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| The Avengers |
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| Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man |
Everybody seems to be pumped up with the upcoming Avengers movie. While there are a lot of us who have followed the build up to the Avengers movie, there are also a lot who seemed to be confused with how the team was formed. I'm writing this blog to serve as a refresher to those who want to take a look back at how the team was formed. The first Iron Man movie was the one that kicked things off. Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) was on a trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate his new missile weapon when suddenly he was attacked by a terrorist group. Kept alive through an electromagnet in his chest that keeps shrapnels from reaching his heart, Stark was held captive and forced to create weapons for the terrorist group. Instead, with the help of a fellow captive, he created an arc reactor to power his electromagnet and a suit of armor to use as his means to combat the terrorist and escape. After the ensuing battle, Stark returns to his company and vows to halt weapons production which angered his business manager Obadiah Stane. Stane would then use Stark's old armor as his suit to combat Stark and his new improved armor in hopes of wresting the control of Stark Industries. Stark and his Iron Man suit would prove the victor in the final battle. The following day, S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives advises Stark to conceal his identity as Iron Man, but much to their dismay, Stark announces to the public that he is indeed Iron Man. This prompted S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury to secretly meet with Stark and told him about the Avengers initiative and that there are other heroes out there.
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| Bruce Banner a.k.a The Hulk |
Meanwhile in the first Hulk Movie, a bionuclear researcher for the U.S. Army named Bruce Banner (played by Eric Bana) was accidentally exposed to gamma radiation during one of his experiments. This caused him to transform into a giant green skinned monster called the Hulk every time his rage and frustration takes the better part of him. At the same time, Bruce's estranged father came to know of this and started seeking him out as he wanted to own Bruce's powers. When U.S. army Major Talbot comes to know of Bruce's transforming powers, he began to take considerable interest in him for his own profit. He harasses Bruce up to the point that he was killed when Bruce could no longer control his anger and transformed him into the Hulk. The Hulk escapes the Army facility and battles the U.S. Army forces who were sent after him. Meanwhile, Betty Ross, Bruce's ex-girlfriend and the daughter of Military General Thunderbolt Ross, began to show growing concern for Bruce and begs her father to give her a chance to talk to Bruce and help him calm him so that he can transform back to Bruce. After a long tedious battle with the Army forces, The Hulk comes face to face with Betty which began to calm him and help him revert back to Bruce. Bruce was captured along with his father and as both father and son came face to face, Bruce's father became an Absorbing Man, able to absorb and take it's form with whatever form of matter he can come into contact with. Bruce turns into The Hulk and a final battle ensued. General Ross directs his soldiers to drop a gamma charged bomb on the Hulk and his father, resulting to a violent explosion that had the army presume the death of The Hulk. A year later and after numerous Hulk sightings, Bruce would later on resurface on an amazon forest as a doctor in a medical camp.
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| War Machine and Iron Man |
Meanwhile in Iron Man 2, Stark enjoys a successful career as Iron Man but would later on find out that the palladium core in his Arc Reactor was slowly poisoning him. This led him to recklessly live his life because of him becoming despondent with his current situation. He appoints his personal assistant Pepper Pots as CEO of Stark industries and replaces her with a new Stark employee named Natalie Rushman. During this time, Ivan Vanko, the son of Stark's father's former partner, jealous of the Stark's fortunes began seeking revenge for the miserable life that his father ended up with. As Whiplash, he attacks Stark (using a similar arc reactor powering whip like energy weapons) in a racing circuit but was unfortunately beaten when Stark managed to don a sleek new Iron Man armor. Vanko was put to jail for this only to be sprang out by Justin Hammer, Stark's former rival in the Weapon supplies race. Allying himself with Vanko, Hammer tasks Vanko to create new Iron Man like drones to rival Stark's Iron Man technology. Meanwhile, Tony's reckless behavior would lead James Rhodes to bring an Iron Man suit prototype to the army in order to not waste the Iron Man armor's potential. As Stark continues to waste his life away, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury along with Natalie (which actually was a S.H.I.E.L.D. secret agent named Natasha Romanoff) approaches him and tells him about his his father's S.H.I.E.L.D. connections. Fury hands Stark old materials from his father's past researches which contained new elements that could replace his dependency on the poisonous palladium. This gave Stark a new lease on life. Vanko on the other hand reveals to Stark that he is still alive. Hammer unveil's Vanko's armored drones in an expo along with the new and improved Iron Man armor (the one Rhodes took to the military) called War Machine piloted by Rhodes. Vanko seizes control of the drones and Rhodes' War Machine armor as Stark arrives in his new Iron Man suit to warn Rhodes. A final battle ensued between Iron Man and War Machine against Vanko and his new Whiplash armor as Natasha and Stark's bodyguard infiltrates Hammer's office to override Vanko's controls of the War Machine armor. Vanko lay defeated and died but not before activating the self destruct mode of his drones when Iron Man and War Machine defeated him. At a debriefing, while a news footage of the Hulk's rampage plays, Fury informs Stark that while Iron Man is a suitable candidate for the Avengers Initiative, Stark is not. Meanwhile S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson reports a discovery of a hammer at the bottom of a crater in New Mexico.
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| Incredible Hulk |
Back in the Hulk movie franchise, a soft reboot was done to give new life to the Hulk movie franchise after the first movie was panned by audiences and critics. This time the movie opens with Bruce Banner (played by Edward Norton) working in a factory at Rio de Janeiro while searching for the cure to rid himself of the Hulk. Bruce interacts with a mystery man known only as Mr. Blue through the internet as he seeks help for a cure. While working in the factory, Bruce accidentally cut himself and had his blood unknowingly drip in a softdrink which would later be consumed by a consumer that led him to be hospitalized. This led to the Army's discovery of Bruce's location. General Thunderbolt Ross dispatches a team led by British Royal Marine Emil Blonsky to capture Bruce. During the assault, Bruce transforms into the Hulk and defeats Blonsky's team. Seeing Bruce's transformation, Blonsky became curious about the Hulk's history and powers. He subjects himself to be injected with a small amount of the same serum as the Hulk which gives him enhanced physical abilities. Meanwhile, Bruce meets up with his ex girlfriend Betty Ross. Bruce is then suddenly attacked by General Ross and Blonsky. Transforming into the Hulk, he dispatches the attacking forces easily (despite Blonsky's Super Soldier like reflexes) and flees with Betty. They made their way to Mr. Blue who actually is a Cellular Biologist named Dr. Samuel Sterns. Sterns reveals to Bruce that he has found an antidote to counter the Hulk transformations. After a successful operation, Sterns reveals to Bruce that he has kept samples of his blood with the intention of using it to bring humans to the next evolutionary level. Angered by this, Bruce forces Sterns to destroy the blood samples but not long after was attacked by Ross and Blonsky. Blonsky forces Sterns to inject him with the blood samples of Banner with the hopes of acquiring the Hulk's powers. Despite Sterns warnings that the mixing of the Super Soldier serum and Bruce blood would turn him into an abomination, Blonsky proceeded with the operation. This turned him into a monster called the Abomination. As he rampages his way out of the lab, Sterns' wounded head was dripped with the blood samples, causing it to bulge and mutate. Meanwhile Abomination seeks out Bruce and challenges him to changed into the Hulk and fight him. Despite the successful operation administered earlier, Bruce transforms into the Hulk anew and a final battle was staged. In the end Hulk managed to defeat the Abomination and flees after the fight. In the closing credits of the movie, Stark approaches General Ross in a bar and reveals to him that a team is being formed.
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| Thor |
The next Marvel movie that would plant The Avengers movie seeds was the Thor Movie. The story begins in the past where the Asgardian king Odin (Thor's father) defeats the Frost Giants and seizes the source of their power, the Casket of Ancient Winters. In the present day, Thor's (played by Chris Hemsworth) ascension to the throne of Asgard was interrupted by the Frost Giants as it seeks to retrieve the Casket of Ancient Winters. Enraged by this despite Odin's order not to follow the Frost Giants in their home, Thor enlists the help of his brother Loki and childhood friend Sif along with the Warriors Three: Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun. They attacked the Frost Giants but was about to be beaten before Odin interferes and saves them. This breaks the fragile truce between the two races. Because of this incident, Thor was stripped of his godly powers and exiles him to Earth as a mortal along with his hammer Mjolnir but with the enchantment that only those who are worthy can wield the hammer. Thor lands on New Mexico and befriends an astrophysicist named Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, and Dr. Erik Selvig. His Hammer, Mjolnir, meanwhile landed someplace nearby. This causes quite a stir for the local populace because of the huge crater it made as it landed on Earth (this is the continuation of Iron Man 2's ending). S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson constructs a S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters around it as it did further studies to discover how the Hammer came to Earth. When Thor learns about this, he infiltrates the headquarters to retrieve the Hammer but much to his dismay, he could no longer lift it. He realizes that he is no longer worthy. Thor was overpowered by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives (which includes Hawkeye) before he was sprung from detention by Dr. Selvig. Meanwhile back in Asgard, Loki discovers that he is actually the son of a Frost Giant leader and was adopted by Odin after the war. Odin's discovery of this plus Thor's exile caused too much stress on Odin's health that he went on an Odinsleep to recuperate. With this development, Loki became the King of Asgard and offers his real father a chance to kill Odin. Sif and the Warriors Three on the other hand decided to go back to Earth to retrieve Thor as they grew disenchanted with Loki's reign. Upon knowing this, Loki sends the Destroyer to kill Thor. The Destroyer defeats Sif and the Warriors Three, but Thor saves them by offering his life instead. This act of self sacrifice would prove Thor worthy of Mjolnir. The Hammer returns to Thor which enabled him to beat the Destroyer. Thor, Sif, and the Warriors three regrouped and return to Asgard to face Loki. Loki betrays his real father, as his actual plan was revealed. He manipulated the events that happened in order for him to be positioned as the new King of Asgard. Thor battles Loki and stops him from accomplishing his plan. Just as the both of them were about to fall to an abyss down Asgard, Odin awakens and saves the both of them. Unfortunately, Loki chose to fall. In the end credits, Dr Selvig was taken to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and was asked by Nick Fury to study a cosmic cube that might hold unimaginable power. An invisible Loki appears and whispers to Dr. Selvig to accept the cosmic cube.
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| Captain America |
The final piece of the Avengers movie seed would be seen in the Captain America: First Avenger movie. The movie opens when scientists in the Arctic uncovers a shield with a red, blue, and white motiff. The movie then shifts to the past during the height of the World War II period. Johann Schmidt, Adolf Hitler's head of weapons technology, steals a tesseract of unknown powers. Back in the U.S., Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans), a lanky U.S. military aspirant, gets rejected once again in his application to the U.S. military enlistment due to his health and physical problems. Despite the many times of being rejected, Rogers continues to find ways on how he can make it to the military because of his intense desire to aid in the war. He was overheard by a Doctor and was recruited to take part in the Super Soldier experiment after they witness Rogers' act of self-sacrificing bravery. Schmidt (being the first experiment of the Doctor gone wrong) got word of the doctor's plans to create another Super Soldier and decided to dispatch an assassin to kill the doctor and stop the creation of a new Super Soldier serum. The assassin successfully kills the doctor but could not prevent the transformation of Rogers to become a bulked up new Super Soldier. With the doctor dead and the Super Soldier serum formula lost, the U.S. government decided to stop the Super Soldier program and delegated Rogers to serve the U.S. Army as an army mascot named Captain America. In one of his tours, Rogers discovers that his U.S. Soldier friend Bucky Barnes went missing after a routine mission against Schmidt's evil organization called Hydra. Refusing to believe that he is dead, Rogers infiltrates the Hydra headquarters and successfully rescues Barnes and his unit. He also comes face to face with Schmidt for the first time. And with the two sizing up each other, Schmidt reveals his true face, A Red Skull. With Rogers' new found Super Soldier abilities discovered, Howard Stark (Tony's father) outfits Rogers with a shield made of vibranium, an indestructible metal. Rogers takes on his Captain America persona and became the leader of a unit responsible of bringing down the Hydra organization. Unfortunately in one of their missions, Barnes fell to his death. Soon Captain America discovers Schmidt's whereabouts and a final battle ensued in The Red Skull's assault plane which was headed for America. The Red Skull dissolves when he mishandles the Tesseract as he failed to access it's powers. Captain America commandeers the assault plane and divert it's route to the Arctic, saving America but sacrificing his life. Howard Stark tried to retrieve Rogers but could only find the Tesseract. Meanwhile Rogers awakens to present day New York, with Nick Fury revealing to him that he has been asleep for 70 years. Not long after, Fury approaches Rogers once again and recruits him to the Avengers initiative.
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| The Big Four assembled |
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| Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and Black Widow |
Those movies that I mentioned above were the main recruits of the Avengers Initiative. The man responsible for recruiting them is Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson), a S.H.I.E.L.D. Director. S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law Enforcement Division. For much of his appearance in the movies, Fury is aided by his S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Natasha Romanoff a.k.a Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton a.k.a Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner). The three of them would complete the Avengers Initiative roster. Being mere humans but possessing high combat skills, the three of them are also less powerful when compared to Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk. S.H.I.E.L.D. needed to recruit the four to prepare them from an impending invasion that mere humans might not be able win.
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| Here comes The Avengers |
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| The Avengers v.s. Loki |
With the movie's play date fast approaching, I've come across certain plot details of the movie but I'm choosing not to spoil it here in my blog. From what I've read, the movie will whet every Avengers fanboy's appetite. I'm guessing there will be a lot of easter eggs to find. The way the individual movies have been set up to lead to this big movie has been impressive. The connections were there. From the beginning, Nick Fury interacting with Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative set in motion the lead up to the Avengers movie. Tony Stark's handling of Captain America's shield in one of his stockpile reveals the Starks' connection to Captain America. Hulk's foe, Emil Blonsky's use of the Super Soldier serum reveals the U.S. military's past experiments in creating a Super Soldier. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow's appearance on the second Iron Man movie expands Fury's involvement with Stark (along with his revealing of Tony's father Howard's connection to S.H.I.E.L.D.). Thor's hammer Mjolnir appearing in the end of the second Iron Man movie connects Thor's existence to Iron Man's world. Hawkeye's appearance in Thor brought out his connections to S.H.I.E.L.D. Captain America's past correspondence with Tony's father meanwhile drew the connections of Captain America to Iron Man to come to full circle. And if Howard was part of S.H.I.E.L.D., then his recruitment of Captain America makes Captain America the first Avenger. Even the appearance of Thanos' Infinity Gaunlet in Odin's hall of weapons I surmise will have a huge part to play in the Avengers movie. The events are really mind blowing. And all of the hype is rightly justified. Now if only DC could pull of something like this for their Justice League movie...
