Having already starred in their own standalone movies, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, taking over the role from Edward Norton), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) team up with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to form The Avengers, a team of superheroes-operating under the command of Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson)-who are called upon to battle evil Asgardian Loki (Tom Hiddleston) when he threatens to invade the planet with his Chitauri army.

The Avengers made an absolute mint at the box-office, proving to me that a large percentage of cinema-goers aren't all that fussed about an innovative or intelligible script just so long as they get plenty of bang for their buck. Written and directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers Assemble (as it is known in the UK) is an unnecessarily convoluted superhero blockbuster wrapped around the most tired of premises: an evil being seeking a mystical energy source that will give him the power to rule the world. This trite set-up allows for countless effects filled battles during which no-one suffers anything more than a bruised ego.

An impressive line-up of Hollywood A-listers and the most spectacular state-of-the-art CGI effects money can buy do not alter the fact that this is predictable, clichéd nonsense told with little style, coherence or originality.