10 Movies That Peaked Too Soon

It's pretty telling that the best scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron isn't some impossibly lavish, CGI-slathered set-piece but just a bunch of people in a room talking. And trying to lift a magic hammer, of course.

Age of Ultron opens with a decent enough set-piece as the Avengers raid a Sokovian Hydra facility, but follows up with what is by far the most iconic and memorable scene from the entire film: the post-mission party.

There's some great banter here between all the characters and a fun Stan Lee cameo, but most notably we see most of the male Avengers trying to lift Mjölnir in vain - including Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who manages to nudge it a tad, much to Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) chagrin.

As much as many criticised Joss Whedon's screenplay for the movie as overly cutesy and quippy, this scene is pretty much perfect in developing the characters alongside some organic humour.

It also laid the groundwork for that spectacular payoff in Avengers: Endgame, of course, where Cap finally wields Mjölnir for himself.

But the rest of Age of Ultron is a curiously benign affair: inoffensive yet uninspired, with a series of increasingly episodic set-pieces and excursions, none of which are as entertaining or meaningful as a few superheroes hanging out in a room.