it's a party

[harborshore]

I just realized I haven't actually told the internet at large just how much I loved The Avengers. Which, I've spent the last two weeks talking about nothing else in email and writing fic about no other characters--yes.



So these notes are short, but in no particular order:

1. Bruce Banner! I had never ever previously had feelings about the Hulk or his Dr Jekyll alter ego, but my god, Mark Ruffalo did so well in this role. He's self-deprecating, he has gravitas like--there's a scene, you know the one, where it would have been so easy for him to play the yes-I-was-seriously-depressed card for laughs, but he doesn't and it's heartbreaking, and at other times he's funny as hell and he gets Tony (Tony/Pepper/Bruce, you guys, I ship it). Favorite.


2. Actually, they're all my favorites. Tony and Pepper and their warmth, I love it so much, and Tony not being afraid of Bruce, and Tony making fun of Loki and Thor and their Asgardian drama (I can admit it, our myths are pretty histrionic in places), and and and so great. SO great. The way he learned to work with Steve!


3. STEEEEVE. Steve. Man. I have feelings about Steve Rogers and his sincerity and his fucking shield and his everything. The way he watches Natasha fly after giving her a boost with this absolute joy on his face. The way his first thought is for the civilians. Fuck.


4. Phil Coulson is fine. I don't care who the director is, I don't care if I'm being an idiot about it, Phil Coulson is FINE. Because I love him. Okay?
   
   Now that we've established that: "You lack conviction." Best line. Also, the phone call to Natasha in the beginning made me ship him/her/Clint like burning and it doesn't look like I'll be stopping any time soon. OT-fucking-3. "Honey, our boyfriend is in serious trouble. Please come be your competent self so we can get him home."


5. Speaking of Natasha, how great is she? How is she the best every time she's on screen? Good goddamn, she's my favorite. "Let me put you on hold." And then taking everyone out, barefoot, weaponless, tied to a fucking chair. Pulling up Clint on screen every time she's near a computer. Using Loki's assumptions against him and reading him like a BOOK, god, I love her. The way she tells both Clint and Selvig right away that it wasn't their fault, what they did when they were brainwashed, it wasn't their fault. The compassion in that. ♥ SHE IS MY FAVORITE.


6. Thor! Still love Thor. "You people are so petty. And so short." Ridiculous, larger-than-life, the kind of happy that they all need, even as he has a much more serious side. LOVE HIM. Did not love his brother, except as a very good villain--I love Loki-the-character from the myths, but he's also the guy who causes the end of the world and I can believe that, here, which just--makes him less compelling, for me. Armageddon, genocide, wanting to destroy for the sake of destroying--"You kill because it's fun" as Fury puts it.


7. CLIIIINT. Competent as FUCK, I loved that he just never missed, that he calculated for the fact that Loki would catch the arrow and made it an exploding one, his relationship with Natasha, his post-brainwashing scene of vulnerability and then desire to go do something violent, his everything. Clint/Natasha/Coulson forever (so says my fic, which is 5K and growing fast).


8. The way this movie problematized and distrusted authority. The way it pointed out that someone can be in the right most of the time and still be a manipulative fucker--Fury, lying about the weapons. The way the Council was incredibly troubling, even though they're in charge of SHIELD, which is on the side of the angels. Supposedly. SO INTERESTING.

Basically I love everything, I want the Black Widow prequel YESTERDAY, gimme Bucky Barnes to add to this and I will be your forever.

ETA: And I forgot (clearly a reason I need to see it again soon): "There are always men like you." That moment makes me cry, every time. Such poignancy, in the middle of a really bombastic superhero movie. Well done, Joss.