18 Worst Moments In Every MCU Movie (So Far) - Ranked
14. The Terrible Opening Sequence - The Avengers
The Film
Phase One of the MCU came to one hell of a close with this extremely satisfying culmination of all the solo movies that had preceded it. Girded by classic Joss Whedon quips, deliriously entertaining action and the sheer novel appeal of seeing all these superheroes sharing the screen, The Avengers remains a gleeful high-point of superhero cinema.
The Moment
It's easy to forget just how rough the opening 10-or-so minutes of The Avengers actually are. The sequence, which sees Loki (Tom Hiddleston) arrive at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, turn Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) into zombies and make off with the Tesseract, is directed like a mid-budget TV show.
Now, Whedon's talents as a writer will always eclipse his filmmaking chops, but even so, the framing and shot selections fail to make a potentially intense and exciting scenario much of anything, and some hilariously on-the-nose dialogue sure doesn't help (in case you forgot who Loki was, Selvig helpfully quips, "Loki! Brother of Thor!").
The rest of the film? Pure gravy, but that awkward opening set-piece sure doesn't get things off to a great start.