Assemble!

So, The Avengers is coming out in less than a month. This thing has been building since 2008 when Iron Man first came to theaters, incorporates four major comic book characters with their own origin movies, two of which already have sequels. Needless to say, I'm fairly excited.

It is hard to believe that a film with this much star power can be good. The Expendables comes to mind. The star power here is character based (the only real "star" actors in this movie would be Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson), and that changes the expectations. These characters were expected to shine in their own individual movies, and they did, to varying degrees.

The dynamic changes when you cram them all together, though, and that's where the trouble lies. I'm still skeptical, of course, but I do have faith in writer/director Joss Whedon, who has some stellar work behind him. He's the creator of Buffy, Firefly, Dr. Horrible, a slew of other live action works, and, most importantly in this case, he has written comics himself. He knows the characters and comics, just like fans do.

Sink or swim, Joss is boss.