2. Who Are Thanos & The Chitauri?
Exactly who are Thanos and the Chitauri? The Chitauri had previously appeared in the Ultimate Marvel comic books and animated films - Ultimate Marvel being an alternative universe to the mainstream (616) Marvel universe from which our beloved heroes and villains originated - but unless you're an avid comic book fan, you're likely to never have heard of them. So why wasn't anything explained about them in the movie? All the audience got was a name and an appearance from them at the end. No origin story, no idea where they came from and no full explanation regarding their association with Thanos or Loki. Although this mysteriousness adds an eerie level of threat to them, it would have been nice to have learned a bit more about them at least. And then there's Thanos. He wasn't even referred to by name in the movie or in his brief mid-credits appearance so, again, unless you read comics, you won't even know who's on screen. For me, the appearance of Thanos was epic! I loved it. But for some it was met with cries of 'who's that?' I've even heard some people saying things like 'oh wow, Hellboy!' - And that's wrong on all kinds of levels. Essentially, I feel that further details were required about the 'big-bads' and, although there is obviously more to come from Thanos, the Chitauri in particular should have been given more of an origin story - even if it was just a brief one.