Superhero overload

MANILA, Philippines - And that’s necessarily a bad thing, either. After titillating us with post

Marvel

-movie teasers (most notably after

Iron Man 2

), we get the first installment of the expected multi-flick run of

The Avengers

— assembling a Hollywood/

Marvel

celebrity cast not seen since the

Silver Surfer

saddled up next to the

X-Men

. I don’t count the other

X-Men

films as, hey, these mutants should really work together anyway. Additionally, in sheer brute power,

Avengers

is second to none. I mean, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is there, for crying out loud — not to mention Norse god Thor (Chris Hemsworth).

The Avengers also means we finally get to see more than just a glimpse of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) director Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson), who activates the AI (nope, not American Idol) program and enlists the superhero team composed of the aforementioned gamma-powered green man and the deity, plus Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). I would be remiss if I neglect to mention that Downey is once again at his witty best as Stark, Tony Stark.

An assemblage this formidable begets a worthy antagonist. Enter Thor’s own adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who enters our world through a portal opened by the power cube called the Tesseract. What does the banished god want? What else but the power cube — and to make city folk kneel before him. Loki has also forged an alliance with an alien race, the Chitauri, who seek to enter through the portal and run roughshod over us puny humans — Scarborough Shoal and all. Whew.

As you would imagine, a film like this is monumentally challenged to chuck in as much action as possible within its celluloid length — two hours, 22 minutes, to be precise. Co-writer and director Joss Whedon indeed pulls the stops to give each superhero ample screen time both in action and in dialogue, but The Avengers is really but a staging point for foreseeable sequels. To this end, the film delivers in spades. Speaking of end, do stay after the credits start to roll. Another scrumptious character promises to make a cameo. Clue: Think infinity.

I got a chance to see the 3D version, and I must say that I’m looking forward to viewing it on regular, good ol’ 2D. I don’t know if it was the setting of the cinema projector or my own crappy set of eyeballs, but I found the projected image a little too dark for my taste.

As for the story, it was pretty straightforward with some references to past adventures of our popular superheroes. There is also some degree of emotional baggage, and that lends to making The Avengers more, well, human.

Still, you don’t go watching a Marvel movie for the high drama. If you’re anything like me (a token comic fan in my past life), you get in the ride to see how moviemaking technology has caught up to the fertile imagination of the Stan Lee and company. And, oh, you get to see Acura’s neat new NSX, too.

It has indeed come a long way. You remember Lou Ferigno as Dr. Banner’s alter ego? Well, Mark Ruffalo doesn’t have to play second fiddle to a body builder. He plays second fiddle to a CGI character. Speaking of which, is there a Hulk curse that sees a succession of Hollywood actors filling the role — Eric Bana, Edward Norton, and now Ruffalo? At any rate, Ruffalo is a perfect Banner to, well, banner the Hulk. Ruffalo is blasé in his depiction — trying so hard, as it were, to stay calm and collected because you wouldn’t like him angry.

A lavish production that is yet to debut in the US on May 4, Philippine audiences have already been getting their Avengers fix — and all of the related paraphernalia from businesses wanting to cash in. The end result is so obvious and easy to describe, even for the Hulk.

Yup, it’s a smash.