Avengers Assemble

“IT WASN’T UNTIL that moment that we thought, ‘Oh, this might work,’” says Scarlett Johansson. That moment being the point — almost two hours in — when the Avengers finally assemble in Avengers Assemble, DP Seamus Mcgarvey’s camera roving around Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (Johansson’s Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye) as they stand in a circle, properly together for the first time. “There was just something about us standing there in our full gear, and Mark in his [mocap] suit,” Johansson tells Empire. “We were always worried about how you were going to take all these different characters from different universes, but in that moment it was a united cause — we actually all are in the same movie.”

The MCU hadn’t indulged in such a showstopper before, but this is not just eye-candy. Seeing the Avengers back-toback is crucial; in fact, it was the starting point for director Joss Whedon’s conception of the battle. This is the moment that a group of people who have been mistrustful, bickering and sometimes at war for two hours become a team.

“The movie is about finding yourself from community,” said Whedon, “and finding that you not only belong together but you need each other, very much.”

For the first two acts, the Avengers have been separated, and it’s not until this moment that they (sorry) assemble. And then, at last, it is on. As the script says, “The Chitauri Army watches in horror as a group of Earth’s mightiest heroes find themelves united against a common threat. To fight the foes no single superhero could withstand! The Avengers assemble!”

The “how” of it took some doing. Visual development supervisor Ryan Meinerding tried to “unify the colours” in the concept art. There’s movement, but nothing distracting or out of character.

Hulk roars, Widow reloads, Iron Man drops gently into place, Cap assesses the enemy. Whedon’s idea was that the Chitauri would have a war cry, raised in defiance after the freshly arrived Hulk punches out their Leviathan. Whedon observed, “The Avengers are surrounded by guys going, ‘We are going to fuck you up.’” And it’s also the first time that Alan Silvestri deploys his now-iconic Avengers theme. “That was the place for it,” he told Empire. “We all knew everybody was going to be waiting for that shot in the movie. It was such a bold musical statement, but no more bold than having all your heroes standing in the midst of all this action.”

Now, just eight years on, the shot itself feels almost a little quaint; a little lowambition, even, compared with the Avengers-versus-avengers battle in Captain America: Civil War and the costumed chaos of the finale of Avengers: Endgame. But without this shot, the ultimate proof of concept, it’s arguable that neither of those shots exist. Now we just need to see a version in which Ruffalo is wearing his mo-cap suit.