The Avengers: team interaction
I've basically been writing this for half a week now. It keeps getting longer. I think I'm just going to go ahead and post, because it's already over 10K, which just seems hilariously excessive for a movie not even two and a half hours long (lies; I could write another 20K on this movie, easy. but sometimes you have to say 'no'. Plus, my first class of my last quarter is tomorrow, so I should probably concentrate on that).
I'm going to start with the Bruce-based interaction. Mostly because Bruce comes first alphabetically. I'm sorta gonna go in alphabetical order. Except when I go in chronological order.
Bruce, of course, comes along with his rage-based alter-ego, the Hulk, and how the different characters react to the Hulk and the possibility of the Hulk is one of the most fascinating parts of a movie filled with interesting things.
Going in order of when he met each person:
Bruce and Natasha
The Hulk scares Natasha in a way that we don’t really see anything else scare her. This made intuitive sense to me when I watched the movie-her 'superpower' is her ability to act. Being able to kick ass makes her kick-ass, but what makes her unique in this group* is her ability to play people-we've seen this ability illustrated three times: first and most extensively in Iron Man 2, then at the beginning of The Avengers (to re-establish it) and, most importantly, she does it to Loki. No one else in the Avengers group can convincingly emote on command and fill a role like Natasha can.
The Hulk, though, is an aggressive rage-based defense mechanism** and he doesn't stand around and wait to be silver-tongued or argued with***.
* her closest analogue being Loki himself, rather than anyone else on the Avengers; Loki actually serves to double both Natasha and Tony, which was interesting to me.
** speaking only of this movie, not of the previous movies or the Hulk in general
*** Note that Loki had equally little success against him
Interaction:
a. the initial introduction
Here we get a delicate dance between two people who are very wary of each other. Bruce doesn't trust anyone who's looking for him (and he'll remain nervous and wary and untrusting of SHIELD throughout the movie) and Natasha knows enough about Bruce’s history to know how potentially dangerous he is.
Natasha: “You know, for a man who’s supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle.”
Bruce: “Avoiding stress isn’t the secret.”
N: “Then what is it-yoga?”
B: “You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart. I, uh, I assume the whole place is surrounded.”
N: “Just you and me.”
...
N: “Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now we need you to come in.”
B: “What if I say no?”
N: “I’ll persuade you.”
B: “And what if the...other guy says no?”
N: “You’ve been more than a year without an incident; I don’t think you want to break that streak.”
B: “Well, I don’t every time get what I want.”
...
B: “So, Fury isn’t after the monster.”
N: “Not that he’s told me.”
B: “And he tells you everything?”
N: “Talk to Fury. He needs you on this.”
B: “He needs me in a cage?”
N: “No one’s gonna in a cage-”
B: “Stop lying to me!”
Bruce slams his hands down on the table; Natasha pulls her gun on him.
B: “I’m sorry; that was mean. I just wanted to see what you’d do. Why don’t we do this the easy way, where you don’t use that and the other guy doesn’t make a mess, okay? Natasha?”
N: *speaking into her earpiece* “Stand down. We’re good here.”
B: “Just you and me.”
This whole scene has a wonderful sense of fragility to it. Natasha doesn’t trust him not to become a monster and he doesn’t trust her not to be leading him into a trap/cage. Ultimately, he goes along with her-takes what he calls the ‘easy way’. The way where he doesn’t turn into the Hulk and kill a whole bunch of people. But no trust is established in this scene-lack of trust is reinforced. Also, note that Bruce repeats the same idea that Tony will later say to Steve-that Fury doesn't tell them everything. Even before they meet, they're on the same wavelength. The scene also have the lovely bookend where Bruce repeats Natasha’s lie-”just you and me”-and he’s not surprised at all by it being a lie. That’s exactly what he expected. That’s what he expects the government to do.
b. On the Helicarrier
When Loki first mentions that the cage is for the 'mindless beast who makes play he's still a man' Natasha looks over at Bruce. Again, that mistrust on both sides is still very much in play.
During the argument on the Helicarrier, Natasha is the person that Bruce turns against first, before he goes after SHIELD as a whole.
Bruce: "Did you know about this*?"
Natasha: "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"
Bruce: "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."
Natasha: "Loki's manipulating you."
Bruce: "And you've been what exactly?"
Natasha: "You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."
Bruce: "Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy."
Did you know about this before you brought me here?
*SHIELD using the Tesseract to create weapons.
Once the engine blows, they're trapped together, and Natasha can do nothing to stop the Hulk. Not from coming out, not from coming after her (of course he does. he blames her for bringing him there; not rationally, not if he sits down and thinks it through, but she's the one that he directs his anger toward during the scepter argument. She's the one who came and got him from Calcutta), not from batting her into a wall. She's good at so many things, but her skills aren't ones that work particularly well against unthinking rage. If it weren't for Thor breaking in on the fight, he could have easily killed her (would he? maybe). The experience leaves her shaken until she gets the call about Clint being spotted. This is something she can deal with.
The moment when he makes eye-contact right before he finishes turning and she says, desperately, "Bruce" and he can't stop himself... very powerful moment.
c. The group meet-up before the big battle
Bruce: "So... this all seems horrible."
Natasha: "I've seen worse."
Bruce: "Sorry."
Natasha: "No, we could... use a little worse."
This little moment, where they reconnect after what happened on the Helicarrier, works so well because it's not overplayed. It's genuine and thus understated.
Bruce and Steve
Steve is off-balanced by the idea of Bruce at the beginning. This is another twisted version of what happened to him, just like the Red Skull was.
Steve: “So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?”
Coulson: “A lot of people were. You were the world’s first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.”
S: “Didn’t really go his way, did it?”
C: "Not so much."
Later, they meet on the deck of the Helicarrier and Steve is determined not to let it make a difference in the way they interact, which is what Bruce wants (but not what Bruce needs). This scene also does a good job showing how Steve is very comfortable around the military and Bruce is very much not.
Bruce: “They told me you’d be coming.”
Steve: “Word is you can find the cube.”
B: “Is that the only word I’m in?”
S: “Only word I care about.”
Bruce nods thoughtfully.
B: “Must be strange for you, all of this.”
S: “Well, this is actually kind of familiar.”
Bruce does respect and trust Steve (you can hear it in his voice when he sarcastically asks, "Captain America is on a threat watch?" in the big scepter-induced fight scene-even when his paranoia is being twisted up higher and higher, he doesn't go after Steve. Or Tony. The scepter amplified genuine conflict; it didn't create anything out of whole cloth).
Bruce and Tony
Show Tony a dangerous situation and he'll poke at it to find out how dangerous it really is to him. This is a lot less stupid of him to do than it would be for most people, because Tony is actually pretty good at handling dangerous situations.
And Tony sees a kindred spirit in Bruce-another scientist, someone who literally speaks his language. Because of that, he’s willing to extend a trust that no one else is capable of, because no one else understands Bruce’s fears in quite the same way that Tony does. He tells Bruce that he thinks that Bruce can control himself-can control the Hulk. He affirms Bruce as both scientist and as someone who can turn a liability into an asset, where everyone else is falling over themselves to stress that they're only interested in Bruce's scientific knowledge.
He also seduces Bruce with science. It's cute. He's basically decided that he's adopting/mentoring Bruce. And he follows through on it all the way to the end. It's no wonder that Bruce as the Hulk notices that Tony is in danger and takes steps to save him. Tony is the person who helps Bruce believe in himself again, basically. He pokes at Bruce (literally) and evidences zero fear of him. He tells him that the creation of the Hulk saved Bruce's life. He knows that Bruce will turn up for the final fight when no one else thinks it might happen. They open up emotionally to each other.
Science Bros for the win! Basically.
Bruce and Thor
They start with a slight tension because Bruce flat-out calls Loki 'crazy', which Thor objects to, but it's not really a big deal. That's not where the focus of Bruce's storyline is. Bruce and Thor don't get much interaction...until Bruce becomes the Hulk and we see those two facing off. And the Hulk is really strong, but Thor's Hammer is stronger (and only usable by Thor, which is a very nifty and handy feature). This is helpful because Bruce hasn't ever really had to face actually being able to have someone around who can stop him when he's the Hulk. Thor is an insurance policy. And Thor enjoys being able to fight against someone that he can't actually hurt (humans are very fragile in comparison to Asgardians, after all). It's win-win.
Bruce Banner
Bruce just wants to be left alone. SHIELD drags him back in, but it’s Tony Stark who makes him want to stay.
Bruce is filled with regrets-we see that in the way he touches the empty baby rocker, in how he talks about trying to kill himself. He has a bitterness to him, but he tries to keep a sense of humor about it. He’s an obvious potential asset to the Avengers with a couple of big drawbacks:
a) he doesn’t want to be there
b) people are afraid of him and want to control him
Steve first makes Bruce feel welcome by stressing that what he cares about is the scientist and actually making him believe it. Tony gets through to him by letting him know that not everyone is afraid of the Hulk-that Tony even believes that there’s good in the change, that it can make Bruce a hero and not a monster. And Natasha faces Bruce at his most terrifying and then welcomes him at the start of the final fight. Thor helps by being someone that actually can stand toe-to-toe with the Hulk. Teamwork!
Oh, and a note: he calls himself 'Banner'.
Bruce: “Shoulda got paid up-front, Banner.”
Clint and Thor
The only thing we really have here is from Thor, where Clint admires Thor's tenacity. But, hey, Clint admires Thor's tenacity!
and Bruce
Bruce isn't really involved in the intra-SHIELD drama of Clint's take-over by Loki. He doesn't want to associate with SHIELD at all; just wants to do his job and then escape again. And, for Bruce, Natasha is the main face of SHIELD.
and Tony
A brief bit of interaction right before the last big battle where Tony gives Clint a boost up to the top of a tower and calls him "Legolas". Some interaction during the fight; Clint helps Tony take out some of the aliens by giving him useful advice.
and Steve
Steve brings Clint with on Natasha's say-so.
During the big fight, they have this exchange:
Steve: "You think you can hold them off?"
Clint: "Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure."
It's a cute moment.
Clint doesn't really get to interact with people too much in this movie, what with the possession thing. Something to look forward to in A2! More of Clint talking to other Avengers!
Clint and Natasha
Natasha argues with Coulson about being pulled out her assignment until she finds out that Clint’s been compromised. Once she learns that, she immediately places that as the highest priority. We learn in her conversation with Loki that Clint changed her life and that she owes him for that. They know each other extremely well-he knows all the horrible things she’s done in the past that she wants to atone for, and she knows exactly how he should sound when he’s ‘himself’ again. We get to see a snippet of them fighting together in a video clip that Coulson is watching and they act like a well-oiled team. They were both likely always on tap for the Avengers’ team, if it worked out back when Fury’d first mentioned it (I’m kinda curious about who else Fury was thinking of-Tony was being examined to see if he was up to it, but Thor and Steve weren’t even on Fury’s radar back then, though Bruce potentially was).
After her run-in with Bruce-as-Hulk, it's when she finds out that Clint is on the Helicarrier with them that she's able to get over her shakiness. She's able to fight and beat him, be with him as he comes back to himself, help him deal with the guilt he feels about being taken over by Loki, and she also gets him on as part of the Avengers' team based on the trust that she and Steve share. And getting this 'win' helped her a lot after what happened with Bruce, I think-she couldn't get through to Bruce but she could get through to Clint.
I love how intimate their fight scene is-you really get more of a sense of just how well these two people know each other, because they anticipate things and they go to places we haven't seen either of them go in other fights (Clint yanking on Natasha's hair; Natasha biting down on Clint's exposed arm). They can ask each other direct questions and know that they'll get honest answers. It's intimate without needing to be romantic.
Clint Barton
We don’t get to see as much of Clint integrating into the group as we do the others. We do get a sense of his skillset (even beyond the awesome arrow kit)- he’s someone who thinks outside the box (doors open at both sides, flipping Natasha instead of killing her, admits admiration for Thor when he’s breaking into the base camp in Thor). He’s good at what he does, but he tends to get the job done in his own way. This makes him valuable to SHIELD (he can see assets where other people only see liabilities and he can spot weakness in a structure) and will make him a valuable member of the Avengers.
Natasha and Tony
Natasha trusts Tony more than Tony trusts Natasha (understandable, considering their history). Even in Iron Man 2, she pities him at times and is amused by him at others, though he can certainly frustrate and irritate her, just like he can everyone else who knows him. She already knows that he’s everything that he tells Steve that he is, and she’s more aware than anyone else on the Avengers team of Tony’s capacity for heroism (Fury, of course, is also well-aware of it; that was never the issue).
At the beginning of the movie, Natasha first assumes that Tony is the 'big guy' that Coulson is talking about and says wryly that "Stark doesn't trust me as far as he can throw me." When Tony unexpectedly shows up in the first battle against Loki, Natasha is the person he talks to first. Music comes over the intercoms, Tony asks, "Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" as he takes over the PA systems. She's worried about him when he goes up in the portal with the missile, verbally urging for him to make it back down, and is relieved when he does appear again.
Natasha and Steve
Natasha and Steve have a pretty straight-forward relationship. They meet, learn enough about each other’s characters that they trust each other’s judgement, and then fight well by each other’s side. She doesn’t hero-worship him; he doesn’t have any baggage when it comes to her. It’s a pretty good example of how simple doesn’t have to be bad or simplistic-they relate well, understand each other, don’t suffer any huge friction at any point. They work as teammates. She also shows a healthy amusement over the idea of other people getting so fussed about ‘Captain America’, which is probably something of a relief for Steve.
Natasha: “There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”
Steve: “Trading cards?”
Natasha: “They’re vintage. He’s very proud.”
She's also the first person to call him 'Cap' in the movie:
Natasha: "I'd sit this one out, Cap."
Steve: "I don't see how I can."
N: "These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."
S: "There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."
Again, it's all about how Natasha doesn't hero-worship Steve or hold him up to the kind of extremely high standards that most of the people in the movie do. To her, he's just a person.
Once he and Tony figure out where they need to go, Steve goes to Natasha and trusts Clint based entirely on her belief in Clint. Steve and Natasha are solid.
Natasha and Thor
There's some tension here at the start because Natasha does not feel that Loki should get any kind of free pass from criticism because he's Thor's brother. She's the one who makes Thor feels embarrassed about defending his brother while in the company of people who've been attacked by him. She makes him back down from his protectiveness a little. But they don't have much interaction otherwise.
Natasha Romanoff
“There’s red in my ledger,” she tells Clint. “I’d like to wipe it out.” Natasha’s reason for choosing to be part of this fight is the same as Tony’s-she wants to make up for the past. Both of them have caused the death of people; they have red in their ledger and they want to wipe it out. Tony is flashier than Natasha, but there’s a base similarity to their motives.
Our re-introduction to Natasha also re-introduces us to her specialities-she’s the consummate actor of the group; additionally, she’s also very good at taking people down and using whatever is at hand to do it (I need to rewatch IM2 to see if that’s part of her characterization there-I seem to recall her being more ~Batman-like there, in that she carried everything she needed with her, while here she’s got more of a Buffy-flavor to her fighting, in that she will use anything that happens to be lying around and will wallop you with it).
Thor and Tony
I remember watching Thor for the first time and going, “He’s the Asgard Tony Stark,” during the opening scenes of the flashback. Obviously, that’s simplistic, but they do have their similarities. I was not surprised that they didn’t click on first introduction.
Tony tackles Thor off a ledge and onto the forest floor.
Thor: "Do not touch me again."
Tony: "Then don't take my stuff."
Thor: "You have no idea what you're dealing with."
Tony: "Uh...Shakespeare in the park? Doest Mother know you wearest her drapes?"
Thor: "This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice."
Tony: "He gives up the cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of the way. Tourist."
Thor hurls his hammer and hits Tony in the back. Fighting ensues. Loki smirks up on his ledge.
Tony and Thor are each refusing to take the other one seriously. Thor assumes that Tony doesn't have a clue and Tony is annoyed by Thor showing up and trying to take over the show when he's 'not from around here' and doesn't know the current score. Interestingly enough, they actually don't actively 'solve' their differences-Thor faces his arrogance issues alone, while Tony works out his control and authority issues with Steve. And Tony and Thor totally cool with each other at the end of the movie.
Thor and Steve
They don't have much interaction, but it pretty much all comes down to Steve acting like he's Thor's older brother-both in the fight in the forest and in the set-up for the final fight scene, Steve is there to pull Thor away from his private wants and get him to integrate with the group.
They also have that lovely moment during the fight where Steve's been hit and Thor helps him up and is concerned about him. Steve's words here remind me of the Steve-on-the-ropes that we saw in a couple of places in Captain America.
Thor: "You ready for another bout?"
Steve: "What-you getting sleepy?"
Whenever we see Steve get all scrappy like that, I flash back to tiny!Steve in the alley of that movie theater.
Thor Odinson
The benefits of having Thor as an Avenger are pretty obvious (he can fly, he's really strong and durable, he has a super-powerful hammer that comes when called and that no one else can pick up, and he can call lighting-it's an impressive list), with the only major downside being that his primary home is another planet. And his soft spot for his brother.
Thor's learned a lot since we first met him and he's grown-up quite a bit. He's learned about the damage that can be caused without intention. But despite his words to his brother about not how they shouldn't think themselves better than humans, he does think that he knows better. He thinks, at the the beginning, that he shouldn't need to explain himself to the people who have Loki captive-no, he just snatches Loki for himself without trying to talk it out first. This arrogance also shows itself in the scepter-influenced Helicarrier fight. He calls them "petty" and "tiny", words that would fit rather well in Loki's mouth. And everything gets blown to pieces and Loki tricks him into that trap meant for Bruce, and so Thor has to think and wonder and consider that perhaps he was still being more arrogant than he should, given the situation. They couldn't just hand over Loki to Thor under the situation at the beginning of the movie. Not with Loki's minions hard at work on the portal project. After his fall from the Helicarrier, we see Thor hesitate before picking up the Hammer. It's good not to be entirely convinced of your own self-righteousness, I'd say.
Steve and Tony
Steve and Tony learn about each other before they meet-each of them get files on the other Avengers. Tony, of course, also had history in the form of his dad talking about Captain America and sending out search teams looking for him; and on the other side, Steve has his memories of Howard to look back on. They didn’t get to start with a clean slate.
When Steve and Tony officially meet in the movie, Tony is an unexpected addition to the first fight against Loki. He takes a shot against Loki, who surrenders theatrically (because surrendering was his plan anyway, after putting up enough of a fight to make it seem realistic). After Loki is captured and on the plane, Steve and Tony have a somewhat tense conversation (which is Tony's fault; it's interesting, because I remembered Steve getting in sharper jabs, but that's later, during the Helicarrier argument. Here, it's Tony being antagonistic and Steve not getting why this guy keeps poking at him).
Steve: *quietly* "I don't like it."
Tony: "What-Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
S: "I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."
T: "Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow."
Steve looks at him.
T: "What's your thing-pilates?"
S: "What?"
T: "It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."
S: "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."
T: "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."
Thunder rumbles. The bay door to the aircraft opens. Tony puts on his Iron Man helmet.
S: "What are you doing?"
Thor arrives and yanks Loki, knocking Tony over in the process. Tony goes to follow.
T: "Now there's that guy."
Natasha: "Another Asgardian?"
S: "That guy's a friendly?"
T: "Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."
S: "Stark! We need a plan of attack."
T: "I have a plan: attack."
Tony flies out of the aircraft. Steve goes for a parachute.
So when we have Tony asking Steve to call the play for the last fight, it's a call-back to this scene, where Steve wants them to work together and Tony is all "I can do this on my own, thanks". Basically, from what Steve can see, Tony is the guy who drops in, attempts to take unilateral control, and then wastes resources by picking fights with people who could be on his side.
Tony continues to take control the second he walks into a room in later scenes as well.
This vibe continues through the Steve-Bruce-Tony scene and then into the Helicarrier fight scene. Steve and Tony do not understand each other at this point. Neither of them can figure the other one out-each of them is trying to work out how much substance there is under the flash and the glamour.
Steve's take on Tony right now: "You're all about style, aren't you?
Tony's take on Steve: "That's the guy my dad never shut up about?"
Here's their section of the Helicarrier argument:
Tony: "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"
Tony puts his hand on Steve's shoulder and Steve knocks it away.
Steve: "You know damn well why. Back off."
Tony: "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."
Steve: "Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"
And the word that Steve isn't saying right now but that I'm pretty sure he's thinking is 'bully'. He thinks Tony's a bully. Primarily what Steve has seen Tony do up to this point in the movie is pick and poke at people to try to get reactions from them. When he sees that, he doesn't think 'scientist'; he thinks 'bully'.
Tony: "Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist."
Steve: "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you."
I just wanted to mention that the line readings that they used for the movie are much quieter and more intense than the ones that are in the trailer. And it works really well. Also, Steve is thinking of Bucky right now.
Steve: "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play; to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
Tony: "I think I would just cut the wire."
Steve smiles, not nicely, and looks over at Bruce.
Steve: "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
Tony: "A hero-like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."
Steve: "Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."
And this part of the entire argument is the most vicious of any of it. And everyone else can sense how volatile it is, too - when Steve shoves Tony's hand away, everyone else stops with their individual arguments to watch.
Then, they get back into it again a little later.
Thor: "You've located the Tesseract?"
Tony: "I could get there faster."
Thor: "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it."
Steve: *to Tony* "You're not going alone."
This time, Steve is the one who reaches for Tony's shoulder and gets his hand batted away.
Tony: "You gonna stop me?"
Steve: "Put on the suit and let's find out."
Tony: "I'm not afraid to hit an old man."
Steve: "Put on the suit."
Again, this is the issue that Steve had with Tony back in the previous fight-Tony wants to handle it all on his own. That's actually something that gets resolved in both directions-yes, Tony works with the Avengers as a team, but Steve also realizes that Tony's quick thinking and acting before asking permission is sometimes necessary. He learns to trust Tony, too.
Once the Helicarrier blows up, things are very serious and Steve and Tony don't screw around fighting with each other anymore. The two of them work together to get the engine back online, and they work together well. Steve gets to see Tony actively at work as Iron Man and Tony can see that Steve has no problem listening to him and helping him when he knows that Tony's expertise is what's required. They finally get a chance to make good impressions on each other. And when Steve admits to Tony that he doesn't know what he's looking at ("It seems to run on some form of electricity"), Tony doesn't mock him for his lack of knowledge. They both get to learn that the other person actually does kinda live up to his hype, they help save each other's lives and save the Helicarrier, it's a lovely bonding moment, in all honesty.
It's during this scene where they're saving the Helicarrier that Tony calls Steve "Cap"-"Cap, hit the lever." He's now in a similar place to Natasha when it comes to Steve-he's seeing the person and not the hype.
Tony and Steve are the two people who get the hard-core manipulation from Fury, with the bloody cards and the talk about how Coulson died believing in heroes. It does get to them, though they're aware that Fury doesn't have clean hands himself. When Tony leaves to go think, Steve follows him. They're the two Avengers in the movie who had the most interaction with Coulson, so it's appropriate that they're the ones who talk things out after his death. They've fought side-by-side together successfully now, so this is their chance to talk to each other without constantly sizing the other guy up and judging him. Now, they're talking to each other as people, not as Iron Man and Captain America.
Steve: "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."
Tony: "Right. I've heard that before."
Steve: "Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"
Tony: "We are not soldiers. I'm not marching to Fury's fife."
Steve: "Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does but right now we've got to put that behind us and get this done."
Here, Steve goes after Tony and deliberately places himself on the same level. He calls him 'Tony', he listens to what Tony is telling him and he adjusts his approach based on what Tony's telling him. He saw Tony's reaction to Coulson's death; saw that he cared. So, Steve reaches out and it works. He sees what's behind Tony's aggressiveness and his bravado. And Tony has seen, as he tells Loki, that Steve "lives up to the legend".
When it gets back to a work situation, Steve is calling him 'Stark' again, but the respect is still there on both sides.
Steve: "Stark, we got him."
Tony: "Banner?"
Steve: "Just like you said."
...
Tony: "Call it, Captain."
Here, right before the big final battle, they acknowledge that the other person is bringing important things to the table and they respect each other's contributions. When Steve makes the call to close the portal, not thinking that Tony will make it back in time, there's genuine regret-and an equally genuine relief and happiness when Tony makes it back and lives. Both of them were wrong before and they understand that by the end of the movie.
And this is how Steve looks at Tony at the end of the battle:
Tony is rambling and being kinda post-battle-silly and Steve just looks incredibly fond and with a more warm and open look on his face than he's had the entire freaking movie. Just, you know, Steve is my favorite and before TA came out, CA was my favorite of the movies. I love him to pieces and seeing that look on his face warms my heart.
Steve Rogers
Steve is a tactical leader. He’s good at it-allocating who does what, leading in a fight, being an inspirational figure. He’s also someone who is a legend (note the woman at the end and the way she says, “Captain America saved my life” and Bruce’s utter disbelief that ‘Captain America’ could be considered a security risk). By putting Captain America out as the face of the group, the Avengers get imbued with that mythology that the last seventy years have built up around him. He’s really good PR, basically. And he can live up to the hype, which is just as important (which is part of what the Tony-Steve push-pull is all about-each of them are circling and doubting that the other one lives up to their hype).
Steve is also hesitant at the beginning. His first experience in this new time period was people lying to him because they didn’t think he could handle the truth. And then, in the middle of this movie, he learned that SHIELD is still lying to him. But Tony doesn’t lie to him (Tony is rather aggressively honest).
The Avengers go through blood and fire and come out the other side a team. He’s still physically alone at the end, but he’s willing to give the new world a chance now, instead of staying trapped in the basement with his memories and his nightmares.
Also: check out Steve’s vulnerable eyes at around 20 minutes into the movie when Fury mentioned that Howard found the Tesseract “when he was looking for you”.
Another note: Steve swears. He says "damn" in the argument with Tony and "bastards" when describing the Chitauri near the end of the movie.
Tony Stark
Tony, bizarrely, is the person who is seemingly least in need of the team (seemingly).
After having skimmed through the comics versions and having watched IM and IM2, it was strange to me that Tony does come across as emotionally healthy in this movie. But it gives him something big to feel like he’s losing at the end (when he can’t reach Pepper) when he makes his sacrificial play.
(speaking of Tony/Pepper, the relationship still appears to be in the very early ‘honeymoon’ stage-Tony calls the elevator ‘his’, which Pepper corrects to ‘ours’-but they are definitely much more comfortable around each other than they were at the end of IM2. And have gotten better at sharing affection, because the kissing in IM2 was pretty awkward and it’s much more natural here. Pepper has let her guard down a lot more than she did in either of the IM movies. She also appears to be a big supporter of Tony being part of the Avengers-possibly under the theory that if he’s constantly going to be throwing himself into danger, having a team along with him might help him get back out alive and relatively unharmed)
Tony's an obvious asset to the team, but he did have to prove that he could act as part of the team. At the beginning of the movie, he's not willing to act that way with Steve, Natasha, or Thor. But he clicks with Bruce as a fellow scientist right away and then, during the Helicarrier fight, he and Steve work together very well despite being the two people verbally attacking each other the most fiercely during the scepter-induced argument. Fury knows that Stark is damn good at what he does-he calls on him to fix engine three, calls on him to handle the missile-but he's also seen that Stark will choose being honest over being discreet ("I am Iron Man") and that he reacts badly to people trying to be, ah, authoritarian with him.
Tony could only ever really be on a team if Tony was the person who chose to be there, who actively wanted to be there. Tony works well with people that he likes, respects, and has chosen to work with. If he doesn't like you, respect you, or want to be around you, then he is not going to swallow his distaste and work with you anyway. He won't be a 'good soldier' about it. He'll make a fuss.
The Avengers
“You know what it’s like to be unmade?” Clint asks.
Something that the Avengers all have in common is that they do know. Intimately. Every single one of them has been undone and then changed into something-someone-new. Whether they started as a weapons manufacturer or a skinny kid from Brooklyn or an assassin... none of them are what they used to be. They are all profoundly different than the person that they were, once upon a time. Every single one of them has had to look their previous world-view straight on and re-evaluate it.
I also really like that the team doesn’t revolve around just one person. The relationship webs between all the different members of the team are a lot more complicated than that.
a. The first time we have more than two Avengers interacting is the scene when Natasha takes Steve to meet Bruce. Natasha is more of an observer in this scene-she’s still representing SHIELD, as far as Bruce is concerned. She hasn’t shown herself to be part of the group that will become the Avengers yet.
After the reveal of the Helicarrier's 'Heli' nature, Natasha leads them into the control room. Steve is impressed by it all; Bruce is intimidated and nervous (great body language from the actors). Oh, hey, in this scene, two different women working in the control room say lines right after each other-can I pretend they’re talking to each other? (lol, joking. But I am actually pretty amused that this movie has tons of women all over the place in roles from major to minor...and they never say a single line to each other. Maria, Pepper, Natasha, Natasha’s ‘actress buddy’, several women working on the Helicarrier, the waitress who is interviewed after the big battle, a female scientist working on the Tesseract, one of the shadowy Council members, etc. So many more women than I’m used to seeing in big-budget Hollywood movies... and yet they only ever exchange lines with male characters.) Actually, oh! I think they might be talking to Maria Hill*! Score!
Plot-talk happens and Bruce relaxes as he finds something that he does have control over (he takes off his coat and everything). Natasha is the one who takes him to his lab-she doesn’t look at him as she leads him away. Again, points on the body language. Bruce and Natasha are not comfortable around each other.
* who is so completely awesome
b. We have Steve breaking into the fight between Tony and Thor. And, yeah, Steve does come across as the frustrated grown-up trying to corral irritating teenagers.
Steve: "Hey! That's enough. Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here--"
Thor: "I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!"
Steve: "Then prove it. Put that hammer down."
Tony: "Ah, yeah, no! Bad call. He loves his--"
Thor bashes his hammer against Tony's armour and knocks him over.
Thor: "You want me to put the hammer down?"
Thor takes a mighty leap to bring his hammer down on Steve, who brings up his shield. There's a burst of energy where the hammer meets the shield and Thor is knocked back by the force of his own blow.
Steve: "Are we done here?"
c. Team meeting in the Helicarrier! So, they've just listened to Loki and Fury's convo and Loki has managed to send a few jabs Bruce and Tony's way, setting up paranoia and distrust.
Bruce: "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"
Steve: "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?"
Thor: "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
Steve: "An army. From outer space."
He kinda gives Natasha a 'really, this is my life now?' look. Hee.
Bruce: "So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."
Thor: "Selvig?"
Bruce: "He's an astrophysicist."
Thor: "He's a friend."
Natasha: "Loki has him under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours."
Steve: "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."
Bruce: "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats; you can smell crazy on him."
Thor: "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."
Natasha: "He killed eighty people in two days."
Thor: *awkwardly* "He's adopted."
Bruce: "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?"
Tony and Coulson walk into the room.
Tony: "It's a stabilizing agent." Then to Coulson. "So, I'm just saying, take a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive." To the group. "Means: portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." To Thor. "No hard feelings, pointbreak. You got a mean swing." Hee, Thor's face! Tony gives orders to SHIELD employees and generally chatters in order to distract everyone from how he's totally planting a bug on one of the SHIELD computers. The way that Tony can effortlessly control a crowd like that when he wants to really speaks to the showman part of his nature (which is frequently on display in the Iron Man movies as well).
Maria: "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"
Tony: "Last night."
Heh, Maria's face is also priceless.
Tony: "The packet. Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"
Steve: "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"
Tony and Bruce techonobabble at each other for a bit. The words are immaterial-the point is that they understand each other.
Tony: "Finally, someone who speaks English."
Steve: "Is that what just happened?"
Tony and Bruce shake hands.
Tony: "It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
Bruce: "Thanks."
And this is the thing that makes Tony different from everyone else in the movie. The rest are all tiptoeing around the idea of the Hulk. Tony faces it head-on. If there's an elephant in the room, Tony is going to paint it with glitter and then start a disco ball spinning over its head so that everyone can see it sparkle. Aggressively honest.
Fury: "Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him."
Steve: "I'd start with that stick of his. It might be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
Fury: "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
Thor: "Monkeys? I do not understand."
Steve: "I do! ...I understood that reference."
Steve is adorably pleased about this. Tony rolls his eyes at Steve's enthusiasm. And then Bruce and Tony go off to play together in the lab.
After they've been there for a while, Steve comes in to see how things are going. He arrives just as Tony is literally poking at Bruce with an electrical prod-type thing. So, again, what Steve sees is Tony trying to pick fights and cause trouble, because he doesn't see the underlying reason behind what Tony is doing here.
Steve: "Is everything a joke to you?"
Tony: "Funny things are."
Steve: "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." To Bruce. "No offense, Doc."
Bruce: "It-- It's all right. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."
Now they talk about how untrustworthy Fury is. Steve tries to be all Good Soldier about it, but with both Tony and Bruce obviously not trusting Fury, he decides that he needs to investigate, since Bruce is, after all, a Stephen Hawking smart guy and Tony, no matter how much he might be frustrating and confusing Steve, is also obviously one as well.
That said, Steve is also completely correct that Loki is trying to get them to distrust each other and to fight. Everyone is right! In a way.
d. The big scepter-induced fight scene-though the feelings are amplified, everything we see tracks with what we've seen in earlier scenes. I took on some of the one-on-one parts of the conversation earlier, so I'm going to be skipping those parts here.
Fury: "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"
Tony: "Ah, kinda been wondering the same thing about you."
Fury: "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."
Bruce: "We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."
Tony: "Yeah, we're gonna get your cube back. No muss. No fuss. What is Phrase 2?"
Steve: "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."
Fury: "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making--"
Tony: "I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?"
Steve: "I was wrong, Director, the world hasn't changed a bit."
Thor and Natasha enter.
...Bruce-Natasha section of the argument...
Bruce: "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
Fury: "Because of him."
Fury points at Thor.
Thor: "Me?"
Fury: "Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet, who had a grudge-match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly-hilariously-outgunned."
Thor: "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."
Fury: "But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched. That can't be controlled."
Steve: "Like you controlled the cube?"
Thor: "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it. And his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
Steve: "A higher form?"
Fury: "You forced our hand. We had to come up with some--"
Tony: "A nuclear deterrent? 'Cause that always calms everything right down."
Fury: "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"
Steve: "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep right--"
Tony: "Wait, wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?"
Steve: "I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
Thor: "I thought humans were more evolved than this."
Fury: "Excuse me. Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"
(at this point, people start talking over each other. I will write down everything that I could make out)
Thor: *to Fury* "This is how you treat your champions, with such mistrust?"
Fury: "You are not my champion!"
Tony says something here, but I can't make it out. Something about "you understand that this isn't about" something. I think he's still talking to Steve. And then "what is it about me that bothers you so much? I'm curious". Again, pretty sure those are directed at Steve. Once Steve and Tony start in on each other, they're pretty focused.
Natasha: *to Thor* "Are you really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats."
Bruce: "Captain America is on a threat watch?"
Natasha: "We all are."
Fury: "This is not your concern, Doctor."
Tony: "Wait, you're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?"
Steve: "Stark, so help me God, you make one more wisecrack-"
Tony: "Is that a verbal threat? I feel threatened!"
Steve: "Show some respect."
Tony: "Respect?"
Thor: "If I need to put you down, then I will."
Bruce: "Oh, yeah, lay a hand on me now, that'll be a good idea."
It kinda all merges into a buzz at this point. We can see in the reverse that Tony and Steve are still completely focused on each other in the argument. Of course they are. It cuts to Clint arriving. Back to the argument.
Thor: "You speak of control yet you court chaos."
Bruce: "That's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we-a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're...we're a time bomb."
Fury: "You need to step away."
...Tony-Steve section of the argument...
Thor: *to Steve and Tony; laughing* "You people are so petty. And tiny."
He's sounding almost drunk.
Bruce: *sarcastically* "Yeah, this is a team."
Tony wipes his forehead.
Fury: "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Doctor Banner back to his--"
Bruce: "Where? You rented my room."
Fury: "The cell was just in case--"
Bruce: "-just in case you needed to kill me but you can't. I know. I tried. I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people, I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"
Steve: "Doctor Banner. Put down the scepter."
The locator beeps.
Bruce: "Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."
First off, wow. That argument (set of arguments?) is fantastic.
So, Bruce is pissed off at Natasha, Fury, and SHIELD. He's not pissed at Steve or Tony.
Thor isn't pissed at anyone until Fury starts blaming him for everything, at which point, he gets tetchy with Fury and, by extension, all petty humans and their petty pettiness. Basically, he starts sounding arrogant again.
Natasha has her guard up, especially around Bruce. She's still amused by Tony and has no real beef with any of the other potential Avengers.
Tony and Steve are mad at Fury/SHIELD (Natasha isn't folded into this for either of them) and each other. Each other a lot. Tension like whoa. They're in the middle of confronting Fury about the weapons issue and Steve takes a potshot at Tony, who is indignant for a while before he finally snipes back. Once Steve and Tony are involved in arguing with each other, it's their main focus for the rest of the fight-even Bruce nearly Hulking out only distracts them while it's an active threat. Once Bruce puts the scepter down, they're back to sniping at each other.
Fury is frustrated with everyone except Natasha, but especially Thor.
e. Being a team in the big final fight
It is a beautiful moment when all the Avengers come together for the first time, in costume, back-to-five-other-backs.
Natasha: "How do we do this?"
Steve: "As a team."
Thor: "I have unfinished business with Loki."
Clint: "Yeah, well, get in line."
Steve: "Save it. Loki's gonna keep his fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top. He's gonna need us to-"
Bruce arrives.
Bruce: "So... this all seems horrible."
Natasha: "I've seen worse."
Bruce: "Sorry."
Natasha: "No, we could... use a little worse."
Bruce nods and the look on his face is really sweet.
Steve: "Stark, we got him."
Tony: "Banner?"
Steve: "Just like you said."
Tony: "Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
Tony comes around the building with the giant ship following him.
Natasha: "I-ah-I don't see how that's a party."
Steve: "Doctor Banner! Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
Bruce: "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry."
Bruce turns into the Hulk and stops the ship cold (with a little help from Tony). Awesome shot of all the Avengers in a circle is awesome. Natasha sees more ships coming through the portal.
Natasha: "Guys."
Tony: "Call it, Captain."
This is when all the puzzle pieces just slid into place. It fits. They're working together now, not against each other. In general, they all work together well during the fight: Clint helps out Tony, Thor and the Hulk fight side-by-side, Steve gives Natasha a boost on his shield, Thor gives Steve a hand up when he's gotten hit later on-it's basically an orgy of mutual respect.
When Tony makes his sacrifice play, the main reaction shots focus on Natasha and Steve-Steve sees that Tony is capable of exactly what he accused him of not being able to do ("You know that's a one-way trip, Stark?"); Natasha staring up at the sky, hoping that he'll make it out ("Come on, Stark"). It's Steve who has to make the call to close the portal and Natasha who actually has to physically do it, so that's a connection too, that they're the people who-if Tony hadn't made it out-would have held themselves responsible for that death in the line of duty.
Thor is prepared to save Tony from freefall, but then the Hulk appears! He saw Tony go into the portal, saw him fall out, and saved him. It's a really awesome 'thank you' for everything Tony did to help Bruce become more comfortable with himself.
Thor and Bruce are pleased that Tony's okay:
And, when the group (mostly) parts ways at the end of the movie, it's in the spirit of friendship and a job well-done.
Plus Tony is secretly planning to move them all into his tower at some point anyway.
Misc. Thoughts
Visual note: the Tesseract in the machine at the beginning of the movie looks very much like Steve’s shield in form and color. Red metal on the outside alternating with bands, pale shape at the center.
Seriously, someone tell me that it's not just me seeing this.
On Loki: he really does look like shit at the beginning of the movie. Sweaty and pale, with circles under his eyes. I think it’s likely the scepter working on him. Both Clint and Selvig start to look the same was the longer they’re under the direct control of the scepter and when the scepter is influencing people in the argument on the Helicarrier, the Avengers start to get sweaty and feverish, too (Tony wipes off his forehead at one point during the arguing). It’s a symptom. And the scepter amplifies paranoia and increases conflict-it actually stands to reason that it’s doing the same thing on Loki that it’s doing to everyone that Loki is using it on. And Loki has so much bitterness for it to feed on and amplify.
On scene-cutting: there’s a lot of good reference-cutting. Fury talks about soldiers winning wars-next is the Captain America scene. Steve mentions the ocean-we cut to Iron Man under water. Natasha mentions a lab with ‘all the toys’-we cut to Selvig in Loki’s lab. Lots of little things like that that create a nice sense of flow.
I also think the pacing of the movie was really done quite well.
Something else I enjoyed was seeing the various people on the Avengers/SHIELD side trying to work out Loki's plans. They could tell there was something that they weren't figuring out; they were smart enough to know that Loki was way too happy about being captured and gave up too easily, but they didn't have the information that they needed to guess what his plans were.
I like that we see the waitress at the start of the fight, the middle, and then at the end being interviewed. She's kinda the face of the 'average human' on the street.
I also noticed that Tony says "son of a bitch" while Steve says "son of a gun".
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I'm going to start with the Bruce-based interaction. Mostly because Bruce comes first alphabetically. I'm sorta gonna go in alphabetical order. Except when I go in chronological order.
Bruce, of course, comes along with his rage-based alter-ego, the Hulk, and how the different characters react to the Hulk and the possibility of the Hulk is one of the most fascinating parts of a movie filled with interesting things.
Going in order of when he met each person:
Bruce and Natasha
The Hulk scares Natasha in a way that we don’t really see anything else scare her. This made intuitive sense to me when I watched the movie-her 'superpower' is her ability to act. Being able to kick ass makes her kick-ass, but what makes her unique in this group* is her ability to play people-we've seen this ability illustrated three times: first and most extensively in Iron Man 2, then at the beginning of The Avengers (to re-establish it) and, most importantly, she does it to Loki. No one else in the Avengers group can convincingly emote on command and fill a role like Natasha can.
The Hulk, though, is an aggressive rage-based defense mechanism** and he doesn't stand around and wait to be silver-tongued or argued with***.
* her closest analogue being Loki himself, rather than anyone else on the Avengers; Loki actually serves to double both Natasha and Tony, which was interesting to me.
** speaking only of this movie, not of the previous movies or the Hulk in general
*** Note that Loki had equally little success against him
Interaction:
a. the initial introduction
Here we get a delicate dance between two people who are very wary of each other. Bruce doesn't trust anyone who's looking for him (and he'll remain nervous and wary and untrusting of SHIELD throughout the movie) and Natasha knows enough about Bruce’s history to know how potentially dangerous he is.
Natasha: “You know, for a man who’s supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle.”
Bruce: “Avoiding stress isn’t the secret.”
N: “Then what is it-yoga?”
B: “You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart. I, uh, I assume the whole place is surrounded.”
N: “Just you and me.”
...
N: “Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now we need you to come in.”
B: “What if I say no?”
N: “I’ll persuade you.”
B: “And what if the...other guy says no?”
N: “You’ve been more than a year without an incident; I don’t think you want to break that streak.”
B: “Well, I don’t every time get what I want.”
...
B: “So, Fury isn’t after the monster.”
N: “Not that he’s told me.”
B: “And he tells you everything?”
N: “Talk to Fury. He needs you on this.”
B: “He needs me in a cage?”
N: “No one’s gonna in a cage-”
B: “Stop lying to me!”
Bruce slams his hands down on the table; Natasha pulls her gun on him.
B: “I’m sorry; that was mean. I just wanted to see what you’d do. Why don’t we do this the easy way, where you don’t use that and the other guy doesn’t make a mess, okay? Natasha?”
N: *speaking into her earpiece* “Stand down. We’re good here.”
B: “Just you and me.”
This whole scene has a wonderful sense of fragility to it. Natasha doesn’t trust him not to become a monster and he doesn’t trust her not to be leading him into a trap/cage. Ultimately, he goes along with her-takes what he calls the ‘easy way’. The way where he doesn’t turn into the Hulk and kill a whole bunch of people. But no trust is established in this scene-lack of trust is reinforced. Also, note that Bruce repeats the same idea that Tony will later say to Steve-that Fury doesn't tell them everything. Even before they meet, they're on the same wavelength. The scene also have the lovely bookend where Bruce repeats Natasha’s lie-”just you and me”-and he’s not surprised at all by it being a lie. That’s exactly what he expected. That’s what he expects the government to do.
b. On the Helicarrier
When Loki first mentions that the cage is for the 'mindless beast who makes play he's still a man' Natasha looks over at Bruce. Again, that mistrust on both sides is still very much in play.
During the argument on the Helicarrier, Natasha is the person that Bruce turns against first, before he goes after SHIELD as a whole.
Bruce: "Did you know about this*?"
Natasha: "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"
Bruce: "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."
Natasha: "Loki's manipulating you."
Bruce: "And you've been what exactly?"
Natasha: "You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."
Bruce: "Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy."
Did you know about this before you brought me here?
*SHIELD using the Tesseract to create weapons.
Once the engine blows, they're trapped together, and Natasha can do nothing to stop the Hulk. Not from coming out, not from coming after her (of course he does. he blames her for bringing him there; not rationally, not if he sits down and thinks it through, but she's the one that he directs his anger toward during the scepter argument. She's the one who came and got him from Calcutta), not from batting her into a wall. She's good at so many things, but her skills aren't ones that work particularly well against unthinking rage. If it weren't for Thor breaking in on the fight, he could have easily killed her (would he? maybe). The experience leaves her shaken until she gets the call about Clint being spotted. This is something she can deal with.
The moment when he makes eye-contact right before he finishes turning and she says, desperately, "Bruce" and he can't stop himself... very powerful moment.
c. The group meet-up before the big battle
Bruce: "So... this all seems horrible."
Natasha: "I've seen worse."
Bruce: "Sorry."
Natasha: "No, we could... use a little worse."
This little moment, where they reconnect after what happened on the Helicarrier, works so well because it's not overplayed. It's genuine and thus understated.
Bruce and Steve
Steve is off-balanced by the idea of Bruce at the beginning. This is another twisted version of what happened to him, just like the Red Skull was.
Steve: “So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?”
Coulson: “A lot of people were. You were the world’s first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.”
S: “Didn’t really go his way, did it?”
C: "Not so much."
Later, they meet on the deck of the Helicarrier and Steve is determined not to let it make a difference in the way they interact, which is what Bruce wants (but not what Bruce needs). This scene also does a good job showing how Steve is very comfortable around the military and Bruce is very much not.
Bruce: “They told me you’d be coming.”
Steve: “Word is you can find the cube.”
B: “Is that the only word I’m in?”
S: “Only word I care about.”
Bruce nods thoughtfully.
B: “Must be strange for you, all of this.”
S: “Well, this is actually kind of familiar.”
Bruce does respect and trust Steve (you can hear it in his voice when he sarcastically asks, "Captain America is on a threat watch?" in the big scepter-induced fight scene-even when his paranoia is being twisted up higher and higher, he doesn't go after Steve. Or Tony. The scepter amplified genuine conflict; it didn't create anything out of whole cloth).
Bruce and Tony
Show Tony a dangerous situation and he'll poke at it to find out how dangerous it really is to him. This is a lot less stupid of him to do than it would be for most people, because Tony is actually pretty good at handling dangerous situations.
And Tony sees a kindred spirit in Bruce-another scientist, someone who literally speaks his language. Because of that, he’s willing to extend a trust that no one else is capable of, because no one else understands Bruce’s fears in quite the same way that Tony does. He tells Bruce that he thinks that Bruce can control himself-can control the Hulk. He affirms Bruce as both scientist and as someone who can turn a liability into an asset, where everyone else is falling over themselves to stress that they're only interested in Bruce's scientific knowledge.
He also seduces Bruce with science. It's cute. He's basically decided that he's adopting/mentoring Bruce. And he follows through on it all the way to the end. It's no wonder that Bruce as the Hulk notices that Tony is in danger and takes steps to save him. Tony is the person who helps Bruce believe in himself again, basically. He pokes at Bruce (literally) and evidences zero fear of him. He tells him that the creation of the Hulk saved Bruce's life. He knows that Bruce will turn up for the final fight when no one else thinks it might happen. They open up emotionally to each other.
Science Bros for the win! Basically.
Bruce and Thor
They start with a slight tension because Bruce flat-out calls Loki 'crazy', which Thor objects to, but it's not really a big deal. That's not where the focus of Bruce's storyline is. Bruce and Thor don't get much interaction...until Bruce becomes the Hulk and we see those two facing off. And the Hulk is really strong, but Thor's Hammer is stronger (and only usable by Thor, which is a very nifty and handy feature). This is helpful because Bruce hasn't ever really had to face actually being able to have someone around who can stop him when he's the Hulk. Thor is an insurance policy. And Thor enjoys being able to fight against someone that he can't actually hurt (humans are very fragile in comparison to Asgardians, after all). It's win-win.
Bruce Banner
Bruce just wants to be left alone. SHIELD drags him back in, but it’s Tony Stark who makes him want to stay.
Bruce is filled with regrets-we see that in the way he touches the empty baby rocker, in how he talks about trying to kill himself. He has a bitterness to him, but he tries to keep a sense of humor about it. He’s an obvious potential asset to the Avengers with a couple of big drawbacks:
a) he doesn’t want to be there
b) people are afraid of him and want to control him
Steve first makes Bruce feel welcome by stressing that what he cares about is the scientist and actually making him believe it. Tony gets through to him by letting him know that not everyone is afraid of the Hulk-that Tony even believes that there’s good in the change, that it can make Bruce a hero and not a monster. And Natasha faces Bruce at his most terrifying and then welcomes him at the start of the final fight. Thor helps by being someone that actually can stand toe-to-toe with the Hulk. Teamwork!
Oh, and a note: he calls himself 'Banner'.
Bruce: “Shoulda got paid up-front, Banner.”
Clint and Thor
The only thing we really have here is from Thor, where Clint admires Thor's tenacity. But, hey, Clint admires Thor's tenacity!
and Bruce
Bruce isn't really involved in the intra-SHIELD drama of Clint's take-over by Loki. He doesn't want to associate with SHIELD at all; just wants to do his job and then escape again. And, for Bruce, Natasha is the main face of SHIELD.
and Tony
A brief bit of interaction right before the last big battle where Tony gives Clint a boost up to the top of a tower and calls him "Legolas". Some interaction during the fight; Clint helps Tony take out some of the aliens by giving him useful advice.
and Steve
Steve brings Clint with on Natasha's say-so.
During the big fight, they have this exchange:
Steve: "You think you can hold them off?"
Clint: "Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure."
It's a cute moment.
Clint doesn't really get to interact with people too much in this movie, what with the possession thing. Something to look forward to in A2! More of Clint talking to other Avengers!
Clint and Natasha
Natasha argues with Coulson about being pulled out her assignment until she finds out that Clint’s been compromised. Once she learns that, she immediately places that as the highest priority. We learn in her conversation with Loki that Clint changed her life and that she owes him for that. They know each other extremely well-he knows all the horrible things she’s done in the past that she wants to atone for, and she knows exactly how he should sound when he’s ‘himself’ again. We get to see a snippet of them fighting together in a video clip that Coulson is watching and they act like a well-oiled team. They were both likely always on tap for the Avengers’ team, if it worked out back when Fury’d first mentioned it (I’m kinda curious about who else Fury was thinking of-Tony was being examined to see if he was up to it, but Thor and Steve weren’t even on Fury’s radar back then, though Bruce potentially was).
After her run-in with Bruce-as-Hulk, it's when she finds out that Clint is on the Helicarrier with them that she's able to get over her shakiness. She's able to fight and beat him, be with him as he comes back to himself, help him deal with the guilt he feels about being taken over by Loki, and she also gets him on as part of the Avengers' team based on the trust that she and Steve share. And getting this 'win' helped her a lot after what happened with Bruce, I think-she couldn't get through to Bruce but she could get through to Clint.
I love how intimate their fight scene is-you really get more of a sense of just how well these two people know each other, because they anticipate things and they go to places we haven't seen either of them go in other fights (Clint yanking on Natasha's hair; Natasha biting down on Clint's exposed arm). They can ask each other direct questions and know that they'll get honest answers. It's intimate without needing to be romantic.
Clint Barton
We don’t get to see as much of Clint integrating into the group as we do the others. We do get a sense of his skillset (even beyond the awesome arrow kit)- he’s someone who thinks outside the box (doors open at both sides, flipping Natasha instead of killing her, admits admiration for Thor when he’s breaking into the base camp in Thor). He’s good at what he does, but he tends to get the job done in his own way. This makes him valuable to SHIELD (he can see assets where other people only see liabilities and he can spot weakness in a structure) and will make him a valuable member of the Avengers.
Natasha and Tony
Natasha trusts Tony more than Tony trusts Natasha (understandable, considering their history). Even in Iron Man 2, she pities him at times and is amused by him at others, though he can certainly frustrate and irritate her, just like he can everyone else who knows him. She already knows that he’s everything that he tells Steve that he is, and she’s more aware than anyone else on the Avengers team of Tony’s capacity for heroism (Fury, of course, is also well-aware of it; that was never the issue).
At the beginning of the movie, Natasha first assumes that Tony is the 'big guy' that Coulson is talking about and says wryly that "Stark doesn't trust me as far as he can throw me." When Tony unexpectedly shows up in the first battle against Loki, Natasha is the person he talks to first. Music comes over the intercoms, Tony asks, "Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" as he takes over the PA systems. She's worried about him when he goes up in the portal with the missile, verbally urging for him to make it back down, and is relieved when he does appear again.
Natasha and Steve
Natasha and Steve have a pretty straight-forward relationship. They meet, learn enough about each other’s characters that they trust each other’s judgement, and then fight well by each other’s side. She doesn’t hero-worship him; he doesn’t have any baggage when it comes to her. It’s a pretty good example of how simple doesn’t have to be bad or simplistic-they relate well, understand each other, don’t suffer any huge friction at any point. They work as teammates. She also shows a healthy amusement over the idea of other people getting so fussed about ‘Captain America’, which is probably something of a relief for Steve.
Natasha: “There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”
Steve: “Trading cards?”
Natasha: “They’re vintage. He’s very proud.”
She's also the first person to call him 'Cap' in the movie:
Natasha: "I'd sit this one out, Cap."
Steve: "I don't see how I can."
N: "These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."
S: "There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."
Again, it's all about how Natasha doesn't hero-worship Steve or hold him up to the kind of extremely high standards that most of the people in the movie do. To her, he's just a person.
Once he and Tony figure out where they need to go, Steve goes to Natasha and trusts Clint based entirely on her belief in Clint. Steve and Natasha are solid.
Natasha and Thor
There's some tension here at the start because Natasha does not feel that Loki should get any kind of free pass from criticism because he's Thor's brother. She's the one who makes Thor feels embarrassed about defending his brother while in the company of people who've been attacked by him. She makes him back down from his protectiveness a little. But they don't have much interaction otherwise.
Natasha Romanoff
“There’s red in my ledger,” she tells Clint. “I’d like to wipe it out.” Natasha’s reason for choosing to be part of this fight is the same as Tony’s-she wants to make up for the past. Both of them have caused the death of people; they have red in their ledger and they want to wipe it out. Tony is flashier than Natasha, but there’s a base similarity to their motives.
Our re-introduction to Natasha also re-introduces us to her specialities-she’s the consummate actor of the group; additionally, she’s also very good at taking people down and using whatever is at hand to do it (I need to rewatch IM2 to see if that’s part of her characterization there-I seem to recall her being more ~Batman-like there, in that she carried everything she needed with her, while here she’s got more of a Buffy-flavor to her fighting, in that she will use anything that happens to be lying around and will wallop you with it).
Thor and Tony
I remember watching Thor for the first time and going, “He’s the Asgard Tony Stark,” during the opening scenes of the flashback. Obviously, that’s simplistic, but they do have their similarities. I was not surprised that they didn’t click on first introduction.
Tony tackles Thor off a ledge and onto the forest floor.
Thor: "Do not touch me again."
Tony: "Then don't take my stuff."
Thor: "You have no idea what you're dealing with."
Tony: "Uh...Shakespeare in the park? Doest Mother know you wearest her drapes?"
Thor: "This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice."
Tony: "He gives up the cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of the way. Tourist."
Thor hurls his hammer and hits Tony in the back. Fighting ensues. Loki smirks up on his ledge.
Tony and Thor are each refusing to take the other one seriously. Thor assumes that Tony doesn't have a clue and Tony is annoyed by Thor showing up and trying to take over the show when he's 'not from around here' and doesn't know the current score. Interestingly enough, they actually don't actively 'solve' their differences-Thor faces his arrogance issues alone, while Tony works out his control and authority issues with Steve. And Tony and Thor totally cool with each other at the end of the movie.
Thor and Steve
They don't have much interaction, but it pretty much all comes down to Steve acting like he's Thor's older brother-both in the fight in the forest and in the set-up for the final fight scene, Steve is there to pull Thor away from his private wants and get him to integrate with the group.
They also have that lovely moment during the fight where Steve's been hit and Thor helps him up and is concerned about him. Steve's words here remind me of the Steve-on-the-ropes that we saw in a couple of places in Captain America.
Thor: "You ready for another bout?"
Steve: "What-you getting sleepy?"
Whenever we see Steve get all scrappy like that, I flash back to tiny!Steve in the alley of that movie theater.
Thor Odinson
The benefits of having Thor as an Avenger are pretty obvious (he can fly, he's really strong and durable, he has a super-powerful hammer that comes when called and that no one else can pick up, and he can call lighting-it's an impressive list), with the only major downside being that his primary home is another planet. And his soft spot for his brother.
Thor's learned a lot since we first met him and he's grown-up quite a bit. He's learned about the damage that can be caused without intention. But despite his words to his brother about not how they shouldn't think themselves better than humans, he does think that he knows better. He thinks, at the the beginning, that he shouldn't need to explain himself to the people who have Loki captive-no, he just snatches Loki for himself without trying to talk it out first. This arrogance also shows itself in the scepter-influenced Helicarrier fight. He calls them "petty" and "tiny", words that would fit rather well in Loki's mouth. And everything gets blown to pieces and Loki tricks him into that trap meant for Bruce, and so Thor has to think and wonder and consider that perhaps he was still being more arrogant than he should, given the situation. They couldn't just hand over Loki to Thor under the situation at the beginning of the movie. Not with Loki's minions hard at work on the portal project. After his fall from the Helicarrier, we see Thor hesitate before picking up the Hammer. It's good not to be entirely convinced of your own self-righteousness, I'd say.
Steve and Tony
Steve and Tony learn about each other before they meet-each of them get files on the other Avengers. Tony, of course, also had history in the form of his dad talking about Captain America and sending out search teams looking for him; and on the other side, Steve has his memories of Howard to look back on. They didn’t get to start with a clean slate.
When Steve and Tony officially meet in the movie, Tony is an unexpected addition to the first fight against Loki. He takes a shot against Loki, who surrenders theatrically (because surrendering was his plan anyway, after putting up enough of a fight to make it seem realistic). After Loki is captured and on the plane, Steve and Tony have a somewhat tense conversation (which is Tony's fault; it's interesting, because I remembered Steve getting in sharper jabs, but that's later, during the Helicarrier argument. Here, it's Tony being antagonistic and Steve not getting why this guy keeps poking at him).
Steve: *quietly* "I don't like it."
Tony: "What-Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"
S: "I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."
T: "Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow."
Steve looks at him.
T: "What's your thing-pilates?"
S: "What?"
T: "It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."
S: "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."
T: "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."
Thunder rumbles. The bay door to the aircraft opens. Tony puts on his Iron Man helmet.
S: "What are you doing?"
Thor arrives and yanks Loki, knocking Tony over in the process. Tony goes to follow.
T: "Now there's that guy."
Natasha: "Another Asgardian?"
S: "That guy's a friendly?"
T: "Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."
S: "Stark! We need a plan of attack."
T: "I have a plan: attack."
Tony flies out of the aircraft. Steve goes for a parachute.
So when we have Tony asking Steve to call the play for the last fight, it's a call-back to this scene, where Steve wants them to work together and Tony is all "I can do this on my own, thanks". Basically, from what Steve can see, Tony is the guy who drops in, attempts to take unilateral control, and then wastes resources by picking fights with people who could be on his side.
Tony continues to take control the second he walks into a room in later scenes as well.
This vibe continues through the Steve-Bruce-Tony scene and then into the Helicarrier fight scene. Steve and Tony do not understand each other at this point. Neither of them can figure the other one out-each of them is trying to work out how much substance there is under the flash and the glamour.
Steve's take on Tony right now: "You're all about style, aren't you?
Tony's take on Steve: "That's the guy my dad never shut up about?"
Here's their section of the Helicarrier argument:
Tony: "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"
Tony puts his hand on Steve's shoulder and Steve knocks it away.
Steve: "You know damn well why. Back off."
Tony: "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."
Steve: "Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"
And the word that Steve isn't saying right now but that I'm pretty sure he's thinking is 'bully'. He thinks Tony's a bully. Primarily what Steve has seen Tony do up to this point in the movie is pick and poke at people to try to get reactions from them. When he sees that, he doesn't think 'scientist'; he thinks 'bully'.
Tony: "Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist."
Steve: "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you."
I just wanted to mention that the line readings that they used for the movie are much quieter and more intense than the ones that are in the trailer. And it works really well. Also, Steve is thinking of Bucky right now.
Steve: "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play; to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
Tony: "I think I would just cut the wire."
Steve smiles, not nicely, and looks over at Bruce.
Steve: "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
Tony: "A hero-like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."
Steve: "Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."
And this part of the entire argument is the most vicious of any of it. And everyone else can sense how volatile it is, too - when Steve shoves Tony's hand away, everyone else stops with their individual arguments to watch.
Then, they get back into it again a little later.
Thor: "You've located the Tesseract?"
Tony: "I could get there faster."
Thor: "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it."
Steve: *to Tony* "You're not going alone."
This time, Steve is the one who reaches for Tony's shoulder and gets his hand batted away.
Tony: "You gonna stop me?"
Steve: "Put on the suit and let's find out."
Tony: "I'm not afraid to hit an old man."
Steve: "Put on the suit."
Again, this is the issue that Steve had with Tony back in the previous fight-Tony wants to handle it all on his own. That's actually something that gets resolved in both directions-yes, Tony works with the Avengers as a team, but Steve also realizes that Tony's quick thinking and acting before asking permission is sometimes necessary. He learns to trust Tony, too.
Once the Helicarrier blows up, things are very serious and Steve and Tony don't screw around fighting with each other anymore. The two of them work together to get the engine back online, and they work together well. Steve gets to see Tony actively at work as Iron Man and Tony can see that Steve has no problem listening to him and helping him when he knows that Tony's expertise is what's required. They finally get a chance to make good impressions on each other. And when Steve admits to Tony that he doesn't know what he's looking at ("It seems to run on some form of electricity"), Tony doesn't mock him for his lack of knowledge. They both get to learn that the other person actually does kinda live up to his hype, they help save each other's lives and save the Helicarrier, it's a lovely bonding moment, in all honesty.
It's during this scene where they're saving the Helicarrier that Tony calls Steve "Cap"-"Cap, hit the lever." He's now in a similar place to Natasha when it comes to Steve-he's seeing the person and not the hype.
Tony and Steve are the two people who get the hard-core manipulation from Fury, with the bloody cards and the talk about how Coulson died believing in heroes. It does get to them, though they're aware that Fury doesn't have clean hands himself. When Tony leaves to go think, Steve follows him. They're the two Avengers in the movie who had the most interaction with Coulson, so it's appropriate that they're the ones who talk things out after his death. They've fought side-by-side together successfully now, so this is their chance to talk to each other without constantly sizing the other guy up and judging him. Now, they're talking to each other as people, not as Iron Man and Captain America.
Steve: "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."
Tony: "Right. I've heard that before."
Steve: "Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"
Tony: "We are not soldiers. I'm not marching to Fury's fife."
Steve: "Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does but right now we've got to put that behind us and get this done."
Here, Steve goes after Tony and deliberately places himself on the same level. He calls him 'Tony', he listens to what Tony is telling him and he adjusts his approach based on what Tony's telling him. He saw Tony's reaction to Coulson's death; saw that he cared. So, Steve reaches out and it works. He sees what's behind Tony's aggressiveness and his bravado. And Tony has seen, as he tells Loki, that Steve "lives up to the legend".
When it gets back to a work situation, Steve is calling him 'Stark' again, but the respect is still there on both sides.
Steve: "Stark, we got him."
Tony: "Banner?"
Steve: "Just like you said."
...
Tony: "Call it, Captain."
Here, right before the big final battle, they acknowledge that the other person is bringing important things to the table and they respect each other's contributions. When Steve makes the call to close the portal, not thinking that Tony will make it back in time, there's genuine regret-and an equally genuine relief and happiness when Tony makes it back and lives. Both of them were wrong before and they understand that by the end of the movie.
And this is how Steve looks at Tony at the end of the battle:
Tony is rambling and being kinda post-battle-silly and Steve just looks incredibly fond and with a more warm and open look on his face than he's had the entire freaking movie. Just, you know, Steve is my favorite and before TA came out, CA was my favorite of the movies. I love him to pieces and seeing that look on his face warms my heart.
Steve Rogers
Steve is a tactical leader. He’s good at it-allocating who does what, leading in a fight, being an inspirational figure. He’s also someone who is a legend (note the woman at the end and the way she says, “Captain America saved my life” and Bruce’s utter disbelief that ‘Captain America’ could be considered a security risk). By putting Captain America out as the face of the group, the Avengers get imbued with that mythology that the last seventy years have built up around him. He’s really good PR, basically. And he can live up to the hype, which is just as important (which is part of what the Tony-Steve push-pull is all about-each of them are circling and doubting that the other one lives up to their hype).
Steve is also hesitant at the beginning. His first experience in this new time period was people lying to him because they didn’t think he could handle the truth. And then, in the middle of this movie, he learned that SHIELD is still lying to him. But Tony doesn’t lie to him (Tony is rather aggressively honest).
The Avengers go through blood and fire and come out the other side a team. He’s still physically alone at the end, but he’s willing to give the new world a chance now, instead of staying trapped in the basement with his memories and his nightmares.
Also: check out Steve’s vulnerable eyes at around 20 minutes into the movie when Fury mentioned that Howard found the Tesseract “when he was looking for you”.
Another note: Steve swears. He says "damn" in the argument with Tony and "bastards" when describing the Chitauri near the end of the movie.
Tony Stark
Tony, bizarrely, is the person who is seemingly least in need of the team (seemingly).
After having skimmed through the comics versions and having watched IM and IM2, it was strange to me that Tony does come across as emotionally healthy in this movie. But it gives him something big to feel like he’s losing at the end (when he can’t reach Pepper) when he makes his sacrificial play.
(speaking of Tony/Pepper, the relationship still appears to be in the very early ‘honeymoon’ stage-Tony calls the elevator ‘his’, which Pepper corrects to ‘ours’-but they are definitely much more comfortable around each other than they were at the end of IM2. And have gotten better at sharing affection, because the kissing in IM2 was pretty awkward and it’s much more natural here. Pepper has let her guard down a lot more than she did in either of the IM movies. She also appears to be a big supporter of Tony being part of the Avengers-possibly under the theory that if he’s constantly going to be throwing himself into danger, having a team along with him might help him get back out alive and relatively unharmed)
Tony's an obvious asset to the team, but he did have to prove that he could act as part of the team. At the beginning of the movie, he's not willing to act that way with Steve, Natasha, or Thor. But he clicks with Bruce as a fellow scientist right away and then, during the Helicarrier fight, he and Steve work together very well despite being the two people verbally attacking each other the most fiercely during the scepter-induced argument. Fury knows that Stark is damn good at what he does-he calls on him to fix engine three, calls on him to handle the missile-but he's also seen that Stark will choose being honest over being discreet ("I am Iron Man") and that he reacts badly to people trying to be, ah, authoritarian with him.
Tony could only ever really be on a team if Tony was the person who chose to be there, who actively wanted to be there. Tony works well with people that he likes, respects, and has chosen to work with. If he doesn't like you, respect you, or want to be around you, then he is not going to swallow his distaste and work with you anyway. He won't be a 'good soldier' about it. He'll make a fuss.
The Avengers
“You know what it’s like to be unmade?” Clint asks.
Something that the Avengers all have in common is that they do know. Intimately. Every single one of them has been undone and then changed into something-someone-new. Whether they started as a weapons manufacturer or a skinny kid from Brooklyn or an assassin... none of them are what they used to be. They are all profoundly different than the person that they were, once upon a time. Every single one of them has had to look their previous world-view straight on and re-evaluate it.
I also really like that the team doesn’t revolve around just one person. The relationship webs between all the different members of the team are a lot more complicated than that.
a. The first time we have more than two Avengers interacting is the scene when Natasha takes Steve to meet Bruce. Natasha is more of an observer in this scene-she’s still representing SHIELD, as far as Bruce is concerned. She hasn’t shown herself to be part of the group that will become the Avengers yet.
After the reveal of the Helicarrier's 'Heli' nature, Natasha leads them into the control room. Steve is impressed by it all; Bruce is intimidated and nervous (great body language from the actors). Oh, hey, in this scene, two different women working in the control room say lines right after each other-can I pretend they’re talking to each other? (lol, joking. But I am actually pretty amused that this movie has tons of women all over the place in roles from major to minor...and they never say a single line to each other. Maria, Pepper, Natasha, Natasha’s ‘actress buddy’, several women working on the Helicarrier, the waitress who is interviewed after the big battle, a female scientist working on the Tesseract, one of the shadowy Council members, etc. So many more women than I’m used to seeing in big-budget Hollywood movies... and yet they only ever exchange lines with male characters.) Actually, oh! I think they might be talking to Maria Hill*! Score!
Plot-talk happens and Bruce relaxes as he finds something that he does have control over (he takes off his coat and everything). Natasha is the one who takes him to his lab-she doesn’t look at him as she leads him away. Again, points on the body language. Bruce and Natasha are not comfortable around each other.
* who is so completely awesome
b. We have Steve breaking into the fight between Tony and Thor. And, yeah, Steve does come across as the frustrated grown-up trying to corral irritating teenagers.
Steve: "Hey! That's enough. Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here--"
Thor: "I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!"
Steve: "Then prove it. Put that hammer down."
Tony: "Ah, yeah, no! Bad call. He loves his--"
Thor bashes his hammer against Tony's armour and knocks him over.
Thor: "You want me to put the hammer down?"
Thor takes a mighty leap to bring his hammer down on Steve, who brings up his shield. There's a burst of energy where the hammer meets the shield and Thor is knocked back by the force of his own blow.
Steve: "Are we done here?"
c. Team meeting in the Helicarrier! So, they've just listened to Loki and Fury's convo and Loki has managed to send a few jabs Bruce and Tony's way, setting up paranoia and distrust.
Bruce: "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"
Steve: "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?"
Thor: "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
Steve: "An army. From outer space."
He kinda gives Natasha a 'really, this is my life now?' look. Hee.
Bruce: "So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."
Thor: "Selvig?"
Bruce: "He's an astrophysicist."
Thor: "He's a friend."
Natasha: "Loki has him under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours."
Steve: "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."
Bruce: "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats; you can smell crazy on him."
Thor: "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."
Natasha: "He killed eighty people in two days."
Thor: *awkwardly* "He's adopted."
Bruce: "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?"
Tony and Coulson walk into the room.
Tony: "It's a stabilizing agent." Then to Coulson. "So, I'm just saying, take a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive." To the group. "Means: portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." To Thor. "No hard feelings, pointbreak. You got a mean swing." Hee, Thor's face! Tony gives orders to SHIELD employees and generally chatters in order to distract everyone from how he's totally planting a bug on one of the SHIELD computers. The way that Tony can effortlessly control a crowd like that when he wants to really speaks to the showman part of his nature (which is frequently on display in the Iron Man movies as well).
Maria: "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"
Tony: "Last night."
Heh, Maria's face is also priceless.
Tony: "The packet. Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"
Steve: "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"
Tony and Bruce techonobabble at each other for a bit. The words are immaterial-the point is that they understand each other.
Tony: "Finally, someone who speaks English."
Steve: "Is that what just happened?"
Tony and Bruce shake hands.
Tony: "It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
Bruce: "Thanks."
And this is the thing that makes Tony different from everyone else in the movie. The rest are all tiptoeing around the idea of the Hulk. Tony faces it head-on. If there's an elephant in the room, Tony is going to paint it with glitter and then start a disco ball spinning over its head so that everyone can see it sparkle. Aggressively honest.
Fury: "Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him."
Steve: "I'd start with that stick of his. It might be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
Fury: "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
Thor: "Monkeys? I do not understand."
Steve: "I do! ...I understood that reference."
Steve is adorably pleased about this. Tony rolls his eyes at Steve's enthusiasm. And then Bruce and Tony go off to play together in the lab.
After they've been there for a while, Steve comes in to see how things are going. He arrives just as Tony is literally poking at Bruce with an electrical prod-type thing. So, again, what Steve sees is Tony trying to pick fights and cause trouble, because he doesn't see the underlying reason behind what Tony is doing here.
Steve: "Is everything a joke to you?"
Tony: "Funny things are."
Steve: "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." To Bruce. "No offense, Doc."
Bruce: "It-- It's all right. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."
Now they talk about how untrustworthy Fury is. Steve tries to be all Good Soldier about it, but with both Tony and Bruce obviously not trusting Fury, he decides that he needs to investigate, since Bruce is, after all, a Stephen Hawking smart guy and Tony, no matter how much he might be frustrating and confusing Steve, is also obviously one as well.
That said, Steve is also completely correct that Loki is trying to get them to distrust each other and to fight. Everyone is right! In a way.
d. The big scepter-induced fight scene-though the feelings are amplified, everything we see tracks with what we've seen in earlier scenes. I took on some of the one-on-one parts of the conversation earlier, so I'm going to be skipping those parts here.
Fury: "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"
Tony: "Ah, kinda been wondering the same thing about you."
Fury: "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."
Bruce: "We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."
Tony: "Yeah, we're gonna get your cube back. No muss. No fuss. What is Phrase 2?"
Steve: "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."
Fury: "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making--"
Tony: "I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?"
Steve: "I was wrong, Director, the world hasn't changed a bit."
Thor and Natasha enter.
...Bruce-Natasha section of the argument...
Bruce: "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
Fury: "Because of him."
Fury points at Thor.
Thor: "Me?"
Fury: "Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet, who had a grudge-match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly-hilariously-outgunned."
Thor: "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."
Fury: "But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched. That can't be controlled."
Steve: "Like you controlled the cube?"
Thor: "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it. And his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
Steve: "A higher form?"
Fury: "You forced our hand. We had to come up with some--"
Tony: "A nuclear deterrent? 'Cause that always calms everything right down."
Fury: "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"
Steve: "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep right--"
Tony: "Wait, wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?"
Steve: "I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
Thor: "I thought humans were more evolved than this."
Fury: "Excuse me. Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"
(at this point, people start talking over each other. I will write down everything that I could make out)
Thor: *to Fury* "This is how you treat your champions, with such mistrust?"
Fury: "You are not my champion!"
Tony says something here, but I can't make it out. Something about "you understand that this isn't about" something. I think he's still talking to Steve. And then "what is it about me that bothers you so much? I'm curious". Again, pretty sure those are directed at Steve. Once Steve and Tony start in on each other, they're pretty focused.
Natasha: *to Thor* "Are you really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats."
Bruce: "Captain America is on a threat watch?"
Natasha: "We all are."
Fury: "This is not your concern, Doctor."
Tony: "Wait, you're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?"
Steve: "Stark, so help me God, you make one more wisecrack-"
Tony: "Is that a verbal threat? I feel threatened!"
Steve: "Show some respect."
Tony: "Respect?"
Thor: "If I need to put you down, then I will."
Bruce: "Oh, yeah, lay a hand on me now, that'll be a good idea."
It kinda all merges into a buzz at this point. We can see in the reverse that Tony and Steve are still completely focused on each other in the argument. Of course they are. It cuts to Clint arriving. Back to the argument.
Thor: "You speak of control yet you court chaos."
Bruce: "That's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we-a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're...we're a time bomb."
Fury: "You need to step away."
...Tony-Steve section of the argument...
Thor: *to Steve and Tony; laughing* "You people are so petty. And tiny."
He's sounding almost drunk.
Bruce: *sarcastically* "Yeah, this is a team."
Tony wipes his forehead.
Fury: "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Doctor Banner back to his--"
Bruce: "Where? You rented my room."
Fury: "The cell was just in case--"
Bruce: "-just in case you needed to kill me but you can't. I know. I tried. I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people, I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"
Steve: "Doctor Banner. Put down the scepter."
The locator beeps.
Bruce: "Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."
First off, wow. That argument (set of arguments?) is fantastic.
So, Bruce is pissed off at Natasha, Fury, and SHIELD. He's not pissed at Steve or Tony.
Thor isn't pissed at anyone until Fury starts blaming him for everything, at which point, he gets tetchy with Fury and, by extension, all petty humans and their petty pettiness. Basically, he starts sounding arrogant again.
Natasha has her guard up, especially around Bruce. She's still amused by Tony and has no real beef with any of the other potential Avengers.
Tony and Steve are mad at Fury/SHIELD (Natasha isn't folded into this for either of them) and each other. Each other a lot. Tension like whoa. They're in the middle of confronting Fury about the weapons issue and Steve takes a potshot at Tony, who is indignant for a while before he finally snipes back. Once Steve and Tony are involved in arguing with each other, it's their main focus for the rest of the fight-even Bruce nearly Hulking out only distracts them while it's an active threat. Once Bruce puts the scepter down, they're back to sniping at each other.
Fury is frustrated with everyone except Natasha, but especially Thor.
e. Being a team in the big final fight
It is a beautiful moment when all the Avengers come together for the first time, in costume, back-to-five-other-backs.
Natasha: "How do we do this?"
Steve: "As a team."
Thor: "I have unfinished business with Loki."
Clint: "Yeah, well, get in line."
Steve: "Save it. Loki's gonna keep his fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top. He's gonna need us to-"
Bruce arrives.
Bruce: "So... this all seems horrible."
Natasha: "I've seen worse."
Bruce: "Sorry."
Natasha: "No, we could... use a little worse."
Bruce nods and the look on his face is really sweet.
Steve: "Stark, we got him."
Tony: "Banner?"
Steve: "Just like you said."
Tony: "Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
Tony comes around the building with the giant ship following him.
Natasha: "I-ah-I don't see how that's a party."
Steve: "Doctor Banner! Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
Bruce: "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry."
Bruce turns into the Hulk and stops the ship cold (with a little help from Tony). Awesome shot of all the Avengers in a circle is awesome. Natasha sees more ships coming through the portal.
Natasha: "Guys."
Tony: "Call it, Captain."
This is when all the puzzle pieces just slid into place. It fits. They're working together now, not against each other. In general, they all work together well during the fight: Clint helps out Tony, Thor and the Hulk fight side-by-side, Steve gives Natasha a boost on his shield, Thor gives Steve a hand up when he's gotten hit later on-it's basically an orgy of mutual respect.
When Tony makes his sacrifice play, the main reaction shots focus on Natasha and Steve-Steve sees that Tony is capable of exactly what he accused him of not being able to do ("You know that's a one-way trip, Stark?"); Natasha staring up at the sky, hoping that he'll make it out ("Come on, Stark"). It's Steve who has to make the call to close the portal and Natasha who actually has to physically do it, so that's a connection too, that they're the people who-if Tony hadn't made it out-would have held themselves responsible for that death in the line of duty.
Thor is prepared to save Tony from freefall, but then the Hulk appears! He saw Tony go into the portal, saw him fall out, and saved him. It's a really awesome 'thank you' for everything Tony did to help Bruce become more comfortable with himself.
Thor and Bruce are pleased that Tony's okay:
And, when the group (mostly) parts ways at the end of the movie, it's in the spirit of friendship and a job well-done.
Plus Tony is secretly planning to move them all into his tower at some point anyway.
Misc. Thoughts
Visual note: the Tesseract in the machine at the beginning of the movie looks very much like Steve’s shield in form and color. Red metal on the outside alternating with bands, pale shape at the center.
Seriously, someone tell me that it's not just me seeing this.
On Loki: he really does look like shit at the beginning of the movie. Sweaty and pale, with circles under his eyes. I think it’s likely the scepter working on him. Both Clint and Selvig start to look the same was the longer they’re under the direct control of the scepter and when the scepter is influencing people in the argument on the Helicarrier, the Avengers start to get sweaty and feverish, too (Tony wipes off his forehead at one point during the arguing). It’s a symptom. And the scepter amplifies paranoia and increases conflict-it actually stands to reason that it’s doing the same thing on Loki that it’s doing to everyone that Loki is using it on. And Loki has so much bitterness for it to feed on and amplify.
On scene-cutting: there’s a lot of good reference-cutting. Fury talks about soldiers winning wars-next is the Captain America scene. Steve mentions the ocean-we cut to Iron Man under water. Natasha mentions a lab with ‘all the toys’-we cut to Selvig in Loki’s lab. Lots of little things like that that create a nice sense of flow.
I also think the pacing of the movie was really done quite well.
Something else I enjoyed was seeing the various people on the Avengers/SHIELD side trying to work out Loki's plans. They could tell there was something that they weren't figuring out; they were smart enough to know that Loki was way too happy about being captured and gave up too easily, but they didn't have the information that they needed to guess what his plans were.
I like that we see the waitress at the start of the fight, the middle, and then at the end being interviewed. She's kinda the face of the 'average human' on the street.
I also noticed that Tony says "son of a bitch" while Steve says "son of a gun".
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