In 2012's The Avengers Joss Whedon brought together the different super powered figures from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, despite the immense level of power held by the the titular team, the apocalyptic threat unleashed by Loki during the film's climactic Battle of New York threatens to overwhelm them all and doom Earth to his rule. This is primarily due to a numbers game. At the beginning of the film Loki manages to get the Chitauri army to work for him (after promising The Other that he would deliver him The Tesseract). He then is able to send wave after wave of these beings towards the small band of super powered defenders. The group puts up a remarkable effort against this aggression. In fact, one of 2012's great scenes is when the team finally assembles to begin doling out the pain to Loki's army in a glorious, seamless fashion. Still, in keeping with the comics, Whedon shows that the power of these heroes is not infinite. This is a group that can tire, that can eventually make mistakes, and can ultimately lose. In fact, what eventually opens a path to victory is not some new gadget from Iron Man's suit or an act of strength from Mark Ruffalo's Hulk; the game-changing weapon proves to be a good old fashioned nuclear missile. Ordered by the film's World Security Council, with no regard for the human cost of destroying Manhattan, the nuke ironically provides the team with a quick method for ending the conflict and limiting the loss of life. Iron Man selflessly seeks to direct the missile towards the opening of the portal where the Chitauri are attacking from, eventually hitting the alien mothership on the other side. This is undoubtedly a valiant act of heroism, but one that wouldn't have been possible without the amoral, unexpected behavior of the clandestine Council.