By Hannah Goodall

There’s an old saying, “Too many superheroes can spoil the film”. Well, not quite, but that was the fear felt by the vast Marvel fandom when plans for an Avengers film were made public. An idea that worked well in the panels of a comic book but realistically could not transfer to celluloid. Or so the cynics believed and, how wrong they are.

Marvels: Avengers Assemble has allayed the darkest of fans fears and, made believers of those cynics that doubted its plausibility. The widely held belief was that any attempt at an Avengers film would be nothing more than a confab of big names and even bigger special effects with very little substance could not be further from the end result.

With Joss Whedon, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, a man who knows how to create a fandom and give those in it exactly what they want, at the helm, the film was an assured hit. A perfectly balanced film with everything in good measure and as a superhero film should be, Marvels: Avengers Assemble is, in my opinion, exactly what the fans have been waiting for.

At the outset it is made quite clear that there are things are going on underneath the surface that we, as the audience are not yet privy to. Everything in this film is on a strict need to know basis, nothing is given away causally on a whim or without reason. Perfectly timed from start to finish, the plot holds its own under the weight of the mega-star cast. Which, any lesser film-maker would have clubbed together with special effects in order to make a quick buck.

At over two hours in length Whedon and, director Kevin Feige hold the audience’s attention with a barrage of quick-paced, fluid fight scenes, jaw-dropping special effects that border on the realistic and extremely well thought out and sharp dialogue. Nothing about this film feels forced, from how the plot twists and turns, to the acting itself, as the A-list cast bring their A game to the original A team.

The character development is another stellar and endearing quality that ranges from Agent Coulson – the token martyr  – to the super villain, Loki [Tom Hiddleston] with charm that rivals an Ian Fleming spy.

From the heated exchanges between the Avengers themselves, to the more emotional rebukes of Loki and brother Thor, to the fist fights and explosions and even to the unanticipated comedic element of the film. carries with such ease, Marvels: Avengers Assemble holds your every nerve on end and refuses to let go until the last bus boy on set has been named in the credits.

All in all Marvels: Avengers Assemble is not quite what you expect from a Hollywood blockbuster and it has, by far, raised the bar on and for all future summer blockbusters and every superhero film to come.