Just a few days before Marvel’s mightiest heroes clash once again on the big-screen in the upcoming epic sequel, The Avengers 2 – Age of Ultron. Releasing in India on 24 April 2015, a week prior to its world-wide outing, movie critics and analysts have made strong predictions at an easy $200 million plus opening in the US alone and another (Furious 7 being the first in 2015) Rs 100 crore grosser in the Indian markets as well. The superhero mash-up reunites the star-studded cast of Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk/Bruce Banner), Jeremy Renner (Hawk Eye) and Scarlet Johansson (Black Widow) to reprise their superhero outfits as ‘The Avengers’.
We all know that The Avengers franchise wasn’t merely an ad-hoc idea popping-up in the head of Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige but a milestone event (Phase I) in its long planned Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) journey. Since Iron Man back in 2008, Marvel has been carefully inching towards building an inter-connected world for its superheroes, spawning the MCU with more and more Marvel superheroes and characters. Not only does the MCU, which includes ten big-screen features, three TV shows (counting the recent Daredevil series on Netflix) and a few One-shot clips neatly weave an entire universe for its characters which have raked in the moolah for the Marvel Studios grossing over $7.16 billion (movies alone).
We at AnimationXpress.com take you through this amazing universe of superheroes, aliens and Gods that Marvel has brilliantly spun over the last seven years.
Iron Man (2008) – MCU’s Phase 1 kick-started with Marvel’s most popular super-guy in the red and gold weaponised suit, Iron Man. The risk to cast the most unlikely superhero candidate, Robert Downey Jr. paid off well for Marvel Studios as Robert’s persona to the billionaire, playboy and genius Tony Stark settled well with the audiences, making Iron Man the most popular Avenger. After being held prisoner in an Afghan cave, Tony Stark realised an illegal supply of his weaponry to the terrorists. He then himself built a bucket-headed metal suit and escaped only to perfect his creation and create the armored Iron-man suit and saved the world from his uncle who had conflicting interests for his company. Staying true to the stubborn unconventional hero, Tony is. Iron Man ends with Tony Stark revealing himself as Iron Man to the world inspite of being advised to stay indiscrete by the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives, (Agent Phil Coulson).
The Incredible Hulk (2008) – While the world had just been fed with the information of a metal suited billionaire, The Incredible Hulk rounded the arc of the scientist, Bruce Banner whose alter-ego is the giant green Hulk. While on the run from the Government, Bruce desperately searched for a cure that could subdue his Hulk form which doesn’t allow him to stay human past a 200 plus pulse rate. Meanwhile General Ross leading the pursuit for the Hulk hired an overly aspiring soldier, Blonsky and things go from bad to worse when Blonsky used Bruce’s blood and transformed into an ugly-Hulk sized monster. From a runaway fugitive to saving the city from Blonsky, the Hulk does what he does best, SMASH! At the end Tony Stark makes a cameo talking to General Ross and hints that Bruce might be a part of the bigger picture.
Iron Man 2 (2010) – Holding the plot consistent, the sequel Iron Man 2 followed the events of the 2008 block-buster, Iron Man. Directed by Jon Favreau, Tony Starkre-institutes the Stark Expo but Tony’s own creation, the glowing miniature arc reactor in his chest that has been keeping him alive was slowly also poisoning him. Meanwhile we also have Justin Hammer along with Ivan Vanko conspiring to overthrow Tony.The sequel introduced the two important S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and Nick Fury (Samuel L . Jackson) who salvaged Stark’s predicament and induced our genius to display some of his grey cells and skills to recreate an element that brought him back from nearly dying. Post the climatic fight sequence Nick confronted Tony for his participation in the Avengers initiative but both showed reluctance to the program.
Thor (2011) – While the Earthly heroes along with S.H.I.E.L.D. are master-minding an Avengers plan in the event of crisis, Marvel’s Thor (2011) created such a crisis in the land of Asgard that trickled down to Earth. Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, proudly played by the Hollywood Heartthrob Chris Hemsworth is Odin’s son and heir to his throne. However the notorious antagonist Loki, Thor’s half-brother conspired against his hot-headed brother which landed Thor on Odin’s wrong side and stripped of his Mjolnir (hammer) and banished to Earth. While the hammer does fall on Earth it attracted the attention of the sniffing S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives.In the climatic confrontation between Loki and Thor who regained his rightful power, Loki falls off in the abyss of space.
Captain America – The First Avenger (2011) – While the MCU was moving forward in full-swing, Marvel Studios decided to jog back in time and revive one of the leading characters in Marvel Comics, Captain America. Captain America – The First Avenger dated back to the 1940s when a puny yet patriotic Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) desperately tries to enroll for warfare but landed up being selected for a super-soldier program. So the 5 footer Rogers got into the radiation box and came out as a 6 footed hunk Steve Rogers. At the other end we also see the Captain’s arch nemesis Red Skull leading HYDRA, a terrorist organisation and has got his hands on the cube, the Tesseract. The climatic plane sequence has the Captain America thwarting the Red Skull but in order to save the day the Cap flew the plane right into the ice signing-off from his love interest, Agent Peggy Carter. In present day, during an excavation, Captain America is found and brought back by the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives and it all ends with Nick Fury breaking the truth to Steve Rogers about his slumber for 70 years.
Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) – MCU’s first milestone, Phase 1 ends with the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes assembling in The Avengers (2012). While S.H.I.E.L.D. had the Tessaract in their possession all the time since Captain’s disappearance, it is only after Thor’s incident that instigated Nick Fury to start harnessing the power of the Tessaract. On the other hand, Loki following the events of Thor, made a deal in the cosmos to exchange the Tessaract for Earth’s rule. Setting that as the plot, Loki came to Earth only to create havoc but ended up buried in the ground by the monster of havoc himself, Hulk. The Avengers successfully warded off the alien army from New York where the Tessaract was used to open a portal in space and the world applauded the Avengers. The end credit scene confirms that Loki had been dealing with Thanos who smirks off his defeat at the hands of the Avengers.
Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Avengers had one casualty, Agent Phil Coulson but was resurrected using alien technology which made him lead Marvel’s first TV show on ABC, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.EL.D. The TV show initially had a subtle kick-off with its plot aligning itself with the Phase 2 big-screen adaptations like Thor – The Dark World (2013), Iron Man 3 (2013) and Captain America – The Winter Soldier (2014), all in the attempt to weave an inter-connected Marvel universe. The show’s second season has received a much better response as it has branched out an independent plot in the broader MCU space.
Iron Man 3 (2013) – Iron Man 3, the last sequel to the hit Iron Man franchise saw Robert Downey Jr. reprise the role of Iron Man. The sequel follows the life of Tony Stark post the New York battle in the Avengers which had our genius hero facing anxiety issues. Tony found safety only in his cocoon suit and so kept building an arsenal of suits in his pent-house. To add to his woes, Tony invited trouble for himself by challenging the terrorist, Mandarin who is nothing but an imposter, working for Aldrich Killian.Killian along with Mayahad been creating Extremis (fire-spitting super-human or an exploding time-bomb human) and in the climax Killian also turned Pepper Pots into an Extremis. Post the climax with all of Tony’s toys fighting off extremis, Tony instructed Jarvis to get rid of all his suits on Pepper’s demand. He also got Pepper and himself cured and the arc-reactor device was removed from his chest, (Yes, the Avengers – Age of Ultron would not be having Tony with a glowing chest).
Thor – The Dark World (2013) – Post Avengers, Thor led Loki back to Asguard and had him imprisoned. But somewhere in space, the Dar Elf Malekith awaited years for his sinister plan to work which will destroy all the nine realms using the infinite power of Aether. At the end Thor saved his love interest Jane and thwarted Malekith in an epic battle in the skies of London. Aether is handed in the custody of the Collector as Asgard already houses another infinity stone, the Tesseract. On the other hand Loki had faked his death and impersonated Odin.
Captain America – The Winter Soldier (2014) – With one of the best storylines in the MCU, Captain America – The Winter Solider is based on all that has happened yet. Connecting the dots back to the original, Captain America – The First Avenger, the sequel reveals the Captain’s old bestie, Bucky Barnes as the Winter Solider. Following the events of Avengers, Captain worked for S.H.I.E.L.D but soon it turned out that the watchdog organisation was infested with HYDRA agents (Remember Red Skull) having their own sinister motives, although Nick Fury and Black Widow weren’t one of them. In the epic climax with Hell Carriers falling off the skies, Captain America and Black Widow along with Fury and Falcon manage to clear the skies but the entire organisation becomes compromised officially S.H.I.E.L.D has been dissolved however we do see Phil Coulson’s team still in action in Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Avengers – Age of Ultron (2015) – Boiling down to the upcoming epic sequel to the biggest superhero flick, The Avengers (2012), Avengers – Age of Ultron will tie up the strings from the Phase 2 movies. Now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is dissolved, Captain America has gone in the search of his friend, Bucky and even the Iron Man has taken a break from his superhero duties, Tony Stark revives a peace program to create the Earth’s last line of defense, a self-aware, self-teaching artificial intelligence (No it’s not the J.A.R.V.I.S we know), Ultron. But things will go awry as we see, as Ultron develops a mind of its own and what’s next is ‘Avengers Assemble’. Age of Ultron will also focus on the arcs of Quick Silver and Scarlet Witch who made their debut appearances in the end credit scenes of Captain America – The Winter Soldier.