Dr. J., Mrs. Dr. J., the Lil Resident and Lil Med Student took in the Avengers at the local theatre on Sunday after mass. Dr. J. was looking forward to this movie for quite some time. He was not disappointed. Most of you probably saw it already. The Czar and Mandy covered most of the high points in their reviews.

Now Clan J. watched The Incredible Hulk the night before on DVD as we missed it in theaters just to give us a sense of how the Hulk fit into everything. The nice thing is that there wasn’t much that you needed from that flick to get ready for the Avengers. The bulk of the back story (beyond who these jokers were) was obtained from Thor (Lil Med Student’s favorite) and Captain America (Lil Resident’s favorite).

Joss Whedon did a brilliant job with the Avengers, especially balancing story, pacing and humor. It was clear the actors were enjoying their roles, especially Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Tom Hiddleston. These three actors stole the show. They each played their parts perfectly.

Dr. J., who was never a Hulk fan, really liked having him part of the team in this flick. I’ve never found him a compelling character, especially in the team setting, as the raging Hulk is uncontrollable, and the sentient Hulk is no fun. The version in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon seems a reasonable compromise, as was the version in this flick.

Samuel L. Jackson played Nick Fury very well, keeping his cards close to the vest and not giving any character the whole story. Indeed, Dr. J. loved that he was willing to lie to get the job done. He hopes that comes back to bite him in the but later.

Now the Commish asked us to compare this movie to Firefly. Dr. J. can say that he never got into Firefly (GASP!!!!!!!!#ELVEQ!NTY!!!!!!!!), and can’t stand Nathan Fillion, as he associates Nathan with Buffy the Vampire Slayer jumping the shark, so not bringing him in as Wonder Man or Ant Man made Dr. J. eternally grateful. He hopes to God that Nathan isn’t cast as anything in the next one, either.

So, all for J.’s loved the movie. Dr. J., a comic book geek, liked it for respecting the history, and for successfully bringing together the Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks to a crowning glory, while still leaving room for more. This version of Marvel is refreshingly new and respectful of the history. Mrs. Dr. J., who has seen all the movies, and loved the original Incredible Hulk show as a kid but sees the Avengers as derivative of the SuperFriends also found it fun and very easy to follow. Lil Resident who is about as well versed as a young lady her age can be (via the movies, cartoons and asking daddy 5 million questions) liked it a lot. Captain America and Black Widow were her favorites. Dr. J. suspects she’ll be donning black sweats, and jacket and a red wig and going as her for Halloween. The Lil Med Student is the pickiest. He liked the humor and fighting the best. He hates dialog, so much of the humor was lost on him.

Speaking of humor, Volgi picked up perhaps Whedon’s verbal coup de grace. When Loki referred to the Black Widow as a ‘mewling quim,’ Dr. J. said, “he did not call her what I think he called her.” Perhaps Dr. J. was the only individual in the auditorium that understood the utter vulgarity of that statement, which is probably a good thing, because that might have been sufficient to upgrade it to an R or at least get the MPAA to ask if that word was necessary, but only a small percentage of individuals living in the last few centuries even know what that word means.

Anyway, Dr. J. is looking to the upcoming installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hopefully the new directors and writers won’t screw the pooch.

Dr. J.