The Avengers Surprised Me - SPOILERS

2012: The Year The Avengers Changed Everything

I've already posted one spoiler free review of the Avengers here but the movie has been out for a week and the internet is swarming with spoilers so I'll give my detailed, spoiler-filled thoughts now. I'll try not to repeat too much from my first post. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

The great thing about this movie is that it is able to surprise its audiences. Perhaps this is one of the reasons it got such great reactions. I hope you've saw it before someone (like me) ruined everything for you (like I'm about to do). I was surprised...

1) That Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig got mind controlled right off the bat by Loki.
2) How awesome the Black Widow was. Frankly, she steals the show. When she's fools Loki, the god of mischief, my jaw was on the floor.
3) By the Hulk's confrontation with Loki. Here's the big bad guy and the Hulk just ragdolls him.
4) Agent Colston's death. For someone with seemingly no personality, he was enjoyable. Along with Fury, he was the thread that held the Avengers film continuity together.
5) Thanos, of course. I can't tell you how huge the reaction from the fanboys was when he turned around. Sure, it left some scratching their heads but they quickly asked someone, "Who's that?" I'm guessing there were quite a few internet searches for "Thanos" over the last ten days.
6) Overall, I was surprised how much time was spent with the Avengers feuding among themselves. But the superhero fight is a quintessential comic book tradition so it had to happen. The best was when the Hulk and Thor team up to defeat a huge alien only to have the Hulk sucker punch Thor.
7) The second post-credits scene with the Avengers all sitting around in a Shawarma restaurant starring vacantly into space. The tension builds and builds when you wait for the punch line to be delivered... and it never is.
8) The Hulk trying (and failing) to pick up Thor's hammer!

Frankly, I'm probably missing about 20 things from that list.