As usual, we get an epic recap of the season, which really serves as a reminder of how unimpressive the season as a whole has been. As the actual episode starts, we move into the girls celebrating their survival in the game and a little bit of plotting about who should go home next. Kim has her sites set on Chelsea, even though she’s been angsty the past few weeks about possibly putting Chels on the chopping block.

Immunity Challenge: We don’t take long to get into the first bout for immunity, which is a heck of a puzzle game mixed in with a huge balance factor. Players have to open a gate to a balance maze by untying a sequence of knots. Once exiting the balance maze, the players then have to collect puzzle pieces from a net, assemble the puzzle, and then solve the riddle the puzzle presents which gives them a combination for the lockbox that secures their victory flag. The girls stay pretty evenly matched through the gates and balance maze, with Alicia accidentally offering an advantage to other players in the third part by untying a bunch of puzzle bags that weren’t hers. The girls appear to approach the puzzle sequence at the same time, but Kim, Alicia, and Chelsea get moving a lot faster on their puzzles (Sabrina and Christina are practically ruled out by Jeff they have so many problems).

Kim is the first to solve the puzzle and sprints up to her lockbox, but the numbers don’t work. She keeps trying different combinations of the numbers but still can’t get it open, while Alicia catches up, trying her own version of the combination. Eventually both girls have to go back to the puzzle to see where they messed up, giving Chelsea the opportunity to catch up as well. It comes down to the three girls each trying different variations of their combinations when Kim finally manages to release her flag – Kim wins individual immunity.

Of course, this leads to more plotting about who is going home – Kim is the one calling the shots in two different alliances. She has individual immunity and she also has a secret immunity idol (which I mistakenly said Chelsea had in the past). Kim admits telling Chelsea about the idol earlier felt like the right move, but she now wishes she hadn’t told her about it because she thinks Chelsea expects her to play it for her. Considering Chelsea is one of the people she’s potentially gunning for, it’s not like she can sweep in and save her at the same time.

Tribal Council: Probst tries to fire up the girls but there really isn’t a lot here to work with. He basically gets them to admit their criteria for who to keep and who to vote out (loyalty, ability to win – common sense kinds of things). Kim discusses the difficulty of separating head and heart in the game – separating the emotional connection that, for instance, kept Chelsea in the game for so long. Probst gives everyone a chance to get one more word in, essentially pleading with Kim as to where things will go, so it’s not even as if there’s an illusion about who has the power. The jury seems shocked as some players choose not to vocalize anything, perhaps not realizing those are the players who have nothing to worry about. Probst announces it’s the last night the hidden idol can be played, but Kim does nothing. The votes are read and..

The tribe has spoken

Alicia is sent home.

Wow. I already had written down Chelsea’s name – I thought this was so predictable. As Alicia’s torch is snuffed, members of the jury whisper comments of surprise (also expecting Chelsea to go home) and suspicion. Alicia’s parting comments say she’s proud of Kim for fooling her, but also announce that the only reason Christina is still around is because Alicia carried her (so, “she sucks” right now, despite the fact that she did nothing different than Alicia did).

The girls once again celebrate their victory, although Christina knows she needs to win immunity in order to stay in it, while others feel like Christina explaining to the jury how she played the game would be a joke. The girls head out for the last challenge, traveling a pre-planned course that takes them past the torches of the previous players. Yet again, it’s a reminder of how disappointing the season was, as most of the former players are uninteresting and unremarkable (for a lot of the women) or all we can remember about them is how big of a jerk they were (for most of the guys). About the only one I wish had lasted longer was Bill, who was unfortunately targeted because Colton didn’t like parts of Bill that had nothing to do with Survivor. The torches are burned in memory of the past, and there they best remain.

Final Immunity Challenge: When Survivor first started, the final challenge was always an epic endurance challenge. I sort of miss those days (as well as the days of the car reward challenge that pretty much guaranteed someone wasn’t going to win the final million dollars). This year the puzzle is something unique. Using a pole, the players navigate wooden bowls through a metal maze. As the bowls are through the maze, they get stacked on top. The trick to the challenge is that players have to do this ten times, and the maze has a spring at its base, which means touching the metal course as they make their way through with subsequent bowls runs the risk of knocking down previous successes, which means starting over. The player to get ten bowls through wins.

Kim and Christina start off strong, running neck and neck through their bowls. Chelsea remains one behind the others, while Sabrina is one again all but announced out by Probst. In the last two bowls, Kim manages to get ahead of Christina (wouldn’t it have made for an interesting last council if Christina had finally won a challenge?) and claims victory. Kim is guaranteed a spot at the final tribal council, as if she wasn’t already. Now the question is who she will take with her: the worthy or the easy victory.

The answer becomes readily apparent: Christina is more than aware that she’s going home. Instead of begging around, she decides to enjoy her last day after asking Kim if she’s the one going home. While Christina doesn’t raise a fuss, Kim admits to second-guessing the decision for the exact reason I said above: she’s the easy foe. Christina wouldn’t get a single vote for the million dollars, which has to be appealing.

Tribal Council: Probst is surprised to find out it wasn’t a busy, scrambling afternoon but instead was a calm afternoon before the council. The host points out to Christina that some really unlikely people have won, but they haven’t won by lying down and accepting defeat. Of course, this has been Christina’s method of play all along – she’s simply ridden other coattails and hasn’t really played much on her own. Kim still looks doubtful of her choice as the council goes on, but vocalizes that Christina should have tried to fight a little bit. The votes are cast and…

The tribe has spoken

Christina is sent home.

With that, an alliance that started early on has endured until the end. The power now shifts to the jury as one more tribal council awaits: the one that decides who gets a million dollars and the title of Survivor. It’ll be interesting to see how this final council plays out. At this point, most of the people on the jury got screwed over by someone else on the jury, which means there shouldn’t be a lot of ire aimed at the final three players.

By the way, I still hate final three. While I can understand the evolution of the game in some areas, I think having a final two was always a better way to conclude the game. There was more strategy about taking a second player along for the ride and less influence on who won immunity toward the end. I guess we probably won’t see a return of the final two, as three players has become pretty standard over the past few seasons, but I still miss two.

As the three women prepare for the final council (including a breakfast of croissants and mimosas), we finally see the curtain pulled back a little bit for each of them. Sabrina admits she will miss the environment of Survivor, having to return to her life as an inner-city teacher who was recently laid off. Chelsea discusses what she has managed to get out of the game beyond a million dollars – playing for the adventure instead of the prize. Kim confesses feeling powerless as she entered the game because of a recent divorce. It’s a nice moment for each of the women that I wish we had learned a little bit earlier. In a season where nobody was interesting, it turns out maybe we just needed to know the players a little better.

Final Tribal Council: The players gather for the final time, with the focus on the jury determining who to award the million-dollar prize. From an editing standpoint, we aren’t giving a lot of time to the jury – less than half-an-hour for remarks, questions, and votes. I don’t expect things to get too shaken up over the course of the final council. Of course, the final winner is all but determined at this point anyway.

The opening remarks always offer an interesting insight into the approach each player is going to take. Chelsea stands to address the jury and talks about how she changed over the course of the game. Kim talks about approaching Survivor as a poker game and how she didn’t let on to how sending players home affected her and how she had to think about the people at home who have invested in her for years rather than the people here she had only known for thirty days. Sabrina voices her strategy, scaling back physically and removing herself from some of the choices so she didn’t have to face the emotional consequences. She also tries to garner sympathy by discussing losing her job.

Time for jury questions and comments.

Jonas is up first and he opens with some levity (demanding players refer to him as “Yes Master Jonas” before cracking up). Jonas compliments Sabrina on sucking in some of the physical challenges and then asks Chelsea the biggest move she instigated (not that Kim started) – which was voting out Kat. He then asks Kim about getting rid of Sabrina, with Kim giving a

Christina is next: she asks Kim who she would have gotten rid of if she had kept Christina for the final three. Kim says she thinks Chelsea would be the hardest to beat, so she would have gotten rid of her. Christina then asks Chelsea why she hates her. Chelsea says she’s not the “cold hard bitch” she’s appeared to be within the confines of the game.

Jay directs his question to Sabrina (interesting, considering everyone else has just commented about Sabrina but not directed a question to her). Jay says she not only played it easy during challenges but played it easy in camp as well. Basically he asks Sabrina if she rode coattails or actually earned her place here.

Michael asks Kim to define a “blindside” and asks if she feels like she blindsided anyone using her own definition. She admits she did – Leif. Mike points out that Kim missed an important element: blame. Everyone knows Kim was the one responsible for sending them home. Now the question is whether they can respect that or whether it was a stupid move.

Tarzan… man, Tarzan. He uses his big vocabulary to thank God and the girls for letting him enjoy this adventure and last long enough to have his wife join him on the island. It would have been a nicer moment if he hadn’t tried so hard with the vocabulary. Chelsea takes advantage of the moment to tell Tarzan that his romance with his wife is admirable and sets the standard for what she wants in her life – well played Chelsea.

Leif asks for the truth behind his ejection from the game. The girls spell out that Kim was responsible for it and Kim admits she never knew whether she could trust him. I can’t tell whether Leif respects the answer or not, but it’s an answer.

Alicia shows her delusions of grandeur within the game, comparing herself to Kim, saying both of them had pawns and manipulated people. What Alicia leaves out is that she was a pawn of Kim. She then rambles on in a fashion that makes it seem like the jury has been drinking…

… an image that Troyzan doesn’t help with. Troy asks Kim at what point she decided to play a game that shattered his chances of winning, telling her the question is a make it or break it question as far as winning the prize. Kim says it was when Jonas was sent home. Probst asks Troyzan if he’ll reveal if she answered the question correctly. Troy says no, and then goes a little crazy (“The Survivor gods have spoken and it’s uno, dos…”).

Finally, we get Kat, who I expected to have the least substance. In a surprising move, we continue learning more about the contestants in this last episode than the entire season, Kat has hidden her weakness: having had several open heart surgeries (and another one coming in the next year) due to some health defects. Instead of asking the contestants a question, she tells everyone they have to play without anger because life is too short to be angry at people for silly reasons. As much as she wants to be sitting there in the final three, life’s just too short. It’s a nice sentiment – one that’s a complete polar opposite to Kat’s parting words when she was voted out. It’s also a nice note to end the jury questioning with.

Time for votes to be cast, this time with the name of the person being rewarded being written down. We see how Troyzan casts his vote (Sabrina) and Kat (Kim) and we see Leif struggle with the decision of how to vote. Probst collects the votes and we move locations, from the wilds of Survivor to the reunion show in New York City (even more than missing a final two, I miss the old awesome transitions from footage to the live show).

The votes are read… two votes for Kim,  two votes for Sabrina, and then Kim’s name keeps popping up until she is declared the winner (only seven votes were revealed, but presumably the rest were also for Kim).

The tribe has spoken

Kim is the winner of Survivor: One World

Dark Shadows

With Johnny Depp starring as the lead character, Barnabas Collins, writer Seth Grahame-Smith focuses the film on the vampire’s plight and struggle to adapt to both his curse and being a man out of time. Regrettably the character of Barnabas is difficult to relate to. This undermines his reactions to seeing the modern (for 1972) world for the first time. As a result, he comes off more buffoonish and silly than funny. The film then follows him to his home where he must adapt to a new generation of Collins family. Much is lost in the contrast from his perspective. The source material, the soap opera from the late Sixties, began with the Collins family and introduced Barnabas into the family generating mystery and suspense. Switching the focus evaporates all that was at the heart of the original series leaving only the characters and mythology. In Graham-Smith’s script, Barnabas Collins of 1760 suffers a curse from a witch, Angelique Bouchard, which costs him his love Josette du Pres and his humanity. Scorned by Barnabas’ refusal to love her, Angelique seals the vampire in a coffin and buries him until he is set free nearly two centuries later in 1972. After returning to his home, Collinswood, and his family, he discovers that the witch responsible for his curse is not only still alive but is responsible for the downfall of the Collins name. Barnabas sets his sights on reestablishing his family name, removing the curse from himself and the family, and finding true love in the heart of the family governess, Victoria Winters, who is the spitting image of his lost Josette.

Johnny Depp has a great time playing Barnabas Collins keeping the film lively and entertaining. He is as charming, funny and enigmatic as ever. His much professed love for the source material is present in his portrayal giving the character a strong air of aristocracy and nobility. The film makes great use of his delivery of stiff upper class lines and references to “birthing hips.” He makes the most of jokes that has him referring to rock icon Alice Cooper as the “ugliest woman he has ever seen” even if the joke is itself tired and overused. He is at his best when he’s having conversations with the Collins family at the dinner table where his references are odd and out of place or his awkward discussion with young Carolyn about modern courting rituals and how to approach Victoria about his feelings. While Depp looks and sounds like Barnabas Collins, he never quite achieves the emotional core of the character: he never pines for his lost Josette; he never really connects with Victoria; he never conveys the horror of being damned as a vampire. The character lacks soul. Added to that misfortune is the lack of chemistry between Johnny Depp and his femme fatale, Angelique played by Eva Green. Sadly, while Green’s character packs a punch when she’s playing the corporate monster attacking the Collins family and their business, the character fizzles when matched up against Depp’s Barnabas.

If nothing else, Dark Shadows has a great cast to keep things afloat. Michelle Pfieffer plays Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. The film could have used a lot more of Pfieffer, her character’s struggle with both her family and her business. She makes a striking matriarch. Helena Bonham Carter is delightfully understated as Dr. Julia Hoffman. Her realization of what Barnabas has to offer is an exercise of restrained comic timing. Jackie Earle Haley plays Willie Loomis with broad strokes, much of his efforts work generously in the first half of the film but his later efforts are swept under the larger action beats of the final act. Eva Green illustrates great physical comedy with her character of Angelique. Where her vocal timing is off and lacks conviction, her appearance and every move shines. Bella Heathcote is the outsider of the family, Victoria Winters, the governess and recipient of Barnabas affections. Her character is the most interesting of the bunch and gets the least amount of attention, mostly because she is nearly absent during the final act. She is grossly underused. Chloe Grace Moretz plays young Carolyn Stoddard. Ironically, she captures the spirit and attitude of the Seventies more than any other actor. But she is also oddly different than each other character at the same time, even if there is a plot driven reason for the difference. The result is a terrific performance, perhaps the best next to Depp, that is so uniquely different that it feels like its in the wrong film.

Dark Shadows suffers from a lack of a singular focus. Taking its cue from its soap opera source material, the film contains a variety of story elements and beats, each competing with each other. None of these plots gets enough attention to make them significant or rewarding. Many never mature or conclude. This puts the film at odds with itself. The film begins with a Barnabas prelude, continues its modern story with Victoria Winters and then returns to the plight of Barnabas as he returns to Collinswood but never gets the two to successfully combine into a single, focused whole. As lopsided it is in its plot, Dark Shadows is also unbalanced in its tone and execution. At times, it attempts to plays things straight to ramp up the thrills and suspense but it never gets it footing with that front. Most of the time, the film plays everything for laughs but its misguided focus keeps much of the laughs downgraded to a chuckle or a delighted smile. It struggles to elevate its conflicts to generate any meaning or consequences. Still, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are a solid team and their attention to set design, character work and dialog manage to keep Dark Shadows from becoming a total disaster. The film manages to be amusing, entertaining and fun where it could have been mediocre at best. Walking out of the theater, it is difficult not to be thinking about what it could have been instead of simply enjoying what it manages to become. Dark Shadows never lives up to its potential.

-Doc Rotten

The episode opens with Tarzan trying to manipulate Kim a little bit, convincing her to drop Chelsea from her alliance and move to the final three with Alicia and Christian (who Kim would undoubtedly win against). Kim doesn’t want to turn on her friend. That’s a good thing for Chelsea, but rotten for Tarzan, since Chelsea can see exactly what is going on. At the same time, Kim reveals that she’s actually been playing two different sides, forging an alliance with different sets of people, hoping they don’t confer and discover her deception. Kim really is a good player, flying under the radar in the early part of the season and taking power in the last few weeks.

Reward Challenge: This week’s challenge involves spinning discs off of bases. The discs get combined to create a giant decoder ring, which must be solved in order to determine the three-number combination to a final lockbox. Solve the puzzle and a flag will be raised. The prize: an overnight stay on a luxury yaht, including the opportunity for a shower, fresh clothes, and a three-course meal. The challenge is, of course, complicated by the fact that spinning the discs gets the players dizzy, which makes running for the next disc a bit difficult. The players seem pretty evenly matched, with not much of a lead between each step. Chelsea is first to the lockbox, but the combination is wrong – or is it? A bit of a twist is revealed: the numbers might be right but the order isn’t guaranteed. This permits everyone else to catch up before the puzzle is finally sovled by… Chelsea.

As with the past few weeks, the reward can be shared with another player. Chelsea says she’s going to pick a little differently after the flack Kat got last week, so she picks Sabrina since she hasn’t been allowed to participate in another reward. Probst lets her pick one more to share with and she picks Kim – so much for going a different route than Kat did. The reward gives the three women a nice opportunity to celebrate, but it also gives Tarzan, Alicia, and Sabrina a chance to confer. Tarzan starts planting the seeds that both Chelsea and Kim need to be taken out, and Alicia starts falling for it. Kim’s would-be allies are already agreed Chelsea should be next to go, but now Alicia is starting to consider keeping Tarzan and getting rid of Kim.

When the girls return from their reward the game starts back up (although if any of them thought the game went on hold while they were on a boat then they were seriously mislead). Alicia and Kim compare notes about Tarzan and discover he’s been playing both of them – although Kim’s confessional reveals that she’s setting Tarzan up to fail specifically to give Alicia someone else to gun for. It definitely works, with the self-proclaimed “Ghetto Puerto Rican” going on a tirade to the camera about how stupid she almost looked by getting “Tarzaned.” Little does she know that she’s actually getting “Kimmed.” She’s so busy proclaiming that she’s the master of the social game that she hasn’t stopped to consider that everyone is manipulating her.

Immunity Challenge: We’ve got another puzzle this week, although the first part of the challenge involves getting the pieces. Players have to use a sequence of fishhooks hooked together to get the puzzle bags – with one hand tied behind their back. As they complete each section of the puzzle, they go back for the next bag of parts. Alicia and Kim are the first to complete the first section, with Kim jumping into the lead by getting her bag open quicker. Chelsea is in the rear, with the editing set up to make it appear she’s the one who needs immunity most of all. Alicia retakes the lead heading into the third section and tension mounts as both players keep dropping pieces. Alicia winds up taking the challenge, but only by seconds. She’s safe tonight, but will tribal council play out the way she’s expecting it to?

The manipulations get thick with Kim trying to save Chelsea by targeting Tarzan. Essentially tonight’s vote is going to go one of two ways – either Chelsea will be going home like originally planned, or Tarzan will be snuffed out. Tarzan isn’t helping matters at all with irrational acts – calling Alicia a bitch after she won immunity and wearing one of the girls’ tank tops (later revealed to be Kat’s) – and has anyone actually forgotten the “poop pants” incident? As we head to tribal council, just which direction the vote will go is up in the air, although one thing is brought back to light: Tarzan helped vote out five guys – and those guys are on the jury. What chance does he actually have to win this game when he turned against his brothers like that?

Tribal Council: That fact about Tarzan – getting rid of the guys – is brought back up at Tribal Council, although Tarzan tries to leverage that into the idea that he should be carried further because he’s unpopular with the jury. The focus stays largely on Tarzan for the duration of Tribal, although what that means is ambiguous at best as they head into the vote. Probst tallies the votes and…

The tribe has spoken.

Tarzan is sent home

With that, the last of the men is gone – but you know what? It didn’t matter. Tarzan didn’t have a chance to beat anybody. He was just a tool being kept around until he outlived his usefulness, so his departure was just a matter of time. I can’t remember a next-to-last episode that had so little impact on the game as a whole, although I’m sure there have been some. Frankly, if they want to show us something interesting, they should show us the jury house when Kat gets a hold of Tarzan for wearing her tank top (and panties on his head).

The final episode is Sunday, May 13thup against NBC’s penultimate Celebrity Apprentice. Which of the reality shows will win? And who will win Survivor? Sound off with your guess in the poll below.

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Of course, for many people the doldrums of the end of the expansion cycle have set in. I’ve been asked to raid again and while I do assume part of it is because of my sparkling personality and wondrous skill as a healer, I also assume part of it is to fill space – holes cleared by vacating players who are bored with the end of Cataclysm lasting so long or already enamored with the beta for Mists of Pandaria. My raid leader even told me that raiding is very casual in tone right now, which can sometimes frustrate me.

One of the benefits of being a casual player is that I’m never without something to do in game. It’s not uncommon for me to see content after its prime (I didn’t take down the Lich King until Cataclysm had been out for a few months), so I don’t get tired of grinding the same dungeons and raids as other people. Meanwhile,  I have a fair number of alts, so there’s always a character to level, and a decent number of those are level-capped, which means there are things those characters can do. This means the doldrums don’t hit me as hard as they hit other players.

Instead of being bummed by a few months of stagnant content, I’m working on a bucket list of goals to try and accomplish before Mists comes out and I start power leveling a mad monk. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

“Pony Up” my shaman characters. I’ve missed the ability to have my squire run errands for me. As a hoarder, I need access to my bank and the ability to sell things, but neither of my shamans made it through the process to have that happen. Grinding those old Crusade dailies is still monotonous, but it’s surprising how quickly most of those quests can be completed, except (of course) the mounted ones. I can handle tilting against Alliance and Horde forces pretty well, but having to go in front of Icecrown Citadel for more jousting is still tedious and frustrating at times.

Obtain the phoenix mount and pet I’ve wanted for my primary shaman for a while. This means familiarizing myself with Magister’s Terrace (never been there) and The Eye (or there) and figuring out how much of it I can solo. My understanding is the 5-man shouldn’t be a problem for a well-geared elementalist, but I suspect hitting the raid, even as above level as I am, will be a bigger challenge. Considering I’ve never been the type to grind a dungeon for a mount or pet, this will be a new experience for me and I expect to join many other frustrated players out there waiting for my damn mount to drop!

Level cap my rogue and work toward the legendary daggers. Something a little less attainable – while I had a rogue level capped during Wrath, he’s sat at 80 until recently, untouched and unused. Playing mostly ranged characters (hunter, elemental shaman, mage), I still find running dungeons where I have to be in close quarters to enemies a bit challenging. In short: I’m not a great rogue. Still, those daggers are just too appealing to not go after. Even if I don’t make it all the way to the legendaries, I think I’d learn quite a bit about the melee classes if I worked on this one.

Achieve the Loremaster title on my hunter. While I’ve moved into preferring shaman characters, my hunter was my main for quite a while. I’ve gotten him several achievements that I wouldn’t go after on other characters, just because they belong to my sense of him as a character (of course, account-wide achievements will override that, but still…). I like the idea of earning Loremaster on that one character, just to recognize his years of service and expertise. Honestly, I don’t have to play a hunter very well in order to move through the lower zones, and Cataclysm didn’t reset Outlands or Northrend, so most of my achievements there are complete. Mostly this is just a matter of sticking through the humdrum lower level zones, although most of those have at least had their stories spiced up by the recent expansion.

I particularly like that my goals spread the wealth among my more frequently played characters, ensuring I don’t get too burned out on one single task. What about you? What goals do you hope to finish before the Mists of Pandaria arrive?

What follows is my speculation on what we might see in from The Avengers 2. In order to thoroughly flesh out some of these ideas, I have touched upon some minor spoilers for The Avengers as well as some of the individual character movies. Proceed with caution if you haven’t seen Marvel’s latest picture (although, let’s be honest: with a $200 million opening, the odds of someone not seeing it are much more rare than usual).

Captain America will play a bigger role: While the star-spangled hero was far from marginalized in The Avengers, some of the focus for the character had to deal with incorporating him into the world of the other heroes since his own movie took part mostly in the past. There is no doubt we will get another Captain America picture before Avengers 2, which will help solidify Cap’s contemporary role as a hero. This means the de facto leader of The Avengers will be much more confident the second time around, instead of having to deal with time-separation issues. (Odds: pretty high, especially considering director Joss Whedon’s statement that a lot more was filmed about Cap that was left on the cutting room floor)

Nick Fury will join in the action: It’s been great seeing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, especially with his involvement getting bigger with each subsequent picture. His role definitely grows to a peak with The Avengers but I’m surprised at how far removed Fury is from the action within the movie. He’s more of a facilitator than a hero. I can’t imagine Jackson – he who carried a purple lightsaber – is fully satisfied with how Fury has played out. Jackson likes being the bad-ass, and a deskman simply isn’t bad enough, right? Besides, the rule of a sequel is that it has to be bigger than the original, so Fury can’t keep calling the shots from a distance – he needs to get into the action. I would expect to see more from Fury in the future, showing us just why he is the man calling the shots for S.H.I.E.L.D. (Odds: even, especially since I haven’t actually seen Jackson say anything about wanting Fury to be more involved in the action)

More Avengers will join the team: One of the interesting things about The Avengers is that it didn’t have a lot of Easter eggs. There were so many characters to play with already that shoving in references to other people or introducing new characters wasn’t really an option. Still, the fan cries over the lack of Henry Pym (Ant Man) and his girlfriend Janet (The Wasp), both of whom were original members of the Avengers in the comic books, were far too audible to be ignored. There is already an Ant Man movie in development, although it was being approached with a more humorous approach than with a tone in line with the other hero movies. I would expect Marvel to be reassessing that project very soon in order to get the characters into The Avengers sequel. (Odds: likely, but whether the characters would get their own movie or serve as background characters more developed in the sequel – like Black Widow and Hawkeye here – is debatable)

Those characters won’t include Spidey or Wolverine: Sorry true believers, but even though the wall-crawler and berserker have appeared in the Avengers lineup from time to time in the comics you can pretty well rule out seeing them in the films. As cool as it would be to integrate the entire Marvel Universe, the film rights are still divided up, with Spider-Man residing over at Sony Pictures (who are clearly still actively using the character) and the X-Men mutants set up at Fox. This also complicates the use of other characters like the Silver Surfer or Galactus. Although Disney is slowly reclaiming the characters (The Avengers is a Disney-released movie even if it does still have a Paramount slate on the front of it), don’t expect Fox or Sony to give up their respective golden geese anytime soon. (Odds: slim to none in seeing them, even in a passing reference,)

Thanos will be the new big bad: If you stuck around through the end credits for the first stinger (or the only one offered overseas), you saw The Other having a conversation with another alien, commenting that to go up against the united heroes was to tempt death itself. The other alien turns, revealing a familiar purple visage to comic book fans – Thanos, the Mad Titan. The appearance is apropos considering the dialog, since Thanos’s name is derived from Thanatos, the Greek personification of Death. The alien is certainly an enemy worthy of Earths Mightiest Heroes, particularly if he gets his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet, a device of epic power that just happened to be seen in the background of the vault in Thor. (Odds: Likely, particularly if we see him in one of the individual movies, which brings us to…)

The lead-in films will be even more important developmentally: One of the best things The Avengers does is use the resources of its lead-in movies, although it plants enough information here to help people who didn’t see those films. Loki was developed over the course of Thor while the tesseract at the heart of the story was a plot device from Captain America. Assuming Thanos is the big bad for the Avengers reunion, expect him to pop up elsewhere first – most likely in Thor 2 so he can make a play for the aforementioned gauntlet (or, at the very least, expect the gauntlet to be used in some capacity in Thor 2 so its better established for The Avengers sequel. Meanwhile, some of the relationships that developed over the course of The Avengers will probably develop further in the individual films as well, particularly with Black Widow and Hulk, both of whom are played by actors who have signed multi-picture deals like Samuel L. Jackson.  (Odds: Highly likely, although expect solid writing to continue keeping The Avengers 2 self-sufficient like the first one)

There will be more hero-versus-hero battles to come: With the ending of The Avengers the respective teammates all seem to be in a much better place as far as working together. Expect some of that to unravel as they have their own adventures. In particular I would expect to see another feud between Iron Man and the star-spangled hero as Captain America’s confidence grows. I would also expect to see another tangle with Hulk, because we can’t have Banner able to control the beast for too long (that would just be boring). Add in an injection of new blood and it’s possible to have even more rifts between the would-be teammates. (Odds: Likely. Fans love seeing heroes take on heroes, but Marvel wants to avoid a feeling of too much “been there, done that.”)

Someone will die: Part of the reason Joss Whedon is a perfect fit for The Avengers is because he knows how to work with an ensemble and piece together all of their quirks and foibles. If you look at his body of work, however, he also really likes killing off characters to mess with his heroes. We definitely see that in The Avengers with a death I don’t think any of us saw coming, and I would expect to see it the sequel for the same reason: death motivates even the most selfish characters (ahem… Tony Stark) to rise up to a more noble cause. Not only would I expect there to be a death next time around, but I’d expect it to be a more substantial character – remember, in the comic book world, anyone is expendible, mostly because anyone can be brought back from the dead with a little creative license. (Odds: Even, although they increase if Whedon is involved in the sequel).

The premise of The Avengers, both in the comic book world and the movie, is that a team of “Earth’s mightiest heroes” comes together when a foe appears who is bigger than any one of them can handle. In the cinematic world it’s a project that Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson) has been working on for five movies, appearing in the shadows of end-credit sequences with exposition leading to this movie. The impetus finally comes for the heroes to come together when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) gets his hands on the tesseract used by the Red Skull in Captain America. With the Asgardian trickster planning on using the device to open a portal to let in an extraterrestrial army, it’s up to Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to team up and save the day.

The best move that could have been made as far as creating The Avengers was to bring Joss Whedon on board to co-write and direct. Whedon has proven his ability to work with ensembles for most of his career (Bufy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly are all strong team-led productions). He brings that talent to The Avengers, combining all of the former frontmen into a strong ensemble but still giving each individual character the chance to shine – even minor characters from previous films like Johansson’s Black Widow and Renner’s Hawkeye or Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson get the spotlight, making them equals in this production instead of just supporting players.

Despite The Avengers being a team, nothing feels sacrificed by bringing these characters together. Every portrayal feels true to the characters we’ve seen in previous films. Tony Stark is still an egotistical asshole who has to be reminded why he took up the mantle of a hero, while Steve Rodgers is still an idealist boy scout – a personality that doesn’t quite fit in with modern times. Whedon and co-writer Zak Penn use those ideological differences to create conflict within the team as its members come together, creating some sensational moments and sequences that pit hero against hero in fights most fanboys dream of. Ever wondered what a fight between Hulk and Thor would look like? How about when Captain American and Iron Man clash? It’s all in here delivered in a very satisfying style. At the same time, some unusual friendships begin to develop over the course of the movie, laying a strong foundation that makes me want to see another Avengers story sooner rather than later, or at least for more crossover within each individual hero’s story.

Don’t take my description and references to previous chapters to mean there’s a requirement that you’re familiar with the five lead-in movies, however. While I’ve seen the previous films, I found the references to them were fully explained here and really didn’t require previous knowledge. My wife, who had only seen Iron Man and Thor, also found the film fully enjoyable and easy to follow. In fact, one of the film’s highlights – Mark Ruffalo’s take on Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk – has never been seen in a previous film, yet Ruffalo feels just as comfortable and in place as any of the other players.

Whedon not only makes sure the characters feel true to the previous stories we’ve seen, but he also does an amazing job of continually giving them something to do. No character is sidelined for very long and the film balances each of them perfectly. In the action sequences we are constantly rotated through what the heroes are doing and where other action movies sometimes marginalizes a character in order to move forward, Whedon uses the various characters’ talents and skills to amp up the action at every opportunity. Each action sequence feels elevated from the previous one, with larger stakes and conflicts, leading to the safety of the entire planet – truly a struggle worthy of bringing together these heroes.

Where The Avengers ranks on your personal list of super-hero movies is going to be up to your individual tastes, but it is certain to rank high because Whedon gives it everything it needs to be a success, both as a character-driven piece and as a summer action blockbuster. The characters are strong and the action is intense – and (most importantly) completely followable. The Avengers is the kind of blockbuster we expect from the summer and other films angling for the next few months are going to have one hell of a challenge to beat what this film accomplishes on screen.

-Rafe Telsch

Joss Whedon captures the super hero movie like no other. Sam Raimi came close with Spider-Man 2, as did Matthew Vaughn with X-Men: First Class. In fact, The Avengers in the hands of Whedon is very much a cross of these two films thematically. Whedon masterfully, thoughtfully, effortlessly, combines the extreme heroic action with subtle character work. Each character gets their moment. Tony Stark questions his own selfish approach to life and heroism. Steve Rogers grows past his personal loss, both in time and in purpose, to become the leader. Thor battles the conflict with Loki being both his brother and his enemy. Bruce Banner comes to terms with the hulking beast within him. Other characters shine under Whedon’s guidance as well: Black Widow gains a personality and ambition; Agent Coulson gains a first name (Phil) and becomes more important and human; Loki exercises his devilish smile and influence over his surroundings and battles his own megalomaniacal tendencies. While Whedon wows and stuns the audience with every astonishing action powered mountain, he charms and entertains with every character driven valley. The Avengers may be the most perfectly balanced action film because of Whedon’s obvious love, respect and understanding of the characters, superheroes and the medium.

Each actor brings their “A” game to The Avengers as well. And, they never once steal the thunder from their co-stars. Downey, Evans, Ruffalo and Hemsworth are as much a team for Whedon as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor are for Nick Fury as the Avengers. Robert Downey Jr. bring his familiar flamboyance to Stark, but also displays a stronger depth to the character than in the previous two Iron Man films. Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth continue developing their roles as well each becoming more accustomed to the modern world. Mark Ruffalo, the third actor to star as Bruce Banner, excels as the scientist struggling to hold back the beast. He brings the role a sharper edge and a more comfortable intelligence under Whedon’s pen. Remarkably, Tom Hiddleston manages to play opposite the entire cast as Loki holding his own admirably. Where he may lack a fully developed motivation for his attacking and conquering Earth, Hiddleston brings a convincing and menacing determination to the character that provides the characters actions an authentic villainous drive. And it’s all due to what Hiddleston brings to the role. When it all clicks and gels, it is rousing.

The supporting cast get their moments as well, most notably Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. She quickly illustrates why she is a master spy, a strength, power, and intelligence that should not be ignored; but, later, she struggles with realizing that she is out-gunned and out-powered by the super power heroes surrounding her. Yet, she does not back down, she stands and fights along with the best of them. Whedon and Johansson take the walk-on role from Iron Man 2 and flesh the role out to be as strong, if not stronger, character than the franchise leading roles next to her. Samuel L. Jackson finally gets to delve into the Nick Fury role, with much more to do than the walk on bits in the previous films. Here he shows the leadership and cunning that he’s been promising since the ending of Iron Man. The stand out performer however is Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, who gets to show his softer and stronger sides during the film. His personality is much different beside Captain America and Thor than it is along side Iron Man. His admiration of Steve Rogers humanizes the character and places him directly in the audience’s mindset. Later, when facing Loki alone, he displays a strength only hinted at with his cameos in the previous films. Where he was a fun curiosity before, here he is a fully developed and beloved addition to the Avengers storyline.

The Avengers is yet another Marvel film post converted for 3D. Previously Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger blazed the trail for Marvel’s 3D entries, each with own successes and failures in the process. Captain America: The First Avenger is their best example. The Avengers delivers on the promise of these efforts. Whedon has a careful eye for the visuals and surroundings in respect to depth. In most every scene, where-ever possible, there is something in the foreground: a column, a character, a smoke trail or a villain flying by. When Iron Man first appears, he flies off to the cityscape in the distance, and the scene is spectacular in 3D. The scene where Loki challenges Black Widow’s attempt to plead for Hawkeye’s freedom while trapped in a cage, the class wall becomes a third character separating them. The battle between Thor and Iron Man in the forest is sensational with the added depth. When the Hulk smashes through the hellicarrier chasing down Black Widow, the 3D magnifies the enormity of the Hulk’s rampage as he bursts through the support beams standing in his way. The final battle scene where Loki’s army attacks New York City is simply incredible. No other converted 3D film has looked this good. While the film doesn’t depend on the 3D, it’s presence certainly amplifies the action and heroics giving the film an added scope.

The Avengers is a milestone in modern cinema, a grand time in the theater. It pays equal attention to the action and the characters. It respects the heroes, the audience and the source material. It’s a film that shouldn’t have worked but does in an undeniably sensational way. Each character gets a chance to shine and grow. And the actors behind the heroes make the most of their time, but not a single actor, instead as a team, as an ensemble. The effects and action are superior and the collective experience is rewarding. Whedon is crafty in balancing the narrative and humor to keep the exposition lively and entertaining. He smartly focuses on the heroes struggle to unite instead of the actual battle between the heroes and the villains. Surprisingly, The Avengers as a film works far better than “The Avengers” as a comic ever has. Where the comic is more literal about the heroes joining together to battle evil, in the film, it’s about the heroes being as heroic as their namesakes, living up to their reputations and powers, putting aside their differences, fears and egos for the better of humanity. It works. The Avengers is a runaway success, one that demands to be seen again and again.

-Doc Rotten