IMDB Rating:9.0 IMDB Link:The Avengers Released: May 4, 2012 Rating: PG-13 Genres:Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Sub Genres: Running Time: 142 minutes AKA: Avengers Assemble Country: USA Language: English Official Site: Official Site Views: 1,329
Plot: Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., arrives at a remote research facility during an evacuation. The commander there, agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), explains that the Tesseract, (Cosmic Cube of the comics) an energy source of unknown potential, has activated and opened a mysterious portal. Through it steps the exiled Asgardian Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who takes the Tesseract and uses his abilities to control the minds of several S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel including agent Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), as well as physicist consultant Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsg?rd), in order to aid in his getaway.
In response to the attack, Fury reactivates the Avengers Initiative. Agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johannson) is sent to India to recruit Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), while Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), approaches Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and requests that he review Selvig's research. Fury himself approaches Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) with an assignment to retrieve the Tesseract from Loki. During his exile, Loki encountered the Other (Alexis Denisof), an alien conqueror who, in exchange for the Tesseract, offers Loki an army of the alien race called the Chitauri in order for him to subjugate Earth.
Rogers, Stark, and Romanoff travel to Stuttgart, Germany, to apprehend Loki, who is recovering iridium needed to stabilize the Tesseract's power and demanding that the civilians kneel before him. After a battle with Captain America and Iron Man, Loki surrenders and is escorted back to a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane. However, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki's adoptive brother, arrives and attempts to free Loki to reason with him. Stark and Rogers confront Thor, and Loki is eventually returned to the Helicarrier, a flying aircraft carrier, and placed in a cell designed to hold the Hulk.
The Avengers are divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. planned to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons as a deterrent against hostile extraterrestrials. 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. As Stark and Rogers try to restart the damaged engines, Thor attempts to stop the Hulk's rampage, and Romanoff fights Barton. During this fight, a blow to the head knocks Barton unconscious, breaking Loki's mind control. Loki escapes, killing Agent Coulson as he does so, and Thor and the Hulk are each ejected from the ship. 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. Using a device built by Selvig, Loki uses the Tesseract to open a portal above Stark Tower to the Chitauri fleet over Manhattan, summoning a Chitauri invasion.
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, and Stark evacuate civilians, while Banner transforms into the Hulk again and goes after Loki, beating him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to the portal, where Selvig, freed of Loki's control, reveals that Loki's staff 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 before running out of power and plummeting back to Earth, but the Hulk catches him as he falls. When Loki wakes up, he finds Hawkeye holding an arrow up to his face. Thor escorts Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard, while Fury notes that the Avengers will go their separate ways until a new global threat emerges. At Stark Tower, Tony and Pepper talk and appear to kiss while looking at a hologram of Stark Tower, which only has the "A" remaining in its sign after the battle, now standing for the Avengers.
In a post-credits scene, the Other confers with his master about the attack on Earth. In a second post-credits scene, the Avengers ? gathered at a shawarma restaurant ? eat in silence.
