I'm giving The Avengers the same grade as I gave The Dark Knight, a C.I was misled by the early viewers who were calling it as good as TDK or the best SH movie. That's no problem, I don't mind my expectations get shot a little, but the movie was merely all sizzle before I saw it, and also while seeing it. To be fair I certainly didn't get most of the jokes and callbacks. But all good movies are multi layered. This was not. The most rehashed scene was Black widow wriggling out of her Russian prison. Done many times in other films, and better. The way Loki trapped Thor by teleporting/illusions was the only part where The Avengers had intrigue. Reminded me of Speed, which was, I seem to recall, written by Joss Whedon.Mark Ruffalo was my favorite actor in The Avengers; he does steal scenes, not from RDJ or Hemsworth, but from the previous two incarnations of Bruce Banner. He was brilliant in Zodiac, prominent in Shutter Island, and unrecognisable in Eternal Sunshine...This movie has no surprises, except when it comes to disappointments like when the Chitauri get taken out in the end. I have to agree with whomever said XMFC was better. It simply was. Kevin Bacon was accused of being bland by some but his role was meatier than Hiddleston's.The biggest problem with the lack of surprises is that the fights in the climax have little ebb and flow. At no point in an action scene does good-bad-good stuff happen. There is no suspense. There's no weight, and therefore no momentum. This could easily have been rectified if the proper writers were hired as consultants. Hollywood cannot make intelligent action-ish popcorn movies. So C is the score. I think my grade matches the tone of my review. Some reviews here were likable to mine but (twice) B was given. Another anomaly in the indolent film watching of Hollywood's target audience.