Before Phase 2... How Was Phase 1?
Before phase 1 began, I was vaguely aware of who Iron Man was. I knew that Captain America was a big deal but knew little about his story. Thor was a god from Norse mythology. I probably knew the Hulk best. I had seen (and sorry - kind of enjoyed) Ang Lee's film version. But I knew him best from the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno TV series from my childhood. The Avengers, well... I knew they were a superhero team-up, but that was it. So I really was stepping into entirely new territory with these films. It was the 'biggies' that myself and the majority of audiences were familiar with. Superman. Batman, Spider-Man - Iron Man had an incredibly tough job, then. It had to introduce mass audiences to what was probably acknowledged as a second-tier superhero (regardless of what he was in the comics). It was also one of the first films to link superheroes together. Get it wrong and the Avengers would start off on a rocky road. Get it right, and... Well, they got it right, didn't they? I bloody loved it! Everyone did! Robert Downey Jr. blew us away with his charm and wit. He wasn't all angsty or burdened with great responsibility. He played it like a very rich and very clever man who built a kick-ass suit and saved lives. What surprised me most was how much fun it was - and not in the forced fun way like in those mediocre
Fantastic Four movies, either. It also started that grand tradition of post-credit teasers for what was to come. When Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury came on screen, muttering those immortal worlds, the 'Avenger Initiative', my comic book-reading friends squealed with delight (yes - literally.) And I was hooked. The next film,
The Incredible Hulk, actually passed me by at first glance... perhaps there wasn't enough hype about its connection to the Avengers to bring audiences in. Instead it made it into my 'list of films to watch', which are duly did before the release of Joss Whedon's superhero team up extravaganza. And it was quite good, if not up there with the magic of the other phase 1 films. Following this we had
Iron Man 2. Sure, it was fun and it had some great action set pieces, but even I couldn't fail to notice that it was essentially one big advert for the Avengers rather than a fully developed sequel in its own right (thankfully, that came later). After
Iron Man,
Thor had a lot to prove. It was the first of the superhero films to be truly 'out there' and in all likelihood the first film to truly bring the Avengers franchise down if it failed. With its Shakespearian undertones (Kenneth Branagh was an inspired choice for director), otherworldly monsters and planet hopping adventures, it was certainly a far cry from the real world tones of Iron Man. But it worked. It worked brilliantly. Click "next" to continue reading...