NOW, THE STORY OF A SUPERHERO TEAM WHO WAS NEEDED TO FIGHT THINGS, AND THE ONE MAN WHO HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO BRING THEM ALL TOGETHER.
It’s Avengered Development.
I haven’t done any more of these things, but I thought I’d share my Thor here, since it’s been my Facebook profile image for like a week already.
They’re all black ink plus one other colour per image.
I got some new brushes the other day, and today I tried them out! I love drawing in ink. But what to draw?
The Avengers, of course! I have planned set of 10 characters. It’s not finished yet, so meanwhile here are 5 sets of eyes (I would say “pairs of eyes”, but then Nick Fury would make a liar of me).
109. Avengers Assemble (international title: Marvel’s The Avengers) (dir. Joss Whedon, USA, 2012)
When Earth is threatened by an unknown force led by alien-god Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) calls together a team of heroes to defend the planet: Captain American (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jnr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
I’m still processing my feelings about this, and it will take a second viewing to separate my gut reaction from my analytical one, but I can honestly say I loved every second of Avengers Assemble. Whedon not only balanced out the cast extraordinarily well, but in doing so manages to make one of the characters who many fans have seen as superfluous into the heart and soul of the film. Yes, RDJ was born to play Tony Stark, we know that. Yes, Mark Ruffalo brought a humour and sincerity to a role which had previously been squandered in solo films. Chris Hemsworth’s earnest turn as Thor is entirely in keeping with his excellent work in the previous film. And Chris Evans continues to prove he was perfectly cast as the stand-up-for-the-good-guys Cap.
That’s right. Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johanssen, might be The Best Thing in a movie filled with Great Things. She really adds a humanism and a sensitivity to the story which may have been lacking in the otherwise super-human proceedings. Her story is not only one filled with (phenomenally cool) fights, but with pathos and complexity beyond that offered by the headline stars.
The action beats throughout are outstanding beyond anything the studio has done before. Whedon’s control of the cross-cut action (in which the characters are constantly swapping dance-partners as it were, bouncing around huge locations of carnage) is unbelievably tight and suspenseful - but he never allows the tone to become too dark and serious. There are plenty of downright hilarious jokes, all of which always feel appropriate to the character delivering them.
In all honesty, there’s only one way I can explain how well this film worked for me: I felt like I was 7 years old, being taken to the cinema to watch (the newly re-released) Star Wars for the first time. My hands went numb with excitement. I grinned like a fool.
I can’t.
Easily the best Marvel film. Arguably the best superhero film to date. (Yeah. I thought it was better than The Dark Knight, X2 and Superman II.)
Verdict: totally awesome.
