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The correct answer: Everything.

Kim Hollis: What aspect of The Avengers impresses you the most? The multi-film build-up of four characters into one super-team? The quality of the film? The global box office? The North American opening weekend take? Something else?

Felix Quinonez: I can't think of any aspect of this movie that doesn't impress me. But If I had to pick one I would say I am most impressed by the quality of the movie. Yes, the multi-film buildup was great and definitely got people excited but it kind of bothered me a couple of times. I remember when I was watching Iron Man 2, I felt like the plot was put on hold at one point to promote The Avengers. I mean I get why they did it and it's cool and all but I wish it didn't kill the momentum. And the box office, both overseas and domestic is CRAZY, but the fact that it's so good and so well received, (A+ score) just makes me way happier than any box office number could. But also, with so much going on and so many characters vying for screen time, it's very commendable that Joss Whedon was able to find such a good balance. In the hands of a lesser director this could have been a big mess.

Bruce Hall: I'll tell you what impresses me the most; the pre-release marketing campaign. I couldn't have cared less about this movie three months ago (I am not a Whedonite, and while I enjoy comic book films as much as the next geek, I'm weary...so very...weary...). But three weeks ago, I really started to care. The Avengers was an unavoidable, self replicating hype machine and as the campaign ramped up, it started to get a little redundant and deafening. For a while they were dropping clips so often I was worried they'd accidentally release the whole movie early, three minutes at a time. But the crescendo was perfectly timed - with the steady trickle of good news coming from the international release, it made a lot of people here feel like they were missing out on something. They couldn't have done a better job of building anticipation for this.

I will say this about the multi-film buildup: It seemed obvious to me from their often pedestrian quality (IMO), that the individual Avengers films were at worst, little more than two hour advertisements for the movie they REALLY wanted to make all along. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy any of it. In their best moments, they all did a serviceable job of setting up the much larger story arc in an almost unprecedented way. And if enduring Iron Man 2, the second half of Captain America, the "talky parts" of Thor and two Ho-Hum Hulks was the price I had to pay for The Avengers, consider me a satisfied customer.

In the end, of course, the finished product had to be worth the wait and it really was. Maybe the real achievement of The Avengers was how successful the overall strategy turned out to be. The movies, the marketing, the casting, the storytelling - it was more often than not less than top notch, but it was more than enough to execute the long term game plan effectively. And for the end game to be as good as it was - well that was the whole POINT and even the most cynical among us can't tell me they didn't they nail it. I am thoroughly impressed and more than that - RELIEVED. After all that's happened, I really didn't want to have to hate The Avengers and to my immense pleasure I came away liking it even more than I'd ever have guessed. Someone put Brett Ratner in front of this film all Clockwork orange style until he gets the message - THIS is how it's done, buddy.

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