The Avengers (and sequels)

[Qui-Gon Jim]

I saw it again, and Thanos is there right at the beginning, pulling the strings with the Chitauri leader.  It is implied that the Chitauri are his army (or more to the point, it is never implied that they are only teaming up with Thanos).  So their motivation is left intentionally vague for the reveal in the credits.  Again, their motivation is not at all important to the plot of the film.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

Also, Loki is directly asked by Thor who he is working for and he does not answer.

[Jayson]

I haven't. Taking a half day off work tomorrow and going while the wife is at work and the girls are at daycare. 

[JediJman]

$207,438,708

Am I the only person left in America who hasn't seen this yet...?  Man, Cap & Friends sure have set the summer bar high for Batman and Spidey. 

It's down to you and my mom I think.  And she has tickets for the Thursday matinee.

[P-Siddy]

I'm going to hit it this afternoon.

[JediJman]

I saw it again, and Thanos is there right at the beginning, pulling the strings with the Chitauri leader.  It is implied that the Chitauri are his army (or more to the point, it is never implied that they are only teaming up with Thanos).  So their motivation is left intentionally vague for the reveal in the credits.  Again, their motivation is not at all important to the plot of the film.

You saw Thanos in the beginning of the movie?  I totally missed that.  Can you elaborate on what you saw?  I'm going to have to see this again sooner than I planned.

Importance to the plot is subjective.  You might have been okay with them just flying in to shoot up NYC, but clearly myself and others were looking for a little more.  Their motivation and true objective isn't clear to me at all.  Thanos is a genius/strategist, so if he really wanted to take over Earth, I think his plan might be a little more elaborate.  That said, maybe he intentionally staged all of this to bring the Avengers together.  Maybe he wants them working as a team for some greater purpose or wanted to see their capabilities for the next stage of his plan.  If that were the case, then I think it does make sense to have an army of aliens just pop in and start fighting without any strategic targets or plan in place.  A little strange that he wouldn't find a way to snatch the cube in the process though.  Even if his plans are bigger, that's a pretty amazing power source to just leave behind.

I'm also going to go on record as hoping we have something more to look forward to than an ongoing story about Asgard and the Cosmic Cube.  I really like the way they tied the Thor and Captain America movies into this one to tell a bigger story about Loki and the Cube, but I think I might have been happier seeing Loki and the army fall, with some unrelated evil plot on the horizon for the next film.  I like building off prior movies (think Star Trek films) versus telling one long story over 3 or more pictures.  Just seems like there are so many other stories and villians to pursue.  Ultron?  Masters of Evil?  Kang?  Yes please!

[BillCable]

You saw Thanos in the beginning of the movie?  I totally missed that.  Can you elaborate on what you saw?  I'm going to have to see this again sooner than I planned.

You don't see Thanos.  You see the Chitauri leader guy narrating at the beginning.  On first viewing it's not obvious he's talking to someone.  On the second you can tell he's reporting to a superior.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

You saw Thanos in the beginning of the movie?  I totally missed that.  Can you elaborate on what you saw?  I'm going to have to see this again sooner than I planned.

You don't see Thanos.  You see the Chitauri leader guy narrating at the beginning.  On first viewing it's not obvious he's talking to someone.  On the second you can tell he's reporting to a superior.

Exactly. 

[Nicklab]

On my first viewing I got the sense that the Chitauri leader was having a conversation.  Anything else would be seem like exposition for it's own sake.  The post credits scene just cemented that it was a conversation, and that it was with Thanos.

So in the sequel, I think we're left with some questions?  Do you introduce Starfox as well?

[Scott]

Starfox is such a C lister that I can't see that happening.  Again to me the whole Pym deal should have been here and axed Black Widow and Hawkeye...then they could have added Vision and Wonder Man...

[JediJman]

Starfox is such a C lister that I can't see that happening.  Again to me the whole Pym deal should have been here and axed Black Widow and Hawkeye...then they could have added Vision and Wonder Man...

I would have enjoyed this direction as well.  They could have covered Pym's breakdown in #2 and dealt with Ultron.  Lots of ramifications coming out of that storyline.  It will be interesting to see what they do with the characters.  They have an A-list group of actors now, so it would be hard to take some of them out of the mix.  I could have seen Hulk going away, but everone loved him in this one, so that might force them to keep him around again.  Maybe Hawk and Widow? OR will the cast stay the same?

[BillCable]

Black Widow and Hawkeye were part of the Ultimates books, which was the basis of the movies.  They're only extraneous in the sense that they weren't in the original Avengers.

Granted there were a lot of other characters in The Ultimates, Giant Man and the Wasp among them, but so were Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (as incestuous siblings...).  But my point though is that Hawkeye and Black Widow have as much right to be in the movies and any of the other Ultimates.  I don't see them being replaced in favor of anyone else... especially given how well they've been received.

It'll be interesting to see if Edgar Wright's Ant-Man plays into Avengers 2.

[Nicklab]

Starfox is such a C lister that I can't see that happening.  Again to me the whole Pym deal should have been here and axed Black Widow and Hawkeye...then they could have added Vision and Wonder Man...

Starfox's deal has always been his tie-in with Thanos, without a doubt.  Without that link he's not that interesting of a character.  But the introduction of Thor has brought with it the concept of super-powered aliens.

The Ant Man movie may eventually lead to some sort of involvement with the Avengers down the line.  Although that's slated for 2014.  Will that be enough time before another installment of Avengers? 

Well, Iron Man 3 is slated for 2013, and that's already shaping up to be interesting.  Captain America 2 & Thor 2 are both slated for 2014.  And there's also a new Hulk movie in development with Mark Ruffalo signed for the role.  With that kind of schedule, you've got to think that Avengers 2 could be about 3 years out at the very least.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

Also keep in mind that Hawkeye and Widow are not really too FX-heavy to present on film (comparatively speaking).  With IM and Hulk being completely CG, I am sure that the idea of adding two more characters with a lot of FX budget played into the decision. 

PLUS, Hawkeye and especially Widow represent the "everyman" in this story.  They are highly skilled at what they do, but the other Avengers are on such a higher level than they are.  See Widow's reaction to nearly being trampled.  She fears Banner.

They could easily do Ultron as Jarvis going out of control or have Banner and Stark accidentally create him.  I think sometimes we try to very rigidly make the movies match the source material, but as long as it is entertaining, who cares if it follows issue 367 panel-for-panel?  This series has been based on The Ultimates, but that never means that they have some slavish obligation not to go in a different direction.

[BillCable]

Hence the exclusion of Quicksilver / Scarlet Witch incest...   

If Ant-Man moves forward they can easily incorporate both him and Wasp in Avengers 2.  Probably minus the spousal abuse from The Ultimates...