Near the beginning of Avengers - sorry, to be clear, that's Marvel's Avengers, the videogame - Thor lifts up a bit of steel that's pinned a civilian to the ground, and says "Lucky for you, I am mighty!"
That line, though it's brief and lifted from the Age of Ultron film, has cast a shadow over my expectations for Avengers ever since the prologue footage first released. The delivery is all empty machismo. It comes in the midst of an extremely scripted action sequence, where you alternate between all the Avengers and basically just mash 'X' a bunch between each cutscene. Would the Avengers game just be a big-budget button-masher where a bunch of comic book pastiches yell extremely silly dialogue at one another?
Avengers isn't (quite) a button-masher, and there's a lot more heart to its vision of the titular hero squad than first impressions might suggest. After a dozen hours with the game, I'm more eager to play every time I hop back in, and I'm starting to dread the end of the story because I want more time with the cast. That bodes well for the game's long-term service plans and episodic story updates. Perhaps most importantly, this is a surprisingly deep action-RPG that's both challenging and rewarding.
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Avengers Game Thor skill tree: all abilities detailed
Avengers game characters: all the playable heroes in the Marvel Avengers game
Avengers Game Iron Man skill tree: all abilities detailed