I’m a little afraid that this review is going to a bit redundant. If the mass amount of sold out sessions on Wednesday are anything to go by, almost everyone keen to read this would have seen this film already, and probably have already come to the same Neo-esque conclusion.

Whoa.

It’s arguable that The Avengers had a bigger build up than any film that has come before it. While things like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings come off a strong book and fan base, The Avengers is the result of decades of comic books, years of planing, and is the culmination of four separate films (not counting the two non-Ruffalo Hulks).

Personally I’ve been looking forward to it since the first whisper of its possibility. Firstly because the idea of multiple film characters coming together in one glorious super-film appeals to the part of me that loves Xena/Hercules crossover episodes, and secondly because Joss Whedon can do virtually no wrong in my eyes. Not counting the Buffy comic books.

I tolerated the Superbowl, watched every trailer as soon as it came out,  read every article, and sat through the credits of Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America, over-analysing the living hell out of any bonus material. With similarly-motivated friends, we would forego the traditional “hello” and instead greet each other with a knowing “three more months!”.

Now that the countdown is over, we’ll probably now be greeting each other with “doth mother know you weareth her drapes?”.

So, my expectations were high, and, correspondingly, so were my stresses that it would be a huge disappointment. Nonetheless, I booked my ticket, cried a little on the inside that it wasn’t for the midnight session, and Marveled at the crowd of disappointed people unable to get in to the full house.

For the three people who have yet to see it, essentially Loki is a sore loser with a power complex, and wants to get vengeance on Thor by leading an army of terrifying other-worldly creatures to Earth. He does this by stealing the Tesseract, prompting Nick Fury to assemble the previously abandoned Avengers initiative. Rag-tag misfits with super powers come together, and overcome their differences and personal issues to protect the earth.

It actually sounds pretty run of the mill, but no. Whedon.

Credited as a writer as well as director, the film was so packed with action, complexity, visual jokes and sharp writing that if I wasn’t gasping, spotting Stan Lee or frantically thinking back to the preceding movies, I was laughing uproariously. It was also interesting to see that, at least visually, The Avengers started the same way the Buffy ended.

I could happily watch a whole film of just Iron Man and Thor interacting. Or Iron Man and Captain America smack talking each other. Or Captain America making politically incorrect social faux pas. Or the Hulk bullying Loki. Or Thor attempting to describe humans.

It all just works. Perfectly cast, both on screen and off, I legitimately don’t think anything could have made this film better. If they haven’t cemented in a sequel, they’ve at least cemented the largest percentage of costume representation at any future Comic-Con event.

So, on Tuesday, I’m going back to see it for what I suspect will not be the last time. Whatever. They have a HULK.