Marvel Database
Register
Advertisement

Appearances

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Events:

Plot

Loki encounters The Other, an envoy for an alien race known as the Chitauri. In exchange for stealing the Tesseract, (an energy source of limitless power) for his mysterious master, the Other promises Loki a Chitauri army with which he can subjugate the Earth. The Other then gave Loki a powerful Scepter.

Nick Fury, director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and his lieutenant Agent Hill arrive by helicopter at a remote research facility during an evacuation, where physicist Doctor Erik Selvig is leading a research team experimenting on the Tesseract. Agent Phil Coulson explains that the object has begun radiating an unusual form of energy, as well as low levels of gamma radiation. The Tesseract suddenly activates and opens a portal, allowing Loki to reach Earth. Loki seizes the Tesseract and uses his scepter to enslave Selvig and several agents, including Clint Barton by mind control, and escapes as the facility implodes.

Natalia Romanoff (Earth-199999) from Marvel's The Avengers 013

Romanoff tied to a chair

In response to the attack, Fury reactivates the "Avengers Initiative". S.H.I.E.L.D. moves to their new base of operations, the Helicarrier, where Coulson contacts Agent Natasha Romanoff, who at the moment was in the middle of an interrogation where she was tied to a chair. But Coulson tells her that "Agent Barton has been compromised", Romanoff breaks loose of her bondage and manages to defeat her captors, Romanoff is then sent to India to recruit Dr. Bruce Banner; Coulson visits Tony Stark to have him review Selvig's research; and Fury approaches Steve Rogers with an assignment to retrieve the Tesseract. While Barton steals iridium needed to stabilize the Tesseract's power, Loki causes a distraction in Stuttgart, Germany, leading to a confrontation with Rogers, Stark, and Romanoff that ends with Loki's surrender. While Loki is being escorted to S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor, his adoptive brother, arrives in the midst of a thunderstorm and frees him hoping to convince him to abandon his plan and return to Asgard. After a confrontation with Stark and Rogers, Thor agrees to take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier. There Loki is imprisoned while Banner and Stark attempt to locate the Tesseract.

HummingStarkCap

Heroes scattered.

The Avengers become divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons as a deterrent against hostile extra-terrestrials. As the group argues, Barton and Loki's other possessed agents attack the Helicarrier, disabling its engines in flight and causing Banner to transform into the Hulk. Stark and Rogers try to restart the damaged engines, and Thor attempts to stop the Hulk's rampage. Romanoff fights Barton, and knocks him unconscious, breaking Loki's mind control. Loki escapes after killing Coulson and ejecting Thor from the airship, while the Hulk leaves on his own. Fury uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers into working as a team. Stark and Rogers realize that simply defeating them will not be enough for Loki; he needs to overpower them publicly to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Loki uses the Tesseract, in conjunction with a device Selvig built, to open a portal above Stark Tower to the Chitauri fleet in space, launching his invasion.

Quote1 All right, listen up! Until we can close that portal up there, what we need is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash. Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You've got the lightning - light the bastards up! [turns to Natasha] You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk, smash! Quote2
Captain America's instructions to his comrades.
Avengers (Earth-199999) from Marvel's The Avengers 001

The Avengers rally in defense of New York City, but quickly realize they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth. With help from Barton, Rogers, Stark, and Thor evacuate civilians, while Banner transforms back into the Hulk and goes after Loki, eventually beating him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to the portal, where Selvig, freed of Loki's control, reveals that Loki's scepter can be used to close the portal. Meanwhile, Fury's superiors attempt to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile and takes it through the portal toward the Chitauri fleet. The missile detonates, destroying the invaders' mother ship, thereby disabling their forces on Earth. Stark's suit runs out of power and he falls back through the portal, but the Hulk saves him from crashing to the ground. Romanoff deactivates the portal to prevent further invasion. In the aftermath, Thor returns Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard. Fury notes that the Avengers will return when they are needed.

In the first of two post-credits scenes, the Other confers with his master about the attack on Earth; in the second post-credits scene, the Avengers eat in silence at a Shawarma restaurant.

Cast

Notes

  • The world premiere was held at the El Capitan Theatre on April 11, 2012.
  • At the time of its release, the film broke numerous box office records, including the biggest opening weekend in North America and tied with Avatar and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 for fastest film to gross $1 billion.[1] With a worldwide total box office gross of about $1.51 billion, this film became the highest grossing film of 2012, and at its peak the fifth highest-grossing film of all time.[2][3]
  • Marvel's The Avengers is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be released by Walt Disney Pictures. Four of the preceding Marvel Studios productions (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger) were released by Paramount Pictures and The Incredible Hulk was released by Universal Studios. The Paramount logo appears on Avengers posters and the film's opening titles as part of the deal between Disney and Paramount. Walt Disney Pictures is not credited until the final moments after the credits.

Trivia

The Avengers (film) poster 011 (English version)

UK version of the poster

  • Walt Disney Pictures retitled the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland to avoid confusion with the unrelated 1961 British TV series of the same title, which in turn had its own similarly titled movie adaptation in 1998. The film was retitled Avengers Assemble, after the popular catchphrase from the comic books. The reaction to the title change was mixed.
  • The post-credits scene was filmed on the 12th of April[4] (after Marvel's The Avengers world premiere). It features the six Avengers eating at the shawarma restaurant mentioned by Stark. Chris Evans had to wear a prosthetic face mask to hide his beard growth and further conceals the mask behind his hand as he eats. Due to the late filming of this scene, it was not ready for the international release on the 25th and therefore does not appear on Marvel's The Avengers presentations in many countries.
  • The shawarma restaurant scene was inspired by Joss Whedon's own work in the TV series Angel, namely the ending of the fifth season's fifteenth episode.[5]
  • According to director Joss Whedon, Scarlett Johansson's participation in the film was in question early in the film's development. Because of this, Whedon's original script for the film included Wasp in her place.[6]
  • Disney and Sony Pictures agreed for Oscorp Tower from The Amazing Spider-Man to be included in the film, but the idea was dropped because much of the skyline had already been completed.[7]
  • The scene where Bruce Banner describes how he tried to shoot himself but failed was seen in a deleted scene of The Incredible Hulk, where Banner was in the Arctic. Captain America makes a cameo in this scene as well, where he and his shield are seen briefly as the ice shatters.
  • While developing the film, worried that Loki Laufeyson wouldn't be enough match for the Avengers, Joss Whedon added Zeke Stane to the story as another enemy for the Avengers after his father's death, but Kevin Feige suggested Whedon to drop the idea.[8]
  • The Mandarin and Shang-Chi were considered to appear in the post-credits scene as a tease for the Chinese market, but Beijing's development team shot down the idea as they didn't want the first Chinese character of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be a villain but there was no desire to cast any actor as Shang-Chi, leading Marvel to ultimately desist from the idea and instead filmed the tease with Thanos.[9]

Gallery[]

Alternate Posters[]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. Rosen, Christopher (13 May 2012) ‘The Avengers’: $1 Billion In Global Box Office After Record Second Weekend HuffPost. Retrieved on 3 April 2018.
  2. 2012 Yearly Box Office Results Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on April 3, 2018.
  3. All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018.
  4. Collider
  5. Gormley, Jesse (18 August 2016) Joss Whedon's Favorite "Angel" Death Led to "The Avengers" Post-Credit Scene Comic Book Resources. Retrieved on 18 August 2016.
  6. Lesnick, Silas (18 December 2012) Joss Whedon Says His Avengers Script Originally Included The Wasp. Retrieved on 2 January 2013.
  7. Da7e (11 June 2012) How Spider-Man was Almost in 'The Avengers,' Sort Of Latino Review. Retrieved on 6 September 2013.
  8. PAtches and Failes, Matt and Ian (23 April 2018) The Battle of New York: An 'Avengers' Oral History Thrillist. Retrieved on 23 October 2020.
  9. Johnston, Rich (6 August 2020) Marvel Studios Offered Shang-Chi Or Mandarin For First Avengers Movie Bleeding Cool. Retrieved on 23 October 2020.
Advertisement