, as such, has a direct line to the United Nations.
JW: “It’s his job to manipulate these people [the Avengers], to create a team that doesn’t wanna be a team. He’s always gonna have something up his sleeve, even while the world is burning. In a way his job is tough because he doesn’t get to be a hero – y’know, he doesn’t even really get to be friends with the heroes because he’s gotta have an agenda … and his agenda is protecting the world.”

The bad guy: Loki
Played by Tom Hiddleston

As seen in Thor (2011).
Thor’s mischievous and ruthless little brother Loki – like any self-respecting baddie – seeks world domination in The Avengers. “Going back to the very first Avengers comic-book, he was the villain who brought them all together,” Whedon says. “He’s the kind of guy who comes from behind … who kind of worms his way inside and does not meet you head on – but who still has the strength to beat the crap out of you.”

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The Avengers

GENRE Action/adventure/comic book.
CRITICAL BUZZ One of the greatest superhero movies ever made.
STARS Robert Downey jnr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson.
DIRECTOR Joss Whedon.
RATED M.
RELEASE Now screening.

Most Viewed in Culture

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