Originally Posted by pavulon
mmm...name calling. I'm pretty sure you're 17.
Whatever you do, don't read this...
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., arrives at a remote S.H.I.E.L.D. research facility during an evacuation. Physicist Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) is leading a research team experimenting on the Tesseract,2 an energy source of unknown potential, and Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) explains that it is giving off a bizarre form of energy. As Fury and Hill enter the laboratory, the Tesseract activates, opening a portal from which the Norse God Loki (Tom Hiddleston) steps through. Loki steals the Tesseract and uses his abilities to control the minds of several S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, including Dr. Selvig and Agent Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), to aid him in his getaway.
In response to the attack, Fury reactivates the Avengers Initiative. Agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johannson) is sent to India to find and recruit Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), while Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), approaches Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and requests that he review Dr. Selvig's research. Fury himself approaches Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) with an assignment to retrieve the Tesseract from Loki. During his exile, Loki met 'The Other' (Alexis Denisof), leader of a warmongering alien race known as the Chitauri, and in exchange for the Tesseract, The Other promises Loki an army of Chitauri with which he can subjugate Earth.
Rogers, Stark, and Romanoff travel to Stuttgart, Germany, to apprehend Loki, who is is causing a distraction while Barton steals iridium needed to stabilize the Tesseract's power. Loki demands that a crowd of civilians kneel before him. After a battle with Captain America and Iron Man, Loki surrenders and is escorted back to S.H.I.E.L.D. by plane when Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki's adoptive brother, arrives and frees Loki in an attempt to reason with him. After a confrontation, Stark, Rogers, and Thor take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier, and imprison him.
The Avengers are divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. planned to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons as a deterrent against hostile extraterrestrials. As the group argues, Barton and Loki's other possessed agents attack the Helicarrier, disabling its engines in flight and causing Banner to transform into the Hulk. As Stark and Rogers try to restart the damaged engines, Thor attempts to stop the Hulk's rampage, and Romanoff fights Barton. During this fight, a blow to the head knocks Barton unconscious, breaking Loki's mind control. Loki escapes, killing Agent Coulson as he does so, and Thor and the Hulk are each ejected from the ship. Fury uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers into working as a team. Stark and Rogers realize that simply defeating them will not be enough for Loki; he needs to overpower them publicly to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Using a device that a mind-controlled Selvig built for him, Loki uses the Tesseract to open a portal above Stark Tower to the Chitauri fleet in space, enabling a Chitauri invasion.
The Avengers rally in defense of New York City but quickly realize they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth. With help from Barton, Rogers and Stark evacuate civilians, while Banner transforms into the Hulk again and goes after Loki, eventually beating him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to the portal, where Selvig, freed of Loki's control, reveals that Loki's staff can be used to close the portal. Meanwhile, Fury's superiors attempt to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile and takes it through the portal toward the Chitauri fleet. The missile detonates, destroying the Chitauri lead ship. Stark's suit runs out of power and he falls back through the portal, but Hulk saves him from falling to Earth. Romanoff deactivates the portal, instantly disabling all of the remaining Chitauri forces and ending the battle. In the aftermath, Thor returns Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard. Fury notes that the Avengers will return when they are needed.
In a post-credits scene, the Other confers with his master3 about the attack on Earth. In a second post-credits scene, the Avengers—gathered at a shawarma restaurant—eat in silence.
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