Directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers is the sixth entry in, and the culmination of what has become known as Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Phase 1 began with 2008’s Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. Since then, we’ve seen Edward Norton’s The Incredible Hulk (2008), Chris Hemsworth as Thor (2011), Chris Evans as Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and a second Iron Man film (Iron Man 2, 2010), each with an allusion building up to Avengers.

The Avengers was made for $220 million. It immediately smashed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2’s previous opening weekend record, making  $207 million. It has since gone on to gross over $1.5 billion, making it the third-highest grossing film of all time, after Titanic ($2.1 Billion) and Avatar ($2.7 Billion).

Joss Whedon is best known for creating the hit TV Series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but he has created many successful shows, such as Angel and Dollhouse. However, until now he has only ever directed one movie, Serenity, which tied up Whedon’s short-running Magnum Opus, Firefly.

In The Avengers, the Earth’s mightiest heroes team up to save the planet. This includes all the heroes from Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson, first seen in Iron Man 2) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, first seen in Thor). There is only one recast here: after negotiations fell through with Edward Norton, the role of the Hulk was given to Mark Ruffalo. To be honest, I had my doubts about this at first, but after seeing the movie, I have to admit that he is perhaps the best Hulk yet.

One of the greatest obstacles that had to be overcome to make The Avengers work was that they had all these great actors on screen, and each one had to be equally important to the story. But, anyone who knows Joss Whedon’s work knows that this is what he excels at, and he pulls it off flawlessly here. Even the non-super-powered Hawkeye and Black Widow become integral to the success of the team. However, with all of this going on, the villain (the superb Tom Hiddleston as Loki) ends up with very little screen time, and is denied some of the careful character development that the others received. This was very much a movie about the formation of the Avengers, more origin story than anything.

The Avengers stands as the greatest superhero movie of all time, head and shoulders above anything that came before it. It is one of very few superhero movies that is also just a great film; that doesn’t just stand on the iconic images of its characters, but uses the inherent flaws of these characters to create a deep, interesting narrative.

So, what comes next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Phase 2 begins with Iron Man 3 on May 3^rd, 2013. Following that is Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and a possible Ant-Man movie, all leading up to The Avengers 2 in 2015.