The many creators of the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe must spend an unusual amount of time managing expectations.
In some regards, they succeed. In four films since The Avengers dominated the box office in 2012, we’ve seen two members of the superhero team on the same screen only three times — and, with the exception of Captain America(Chris Evans) and Black Widow(Scarlett Johansson) palling around for most of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, those appearances were gags.
So even with Marvel’s near-total saturation of media, the thrilling opening sequence in Avengers: Age of Ultron — wherein the whole team leads a frenetic raid on a remote, eastern European compound — feels like a rare thrill; the band’s back together again!
On the other hand, the big-event feel surrounding a film like Age of Ultron — expected by some analysts to record the biggest single-weekend box office haul ever, at least until Star Wars arrives — creates expectations of mind-blowing grandeur. And(call this a non-spoiler) there are no major surprises in Age of Ultron; no Guardians of the Galaxy, no Spider-Man, nothing teased that we didn’t already know about.